All projects are of course different, so it’s hard to generalise about timescales. But for a medium-sized family home the following assumptions are reasonable, and will give some idea of how long things take:
Please note that not all of these processes need to be sequential; some can overlap to quite some degree, thus reducing the total length of time from start to finish.
And for some clients the brief is already fixed and they may have made their own pre-planning enquiries, so they can eliminate a lot of the earlier stages.
| Initial Discussions to agree the brief | 3 weeks |
| Pre-Planning Enquiries | 6 weeks (time limit on local authority) |
| Initial Discussions to agree the brief | 3 weeks |
| Outline Planning Consent | 8-16 weeks |
| Detailed Planning Consent | 8-16 weeks |
| Building Warrant | 8-16 weeks |
| Obtain Tenders and Appoint Contractor | 6 weeks |
| Building Works | 18-26 weeks |