Four stages. No drawings you didn’t ask for.
Set Square Studio’s process ends with a finished building. This one ends with a decision — which is a different job, priced and run differently.
Read-out
You send the address and the problem. We look at the site, the history, the policy position and whatever correspondence already exists, and we tell you where you actually stand.
That includes telling you when the answer is don’t. A read-out that ends “this isn’t worth pursuing, and here’s why” has done its job. It’s cheaper than finding out at appeal.
Strategy
There is usually more than one route to the same outcome, and they differ enormously in cost, time and risk. A fresh application. An appeal. A certificate of lawfulness. A negotiated amendment. Sometimes doing nothing for a defined period.
We pick the route on the evidence and tell you the timescale and the cost before you commit to it.
Evidence
A consent is a structure of evidence. We assemble the case, and any specialists it genuinely needs — ecology, heritage, transport, drainage, viability — and no more than that.
This is where most applications are actually decided. Since April 2026 it’s also where most appeals are decided, because an appeal now runs on the material the council already had.
Decision
We run it to determination and handle the authority throughout — the officer, the consultees, the negotiation over conditions, the amendments that stop a refusal happening.
You get the decision and you get the reasons, in writing, in English.
What it costs
Draft wording — the fee structure below is our suggestion of the shape, awaiting Tom’s actual position.
The first conversation is free and it’s a real conversation, not a sales call. After that, most work is quoted as a fixed fee against a defined scope, so you know the number before you commit. Appeals and enforcement matters are quoted in stages, because how far they run depends on how the other side behaves.
We’ll tell you when our fee is disproportionate to what’s at stake. That happens, and it’s better said early.
How long things take
| Stage | Time |
|---|---|
| Read-out | Days, not weeks |
| Planning application | 8 weeks statutory for most applications, 13 for major schemes — extensions of time are routine |
| Lodging an appeal | 12 weeks from a householder or minor commercial refusal · 6 months from most others |
| Enforcement notice appeal | 28 days from service, before the notice takes effect — no discretion |
You don’t have to start from nothing
Most of our work arrives mid-flight. An architect who needs the planning case argued. A developer who needs a site appraised before exchange. A solicitor who needs planning evidence for a transaction or a dispute. An owner who has already been refused, already replied to the council, and already made it slightly worse.
None of that is a problem. Bring what exists.
Step one is a conversation.
Send us the address and tell us what’s happened. We’ll tell you where you stand.
Start a conversation