How we work
Clear scope, a fixed fee, and a draft before it goes anywhere
Flood risk work has a reputation for arriving late and costing more than expected. Most of that comes down to scope drifting quietly after the quote. We try to settle it up front instead.
The process, step by step
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Tell us about the site
Send the address or postcode, a sketch or drawing if you have one, and what you are hoping to build. We check the flood zone, the mapped surface water risk and what the local authority normally asks for on sites like yours.
No charge, and no obligation. If you do not need a report, we will say so.
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A fixed fee, in writing
You get a written proposal setting out exactly which documents we will produce, what sits inside each one, what we need from you, and what it costs. If Environment Agency modelled data has to be requested, we tell you how that affects the timetable before you commit.
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Assessment, then a draft
We gather the data, run the assessment and write the report — then send it to you in draft. You see it before your planning authority does, so anything that has changed on the drawings can be picked up while it is still easy to change.
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Issue, and stay with it to the decision
The final report is issued in a form you can submit straight to the portal. If the case officer, the Environment Agency or the lead local flood authority comes back with questions, we answer them.
Agree at proposal stage what is covered, so there is no argument about it later.
Before you email
What we will ask you for
Nothing here is a barrier to getting in touch — send what you have and we will tell you what is missing.
To give you a fee
- The site address or postcode
- A sentence on what you want to build
- Any planning reference, if there is one already
To do the work
- A location plan and a red line boundary
- Existing and proposed layouts and elevations
- A topographic survey levelled to Ordnance Datum, where one exists
- Any correspondence from the authority, the Environment Agency or the lead local flood authority
If there is no level survey, say so. For some sites the report can proceed without one; for others it is the single most important piece of information and we will tell you that before you commit to a fee.
Being straight about it
Where things usually go wrong
In our experience of this kind of work, delays cluster around a small number of predictable points. It is worth knowing about them at the start rather than halfway through.
Waiting on data
Where a report needs Environment Agency modelled levels, the data request has its own turnaround and it is outside anyone's control. If you have a submission deadline, tell us in the first email so we can plan around it — or tell you honestly that it will not fit.
Drawings that move
Floor levels, footprints and site levels feed directly into the assessment. If the architect changes them after the report is drafted, parts of it have to be redone. Sending the draft to you first is deliberate: it is the cheapest moment to catch that.
A sequential test started too late
The search area needs agreeing with the case officer before the assessment is written. Doing it the other way round is the most common reason a sequential test has to be redone.
Assuming Flood Zone 1 means no work
Flood zones describe rivers and the sea only. Surface water risk sits outside them entirely, and it is behind a large share of the drainage conditions we see attached to permissions.
Send us a postcode and we will take a look
You will get an honest answer about what your application is likely to need — including if that answer is that you do not need us.