Two-storey extension plans and drawings in the Highlands, Moray and Islands

The Highlands, Moray and Islands at a glance

Nation: Scotland
Price region: Scotland
Postcode areas: AB, HS, IV, KW, PH, ZE
Towns covered: 21 listed below, plus surrounding villages
Site visits: Free on the mainland; island and remote addresses by arrangement, with travel costs agreed first

What a set of extension plans involves

Two-storey extension plans involve a measured survey of your house, design options, and a set of scaled drawings showing the existing and proposed floor plans, elevations, a site plan and a location plan. Building warrant drawings with construction details follow as a separate, more technical set.

Highlands, Moray and Islands towns we list: Inverness (IV1), Elgin (IV30), Fort William (PH33), Nairn (IV12), Forres (IV36) and Buckie (AB56). Every other address in the Highlands, Moray and Islands is covered as well.

Fees

Planning drawings (survey and design) are a guide of £2,000–£3,500 and building warrant drawings and specification £1,500–£4,000, with your design stage priced in writing before it starts.

Rules in Scotland

In Scotland, the plans support a householder application, costing £371, and later a building warrant application with technical drawings to the Scottish Building Standards Technical Handbooks. Because Class 1B needs 10 m to every boundary, the site plan showing boundary distances is often what decides the route.

Approval in Scotland: Householder planning application: £371. Councils have two months to decide a local planning application.

Building standards: A building warrant from the council's building standards service before work starts, and a completion certificate at the end. Scotland uses its own Technical Handbooks.

There is no Party Wall Act in Scotland. Shared walls and boundaries are governed by title deeds and common law, so we speak to neighbours early and record the condition of shared structures.

Getting the design right

Compare options early

Sketching two or three layouts, such as rear, side or part two-storey, is the cheapest point to make big decisions. Each option comes with a guide cost and a view on the approval route, so you choose with the full picture rather than discovering limits later.

Start with a measured survey

Accurate drawings depend on accurate measurements of the house, the boundaries and neighbouring windows. We measure inside and out, note levels, drains and trees, and record the original house so permitted development limits can be checked against the right starting point.

How we work in the Highlands, Moray and Islands

Free site visit
We visit your home in the Highlands, Moray and Islands, look at the structure, access and boundaries, and talk through what you want the new rooms to do.
Plans, then approval
Measured survey, design, then the right approval route for your house. We explain each step before we take it.
Price it properly
Once the engineer's calculations are in, we fix the build price in writing, with a clear list of what's included.
Build it
The new structure goes up first, then we open into the house, finish inside and get the completion certificate.

Towns we cover in the Highlands, Moray and Islands

Two-storey extension plans and drawings in the Highlands, Moray and Islands: questions

Do the plans include structural calculations?

Not at planning stage. Structural calculations and beam design are prepared by a structural engineer once the design is agreed, and they form part of the building standards package. We coordinate the engineer's work with the drawings so steel sizes and floor depths match.

Do I own the plans once they are drawn?

You receive copies of the drawings to use for your project, including your planning application and a building warrant. Copyright in drawings normally stays with whoever prepares them unless agreed otherwise. Your written design stage price sets out how the drawings can be used.

How long do extension plans take to prepare?

Survey, design and planning drawings usually take 4 to 8 weeks, depending on how many options you want to explore. Technical design, structural calculations and a building warrant take a further 4 to 8 weeks, and this can overlap with the planning decision period.

Neighbouring areas

All extension services in the Highlands, Moray and Islands · About two-storey extension plans and drawings