Costs & Pricing
126 sources in the library on costs & pricing, 36 on this page cited in a published note. Each one says what the document covers and what it is good for. Name a source to see which document it is and where to read it. One at a time. Page 1 of 4.
- very strong RN-QB50Q9 cited
Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
The official accredited statistics series on UK building materials, published monthly by DBT and BIST, first collected here on 2 October 2013 and last updated 5 August 2026 with the July 2026 bulletin. Each edition has a commentary plus Excel and ODS data tables. It carries monthly data on material price indices and on bricks and concrete blocks, quarterly data on sand and gravel, slate, concrete roofing tiles, ready-mixed concrete and imports and exports of construction products, and annual cement data. Methodology, a calendar of future publication dates and DBT's statistics error policy are on the same page. This is the source for verifiable claims about material price movement rather than merchant marketing figures.
- very strong RN-AS0G0P cited
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Published 21 January 2026 and last updated 18 March 2026. It commits £15 billion of public investment over this Parliament, 2025/26 to 2029/30, to upgrade up to 5 million homes by 2030, targeting over 450,000 heat pump installations a year by 2030 and solar panels on up to 3 million additional homes. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme gets £2.7 billion to 2030, keeping the £7,500 grant for hydronic heat pumps, adding new £2,500 grants for air-to-air heat pumps and heat batteries used for central heating, and £5,000 for biomass boilers in rural areas. A Warm Homes Fund provides a £5 billion financial transactions facility including £1.7 billion for low and zero-interest consumer loans, rolling out in phases from 2026, and the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund and Local Grant merge into a single low-income scheme from 2027/28. Private rented sector properties must meet EPC Band C across two metrics by October 2030, subject to a £10,000 spending cap, and an EPC C standard is introduced for the social rented sector for the first time. Future Homes Standard regulations were to be laid in Q1 2026.
Cited in Combi vs System vs Regular Boilers.
- very strong RN-VTMJ4Z cited
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (GOV.UK)
Status page for the Great British Insulation Scheme (formerly ECO+), the obligation on larger energy suppliers to fund single insulation measures. Two facts matter for costing: the scheme runs to 31 March 2026, and the central GOV.UK eligibility checker has closed, so applications now go direct to energy suppliers, some of which are still taking them. The page also states that whether a household pays anything depends on a property assessment rather than a fixed rate, which is why no per-measure figure is published. It points to Ofgem for the detailed general group and low income group criteria (council tax band, EPC band and benefits tests). Cite this for the scheme's existence, closing date and the fact that any customer contribution is assessment-dependent, not for the eligibility bands themselves.
- very strong RN-U1PW3G cited
GOV.UK
The England-only successor to the Home Upgrade Grant, delivered by local councils. Eligibility: household income of £36,000 a year or less (with postcode and benefit-based exceptions), privately owned home, EPC rating D to G. Funds wall, loft and underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, smart controls and solar panels, with the council organising and paying for the work. Explicitly 'only available in England'. Use this whenever a note says HUG closed and a successor is awaited: it is live and taking applications.
Cited in LPG Conversion Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide.
- very strong RN-9EFNVZ cited
GOV.UK
The grant values: £7,500 towards an air source heat pump, £7,500 towards a ground source heat pump including water source heat pumps and those on shared ground loops, and £5,000 towards a biomass boiler. A further £1,500 is available until March 2027 where the property is heated by oil or LPG and has no mains gas connection. Only one grant is available per property. Capacity limits are 45kWth for an individual system, 70kWth for multiple heat pumps and 300kWth for shared ground loops. Hybrid systems pairing a gas boiler with a heat pump are not eligible, and an existing low carbon heating system cannot be replaced under the scheme.
Cited in Air Source Heat Pumps: Cost, Grants & Is It Worth It, Boiler Problems & Common Faults, Boiler Replacement & Central Heating Costs (UK), Boiler Upgrade Scheme & Heating Grants 2026 and 8 more.
