Costs & Pricing
181 sources in the library on costs & pricing. Each one says what the document covers and what it is good for. Name a source to see which document it is and where to read it. One at a time. Page 5 of 5.
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Welsh Government (gov.wales)
WALES. Published 20 October 2025. Confirms that Welsh planning fees changed on 1 December 2025 and now cover planning applications, amendments, deemed applications and site visits, all set out in the fee policy and fee document rather than in the England fee regulations. Some applications need no fee and others attract a reduced fee depending on type and circumstances, and paying too little makes the application invalid or delays it. Further guidance sits in the Welsh Development Management Manual, the Welsh counterpart to England's Planning Practice Guidance.
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Welsh Government (GOV.WALES)
Eligibility for the Welsh Government Warm Homes Nest scheme, the Welsh equivalent of ECO and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which supplies measures free rather than as a cash grant. Tenure: the applicant must own or privately rent the home, so local authority and housing association tenants are excluded. Financial test: either receipt of a qualifying means-tested benefit (Child Tax Credit with annual income under £18,660, Council Tax Reduction, Pension Credit or Universal Credit) or a low household income below thresholds that vary by household composition, examples given being £15,521 a year for a single adult and £23,166 for a couple, measured after mortgage or rent. Property test: an EPC rating of 54 (band E) or below on the standard route, relaxed to 68 (band D) or below where a household member has an eligible chronic health condition, listed as respiratory disease, circulatory disease, mental health, dementia, and intellectual and developmental disorders. Freephone 0808 808 2244.
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Welsh Government (GOV.WALES)
The Welsh replacement for stamp duty, administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority. Main residential rates on or after 10 October 2022: 0% up to £225,000, 6% from £225,001 to £400,000, 7.5% from £400,001 to £750,000, 10% from £750,001 to £1,500,000, and 12% above £1,500,000. Note that Wales has no first-time buyer relief, unlike England. Higher residential rates, for additional properties, on or after 11 December 2024: 5% up to £180,000, 8.5% from £180,001 to £250,000, 10% from £250,001 to £400,000, 12.5% from £400,001 to £750,000, 15% from £750,001 to £1,500,000 and 17% above £1,500,000; the previous higher-rate scale from 22 December 2020 to 10 December 2024 ran a percentage point lower at each band. Wales applies its surcharge as a separate rate table rather than as a bolt-on percentage, so a Welsh higher-rate purchase cannot be worked out by adding a surcharge to the main rates.
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Welsh Government (GOV.WALES)
The devolved Welsh landfill tax rates, administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority under the Landfill Disposals Tax (Wales) Act 2017. From 1 April 2026: standard rate £130.75 per tonne, lower rate £8.65 per tonne, and an unauthorised disposals rate of £196.15 per tonne. For 2025 to 2026 the rates were £126.15 standard, £6.30 lower and £189.25 unauthorised. The unauthorised disposals rate is set at 150% of the standard rate and applies to waste disposed of at a site with no environmental permit, which is what makes fly-tipping a taxable event in Wales as well as a criminal one. The lower rate applies only to materials meeting the qualifying conditions in the 2017 Act, essentially inert material such as rock, soil and concrete. Note the Welsh standard and lower rates match Scotland's from April 2026 but the Welsh lower rate differed in 2025 to 2026, so do not assume the three UK regimes align.
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Welsh Revenue Authority
Land Transaction Tax replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales from 1 April 2018 and is collected and managed by the Welsh Revenue Authority for the Welsh Government. First published 21 September 2017 and last updated 25 November 2024. The current LTT threshold is 225,000 pounds for residential properties where the buyer does not own other property, and 225,000 pounds for non-residential land and property. The correction most often needed: there is no first-time buyers' relief in Wales, unlike England and Northern Ireland. Higher residential rates apply where the buyer already owns one or more residential properties, though not normally where they are replacing a main residence. LTT is a self-assessed tax and a return must be sent even where there is nothing to pay, except for certain transactions that need no return. Specific reliefs exist for multiple dwellings, group structures and charities. Since 3 July 2023 solicitors and conveyancers can only file LTT online, and the WRA publishes a postcode checker to establish whether a property is in Wales.
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BCIS (RICS)
The reference point every UK cost claim is measured against, and the reason so few of them can be sourced publicly. BCIS publishes construction cost data, operational cost data, reinstatement cost data for insurance, and whole-life cost and carbon information. Its named products are BCIS CapX, a cloud platform of independent construction cost data; BCIS OpX for operational costs of commercial buildings; BCIS TotX combining the two; BCIS LCE for whole-life cost and carbon; BCIS IAPB for International Average Building Prices; BCIS Rebuild Plus for indicative rebuild costs; and BCIS ProtX for insurance reinstatement. The critical fact for a reference book: access is behind a login to the BCIS online service, and the site publishes no free public rate tables. Any per-square-metre or per-item figure attributed to BCIS in a public article is therefore either a licensee's quotation of subscription data or an unverifiable secondhand claim, and cannot be checked at source. Cite BCIS for what exists and who maintains it, not for a number.
