After what seems like an eternity; you’re embarking on a building project. It’s all systems go. You’ve got an ambitious deadline (Christmas, obviously), and you want to break ground yesterday.
You can probably trim some time by shopping around for quotes at the same time as applying for planning permission. But slow down there cowboy. You’re about to make a HUGE mistake.
If you don’t have planning permission then there’s absolutely no way you can give a builder finalised plans. And without these they’ll just be making a guesstimate. At best.
Then one wretched rainy day, 11 months into your build (Christmas was last year at this point), with £10 left in the bank, you’ll ask your builder when the roof goes on. And they’ll reply: “Oh that wasn’t in my guesstimate as it wasn’t shown on the plans.” And you’ll want to bury yourself under the footings.
So here’s what you actually do. You wait to be granted planning permission. Then you go to your architect and you get yourself some finalised working drawings. Then (and only then) can you go shopping for quotes, safe in the knowledge that everything will be accounted for.
And you get to live in a house with a roof. Hooray!
P.S. Be wary of any builder that’s willing to give you a quote using incomplete drawings.