- very strong RN-SA820P cited
GOV.UK
Countryside Stewardship capital item FG3. Payment rate £5.66 per metre. Specification: erect wire fencing at least 1.05 m high using a minimum of 4 mild steel or high tensile plain wires, with a mains-operated energiser installed to the manufacturer's recommendations. Wooden straining posts at least 150 mm top diameter by 2.1 m long, intermediates 1.65 m long by 65 mm top diameter, struts 2.1 m by 75 mm; metal straining posts at least 2.4 m and intermediates at least 1.65 m. One of very few official per-metre rates for fencing, useful as a sanity check on market prices in a cost note.
- very strong RN-ZSNSIE cited
GOV.UK
The guidance that kills the common claim that second-hand building materials get no VAT treatment of their own. Margin schemes let a business pay VAT at 16.67 per cent, one sixth, on the DIFFERENCE between what it paid for an item and what it sells it for, rather than on the full selling price. Eligible goods are second-hand goods, works of art, antiques and collectors' items. The scheme cannot be used for any item on which the business was itself charged VAT, nor for precious metals, investment gold or precious stones. Building materials are not on the exclusion list, so reclaimed brick, slate, timber and fittings bought in without VAT can legitimately be sold on the margin, and a reclamation yard's quote may be on either basis. Separate schemes exist for second-hand vehicles, houseboats and caravans, horses and ponies, pawnbroking and high volume low value goods (global accounting). Records of the purchase and sale of each item must be kept.
Cited in Reclamation Yards & Salvage: Buying Reclaimed Materials.
- very strong RN-2KFK3D cited
Health and Safety Executive
HSE's scaffolding page states that employers and self-employed contractors must assess the risk from work at height and plan the work so it is done safely, providing general access scaffolds wherever practicable. Scaffolding must be designed, erected, altered and dismantled only by competent people under the direction of a competent supervisor, following NASC Safety Guidance SG4 'Preventing falls in scaffolding operations' or equivalent manufacturer guidance for system scaffold. Strength and stability calculations are required unless the scaffold matches a generally recognised standard configuration for which a note of calculations exists, and a competent person must draw up an assembly, use and dismantling plan. Covers guard rails, toe boards, scaffold design, structures needing bespoke design, operative competence and scaffold inspection.
Cited in Scaffolding Costs Explained.
- very strong RN-TNB7SU cited
Health and Safety Executive
HSE's separation distance table for bulk LPG storage vessels, by capacity, giving one distance that applies equally to buildings, boundary, property line and fixed sources of ignition. Single vessel 0.05-0.25 tonnes (typical water capacity 150-500 litres): 2.5 m without a fire wall, 0.3 m with, 1 m between vessels. Over 0.25 to 1.1 tonnes (over 500 to 2,500 litres): 3 m without, 1.5 m with. Over 1.1 to 4 tonnes (over 2,500 to 9,000 litres): 7.5 m without, 4 m with. Points to LP Gas Association COP 1 part 1 for location and spacing and COP 1 part 4 for buried or mounded vessels. The citable substitute for Liquid Gas UK CoP 1, which is paywalled.
Cited in LPG Conversion Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide.
- very strong RN-KBNHMB cited
HM Revenue & Customs
HMRC's main VAT notice for building work, last updated 26 August 2026. Sets out that construction of a new building and work to an existing building is normally standard rated at 20%, with exceptions: 0% for new qualifying dwellings and for housing association conversions of non-residential buildings, and 5% for a 'changed number of dwellings' conversion (section 7) and for renovation or alteration of a dwelling not lived in during the 2 years immediately before work starts (section 8, conditions at 8.1.2 and 8.3). Cites the law: VAT Act 1994 section 30 and Schedule 8 Group 5 for zero rating, section 29A and Schedule 7A Groups 6 and 7 for the reduced rate. Also explains the developer input tax block on goods that are not building materials (VAT (Input Tax) Order 1992 articles 2 and 6) and points self builders to the DIY housebuilders refund scheme.
Cited in Average Loft Conversion Cost: Real 2026 Breakdown by Type, Bedroom Extension Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide, Bringing an Old Building Price to Today's Money, Build Basement Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide and 8 more.
