Blog
7 min read
For pricing, treat a planning resubmission as a work package that responds to a refused application. Do not treat it as an automatic continuation of the original submission.
To decide how to charge for a planning resubmission, separate the completed work from the new response. Map each refusal reason to tasks, people, hours, external costs, and approval evidence. Then issue a priced change before anyone starts redesign or coordination.
This is an internal pricing process. It is not legal, planning, or contractual advice. Check the appointment, local requirements, and project facts before you act.
Start with the scope that the client already bought. Do not start with the refusal notice.
Find the accepted fee proposal, appointment, later instructions, and invoice record. Mark each original deliverable as complete, incomplete, or replaced. Record the application submission date and the work included after submission.
Your original planning service might have included one submission and routine answers during determination. It might also have included minor amendments requested by the planning officer. Do not assume either position. Use the written scope.
RIBA explains that architects can charge by percentage, lump sum, or time. It also says that significant project changes can require a fee adjustment. RIBA's fee guidance separates local authority payments plus travel and printing from the architect's fee.
Create a short closure record with:
Use this record to avoid two pricing errors. Do not charge twice for unfinished original work. Do not absorb a new design response into a fee that covered the first submission.
If the refusal followed a client change after sign-off, use the same boundary test described in charging for design changes after sign-off. The cause does not set the fee by itself. The new work does.
Read the decision notice and officer report. Copy each refusal reason into a working register without shortening it. A short label can hide several separate concerns.
Do not promise that a revised scheme will receive permission. Define what your practice will produce and coordinate instead.
A resubmission scope can include:
Check the current submission requirements rather than copying the old pack. In England, a valid application needs the form, national information, correct fee, and local information. The government's application guidance says local requirements must appear on an adopted local list. It also explains that plans and drawings are part of the national requirements.
The same guidance says an authority can consider a repeat application after refusal. It can also decline some similar repeated applications. Keep route advice outside the fixed production scope unless a suitably qualified person has confirmed the route.
Give every deliverable a format and count, plus an acceptance point. The method in defining deliverables clearly works here too. “Revise planning” has no useful boundary. “Revise five listed drawings once after the client selects option B” does.
Use one row for each refusal reason. Split a row when different people or evidence are needed. The owner is the person responsible for the task, not the client account lead by default.
This example is illustrative. It is not a recommended scope, rate, or fee.
| Refusal reason | Tasks and output | Owner | Hours | External cost | Approval evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scale and massing | Test two options; revise plans and elevations | Project architect | 18 | £0 | Client selects one dated option |
| Harm to neighbour amenity | Review sight lines; prepare one privacy diagram | Architect | 7 | £0 | Director signs drawing review |
| Insufficient tree information | Brief arboriculturist; coordinate revised layout | Architect | 4 | £850 allowance | Client approves consultant quote |
| Highway concern | Brief transport consultant; update access drawing | Architect | 5 | £1,200 allowance | Consultant note and client approval |
| Resubmission pack | Update statement, forms, drawing register, and upload | Assistant | 10 | Fee confirmed by authority | Submission checklist signed internally |
| Quality review | Check all reasons against the final pack | Director | 3 | £0 | Dated issue approval |
Keep the refusal wording beside this table in your working file. The short labels are only for navigation.
The approval evidence column tells the team what must exist before a task moves on. It also stops one option study from becoming an open redesign exercise.
Add coordination time where one response changes another. Check whether a smaller extension changes drainage, landscaping, or consultant drawings. Put identified work in the relevant row. Do not hide it in project management.
Estimate hours by task and role. Include review and administration that the deliverable needs.
Typical labour groups are:
Apply the practice's cost and sell rates to those hours. If you price by lump sum, keep the hour calculation internally. If uncertainty is still high, use a capped time charge for the uncertain task. RIBA's guidance describes time charging as suitable when the scope is less well defined. It says hours can be capped subject to client approval.
Use past records where comparable work exists. For a related method, see tracking time against RIBA stage fees. For this estimate, use the smallest useful work category, such as option design or consultant coordination.
Keep external costs on separate lines. They can include:
Do not state that a repeat application is free. Current government planning application fee guidance lists the applicable concessions and says fees can change each April. Confirm the application type and current charge with the authority before you price it.
Use a supplier quote when possible. Otherwise, label the amount as an allowance and state its basis. Explain how you will reconcile it. Also state the VAT treatment confirmed for each practice or supplier charge. Government guidance says VAT is not charged on planning application fees. Do not apply that rule to other charges without suitable tax advice.
Assumptions make the price usable. They state what must remain true for the hours and external costs to hold.
Record assumptions about:
Write a change trigger beside each assumption. For example: “The fee includes two massing options and one selected option. A third option needs a further priced change.”
Do not add a broad contingency because the project feels difficult. Name the uncertain event and estimate its effect. If you cannot bound the event, exclude that task or price it on capped time.
This is the same discipline used to price a paid discovery phase. A short initial review can be a separate paid step when the refusal needs specialist advice before the main response can be scoped.
Turn the internal estimate into one clear change record. Follow a consistent change request process even when the original appointment used stage fees.
The record should state:
Keep route advice separate from pricing approval. The client can approve an investigation first and then approve a defined resubmission. This sequence is useful while an appeal or a materially different application is under review.
Do not book redesign time to the original planning stage after refusal. Create a separate resubmission code. Record time and costs against the work breakdown. Review actuals after issue, then retain the result for the next refusal response.
Send the priced change and pause. Start only when the named client approver accepts the scope and fee, plus the costs and programme, in the required form.
Korrel supports priced change requests with approval. You can then track project time and costs against estimates. Start your free trial before the next resubmission begins.
RELATED READING:
Design the boundary of each stage before work starts. Define its output, included review, dependencies, and trigger for reopening the fee.
Set timesheet timing from the decision the data must support. Use this freshness policy to keep staffing, margin, billing, and estimates current.
Price discovery as a defined engagement. Cost each output, name the unknowns it will test, and charge only for the risk that remains.
Korrel turns briefs into structured proposals, then tracks what each job actually costs.
START FREE TRIAL