We are thinking about building a garage and an office at the side of our house, perhaps an ajoining conservatory. I work from home and would love a room I can shut the door on at night and forget about! We have an old garage in place at the moment, but we just use it for storage as it is pretty old, I think it is aspestos (sp?) so we would need to get a speacialist to take it down.

What I'm not sure of is the order of how to go about things. Would we need to contact an architect to draw up plans, then apply for planning permission, then get a builder or should I chat with a builder first, who might be able to draw up plans for approval before going to the expense of an architect?

Sorry, I'm a bit clueless when it comes to DIY! I think it will be possible to do the extension (when we can afford it!) as other houses along the street have had similar things done. Can any one offer advice? thanks.

Maybe contact land and regeneration services department who deal with planning, they will be able to give you advise of what to do in what order.
Kind regards,
Linda

When we were planning an extension we contacted a reputable building company who had it's own planner.  He came around to do the quote and discussed what we required before drawing up a rough plan for us.  That way it doesn't cost anything and you get to talk to an expert who can sometimes put a different light on things.

We didn't go for the extension in the end (cost and big problem with drains), but went with a large conservatory, a lot cheaper and I have it as half utility and dog room and half as a dining room for us.  Again with the conservatory we saw several different companies and got different ideas from each of them.  In the end we put the bits together we liked which worked well.

The only regret I have is that we should have done it years ago :)

Sandra

If you phone your local authority planning dept they can be quite helpful & may have some booklets explaining what does & doesn't need planning permission, building regs etc. You need plans to submit when you apply for planning permission.

A reputable building company will tell you whether you need planning permission.