- very strong RN-BD8XRO cited
HM Revenue & Customs
HMRC guidance published 7 June 2019 and last updated 24 September 2020. The VAT domestic reverse charge must be used for most supplies of building and construction services at the standard and reduced rates where both parties are VAT registered in the UK and the supply is reported within the Construction Industry Scheme. The covered services match the CIS list of construction operations, except supplies of workers by employment businesses, and include constructing, altering, repairing, extending, demolishing or dismantling buildings or structures, works forming part of the land such as walls and roadworks, and installing heating, lighting and air conditioning. Points to CIS 340 for contractors and subcontractors. Explains why a subcontractor's invoice to a main contractor shows no VAT while the homeowner still pays VAT to the main contractor.
- very strong RN-1HRJJ7 cited
HM Revenue & Customs
Section 2.1 sets a zero rate of VAT on the installation of energy-saving materials in residential accommodation from 1 May 2023 to 31 March 2027, after which the rate reverts to the 5% reduced rate; section 2.22 extended it to buildings used solely for relevant charitable purposes from 1 February 2024. Section 2.7 lists the qualifying materials: central heating and hot water controls, draught stripping, insulation to walls, floors, ceilings, roofs, lofts and pipes, solar panels, wind turbines, water turbines, ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, micro combined heat and power units and wood-fuelled boilers, with water source heat pumps, batteries for energy storage and smart diverters added on 1 February 2024. Section 2.3 is the critical rule for a renovation note: relief applies to an installation service, or materials supplied and installed together, but materials bought without installation stay standard-rated at 20%.
Cited in Builders' Merchants: The Complete UK Guide (2026), Cost of a New Bathroom (Full Breakdown), Hot Water Options for Your Home, How Much Does a New Roof Cost in 2026? (UK) and 4 more.
- very strong RN-FG9RYD cited
HM Revenue & Customs
HMRC's rate table for Landfill Tax, which applies to all waste disposed of by way of landfill at a licensed landfill site on or after 1 October 1996 unless exempt. The tax is charged by weight at two rates, with inert or inactive waste at the lower rate. Standard rate is 130.75 pounds per tonne from 1 April 2026, 126.15 pounds from 1 April 2025 and 103.70 pounds from 1 April 2024; the lower rate is 8.65 pounds per tonne from 1 April 2026, 4.05 pounds from 1 April 2025 and 3.30 pounds from 1 April 2024. This is the single largest fixed input in a skip hire price and explains why mixed skips cost far more than clean inert loads.
- very strong RN-H7G3T3 cited
HM Revenue & Customs
The DIY housebuilders' scheme lets someone building a new home, or converting a non-residential building into one, reclaim VAT on building materials. Work completed before 5 December 2023 had to be claimed within 3 months of completion; work completed on or after that date must be claimed within 6 months. Only one claim can be made per person and the HMRC DIY enquiries line is 0300 322 7073.
- very strong RN-4W7T33 cited
HM Revenue & Customs (GOV.UK)
Sets the three UK VAT rates: standard 20% on most goods and services, reduced 5% on some goods and services such as children's car seats and home energy, and zero 0% on zero-rated goods such as most food and children's clothes. The standard rate rose to 20% on 4 January 2011 from 17.5%. Some supplies are exempt rather than rated, including postage stamps and financial and property transactions. This is the reference for converting a merchant's ex-VAT trade quote into the figure a homeowner actually pays.
Cited in Average Loft Conversion Cost: Real 2026 Breakdown by Type, Brick Driveway Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide, Builders' Merchants: The Complete UK Guide (2026), Cork Flooring Installation Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide and 10 more.
- very strong RN-9KXRWL cited
HM Revenue and Customs
The section that kills the persistent claim that work to a listed building is VAT free. With effect from 1 October 2012 the zero rate for the first grant of a major interest in a substantially reconstructed protected building was withdrawn in cases where zero rating relied on three-fifths of the work, measured by cost, being approved alterations. The transitional relief that softened the change expired on 30 September 2015, and was only ever available where a relevant consent was applied for or a written contract entered into before 21 March 2012, or where 10 per cent of the substantial reconstruction was complete before that date. Zero rating survives only where the first grant of a major interest relates to a protected building substantially reconstructed from a shell. Defines a major interest as the freehold, in Scotland the absolute interest, or a lease of over 21 years, though not less than 20 years in Scotland. Ordinary alteration work to an occupied listed home is therefore standard rated at 20 per cent.
Cited in Reclamation Yards & Salvage: Buying Reclaimed Materials.
