Ive had such an amazing service from Planning by Design, customers service has been really helpful and understanding and the community has just been wonderful!! Cara has just gone above and beyond is... See more
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Very knowledgeable and thorough. Polite and always looking to help. Only reason I didn't give 5 star is the replies could be a bit slow, sometimes taking a few days but I guess thats because they are... See more
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Feasibility Study I asked Planning by Design for a feasibility study concerning turning my garage into a bedroom. I had 2 phone calls about this and they produced a very detailed, professional report... See more
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Planning by Design Ltd has been my choice to deal with my dropped kerb application and they have been great, with a good price and speed.
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4.4
Excellent
298 reviews
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Replied to 100% of negative reviews
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Highly recommend
Planning by design have done our pre planning. They have been very efficient. We will be using them for our planning application. Bertie has been extremely helpful. I would highly recommend.
January 28, 2025
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Jemima, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and for sharing a review of your experience so far. We're delighted that you have been pleased with our service and look forward to helping you with your planning application in due course.
High quality but expensive and poor communication
The Planning by Design team provided very good technical advice and produced very good technical reports and drawings for us, enabling us to get our project approved by Islington Council. I would particularly like to praise their Head of Planning, Ellie Laws, who was really helpful in this regard and contributed significantly to us getting approval. Her advice was great, she produced excellent reports and engaged directly with the council on our behalf to progress our application.
However, delivery and communications were less positive. They repeatedly missed the deadlines they set for the reports. The first report for example was meant to be produced within 1 week but it actually took them 4 weeks and only after we repeatedly chased to get the documents back. No one seemed to be taking responsibility for progress, they just pointed to others to give updates. At one point when we asked how long it would take, the person working on it just replied to say they were very busy and would get to us as soon as they could. While I appreciate the business of working on multiple projects, getting a planning application approved takes a long time and part of the appeal of PbD were their promises to complete the reports quickly which gave the impression they would get us through the process as quickly as possible. It seemed like if we hadn't chased, they would have focused on other projects and got to us even later. By contrast, whenever there was an invoice to be paid by us, their team were very communicative!
Planning by Design are also very expensive if, like us, you are doing a small project. We ended up spending >£5000 to get approval. The initial standard docs were £4000 and we needed a further short report and one additional drawing produced for example based on the planning officer's questions which cost us >£1000. When questioning the price of the works, we received quite rude responses to just try to do it ourselves instead which was obviously not an option.
While these experiences on price and communication detracted from our experience, we were happy overall with the high quality of the reports and advice we received resulting in getting our project approved.
December 20, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Tom, thank you for sharing a review of your experience. While we are thrilled to have secured planning approval for you we are sorry to hear that you don't feel you haven't received a 5* service.
Before replying to your review we have taken time to investigate the entire timeline since your first contact through to the approval.
Firstly, I think it is important to understand the reasons why your project was so complicated and costly;
1. It is a listed building with multiple project components
2. You required 2x applications including a Planning Application + Listed Building Consent
3. You required multiple addition drawings above the norm
4. In addition to the normal statements you also required a heritage statement due
The total cost for both applications, all the drawings and the heritage statement was £3280+VAT.
Most companies charge £1500+VAT just for the heritage statement alone!
So given all of the above, yes it's a lot of money but it's actually unbeatable value considering how much you needed to achieve your development goals.
As you know our quote also included a price match guarantee and you took some time before deciding to instruct us and evidently did not find it cheaper, because simply put you wouldn't have been able to.
Regarding the design phase, it did take longer than normal because it was complex, required additional drawings above the norm and you requested a few revisions which of course added delay each time.
Once the drawings were approved there was some delay as Ellie your town planner was off work with a broken arm and then when she returned was literally typing as fast as she could one-handed. You did acknowledge and said you understood this.
It is also at the local planning authorities' discretion whether they wish to request any additional information such as specialist reports. It's not something we can control and again while we appreciate they were an unwelcome additional expense we don't make these rules.
Living in a listed building does of course add extra complexity and cost whenever anyone wants to make any changes, this is to protect budlings and areas of historical importance.