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BRE Group
Important currency point for any note mentioning certification schemes: the Home Quality Mark no longer exists under that name. BRE has folded it into the BREEAM product range as BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential, with version 6.1 released in April 2025. HQM led residential sustainability assessment in the UK from 2015 with more than 50,000 homes registered. The scheme assesses homes against three sustainability indicators covering environmental performance (carbon emissions, resource efficiency, biodiversity, circular design), social performance (occupant health and wellbeing, indoor air quality, daylight, thermal comfort, noise, access to green space) and economic performance (efficient use of materials, future-ready infrastructure, running costs, adaptability). Homes are rated on a scale from pass to outstanding. BRE states the certification recognises performance BEYOND minimum regulations only, and that certification can open access to green mortgages and investment incentives. Separately, BREEAM Refurbishment and Fit-Out (currently V7) is the BREEAM standard covering refurbishment rather than new build, and BREEAM has run third-party certified standards since 1990.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 21 November 2025, superseded by BS 8524-1:2025. BS 8524-1:2013 was published 30 April 2013 and itself replaced PAS 121, which was withdrawn 31 July 2013. It specified requirements for the design, testing and classification of active fire curtain barrier assemblies installed to the recommendations of BS 8524-2, covering reliability and durability, fire resistance, smoke containment and impact resistance of the assemblies, their control devices and ancillary equipment, for curtains of any material. Its two stated functions are maintaining compartmentation against fire and smoke spread, and giving access to escape routes while preserving fire resistance and limiting smoke into protected corridors and shafts. Any note quoting BS 8524-1:2013 or BS 8524-2:2013 is now naming a withdrawn edition and should be updated to the 2025 parts. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication and withdrawal dates and scope; the requirements are paywalled.
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Financial Conduct Authority
The register to check before accepting finance arranged by a builder, showroom or installer. Confirms that in the UK almost all financial firms must be authorised or registered by the FCA, and that the tool shows both whether a firm is authorised and whether it has permission to provide the specific services being offered. Sets out the tool's limits candidly: it cannot confirm whether Financial Services Compensation Scheme or Financial Ombudsman Service protection will apply, it omits products and services offered only to other firms, published crypto restrictions, historic fines, the right to approve financial promotions and the ability to handle client money, all of which sit on the fuller Financial Services Register along with information on individuals. Notes that certain financial products are not regulated at all and so do not appear, that updates take on average 24 hours, and that some information is supplied by firms so accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Financial Conduct Authority
The regulator's 2026 multi-firm review of the product most often sold as a home improvement loan, published 12 March 2026 and updated 13 March 2026. Establishes the market facts a finance note should cite: second charge mortgages let a homeowner borrow against equity without changing their main mortgage, they are typically less than 4 per cent of regulated mortgage sales, they tend to carry higher interest rates than first charge mortgages, and consumers mostly use them to consolidate debt rather than to fund works. Warns that these customers often carry a high level of debt so a significant proportion may have characteristics of vulnerability including low financial resilience. The FCA reviewed quality of advice, robustness of affordability assessments, the role of intermediaries, record keeping and intermediary fees, sampling firms covering over 40 per cent of second charge advice firms and around 50 per cent of second charge lenders, and found evidence of poor practices creating a risk of poor customer outcomes. Frames expectations against the Consumer Duty and the Mortgage Conduct of Business rules, and follows a 2018 Dear CEO letter to second charge lenders and a 2025 Portfolio Letter to mortgage intermediaries.
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Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The RICS page that hosts the three New Rules of Measurement documents as free PDFs plus supporting Excel templates, so a reviewer can check a cost figure against the professional rules without a subscription. It carries RICS NRM 1, October 2021, 4.61 MB PDF, published 28 October 2021, and RICS NRM 2, October 2021, 2.60 MB PDF, alongside NRM 3. The page states that using NRM 1 ensures clients are advised of and have confidence in the quality and consistency of the cost information provided to them, and that supporting Excel templates are available for preparing estimates and cost plans in accordance with NRM 1 and NRM 2. It carries an explicit disclaimer that RICS makes no representation or warranty about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of the templates, that users must check embedded logic and formulae themselves, and that RICS accepts no responsibility for their misuse. Use this page as the stable landing point and the individual PDFs for the actual rules.
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Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The mandatory standard a UK valuer works to, and the right citation whenever a note distinguishes a survey from a valuation. The Red Book UK national supplement sets specific requirements for applying the RICS Valuation Global Standards to valuations undertaken subject to UK jurisdiction; it was published on 19 October 2023 and came into effect on 1 May 2024, applying to all valuations with a valuation date on or after that. Its references were updated following the updated RICS Valuation Global Standards effective 31 January 2025. RICS defines subject to UK jurisdiction as where performance of the valuation contract is subject to UK statutes, rules and regulations, also considering the jurisdiction in which a claim about the valuation could be brought; the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and the Republic of Ireland are not part of the UK. The update was made to implement valuation governance amendments from the Valuation Review plus technical updates to public sector, financial reporting and residential content, including a new rotation policy for some regulated purpose valuations. One correction a note should carry: RICS states there is NO new residential mortgage specification. Residential mortgage valuation advice previously sat in VPGA 11 (effective 2019) and before that Appendix 10 of the 2014 edition updated April 2015; the newly updated VPGA 11 sets only high level principles for residential valuation and does not go into significant detail on residential mortgages, and RICS is separately developing a new UK professional standard for the valuation of residential property for owner occupation.