- very strong RN-ZYLCD2 cited
HM Revenue and Customs
The 5 per cent conversion rate and, importantly, what it does not cover. A qualifying conversion into single household dwellings arises where the premises after conversion contain a greater or lower number, but not fewer than one, of single household dwellings, and includes a property never lived in such as an office block or a barn, a bedsit block, non-self-contained living accommodation such as staff rooms above a pub, and a dwelling previously adapted in its entirety to another use such as offices or a dental practice. It expressly does not include the creation of living accommodation that is not a single household dwelling, naming most granny annexes and additional bedrooms at a care home, nor the renovation of living accommodation used for other purposes without adaptation, such as a flat above a shop used for storage, which is directed instead to the section 8 empty homes rate. Paragraph 7.3.1 makes clear that work unrelated to changing the number of dwellings cannot be reduced rated, and works three examples through a block of sixteen flats showing that parts of a building are examined independently. Goods that are not building materials, such as carpets or fitted bedroom furniture, remain standard rated along with their installation.
Cited in Church Conversion Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide, Who Buys the Materials: You or the Builder?.
- very strong RN-FX7S48 cited
HM Revenue and Customs
The section that carries the 5 per cent empty home rate, which most renovation budgets miss. A contractor may charge VAT at 5 per cent instead of 20 per cent on renovating or altering an eligible dwelling that has not been lived in during the 2 years immediately before the work starts. Paragraph 8.3.2 sets out what proves the two years: Electoral Roll and Council Tax records, utilities companies, or an Empty Property Officer at the local authority, and states that a letter from an Empty Property Officer certifying two years empty is sufficient on its own with no other evidence needed. Paragraph 8.3.3 lists occupation that can be ignored: illegal occupation by squatters, occupation by guardians installed to deter squatters and vandals, and non-residential use such as business storage, but expressly not occasional use as a second home, which defeats the relief. Paragraph 8.3.4 allows the reduced rate to continue on all the work even where people move in while the work is carried out, provided the two-year test was met when work started. Goods that are not building materials, such as carpets or fitted bedroom furniture, must still be standard rated including the installation charge.
Cited in Roof Repair Costs & Common Problems (UK), Who Buys the Materials: You or the Builder?.
- very strong RN-26FMBT cited
HM Revenue and Customs
HMRC's internal manual chapter on the approved alteration zero rate, whose very title fixes the date the relief ended: the rules it explains are those prior to 1 October 2012, so a note that still tells readers to claim zero-rated VAT on approved alterations to a listed home is out of date by more than a decade. Manual published 19 March 2016 and updated 4 August 2026. The chapter contents show what the old test required and remains useful for pre-2012 work and for understanding the terms still used: VCONST08100 the basic conditions for zero-rating, VCONST08200 whether the work is to a protected building, VCONST08300 whether the work is an approved alteration, VCONST08350 whether the work is approved, VCONST08450 the distinction between alterations and repair or maintenance, VCONST08550 incidental alterations, VCONST08600 structures in the curtilage of a building, VCONST08700 certificates, VCONST08750 services excluded from zero-rating and VCONST08800 apportionment.
Cited in Reclamation Yards & Salvage: Buying Reclaimed Materials.
- very strong RN-RVXVV0 cited
HM Revenue and Customs
Carries the actual deduction rates, which explain the difference between two builders' quotes and the numbers on a subcontractor's payment statement. A contractor must deduct 20 per cent from payments to a registered subcontractor, called net payment status or payment under deduction, and pass it to HMRC as an advance payment towards the subcontractor's tax and National Insurance. If the subcontractor is not registered for the scheme, the contractor must deduct 30 per cent instead. A subcontractor who does not want deductions taken in advance can apply for gross payment status, which also registers them for CIS. Registration applies to a sole trader, the owner of a limited company, or a partner in a partnership or trust, and is not required of an employee.
Cited in What an Hour of Labour Actually Costs.
