iPlans Avis 84

Great experience, and wonderful team. So pleased with the end result!

Came to iplan in a bit of flustered.
Marion was fantastic straight away.
She was so well informed but very clear in conveying her vast knowledge base.
Sorted out my planning problem, always keeping me upto date and on track.
Highly recommend

A great thanyou to Marian, who did a great job getting my planning application over the line.

I had already written a review for Anthony and IPlans however I feel now is the perfect time to provide an updated one. I am now well into my build so I assumed I’d be on the low priority list for IPlans as my plans have been processed and 99 percent of the money has been taken. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

I am a self builder and my build is a first for me and is something quite big. Building never goes to plan, and during some demolition I found the front wall to my house was inadequately built and wouldn’t be suitable to support a flitch beam and timber first floor. I was straight on the phone to IPlans to discuss an extra steel for the front of my house. Within 10 minutes I had a email from Anthony promising to review the situation first thing in the morning. He kept his word and looked at some photos and my follow up email in great time and agreed we could do with another steel as the wall was precarious to say the least. I had the calculations within 7 days and he even went as far as to give me some extra advice on a few things and was rapid with his responses. It’s great to have a company that truly does stay with you through the build. It’s especially important for me as im learning it as I go.

When looking for a design company it’s important a rapport exists between client and customer to maximise the customer experience. It’s also important to understand that things change and develop throughout a build. Designers and architects can’t always be held responsible for the unknowns. It’s a matter of leaning on that rapport to look at the issues and overcome them together. Anthony and the whole team at IPlans have made this ongoing experience great and I feel supported, even when the front of my house isn’t…..😅. Please check out my YouTube channel, documenting this build and for a look at the drawings and work IPlans have provided.

@Transformityourself

Excellent service and fab people.

Great company to work with. Everything was dealt professionally and was happy with over all services.

I wanted to wait some time in writing this review to ensure it was as dispassionate as possible.
My experiences with this organisation are similar to others in terms of quality. The quality of the work was quite poor. I can understand some of the mistakes being made because they do not visit the site (that is something that is reflected in the cost of their services), it's unavoidable and they do eventually fix the issues. However, some of the basic errors, unrelated to site visits were completely inexcusable. For instance, when two steels were specified to be installed in our ceiling, the architect 'forgot' about cross support needed to support the staircase (even the most basically qualified architect would have identified this as a problem at the most cursory glance). The builders were forced to suggest a solution, which we did manage to resolve but I do worry about any other mistakes that may have reduced the safety of the building.
The other main problem was the documentation. It was so numerous that initially I was quite impressed. It was only when the builders suggested that none of the detail actually informed them how to complete certain tasks that I realised it was all auto-generated rubbish that you can easily find on Google. It took us weeks for the architect to provide a single drawing articulating how to connect two steel beams together safely.
That leads me to the final point. The architect, Ant, is impossible to get hold of and point-blank will not respond unless there is outstanding monies owed. We are in a very tricky position with our planning authority and iplans can help us. They have an email from the planning authority which is crucial to our case. I asked them for that email (but I do not owe them any money), no response. I formally requested it under privacy legislation, no response. This morning I raised a complaint to the privacy regulator in my last attempt to get hold of it. This is a 5-minute task (maximum) which can reduce the stress of my family, help us build the house that we want and being requested by a previous customer in good standing. Despite those things, they cannot be bothered to even reply to the emails. Would you want to work with a company that behaves like that? Greedy, incompetent, unprofessional and you should steer well clear!

Fantastic team. So unbelievably helpful, polite and professional. Only wish I found them before.

Catherine and Ant were incredibly helpful and very quick at replying to my questions. Ant has a wealth of knowledge, a great amount of enthusiasm, and suggests ideas that I certainly had not thought about (in my view everything you expect from a quality architect). Certainly worth an initial conversation to discuss your project and bounce around ideas with an expert!

Everyone was very professionals and helpful .
The communication was very good .
I want to thank you all of you

For the self builder like me, I-plans and Anthony are ideal! He understands and actually has experience in what he is designing. He’s been there and built it, unlike a lot of architects and designers. Therefore you’re getting someone who understands the practicality of what they are designing. Anthony has answered question after question regarding how to build his design which has been invaluable for me as I’m building the project myself. He has always answered in a timely fashion (sometimes 6 am on a Saturday!). The admin staff are very efficient and confirm your messages have been received. They also have a structural engineer in house, that specialises in timber builds, thus have an understanding of IPlans designs and the way they work. The also have a great understanding of the best ways to design and comply with various planning permission and have a dedicated team to help manage your application. The only slight negative is that we feel we could have done with a bit more one to one time with Anthony to go over a few elements at the design stage, however our lack of experience probably meant we didn’t get as much out of the initial one to one as we could have. Any confusions were cleared up however at the first time of asking and his invaluable answers through the process certainly made up for this.

In summary if you’re looking for a designer that stays with you even after the designs have been finalised and you want to build in timber frame, then I-plans is the company for you !! I feel I could ask Anthony a question at any time and he’ll answer and I know I’ll still have his support even as I’m building.

I will be documenting the build on my YouTube channel ‘transformityourself’ and doing a future video on the process of working with I-plans.

A massive thankyou to Anthony and the team at I-plans.

Great service, fast and efficient , all the team are very helpful and friendly.

The company was fast and efficient and provided information that allowed our application to be tracked. It also provided step by step information on the process of undertaking home improvements.

The iPlans team has been very professional with my planning permission for a dropped kerb. I was regularly updated on the progress of my application, and the team was very responsive. Very friendly staff.

Having purchased a bungalow in a quiet Close I was surprised that a neighbour took exception to the fence that I had erected even after I had told him face to face of my intentions. I now know why he ‘ informed’ on me to the local council but that is another storey for another day.
I needed a planning company & I’m so pleased that I chose iPlans. They have been with me all the way during this what you would consider a rather easy planning application but the local council authority kept putting hurdles in the way which iPlans were able to by skilled negotiation over come for me.
If iPlans are able to solve my planning problem re my fence is sure they have the skills & tenacity to gain planning permission for your project too
I must mention Mariann for her advice during & up to the conclusion of this application process
Thanks iPlans
Eámon AP Crouch

We have been really pleased with the service iplans have provided. They have definitely taken the stress out of the planning process and been on point every time if there has been a query from the council. I look forward to getting on with the build process and expect that they will provide the same level of oversight of the build that they have shown to date. Thank you to Ant and the team.

Very helpful and offering ongoing support with design and then planning. Only negative is, as am not au fait with technology, find using their "Portal" difficult.

On the whole the service has been excellent. Communication has been of a good standard and the staff have been helpful and patient when dealing with a techno-phobe like me Perhaps you could be a little more aware that not everyone is tech savvy from the outset!