However, we are pleased that you are reasonably satisfied with the service and, most importantly we were able to secure planning approval and listed building consent which can never be guaranteed, so at least it was worth your time and investment.
We've also noted your feedback and carried out a full investigation to see whether there are any areas for improvement so that we can continue to deliver a 5* service at unbeatable prices for future clients.
I would highly recommend planning by…
I would highly recommend planning by design, the whole team have been professional and really patient with all my questions having never been through this process before. They smoothly obtained planning for us and we are very grateful.
January 20, 2025
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Megan, thank you for choosing Planning By Design and sharing a review of your experience. We're delighted to have helped you secure planning approval following a smooth process and of course, if you have any further questions or need help with anything in the future please do let us know and we will be glad to help.
Very good planning company
Very good planning company. Initially paid for a 30 minute call to discuss my application - worth every penny. Ellie was extremely knowledgeable and patiently explained everything and answered all my questions. Further support was provided by Bertie who was happy to answer any additional questions and queries that I had.
January 23, 2025
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Anneleen, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and for sharing a review of your experience. We are delighted to hear that you have been pleased with our planning appraisal service and of course, if you do have any further questions or need help with anything further please do let us know and we'll be glad to help.
The understanding and patience they…
The understanding and patience they provided in explaining the process was easy to understand, i have been through this process before with another company and they were useless.
Cara from Planning and Design is very helpful and explains things in detail.
January 20, 2025
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Eva, thanks for choosing Planning By Design and sharing a review of your experience, it really does mean a lot to us. We're delighted you have bee pleased with the service and of course, we remain ready to assist you with any further questions or requirements should the need arise.
We needed retrospective planning urgently
We needed retrospective planning as a matter of urgency, or so we thought until speaking to Panning By Design. They contacted the planning office straight away and organised a more realistic timeframe. All the staff we came in to contact with were friendly and helpful from start to finish. They were upfront and transparent with costs (which we found very competitive), realistic with expectations from the off and kept us in the loop at all stages.
The plans were clear and well presented and reflected our requirements brilliantly.
A very happy experience and would highly recommend.
August 23, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Tracy, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and for sharing such a glowing review of your experience. We are equally delighted to have helped you secure retrospective planning approval. It's always our aim to provide a 5* service at unbeatable prices and it's always rewarding to have our efforts recognised. Of course, if you have any further questions or need assistance with anything else in the future please don't hesitate to let us know and we'll be glad to help.
Planning By Design were very responsive… Brilliant!!
Planning By Design were very responsive and super efficient.
We were successful with our planning application which was not a straightforward task and it was difficult to navigate but PBD saw it through.
We will definitely use them again!!
January 6, 2025
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Thanks for sharing your review Graham, it really means a lot to us. This was indeed a very tricky application and despite some obstacles along the way, we are thrilled to have helped you secure planning approval. Of course, if you have any further questions or need further assistance please do let us know. :)
Really bad experience with PBD, lack attention to detail and customer service
Really bad experience with Grant and his team. Shoddy plans, lack of customer service, aggressive when you complain
In response to Grant: His comments are completely biased to PBD having no fault in the planning refusal. This is completely wrong. The Council Planning officer highlighted 3 major errors in the plans which are fairly basic (property boundary incorrect, buildings missing from the Existing Plan, Design and Access description didn't match the drawings). We have tried to work collaboratively with PBD to resolve this.
January 13, 2025
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Doug, whilst we appreciate all feedback what you have written here is disingenuous.
You instructed us to produce your architectural drawings and apply for planning permission.
You approved the architectural drawings with 100% satisfaction and with your approval we submitted a robust planning statement with your application to justify why it should be approved.
Your case is complex and there was a lot of back and forth with the planning officer who recommended your application for approval and it was due to be approved. You were very happy at this point.
Subsequently, the planning officer changed and the new planning officer went against everything that had been agreed in writing and refused your application- incorrectly!!
We let you know about this and your immediate reaction was the writer to us with various demands and a threat of legal action.
After a full investigation, it was clear and proven to you that Planning By Design had not made any errors and was not to blame!
It was simply that a new planning officer went against everything that had been agreed in waiting and reversed the decision incorrectly.
