Design & Build Construction
Design and BuildConstruction in Lincolnand Lincolnshire
One contract, one team, one point of responsibility, from first sketch to completion, so nobody can blame the drawings, the price is set by people who have to build it, and you only ever have one number to call.
In-house build team of up to 15, all CSCS carded · £5m public liability insurance · 30 years in design and build
30 years
In residential design and build
5.0
Average rating from Google reviews
Included
Planning and building regs on every project
£5m
Public liability insurance
In-house
Quantity surveying for cost certainty
The Service
Designed and builtby the same practice
Design and build means a single organisation takes responsibility for both the design and the construction of your project. There is no gap between the drawings and the site, because the people who produced one are accountable for the other.
Around a quarter of our work is construction, on projects we have designed ourselves. That is deliberate: we take on the builds where our design experience genuinely adds value rather than chasing volume. The remaining three quarters we design and hand to your chosen contractor with a complete package.
The build team runs to 15 at peak, a mix of full-time staff and long-standing subcontractors who have built our schemes for years, and all build staff hold CSCS cards. We carry £5,000,000 public liability insurance.
Everything sits under one roof: concept design, planning drawings and the application, building regulations and building control submission, in-house quantity surveying, project management and construction through to sign-off. That is the whole point of the model.
Who this is for
Clients who want one contract
No triangle of designer, contractor and client with everyone pointing at someone else when a problem appears.
Extensions and remodels
Where the design and the construction sequence are tightly linked and the household is living through the work.
One-off new homes
Where design intent needs to survive the whole way to completion instead of being priced out of the job.
Barn and rural conversions
Projects with real unknowns, where design decisions have to be made mid-build with cost consequences understood.
The Risk of Getting It Wrong
The cost of splitting designand construction
Where these projects go wrong
In the traditional route, a designer produces drawings and a contractor prices them. When something is unclear, incomplete or unbuildable, the contractor charges a variation and the designer says it was implied. That argument happens on almost every split-responsibility project, and the client funds both sides of it.
Tender pricing suffers too. A contractor pricing drawings they had no part in shaping prices the risk as well as the work: unknown ground conditions, ambiguous details and the possibility of a demanding design team all get loaded into the number. You pay for that uncertainty whether it materialises or not.
The final cost is design intent. When the price comes back high, the cuts fall on the parts that made the scheme worth building: the glazing, the roof detail, the material that gave the extension its character. A team that both designed and priced the job knows where the savings can come from without gutting it.
Common mistakes
Appointing a builder with no drawings
Without a technical package there is no fixed scope, so there is no fixed price: only a starting figure.
Choosing on price alone
The lowest tender usually carries the most exclusions, and the difference emerges as variations once you are committed.
No written contract
Payment stages, programme, variation procedure and retention need to be in writing before the first delivery arrives.
Large payments up front
Payment should follow work completed and valued, not precede it. Anything else transfers all the risk to you.
Our Process
Five stages, one team,no gaps in between
01Consultation and brief
Site visit, measured survey, and an open conversation about what you want and what you can spend before anything is drawn.
02Design and cost plan
Concept and scheme design produced with our quantity surveyor pricing it in parallel, so the design and the budget converge.
03Planning and building regulations
Application submitted and managed to decision, then the full technical package and building control submission prepared.
04Construction
Built by our own CSCS-carded team, sequenced against a programme, with the designer still involved and progress reported against the cost plan.
05Completion and sign-off
Snagging agreed and cleared, building control sign-off obtained and the final account reconciled: one team accountable throughout.
What You Get
The practical differenceon your project
Single-point responsibility
One contract covering design and construction. No gap between drawings and site for problems to fall into.
A price built on real knowledge
The people pricing the job are the people building it, working from drawings they produced. Less risk loading, fewer variations.
Design intent survives to completion
The features that justified the project are not the first casualties when the budget is tested.
Faster start on site
Design, planning, technical package and construction planning overlap instead of running strictly in sequence.
Qualified, insured trades
All build staff hold CSCS cards and we carry £5,000,000 public liability insurance.
Continuity from first sketch
The same practice from concept to handover, so nothing has to be explained twice.
In Detail
How design and buildworks in practice
Design and build is a procurement route as much as a service. Understanding how it differs from the traditional route helps you decide whether it suits your project.
