House extension specification - what is it?

Most house extension scheme drawings need to be supported with a separate specification manual these days when being presented for Building Regulations Approval and for builder tender prices.  This is simply due to the amount of detailed information that now needs to be stated on house extension designs.

Any home extension designer or architect who is only preparing drawing plans is probably falling short on his duty of care or expertise and the homeowner could possibly use this as one of the due diligence tests when interviewing home extension designers for selection.

The house extension specification accurately describes each element of the works that may be difficult to 'cram' onto the main drawings.  My own elemental descriptions of the works can amount to several A4 pages so I just do not know how many 'plan drawers' still get by using drawings alone?

By allowing the house extension designer greater scope to explain his working design and building details will enable the tendering builder to better understand what is required allowing for a more accurate price of the works to be submitted unfettered by excessive extra cost claims during the works later on.

A separate specification manual also allows the builder to easily copy and print off the relevant sections within the spec. for his trades to price rather than trying to copy out huge A1 or AO size plans.