We advised you of your options moving forward and explained how we can assist you and while we appreciate and indeed share your frustration we are not to blame.
It is the planning authority who you should direct your frustration to. We have only acted with the highest level of professionalism and done everything in our power to secure a positive outcome for you.
We have also made our position clear following your threats and are more than happy to prove all of this in court if necessary.
UPDATE: Doug you are completely lying here, your greenbelt project was high risk, and complex and was recommended for APPROVAL until the planning officer changed. If you continue to publish false claims we will take legal action for defamation and libel.
Can’t thank the team enough
Can’t thank the team enough, I live in a notoriously hard area to get planning, and there had already been 3 refusals in the past on my property. No planners before them would touch it. Really don’t know how they did it but so glad they did.
January 8, 2025
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi James, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and for sharing a review of your experience. It was indeed a very complex application and a very difficult planning authority who frustrated the process so we are thrilled to have secured approval where others previously failed. If you have any further questions or need help with anything further in the future please don't hesitate to let us know and we'll be glad to help.
Great experience so far
Great experience so far, very quick response to emails and telephone calls. Professional service, kept fully informed.
December 20, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Dan, thanks very much for choosing Planning By Design and sharing a review of your experience, we really appreciate it. Of course, if you have any questions or need help with anything further just let us know and we'll be glad to help.
Poor service
Updated review as the initial review was made to get a £100 discount on my bill.
PLEASE BE AWARE, everything is a template. They have 100s of cases they are concurrently doing, no doubt, which leads to very poor applications with no arguments as to why the listed building or planning consent should be given.
They are also not the cheapest. I will be notifying Trustpilot soon to explain what they are doing (see email extract below with URL's removed qas it is not allowed
"Google URL
TrustPilot URL
Facebook URL
As a thank you for your time and feedback we would be delighted to give you a £100 discount per review so if you share your review on all 3 that is £300 in total off your invoice."
December 19, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Stephen, thanks very much for choosing Planning By Design and sharing a review of your experience. We're delighted you have been pleased with our service and look forward to supporting you with anything else you require in the future.
Planning by design helped us with a pre…
Planning by design helped us with a pre application and final application for a change of use recently. We are very grateful for the results and assistance throughout the process, they ensured evidence was correct and enough for a positive outcome and we're available when we had any questions.
December 9, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Maria, thanks very much for choosing Planning By Design and sharing a review of your experience. We're delighted to have helped you secure planning permission and of course, if you have any further questions or need help with anything else in the future please do let us know and we'll be glad to help with anything you need.
Responsibility issue but application approved
We have liked the practical approach and competitive prices that planning by design offered.
We would have put a 5 stars review if the quality of the service was exactly as described when we asked the quote.
The design brief that they require to do the drawings are time consuming but it with spending the right amount of time to avoid the back and forth with the architect. However despite a precise design brief made, the architect did made changes and error to our drawings with no specific reason. It took a few email and phone call to rectify and make sure the drawings where respecting dimensions of the original floor plan and the proposed floor plan and design.
After getting the final drawings we were asked by the company to check if we where happy with the drawings before they submit the planning application. Considering that the drawings included all the main things we asked for and believing that they were made by professionals we validated the drawings.
The application got sent back immediately by the Council mentioning that the application was not valid because of 5 issues in regards to the corelation in between the drawings. Also site photos that was submitted was not enough.
We were told before agreeing to do the drawings with planning by design that they were experts with those type of applications. So when agreeing with the drawings we where considering that the points mentioned above would have been checked before to be submitted but they were not.
We needed to pay a fee in order to resubmit the application and when contesting that we were not responsible to pay for it, they declined any responsibility base on the fact that we validated the drawings.
Future client be careful with this point as they will not accept any responsibility!
Apart from this responsibility issue, they have a good communication and will assist you throughout the process.
We did get our application approved in the end, so it s very positive.
October 7, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Laurent, thank you for your feedback and we are sorry you didn't feel the service was what you expected.
However, the service provided was exactly what you instructed us for, as per your quote and invoice.