- very strong RN-5RLFNX cited
HM Revenue and Customs (GOV.UK)
Paragraphs 5.1 to 5.8 of Notice 708, the route by which a person converting a non-residential building to dwellings can sell or grant a long lease at the zero rate rather than merely paying 5% on the works. Paragraph 5.3.2 carries the 10 year rule: a building that has been used as a dwelling in the 10 years before the sale is not treated as non-residential for these purposes, so the conversion of a house that has simply stood empty for a few years does not qualify here. The section also sets out who may zero rate (a person converting, which HMRC defines narrowly), what counts as a first grant of a major interest, the certificate requirements, and the interaction with the reduced rate at section 7. Distinguish this from section 8, which reduced rates renovation of dwellings empty for two years, and from section 7, which reduced rates a changed number of dwellings conversion.
- very strong RN-EUGGMV cited
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
MHCLG's official explanatory booklet on the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, applying to England and Wales, Crown copyright 2016. Explains the Act's effect on the Building Owner who wishes to carry out work covered by the Act and the Adjoining Owner who receives notice of it. Defines 'owner' for the Act's purposes as including anyone holding the freehold title, holding a leasehold title for a period exceeding one year, under contract to purchase such a title, or entitled to receive rents from the property, so a single property can have more than one owner. States clearly that the Act is separate from planning and building regulations control: agreement under the Act does not remove the need for planning permission or building regulations compliance, and neither does planning permission or building regulations compliance remove the need to comply with the Act. Carries a disclaimer that the booklet is a general guide and not an authoritative interpretation of the law.
Cited in Party Wall Agreements for Loft Conversions Explained.
- very strong RN-MMT1DO cited
Office for National Statistics
The ASHE Table 14 dataset gives annual estimates of paid hours worked and earnings for UK employees by sex and by full-time or part-time status, broken down to four-digit Standard Occupational Classification, which is the level that isolates individual construction trades such as bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers and electricians. Released 23 October 2025 as the 2025 provisional edition (zip, about 10.7 MB), with revised and provisional editions back to 2017. A correction dated 19 December 2025 suppressed annual pay estimates for SOC 3312 police officers in some areas; construction occupations are unaffected.
Cited in Bathroom Remodel Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide, Bedroom Extension Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide, Blown Window Repair Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide, Bricks Per 1000 Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide and 30 more.
- very strong RN-FPPUSL cited
Ofgem
ECO4 is the fourth phase of the Energy Company Obligation across Great Britain. It applies to measures installed from 1 April 2022 and runs until 31 December 2026 following a nine-month extension; ECO3 closed on 31 March 2022 and ECO4 came into force in July 2022. The scheme places a Home Heating Cost Reduction Obligation on medium and large energy suppliers to promote measures that improve the ability of low-income, fuel-poor and vulnerable households to heat their homes, funding insulation and heating upgrades for both homeowners and tenants. Ofgem also lists the Great British Insulation Scheme as a separate obligation on this page.
Cited in Electric Heating Options Compared, Fan Assisted Radiators Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide, Insulation: The Complete Guide, Insulation Grants 2026: ECO4, GBIS & What You Can Get and 4 more.
- very strong RN-WLAM99 cited
Ofgem
The scheme that pays a household for exported solar electricity, and the successor to the Feed-in Tariff. It launched on 1 January 2020 and obliges certain licensed electricity suppliers, the SEG Licensees, to pay small-scale generators for low-carbon electricity exported to the National Grid. Eligible technologies are solar PV, wind, hydro, anaerobic digestion and micro-CHP, at installed capacities up to 5 MW, or up to 50 kW for micro-CHP. Crucially for a payback calculation, Ofgem does not set the rate: SEG Licensees determine the tariff rate, contract length and other terms, the only floor being that a SEG rate must always be above zero. Payments are calculated from export meter readings, so an export meter is a practical precondition. Ofgem publishes the list of current SEG Licensees annually, and advises generators to shop around between them.
Cited in Electric Heating Options Compared.
- very strong RN-8LC718 cited
Ofgem
Defines the two classes of SEG licensee. A supplier is a Mandatory SEG Licensee if it has at least 150,000 domestic electricity customers as at 31 December of the immediately preceding year, and it cannot opt out of offering SEG payments. A supplier with fewer than 150,000 domestic electricity customers as at the same date is a Voluntary SEG Licensee and may choose to opt in. SEG licensees choose the tariff rate, contract length and some other terms they offer generators, and any SEG tariff rate offered must always be above zero. Useful for correcting the common phrasing 'more than 150,000 customers', which misses both the 'at least' and the 'domestic' qualifiers.
