Building Control services

Our expert and knowledgeable surveyors can review your plans prior to making a building control application. They will highlight any potential issues and steer you in the right way to make sure your building project is successful. 

Email us and the surveyor who covers the area the property is in will contact you.  Please provide the following:

• short description of works
• project site address
• planning permission reference (if applicable)
• your contact details.

Email: buildingcontrol@waverley.gov.uk

Does your design comply with the building regulations? 

When we receive plans and constructional details, this information is passed onto the surveyor who will also carry out the site inspections. They thoroughly review the plans against the building regulations and approved documents checking to see if the design complies. 

We aim to carry out this review within 15 working days, if not before. We will issue out either a compliance report or decision.

Compliance report – lists various elements that need amending or any queries based on the reviewed plans. We will seek clarification from the agent and ask them to reply to us.  Until these have been replied to sufficiently we won’t be able to issue a decision.

Decisions – we will send out either a full approval, conditional approval (with conditions listed) or rejection.

Any information subsequently received for a conditional or rejection can result on the decision being reissued.

Compliance assessments of building work on site

We need to inspect building work to check that building regulations have been complied with at relevant stages of the build. 

Book an inspection

What do we inspect?

Depending on the project, we will carry out a number of inspections. For example, for an extension we are likely to see:

• foundations – ensuring they are dug to a satisfactory depth
• oversite / damp proof course – to check the preparation for oversite concrete
• damp proof course – checking the DPC has been laid correctly
• drainage – checking how the drains have been laid before being covered
• drainage - testing the drains for water tightness
• roof and floor Insulation – checking the thickness and installation of insulation
• roof – checking the roof structure
• completion – final check once works complete (where any electrics/gas have already been signed off).

Notifying us – the building owner responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the building owner to notify us that work is being carried out and book in regular inspections.

You must let us know about the early stages of the work (eg foundations, damp proof courses and underground drainage), particularly where the work will then be covered up. We also encourage you to let us know when other works such as fire stopping, structural members and insulating materials may be inspected.

Getting your final sign off

Once work on site is complete or occupation takes place, you must notify us within five days so that we can carry out a final inspection. If you don't contact us at this point, but approach us at a later date, we may be unable to issue your completion certificate*.  

We will make a final inspection before we certify the works fully comply with the regulations. It is best to do this whilst the builder is on site.

If your inspection is satisfactory and we have received full payment of your building control fee and been notified of any relevant competent person scheme work, such as new electrics or a gas boiler, we will issue a completion certificate. 

Your completion certificate is important as it shows future purchasers, banks, building societies and solicitors that, as far as can be ascertained, your project complied with the Building Regulations - so keep it in a safe place. 

Legislation states that there is no time limit once work has started. However, we set our fees with the expectation that work will be carried out by a competent professional and completed within three years of your application being submitted.

If you stop work on your project for a period of more than five years, when you resume, we reserve the right to charge an admin fee. This fee will be our admin fee at the time you start work again. Our current fee is £250 inc VAT. 

Where a time lapse of more than 15 years has passed since our last inspection, our surveyors will not issue a completion certificate. In this case our surveyors may issue a letter confirming the inspection stages that were undertaken and will confirm they can no longer issue a completion certificate. The admin fee will apply for this.

For applications not inspected between 5 -15 years, our surveyor will need to review the application prior to any additional visit being undertaken. They will decide if a further visit is necessary or if they will be unable to issue a completion certicate. In either case, the admin fee will be charged to review the file and issue a letter/carry out an inspection accordingly.

*Please note if works are not inspected at the time of completion, this makes it more difficult for our surveyors to sign off the works.