# How to charge for a planning resubmission after refusal
Source: https://korrel.ai/blog/how-to-charge-planning-resubmission
Published: 2026-09-10
Updated: 2026-09-07
Topic: how to charge for a planning resubmission
Tags: change-control, estimating
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## Key points

- Close the original planning submission at the point covered by the agreed fee.
- Turn each refusal reason into defined tasks, outputs, owners, hours, external costs, and approval evidence.
- Record the pricing assumptions and issue a priced change before resubmission work starts.

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.

## Close the original planning submission first

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](https://www.riba.org/explore/find-an-architect/homeowners-digest/how-do-architects-calculate-fees/) separates local authority payments plus travel and printing from the architect's fee.

Create a short closure record with:

- the original application reference and submission date;
- the original deliverables and revision allowance;
- work completed before the decision;
- work still due under the accepted scope;
- the refusal decision and its date;
- client requests made after refusal.

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](/blog/charging-for-design-changes-after-sign-off). The cause does not set the fee by itself. The new work does.

## How do you define planning resubmission deliverables?

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:

- one refusal-response register;
- one option review with a stated number of options;
- one client review meeting;
- revised drawings listed by drawing number and revision;
- an updated planning statement or design and access statement;
- named consultant updates;
- one application form and submission pack;
- one validation response round with stated limits.

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](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/making-an-application) 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](/blog/define-deliverables-clients-cannot-expand) works here too. “Revise planning” has no useful boundary. “Revise five listed drawings once after the client selects option B” does.

## Build a refusal-reason work breakdown

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.

## How do you estimate labour and external costs?

Estimate hours by task and role. Include review and administration that the deliverable needs.

Typical labour groups are:

- analyse the refusal and plan the response;
- prepare and compare design options;
- obtain a client decision;
- revise each named drawing or document;
- brief and coordinate external consultants;
- run internal technical and quality reviews;
- check and assemble the application before submission;
- respond to agreed validation questions.

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](/blog/track-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:

- planning application charges;
- pre-application or specialist council services;
- planning consultant input;
- arboricultural, ecology, transport, heritage, or drainage advice;
- survey updates;
- mapping, printing, or travel.

Do not state that a repeat application is free. Current government [planning application fee guidance](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fees-for-planning-applications) 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.

## Record assumptions before setting the price

Assumptions make the price usable. They state what must remain true for the hours and external costs to hold.

Record assumptions about:

- the chosen resubmission route and application type;
- the refusal reasons included in the response;
- the number of design options and client review rounds;
- unchanged survey information and base drawings;
- client decision dates;
- consultant availability and quote validity;
- authority validation requirements;
- work excluded from the resubmission;
- responses during the new determination period.

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](/blog/how-to-price-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.

## How should you charge for a planning resubmission before work starts?

Turn the internal estimate into one clear change record. Follow a consistent [change request process](/blog/change-request-process-fixed-price-projects) even when the original appointment used stage fees.

The record should state:

1. why the new work is needed;
2. which original service has closed;
3. the resubmission deliverables and exclusions;
4. the fee basis and total price;
5. external costs and allowances;
6. assumptions and change triggers;
7. the programme effect and start condition;
8. the approval evidence you need.

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](https://app.korrel.dev/auth/signup) before the next resubmission begins.