- very strong RN-O7TO5H cited
Scottish Government (gov.scot)
SCOTLAND, with no England equivalent: a seller in Scotland must commission a Home Report before marketing, where an England seller commissions nothing and the buyer pays for their own survey. Introduced in 2008 to give buyers and sellers better information on property condition before offers are placed, to stop duplicate surveys and valuations, and to stop artificially low asking prices. The Home Report comprises three documents: an Energy Report, a Property Questionnaire and a Single Survey, and only surveyors registered with or authorised to practise by RICS may produce the Single Survey. It was developed with the Home Report Implementation Group, whose members included RICS, the Law Society of Scotland, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the National Association of Estate Agents and Citizens Advice Scotland. A five-year review followed a December 2013 consultation and a January 2015 research report.
- very strong RN-D47WL4 cited
The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)
Section 34(1) imposes a duty on any person who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste, or who controls it as a dealer or broker, to take all reasonable measures to prevent a section 33 offence or a breach of regulation 12 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations, to prevent waste escaping, and on transfer to pass it only to an authorised person or for authorised transport purposes together with a written description of the waste. Section 34(2) exempts an occupier of domestic property in respect of household waste produced on the property, but section 34(2A) still requires that occupier in England or Wales to take reasonable measures to ensure any transfer of that household waste is only to an authorised person. Section 34(3) lists authorised persons, including waste collection authorities, waste management licence holders and carriers registered under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989. This is why a homeowner must check a waste carrier licence before paying for a clearance or grab lorry.
Cited in Skip Hire Costs & Sizes.
- very strong RN-JXUGP4 cited
The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)
The source for why a skip on the road needs a council permit while a skip on your own driveway does not. Section 139 makes it unlawful to deposit a builder's skip on a highway without the permission of the highway authority, and that permission names the highway and may attach conditions on the siting of the skip, its dimensions, the painting of the skip for visibility, the care and disposal of its contents, its lighting and guarding, and its removal at the end of the period. The owner must keep the skip properly lighted during the hours of darkness, clearly and indelibly marked with the owner's name and telephone number or address, and remove it as soon as practicable after it has been filled. Breach carries a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale, with a defence where the breach was due to the act or default of another person and the owner took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence. A builder's skip is defined as a container designed to be carried on a road vehicle for storing materials or disposing of rubble and waste.
Cited in Skip Hire Costs & Sizes.
- very strong RN-CEXTH9 cited
The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)
Section 169(1) bars anyone erecting or retaining scaffolding or any other obstructing structure on or over a highway in connection with building, demolition, alteration, repair, maintenance or cleaning work unless the highway authority has issued a licence in writing, and the licence may carry any terms the authority thinks fit. Section 169(2) obliges the authority to grant a licence once reasonable particulars are supplied, unless the structure would cause unreasonable obstruction or a differently arranged structure would obstruct less; 169(3) gives a right of appeal to a magistrates' court against refusal or against the terms. Section 169(4) requires the licence holder to light the structure from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, to comply with written directions on traffic signs, and to protect statutory undertakers' apparatus. Breach is an offence under 169(5) with a fine up to level 5 on the standard scale. This is the legal basis for the pavement licence fee that appears on a scaffolding quote.
Cited in Scaffolding Costs Explained.
- strong RN-Z3SQTD cited
Chartered Trading Standards Institute, Business Companion
CTSI's official business guidance on Part 1 Chapter 4 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which governs the supply of services to consumers, including where goods are supplied as part of a contract for work and materials. Sets out what the consumer can expect as statutory rights, and the tiered remedies for breach: repeat performance first, then price reduction, then other remedies. Defines a trader as a person acting for purposes relating to their trade, business, craft or profession, including a partnership, company, charity, government department, local authority or public authority, and makes a trader responsible for contracts made in its name by someone acting on its behalf. Also covers exceptions where the consumer cannot claim, time limits for court action, unfair contract terms, negligence, misrepresentation and the trader's identity. Guidance is for England and Wales.