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Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The landing page for the Red Book, the publication that details MANDATORY practices for RICS members undertaking valuation services and serves as a reference for valuation users. The page confirms the current edition, RICS Valuation Global Standards, became effective on 31 January 2025, and that the Red Book sits on top of the International Valuation Standards (IVS), which are the key global guidance for valuation professionals, with the Red Book UK national supplement applying the Global Standards to UK jurisdiction valuations. Use it to make the point that a Red Book valuation is a regulated, mandatory-standard product distinct from an RICS Home Survey, which is governed instead by the Home Survey Standard, even though a Home Survey Level 2 can be bought in a survey and valuation version.
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Construction Industry Training Board
The statutory training levy that sits inside every contractor's overhead and therefore inside every quoted price. Under the 2026 Levy Order the rate is 0.35% of PAYE payroll plus 1.25% of payments to net paid CIS subcontractors. The Small Business Levy Exemption removes the charge entirely where the combined PAYE and net CIS wage bill is under £150,000; the Small Business Levy Reduction gives a 50% discount where that combined bill falls between £150,000 and £499,999. The split rate is why a firm that subcontracts heavily carries a different levy burden from one that employs directly, and why the levy is a meaningful line only above the exemption threshold. Note the asymmetry with the Construction Industry Scheme: CIS is a tax deduction mechanism operated by HMRC, while the CITB levy is a separate industry charge assessed on the same payments.
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NASC
NASC is the UK trade body for access and scaffolding, founded in 1945, with over 950 member contracting firms, suppliers and manufacturers, and describes itself as setting standards and driving safety and compliance across the sector. It publishes the contractual, health and safety, technical and product purchasing guidance notes that HSE points to, including SG4 'Preventing falls in scaffolding operations' (SG4:22 is a free download) and the TG20 design guidance, whose ePortal gained 1.5 metre lifts and returns options in an update announced on 4 September 2026. Useful as the accreditation to look for when comparing scaffolding quotes.
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Property Care Association
The Property Care Association's code of practice for remedial wall tie and lateral restraint work, covering survey, diagnosis, tie selection, installation and making good.
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The Tile Association
A page of The Tile Association's Tiling Guide on wet areas: wet rooms and showers must be tiled onto a waterproof background, such as a tanking kit, tanking mat or waterproof backer board, with at least a C2 adhesive.
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TrustMark
What a TrustMark registration is actually worth financially, which is the practical difference between it and an unaccredited trader. Under the TrustMark Framework Operating Requirements every Registered Business is expected to provide a minimum of two years of financial protection for completed works in and around the home, covering product warranties and workmanship. The stated purpose is to cover the homeowner if the business ceases trading for any reason, and TrustMark expects the coverage to extend to four things: prepayments such as deposits or other money paid in advance of work, two years post completion of workmanship, rectification of defects or non-compliance with Building Regulations, and major damage or injury through public liability insurance. Cover varies between businesses depending on their financial protection provider, and TrustMark advises obtaining the details of the specific cover from the business before contracting, and satisfying yourself that it covers the particular products or systems being installed.
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Financial Ombudsman Service
Explains the average clause, the mechanism that reduces a payout when a home is insured for less than its rebuild cost, last updated 10 July 2026. States that where a policy contains an average clause the insurer may use it so that the policyholder bears a proportion of any loss or damage if the item was insured for less than its replacement value, and that the insurer applies its own formula. Identifies the two grounds on which the ombudsman upholds such complaints: the insurer tried to apply an average clause that is not actually in the policy, and the insurer applied the average clause without ever having asked the consumer to estimate the full value of the buildings or contents. Also covers complaints where the insurer failed to ask the right question, giving the example of an application asking how much cover do you need when what the insurer wanted was the total value of everything in the home, and where the insurer did not make clear that pre-filled parts of an online form had to be checked for accuracy. Confirms the complaint route requires a formal complaint to the firm first, with the ombudsman available if no final response arrives within eight weeks.
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Advanced Resin Solutions
a resin bound driveway installer publishing its own 2026 trade prices, for its own resin binder, split the way the work actually divides: £45 to £85 per m2 to lay an overlay on sound tarmac or concrete and £90 to £125 per m2 for a full system with excavation and a permeable sub-base, with the material alone at £22 to £32. It is the only source the cost book holds for that split, which every aggregated guide blurs into one range, and it is a contractor stating what it charges rather than a summary of what other people say they charge. Trade prices excluding VAT, so not what a householder pays
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Builder Depot (reproducing British Gypsum technical data)
A merchant product page that reproduces British Gypsum's technical data for Thistle Bonding Coat undercoat plaster. It gives coverage of 2.75 m2 per 25 kg bag at 11 mm, an application thickness of 8 to 11 mm, and a 200 minute set before the finish coat.