Cairn UK - We will organise all the planning permissions and consents on your behalf. The complete design and build service.

How we help you

Planning Good planning is the foundation of a good project. Decisions made at this stage have a huge effect. It's the one phase of a project where you can experiment and change your mind without incurring significant costs. We can provide initial design ideas and budget costings to assist you with decision-making before the formal design process even starts. We have a complete understanding of the building regulations and planning applications process. We'll manage and obtain all relevant Building Regulations approvals to ensure the project meets all legal and planning requirements. The sooner you involve us, the easier the project will be – so call us on 01829-860656 to arrange a meeting or send us an email. We are happy to discuss any new project, even if you're only at the 'first thoughts' stage.

 

Planning applications and planning permission As soon as you're clear on what you want, we'll work out a planning approval strategy for your project. If we identify anything that requires specialist advice, we'll bring in a planning consultant. We will guide your building project through all the necessary planning approvals, so that you don't have to worry about it.
  We work closely with the relevant planning department and planning officers, and will fully discuss any requested amendments with you at each stage. Our expertise ensures that your project will go smoothly and quickly through planning approval, and that you avoid costly reworks and alterations later in the project.

 

Design At Cairn Design & Build we take the time and effort to understand exactly what you want – what you want a new building to do, how you want to use it and what you want it to look and feel like.
  We use various methods to illustrate different design approaches – state-of-the-art CAD (computer aided design) packages make visualising different designs and styles quick and easy. But we also like freehand sketching, as this can be a really useful way of capturing what you imagine your building will be. We encourage clients to do their own sketches, no matter how good or bad a draughtsman they are!

Architects – not all projects require the input of an architect, but if it does we can look after that for you. If you are already working with your own architect, that's fine, too, and we will happily work with them.
  Above all, we take the time to talk to you – we discuss your ideas, your aspirations, the sort of style you like. We absorb all of this and come up with your unique solution – the building that is right for you.

 

Construct Top-quality building is at the heart of Cairn Design & Build. We use only time-served craftsmen and tradesmen, and we closely supervise all construction. We don't cut corners on methods or materials. We work as unobtrusively as possible. We clean up as we go. And we make sure all work is to a uniformly high standard. Our electricians are NICEIC certified, and our gas fitters and plumbers are all Gas Safe registered. We carry out the whole project, from site preparation, laying drains and foundations and superstructure through to 1st and 2nd fixes, decoration and final fix and commissioning. We can build all access ways, paths and driveways.
   If any specialists are needed, we draw them in to complement our core team. We'll manage them as part of the main project, so that you don't have to worry.

 

Project Management We take all the work of project management off your shoulders. We seamlessly tie together all the different phases of your project, so that things happen when they're supposed to – deliveries are on time, the right people are on site at the right time and the project flows from start to completion.

Keeping you informed We'll keep you completely informed throughout the job – we make sure that you're kept up to date, so that you don't have to call us to find out what's happening. We're open and transparent in the way we work – you can ask about anything at any time, and we'll explain things in a straightforward and jargon-free manner.

 

Working round you If we're working on your home while you're still living there, we realise that special measures are called for. You don't want your home to become a building site. Well, not only are we as quiet and clean as possible, we also find innovative ways to keep your home habitable and comfortable while building work is going on.
  This can include installing temporary kitchens and bathrooms in a different part of your home – this is easier than you'd think, and a lot cheaper and less disruptive than having to move out into rented accommodation, or staying with friends or family. Whatever is needed, we'll find a way to work round you and your family so that life can go on while we improve your home.

 

Changes Changes to a design during construction can be catered for. Sometimes, people change their minds during a build – when this happens, we talk through the options, then present you with a fully-costed set of options. The one thing we won’t do is incorporate the changes and use them as an excuse to present you with an inflated bill at the end of the job.

Troubleshooting A job’s not over until it’s over. Before we leave, we make sure that everything works, everything is properly finished and everything is as we said it would be. You may have had some building work done by another company that you aren’t happy with. Cairn Design & Build are happy to take on jobs that have gone wrong and need remedial work. We’ll assess what has been done, what you initially wanted and what the options are to put things right. We’ll cost and plan these out so that you can decide what to do next. We won’t pretend that this is easy – putting things right when they’ve gone wrong is often more difficult and costly than getting them right in the first place. But at least we’ll give you a solution and a way out.

Problems we avoid - Here are some of the common problems that happen in building projects – and what we do to avoid them. By hiring Cairn Design & Build for the complete project, you can avoid all of these.

Cost overruns Imagine – your new home is finished, you’re looking forward to moving in but then you get presented with a final bill that’s considerably more than the price you agreed to when you started. Even if a cost overrun comes to light before completion, it still puts you between a rock and a hard place. You want the project finished – but you have to find more money from somewhere. We avoid this happening by a combination of careful planning, detailed costing, close supervision on site and regular updates – so you don’t get any nasty surprises.

Planning delays Delays in getting planning approval usually occur because of insufficient dialogue with the planning officers, or because the guidelines and building regulations have not been followed closely enough. We avoid planning problems by working as closely as possible with the planning officers, and by an excellent knowledge of the planning guidelines and building regulations. Where decisions involve a degree of interpretation, we try to find out the basis on which they will be made, and stay on the right side of the guideline.

Design faults These are almost always avoidable. They arise either because the options haven’t been properly discussed and explained at the outset – or because someone made a mistake.
  We discuss with you what you want, and the different ways we can achieve it, before we start to build. We don’t want you to find out that we’re halfway through building something you didn’t expect. And when it comes to design, we know what we’re doing. Our designs are buildable and technically correct. We work with qualified structural engineers to ensure that our designs are sound. And we ensure that what we build on site matches the design by close supervision.

Quality problems Build quality problems usually happen when insufficient attention is paid on site, or when standards are deliberately slipped to try to recover cost problems.
  Cairn Design & Build avoid on-site problems by only working with top-quality craftsmen and tradesmen, and by close supervision of all works. Problems are rare, and they are immediately rectified when they occur. Careful and detailed costing before starting any work avoids cost overruns – and in any case, we would never try to regain our profit margin by skimping on materials quality. It’s just not the way we work.

Handover mistakes Whenever more than one company is managing a project there is scope for mistakes to occur. The point where one company takes over from another is an opportunity for things to go wrong. By appointing us to manage your building project from start to finish, you avoid any chance of this happening.
  We’ll keep track of everything, make sure that things happen when they should do and be the guiding force behind the whole project.