- strong RN-25YUC4 cited
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The RICS professional statement that defines the three survey levels a homebuyer is offered, and the standard a note should cite instead of describing surveys loosely. Page updated 17 June 2026. The 1st edition was published in 2019 and became effective in 2021; it sets mandatory requirements for RICS members and regulated firms in the UK delivering residential property surveys, and it replaced and harmonised the earlier RICS residential survey publications. It defines four report products, RICS Home Survey Level 1, Level 2 (survey only), Level 2 (survey and valuation) and Level 3, and a member needs a Home Surveys Licence to produce any of them. The old report formats were permitted only during a transition period from 1 March to 31 August 2021, and the new reports have been mandatory since 1 September 2021. The standard is currently under review: a public consultation on a 2nd edition ran from 19 August to 14 October 2025, informed by a survey of 325 members and a UK consumer survey of over 1,400 homeowners, with proposed changes covering AI and drone or camera-pole technology, greater clarity on survey levels, optional valuation at all levels, guidance for additional risk dwellings, and retrofit assessments. RICS states members should continue to use the 1st edition until the 2nd edition takes full effect, so any note dating the change should say the 2nd edition is not yet in force.
- strong RN-K45EY4 cited
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The rulebook behind every professional cost per square metre figure, and free to download as a PDF from RICS, which makes it directly citable rather than paraphrased. NRM 1 is issued by the RICS Quantity Surveying and Construction Professional Group as one of a suite of three (NRM 1 order of cost estimating and cost planning, NRM 2 detailed measurement for building works, NRM 3 order of cost estimating and elemental cost planning for building maintenance works), all reissued in October 2022 as practice information having been published in October 2021 as guidance notes, with no material change to content. NRM 1 covers quantification of building works for cost estimates and cost plans, and also how to quantify the items that are not measurable building work: preliminaries, overheads and profit, project team and design team fees, risk allowances, inflation, and other development and project costs. It sets out the floor area method for order of cost estimates and defines the terms a note should use precisely: cost per m2 of gross internal floor area (cost/m2 of GIFA) is the unit rate which, when multiplied by the gross internal floor area, gives the total building works estimate, and gross internal floor area (GIFA, also gross internal area or GIA) is defined in Appendix A with reference to the latest edition of the RICS Code of Measuring Practice. It also distinguishes GEA (gross external area) and NIA (net internal area). This is the source to cite for why a cost per m2 figure is meaningless without stating which area basis it uses.
Cited in Quantity Surveyors for Homeowners: Do You Need One, Quote vs Estimate: What's the Difference.
- strong RN-3UXQIL cited
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The RICS scope table for a Level 1 survey, useful for a note explaining why the cheapest survey misses things. A Level 1 is a visual inspection less extensive than Level 2 or 3, with no tests of building fabric or services, no detailed advice on repairs, and RICS states it is better suited to conventionally built, modern dwellings in satisfactory condition. Concretely: windows are opened at a minimum of one on each elevation; in the roof space the member will NOT remove secured access panels or lift insulation, stored goods or other contents, and inspects only what can be seen from the access hatch; floors are inspected at the surface only with no lifting of carpets, floor coverings or floorboards, no moving of furniture and no hatch lifting or inverted head and shoulders inspection, although a heel-drop deflection test is still done; and inspection chamber covers to drains and septic tanks are NOT lifted. RICS advises the client to consider upgrading to Level 2 or 3 before the service is undertaken if more detailed advice is needed.
- supplier figure RN-0MBQX9 cited
Advanced Resin Solutions
a resin bound driveway installer publishing its own 2026 trade prices, for its own resin binder, split the way the work actually divides: £45 to £85 per m2 to lay an overlay on sound tarmac or concrete and £90 to £125 per m2 for a full system with excavation and a permeable sub-base, with the material alone at £22 to £32. It is the only source the cost book holds for that split, which every aggregated guide blurs into one range, and it is a contractor stating what it charges rather than a summary of what other people say they charge. Trade prices excluding VAT, so not what a householder pays
Cited in Driveway Cost & Materials: Block Paving, Resin & Gravel, New Driveway Checklist, Resin Bound Driveways: Cost & Pros/Cons, Tarmac vs Gravel vs Resin Driveways.
