building regulations drawings?

Chartered surveyor Ian Rock explains the DIY route to Building Regulations drawings — helping you decide whether this is the right path for you

Last month I explained why you need Building Regulations drawings and touched on the fact that you can draw them up yourself. It’s not unusual for homeowners to draft their own planning drawings, typically for small extensions, that may be hand-drawn or produced with the aid of a computer programme.

But formulating more complex technical drawings can be a very steep learning curve, so in most cases it’s quicker and safer to employ a professional designer. If, however you’re thinking of carrying out more developments in the future, or you want to beef up your technical skills, it may be worth taking the plunge.

Although traditional hand-drawn plans are still sometimes lovingly crafted by skilled draughtsmen, you really need to master computer–based CAD programmes for producing technical drawings.

The good news is most CAD programmes allow you to import and trace existing plans as a template for the more detailed design work, thereby ensuring continuity in terms of dimensions, etc.

Ready-made technical drawings of construction details and pre-drafted Building Regulations specification text can be accessed online via web apps such as buildingregs4plans.co.uk. For an outlay of around £100 you get access to a library of 750 detailed drawings and Building Regs specifications for use on your plans. This covers all types of extensions, conversions and self-builds, with compliance details also available for the varying regulations that apply in England and Wales.

To complete the job you will need a suitable CAD programme capable of producing 2D plans, elevations and section drawings. There’s a lot of gimmicky American-style apps on the market that make a big song and dance about 3D colour imaging, but these are best avoided. You probably need to spend a minimum of around £300 on a proven piece of software like Arcon Evo, TurboCAD deluxe or a more expensive piece of kit used by professional designers such as AutoCAD Light. Be prepared to devote a few days of your life to figuring out how to make it all work. You’ll also need to invest in an A3 colour printer (or have access to one), which needn’t break the bank. Although professional drawings tend to be A2 or larger, A3 is fine for individual drawings. In fact, it’s often easier to read a number of separate smaller drawings rather than humongous ones that try and cram everything onto one large sheet and flap about in the wind on site.

So is it worth taking the DIY option? For a oneoff project the answer is probably no. It will take a lot of time and, without much technical knowledge or experience, there’s inevitably a greater risk of mistakes, although with a Full Plans application, building control should spot any non-compliance errors before work starts, providing something of a safety net.