Design and build versus the traditional route
Under the traditional route, you appoint a designer, obtain approvals, then tender the completed drawings to contractors. It offers competitive tension on price and full design control, but leaves you holding the interface risk between the two appointments.
Under design and build, one organisation carries both. You trade some tender competition for single-point responsibility, faster delivery and pricing informed by construction knowledge. Because we also design schemes for other builders to construct, we will say honestly when the traditional route suits your project better.
What we build, and what we hand over
Construction is roughly a quarter of our workload and we take on projects we have designed: extensions, remodels, one-off new homes and rural conversions across Lincolnshire. Selecting rather than accepting everything is what allows the design team to stay involved on the projects we do build.
For the remaining three quarters, we produce a complete tender package: planning approval, building regulations drawings, structural coordination and a measured cost plan, for the contractor of your choice. That work is done to the same standard whether or not we are building it.
Contracts, payment and programme
Every project runs on a written agreement setting out the scope, the contract sum, the programme, the payment stages, how variations are priced and how completion is defined. Payments follow work completed and valued by our quantity surveyor, in line with the programme.
Programme is agreed before starting on site and tracked throughout. A typical single-storey extension runs twelve to twenty weeks on site; a new build nine to fourteen months; a barn conversion nine to fifteen depending on the condition of the existing structure. Weather, ground conditions and long-lead items are planned into the programme rather than used to explain it afterwards.
The build team, trades and standards
The team covers groundworks and drainage, masonry and structure, roofing, carpentry and joinery, and coordinates electrical, plumbing, heating, plastering and decorating. Many have worked with us for years, which is why detailing is executed as drawn rather than reinterpreted on site.
Standards are checked against the approved drawings and the building regulations at each stage: setting out, damp-proof courses, insulation continuity, cavity trays, structural connections and drainage falls. Building control inspections are booked before work is covered, and photographic records form part of the handover.
Residential and commercial delivery
On residential work, the client is usually living in or next to the building. Sequencing to keep the house usable, protecting finishes, controlling dust and keeping the site tidy are treated as part of the job rather than a courtesy.
Commercial projects add fire strategy, accessibility requirements, and the need to keep a business trading through the works, often meaning phased possession and out-of-hours activity. We take on commercial work across Lincolnshire alongside our residential projects, with the same single-point responsibility.
Questions
Design & Build Constructionquestions, answered
What is design and build?
One organisation takes responsibility for both designing and constructing your project under a single contract. It removes the gap between designer and contractor, which is where most disputes, delays and variations originate.
Do you build everything you design?
No, and that is deliberate. Around a quarter of our work is construction, on selected projects we have designed. The rest we design and hand to your chosen contractor with a complete tender package.
How much does a design and build project cost?
It depends entirely on size, specification and ground conditions. What we can promise is that our in-house quantity surveyor prices your actual scheme during design, so you get a real figure for your project rather than an average. Call 07876 566781 to arrange a site visit.
How long does a design and build project take?
For a single-storey extension, roughly two to four weeks design, eight weeks planning, three to four weeks for building regulations and twelve to twenty weeks on site. A new build typically runs nine to fourteen months on site, a barn conversion nine to fifteen.
Is the price fixed?
The contract sum is agreed against a defined scope and a full technical package, which is what makes a firm price possible. Changes you request and genuine unknowns such as ground conditions are priced and agreed as variations before the work is carried out.
Are you insured, and are your trades qualified?
We carry £5,000,000 public liability insurance and all build staff hold CSCS cards. The build team runs to 15 at peak, combining full-time staff and long-standing trusted subcontractors.
Who handles planning and building control?
We do, on every project. Planning drawings, the application and all correspondence with the authority, plus the building regulations package and building control submission through to sign-off.
Can I make changes once the build has started?
Yes, though changes are cheaper the earlier they happen. Anything requested on site is priced and agreed with you before it is instructed, so nothing appears on the final account that you have not approved.
What happens at the end of the project?
We walk the project with you, agree a snagging list and work through it, obtain building control sign-off and reconcile the final account against the cost plan.
Which areas do you build in?
Lincoln, Lincolnshire and Newark, plus Gainsborough, Louth, Horncastle, Sleaford, Scunthorpe and Grimsby, generally anywhere within about an hour of LN8 3SB.
One team from first sketchto the day you move back in
Design, planning, building regulations and construction under one point of responsibility. 7am to 5:30pm.
£5m public liability · all build staff CSCS carded