- supplier figure RN-JLADBQ cited
Survey of Party Wall
a London party wall surveying practice publishing its own fixed fee, £950 to £1,450 per adjoining owner for a standard extension, broken into the stages it covers: site appraisal, serving the statutory notices, tracking the 14 day response, the schedule of condition, negotiating access, drafting the award and delivery, with VAT added on top. It is also the source for the point the notes most often get wrong, that the fee is per ADJOINING OWNER rather than per job, and that a neighbour who dissents and appoints their own surveyor is paid separately again by the building owner under section 10(11)
Cited in How Long Does a Loft Conversion Take? Week-by-Week Timeline, How Much Does a Loft Conversion Cost in 2026?, How to Convert Cellar, Loft Conversion Cost by London Borough and 3 more.
- very strong RN-1Z09OS
Building Control Northern Ireland (the 11 district councils)
NORTHERN IRELAND. The scale of building control fees is set centrally by the Department of Finance under the Building (Prescribed Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 as amended in 2013 and 2022, with the current fees applying to applications made after 1 April 2022. Unlike England, where each authority or private approver sets its own charges, NI fees are prescribed and are not subject to annual increase, being revised periodically by the Department. There is a FIXED RATE plan fee for certain domestic extensions, detached domestic buildings such as garages, roofspace conversions and houses up to 250 square metres. For small extensions UNDER 20 SQUARE METRES the plan fee also covers all subsequent site inspections, so there is no separate inspection charge. Other work is charged on an estimated cost of works basis using a contractor's cost. Where part of the works is solely for a person with a disability that part is excluded from the fee calculation, and a full exemption applies where the works are exclusively for a person with a disability or are described as exempt. A fee calculator is provided.
- very strong RN-UM90J1
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
WALES and parts of England, since Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's operating area crosses the border. You must notify Welsh Water if extending over or within THREE METRES of a public sewer or lateral drain, across a network of more than 30,000 km of sewers. An application is unlikely to be accepted where the sewer's internal diameter exceeds 225 mm or the pipe is deeper than 3 metres, and a greater standoff may then be required; commercial extensions and new detached structures need a sewer diversion instead. Nothing may be built over or near water mains or pressurised sewers. There are two routes, self-certification against set criteria and a full application with technical assessment. The published charges are £278.10 for consent by letter with no network alterations, £936.85 for consent by letter after alterations, and £1,053.00 for consent by legal agreement, covering administration, any site inspection, technical support, liaison with building control or the approved inspector, and issue of the consent. Work must not start until consent is given, and sewer traces are strongly recommended before excavating. Accessibility adaptations get extra support via the Build Over Sewers team on 0800 917 2652.
- very strong RN-SNG47L
Revenue Scotland
Scotland's surcharge on buying an additional residential property, and a material acquisition cost for anyone buying a house to renovate before selling. The rate is 8% of the full purchase price, not just the slice above a threshold, and it took effect on 5 December 2024, having been 6% before that. It applies where the consideration is £40,000 or more; below £40,000 no ADS is due. The main relief is the replacement of a main residence: no ADS where the buyer disposed of their previous only or main residence in the 36 months before purchasing the new one. Where ADS has been paid, it can be reclaimed if the previous main residence is sold within 36 months of the purchase, provided the buyer has lived in the new property as their main residence. ADS sits on top of the LBTT bands rather than replacing them. Distinguish from the 5 percentage point SDLT surcharge in England and Northern Ireland and the separate higher LTT rates in Wales.
- very strong RN-LNQ9GJ
Revenue Scotland
The Scottish replacement for Stamp Duty Land Tax, which every England-written renovation note gets wrong for Scottish readers. LBTT replaced UK Stamp Duty Land Tax in Scotland from 1 April 2015 and is collected by Revenue Scotland, not HMRC. Its structure is progressive in the same way as SDLT: the percentage rate for each band applies only to the part of the price above the relevant threshold and up to the next, and nothing is payable below the first threshold. Separate rate and band tables exist for residential properties, residential property with the Additional Dwelling Supplement, non-residential properties and commercial leases. The Additional Dwelling Supplement is the Scottish equivalent of the higher rates for additional properties. Revenue Scotland also administers the Scottish Landfill Tax, the Scottish Aggregates Tax and the Scottish Building Safety Levy, and publishes a tax calculator and legislation guidance.