We produced your drawings and planning statements as per your design brief and are delighted to have secured planning approval for you.
https://planning-by-design.co.uk/portfolio/single-storey-rear-extension-and-first-floor-side-extension-1448/#pdf-architect-drawings-and-planning-permission-for-single-storey-rear-extension-and-first-floor-side-extension/1/
Architectural design, like fashion, is very personal, and will be heavily swayed by your own preferences. Each project, site and architectural design is unique. If you view our portfolio, you will see that there are many extensions, yet no two are the same.
So, the first step is to establish what you ideally want your architectural design to look like. Most of our clients have a good idea of what they ideally want to achieve when they contact us.
However, if requested we can arrange an architectural design consultation with one of our architects, although we still need a written brief following this to avoid any confusion or issues.
Providing us with a clear brief at the start increases the likelihood of the drawings being exactly what you envisaged the first time around, saving you time and money.
Please also note that while only 1 free design revision was included in your quote we did 7 design revisions at no cost, saving you £600+VAT!
After 8 versions of your drawings, 6 of which should have been chargeable you approved the design to confirm you were 100% happy and this was exactly what you wanted.
We would also like to remind you that the planning authority at their discretion can request changes to the design or additional information. This is clearly detailed in your quote and signed terms and conditions.
It's great that you have now decided to instruct us to produce your building regulations drawings and structural engineering calculations.
We’ll get these over to you ASAP.
Brilliant customer service.
December 11, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Lucy, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and for sharing a review of your experience. We are delighted to have helped you secure your Lawful Development Certificate and of course, if you have any further questions or require help with anything else in the future please don't hesitate to let us know and we'll be glad to help.
Planning permission
I went ahead with Planning by Design to secure planning permission for a new dwelling, and they successfully obtained approval. They were professional and knowledgeable. Overall, I’m satisfied with the outcome and would recommend their services.
December 8, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Lee, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and for sharing a review of your experience. We are delighted to hear that you have been pleased with our service. Of course, should you have any further questions or require any further assistance please do let us know and we'l gladly help with anything you need.
Excellent service
Excellent service, thoroughly professional from start to finish. Advice was well considered and without any pressure, wouldn't hesitate to recommend Planning by Design
December 3, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Paul, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and for sharing a review of your experience. If you have any further questions or need help with anything else in the future please don't hesitate to let us know and we'l be glad to help
Good job thanks
I found planning by design after I had had a poor experience with a local architect and they were great, they were able to use the drawings we had and they were very quick to reply and respond with information and costings, Kim was very very helpful thanks and I would definitely recommend and would use again for another project.
Thanks again Adam
November 25, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Adam, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and sharing a review of your experience, it really means a lot to us. We are delighted to have helped you secure planning approval following a bad experience with a local archtiect. Of course, if you have any further questions or need help with anything in the future please don't hesitate to let us know and we'll be glad to help.
Planning by design took out the hassle
Planning by design took all of the hassle and unknowns out of the planning process. They responded quickly at each stage and been so, so helpful throughout, taking time to answer all the questions we had. Their rates are competitive and I would highly recommend them to everyone.
November 26, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Hi Jamie, thank you very much for choosing Planning By Design and sharing a review of your experience, it really does mean a lot to us. We are delighted you have been pleased with our service and competitive pricing. Of course, if you have any further questions or need assistance with anything else in the future please do let us know and we will be glad to help.
Not enough hours in the day to express…
Not enough hours in the day to express the stress lies and unprofessionalism this company caused me and my wife, and I’ve got to name him (Micheal brean) caused lots of stress to us which wasn’t needed ) we are very easy going people honest and fair .
We’ve been treated like dogs by this company.
Taken money from us at certain stages and not done any of the work they said they would for the monies they took , ( fraudulent is what I call it ) reached out to grant the md many many times cried out for help actually from him , all he did was spit us out and took our money .
Micheal sent us other clients cases and files on many occasions ( he said by accident) once is enough but doing this 2-3 times doesn’t give me confidence in keeping our files protected data protection etc .
