Anyone know whether it is feasible to draw up plans in a D-I-Y manner to save costs?
I know a local charity that is hoping to draw up some plans for a purpose built building (basically portakabin sized - they haven't ruled out a portakabin) and they want to keep costs minimal, for obvious reasons.
Is it a big no-no to even consider doing it onesself?
Tony.
It's going to depend rather on what it's for. The regulations for an animal feed shed, and a childrens dormatory will be very different.
Drawing up plans yourself is not out of the question, nor is building. The regulations you need to build to depend on what it's used for.
Are you talking about plans for Planning Permission purposes, or for obtaining Building Regs approval - or indeed for the builder to build to?
Planning permission is the simplest - because they only need to cover the visual aspects of the building. Building Regs requires more detailed plans - covering the structural aspects, material specifications, insulation, drainage etc. The builder may settle for anything between a sketch on the back of an envelope and a fully detailed specification. The more detail you can provide *before* quotations are obtained, the less nasty surprises you should get during the building phase!
Any of the above is feasible to do on a DIY basis as long as you've got some clue about what you're doing. I did *all* the plans for my 2-storey house extension a couple of years ago.
Have a word with the Planning and/or Building Control departments at your local council. They are usually very helpful in advising what is required - and will comment informally on your draft plans to help you refine them.
If you are doing your own plans, whilst they *can* be drawn by hand using traditional methods, it helps enormously if you are reasonably proficient at using CAD software, and have access to a printer which can print at least A3 size.
"Tony Wood" wrote | Anyone know whether it is feasible to draw up plans in a D-I-Y manner | to save costs? | I know a local charity that is hoping to draw up some plans for a | purpose built building (basically portakabin sized - they haven't | ruled out a portakabin) and they want to keep costs minimal, for | obvious reasons. | Is it a big no-no to even consider doing it onesself?
For most small and non-contentious jobs, plans for Planning are usually fairly straightforward. The local planning office will advise which plans and how many are required, but usually it's just an area plan showing the site within the area (this is usually got from Ordnance Survey data, for which a licence must be paid, often the council can do this for you and you colour in the boundary), site plan before and after, elevations before and after, and details of the colour/type of bricks and tiles to be used. The 'home design' CAD packages will usually produce these. However do bear in mind that if an application fails because of inadequate plans, it might be more expensive to re-apply than to have the plans drawn properly in the first place.
The detail plans for Building Control, and the ones from which builders will quote and work, can be much more complicated and time-consuming to draw. Unless you're already fairly accomplished with CAD (or pen-and-ink), it's probably worthwhile finding an architectural technician or achitectural draughtsperson to do these (cheaper than an architect).
If you are buying a Porta[c/k]abin or similar, the firm may be willing to do the plans for you.
Owain
I did it myself fo a complete house, but ONLY up to the point of defining looks sizes and so on: At that pint an architect then took over and produced (remarkably cheaply) a set of 'working drawings' showing where the drains were, what sizes of timber and bricks etc. etc.
Unless you are au fait with construction techniques and building regs (I ended up buying that book as well) get a trained architect to do that bit.
Where DIY plans really score is in the non-structural detail - interior planning, lighting, wiring, plumbing etc.
It depends on how good at design you are. I spent may years designing things - mainly electronics and the enclosures they went in, so it wasn't a big step for me.
YMMV.
However I would really recommend at least trying and then take it to an architect and explain that 'this is what you want, could he produce the working drawings'
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