This is the best part , after our refused planning application they advised us to pay for an appeal £816 fine no problem , paid them in full, ( even thow an appeal is free to submit ) 6 months down the line , nothing no correspondence , wrote to the planning inspectorate in Bristol , they wrote back to me explaining that planning by design were sent many letters asking for information and they didn’t reply back so that meant times had lapsed and the appeal couldn’t go ahead ,
I was absolutely fuming , again grant the md said no not our fault ( so what the planning inspector wrote a letter with a pack of lies init ??? I don’t think so grant .
All in all a very horrendous stress-full 2 years and costly , I urge anyone about to use These people to call me 07530330071 I’ll send you email proof and let you see documents or what this company did to me and my wife. Over a 2 year period and the appeals and enforcements charges they charged me and did no work atall ( well Probally about 10 emails all in all ) but that doesn’t equate to over £2000 charged to us , complete thieves:
You will be robbed if you use them. They don’t have an address and that’s so no one can create a money claim / court case against them. Then don’t have an office you can write to either , and oh they all work remotely , basically they don’t have any offices . Planning by design I believe is just a made up name , with an office of thin air. Website is very deceiving looks lovely and professional Believe me it’s far from it.
Grant will talk the talk at the start fill your head with confidence, but he will rob you blind. And give you no results.
I’m expecting his or abis reply to be the same as all the other reply’s to his reviews ( never his fault ever ) Hold your hands up for once do the right thing and admit you got it wrong .
I’ll give them a 5 star review for my second application that did get passed but that was only because of me chasing the council planning by design did no chasing up nothing , I did all the work Micheal might aswell be stacking shelves in tescos seriously he’s a waste of fresh air. He’s cause me more stress and anger than I’ve ever had in my whole life .
November 23, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
Ryan, whilst we appreciate all feedback its important to remember how you got yourself into such hot water with your planning enforcement team because you were caught in breach of planning.
Your case has been particularly complex with several retrospective applications and and appeals with various stakeholders involved. However, we have delivered everything you asked and paid for with our approval at every step of the way.
We are delighted to have helped you secure planning approval. Going forward if you do consider any new projects hopefully you'll check the planning requirements first and apply for the appropriate consent to avoid any further stressful and expensive retrospective planning issues.
Don't waste your time with these guys
Don't waste your time with these guys. AJ is a salesman and will hound you on the phone until you agree to do business with them. Due to this, I reluctantly paid for their pre-planning advice. Despite saying that the phone call would be a comprehensive overview of the merits on my case, the call was booked hastily for the next day and the person I spoke to didn't even read the brief. They were unaware of the full scope of what I was looking to do and gave very generic insights which weren't particularly helpful. In contrast, I received more useful information when making an enquiry with a different planning company and that advice wasn't chargeable. When I conveyed my disappointment and provided some feedback, AJ became VERY defensive and started quoting the awards they had won and how I'd have to pay significantly more if I got pre planning advice from the council. It came across very unprofessional and a little concerning. For this reason, I would not recommend
November 13, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Planning By Design
If you have any concerns we would encourage you to raise them with us so that we can investigate them and resolve the matter for you. Please do reply to any of our emails to make your complaint, we take all feedback seriously and will investigate as a matter of priority.
In the meantime, it's impossible that any of our town planners could call you without first understanding your brief and doing 1-3hrs research on the relevant planning policies, planning history and planning constraints so that we can advise you on the feasibility and requirements.
All of the research, findings, recommended course of action and the likelihood of success are detailed in your comprehensive feasibility report which will have been sent via email, have you read this?
It is important to note that we can only give you the facts, we can't make stuff up or tell you you don't need planning permission if you do.
You can ask someone who is not qualified like a builder to give you the answer you want to hear but they won't be liable if you get an enforcement notice after completing the works and have to restore the property to its original state.
If your project is not feasible, we will tell you and while this might be disappointing most clients appreciate knowing this at the start so they can avoid wasting lots of money on architect drawings and planning application for something that has little or no chance of success.
As this time we have no idea who you are (HS does not exist in our database) and have no idea of the specifics of your planning appraisal or concerns. Please do get in touch with us at your earliest convenience and in the extremely unlikely event that we did make any error we would refund your payment.
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