Tender Pricing from Your Drawings
For architects, designers and homeowners who already hold planning drawings and want a fixed, itemised price for the build.
A fixed, itemised price from your drawing pack
If you already have planning drawings, you do not need another ballpark figure. Send us the drawing pack. We review it, meet you on site and price the job as a fixed, itemised sum, broken down by trade, on a JCT contract.
What to send. The more complete the pack, the fewer assumptions in the price. Send what you have of the following: planning drawings (existing and proposed plans, sections and elevations); the structural engineer's drawings and calculations; a schedule of works or specification; the planning decision notice and its conditions; where you are with party wall notices; your target start date; and the site address, with notes on access. The contact form accepts PDF, JPG, PNG, HEIC and DWG files, up to 10 files of 25 MB each.
What you get back
We do not rely on m² estimates or ballpark figures. Every quote is built from first principles against your specific property and brief, which at tender stage means your drawings and specification.
- A fixed, itemised price. A fully itemised quotation broken down by trade, not an estimate range. You see what each element costs before you sign anything.
- Provisional sums and exclusions in plain view. Our quotations are based on a complete specification: no provisional sums for items we have not properly scoped, and no hidden costs. Our own guide to choosing a builder says a thorough quote sets out any provisional sums or exclusions. Check ours against it.
- A site visit before the price is confirmed. We visit and measure. Access, the condition of the existing building and what sits on the boundary all affect cost, and they are easier to judge on site than on paper.
- Structural input. We work from your engineer's drawings and calculations where you have them. Where you do not, we obtain structural engineer input on the key elements before we quote.
- A defined programme. The contract sets a defined programme. Before work begins we produce a detailed construction programme showing the sequence of trades, key milestones and the expected handover date.
- A JCT contract. A recognised form of contract with a fixed price for the agreed scope, clear variation procedures and dispute resolution provisions. We do not work on informal or verbal agreements.
- Variations in writing. If the scope changes, we issue a written variation instruction with the additional cost confirmed before any extra work is done.
- Insurance and accreditation details. £10M public liability insurance, full employer's liability cover, CHAS Elite, Constructionline Gold and FMB membership. Our guide tells homeowners to ask any builder for current certificates. Ask us for ours.
For architects and designers
If you are drawing up a tender list for a residential project in London, this is the information you would otherwise have to ask for. Alstruct Ltd is registered in England & Wales, company number 12557067, with its registered office at 11 Glebe House, Queen Mary Avenue, London E18 2FG.
The company is run by its two founders: Altin Hallaci, Managing Director and a civil engineer, and Dino Hallaci, Operations Director, who manages all active sites day to day. Our estimator works from quantity take-offs and bills of quantities, building costs up from first principles and checking them against supplier and subcontractor quotations. You can meet the team or read how we work.
We take the whole job under a single contract and procure and manage the subcontractors ourselves. At Hawthorn Cottage in Limehouse we were appointed following a competitive tender process, and the client was also the project architect. Dunstan Road in Golders Green ran under a JCT Minor Works contract with a full professional team: architect, structural engineer and CDM health and safety coordinator. We invite prospective clients to visit completed projects and speak to previous customers.
Pre-qualification summary
Contract and insurance
JCT contracts as standard. The form named in our cost guides is the JCT Minor Works Building Contract, and our terms refer to industry-standard JCT contract forms for larger projects. If your tender documents name a form, say so when you send the pack. £10M public liability insurance and full employer's liability cover.
Accreditations
CHAS Elite, the highest tier of the CHAS health and safety scheme. Constructionline Gold. Federation of Master Builders (FMB) member. On site, health and safety compliance sits with our Operations Director.
Warranty and sign-off
Every project carries a 10-year workmanship warranty from the date of practical completion, and it passes with the property if the house is sold. Your site manager handles the Building Regulations inspections, all our work is signed off by an approved building inspector, and you receive a handover pack with all certificates and warranties.
Working with the design team
If the client already has an architect, we are happy to work directly with them. We work closely with architects and structural engineers, either yours or our recommended professionals, so the design and structural package is complete before work starts on site. For clients without a designer, in-house architectural support is available.
For homeowners with planning approval
A cost per m² is a budgeting tool. It helps you cross-check a quote, but it cannot see your steel spans, your drainage run, your glazing specification or how materials reach the back of the house. Our own guide shows the spread: a single-storey rear extension in London runs from £80,000–£110,000 at mid specification to £120,000–£160,000 at high specification. Once you have planning drawings, that range can be replaced with one figure: a fully itemised quotation, so you know what each element costs before you sign anything.
An itemised price also makes tenders comparable. You can put two quotes side by side and see where they differ, and we are always willing to review a competitor's quote and explain any differences in scope or specification before you decide. If you are still setting a budget, start with the guides: house extension costs, loft conversion costs, basement conversions and party wall agreement costs.
The kind of work we price
We price residential work across London: house extensions, home renovations, loft conversions and basement conversions, as well as groundworks and drainage and hard landscaping. Our published case studies run from £150,000+ at Evelyn Road, Cockfosters to £1,000,000+ at Whitehall Park, Archway. Three of them involved a formal tender or an outside design team:
Have drawings?
Send us your drawing pack
Our contact form takes PDF, JPG, PNG, HEIC and DWG files, up to 25 MB each, so you can attach the whole pack to your enquiry.
Send your drawings Call 020 8080 8240CHAS Elite · Constructionline Gold · FMB member · 5.0 on Google
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you price from drawings without a site visit?
No. Drawings tell us most of what we need, but a fixed price is only confirmed after a site visit. Every project starts with one: we meet you on site, review your drawings, obtain structural engineer input on the key elements and then produce a fully itemised quotation broken down by trade. Sending the drawing pack with your enquiry means we arrive knowing the scheme, so the visit can concentrate on access, levels and the existing structure.
What contract do you use?
A JCT contract, as standard. The form named in our cost guides, and used on our Dunstan Road project in Golders Green, is the JCT Minor Works Building Contract. It gives you a fixed price for the agreed scope, a defined programme, clear variation procedures and dispute resolution provisions. Our terms refer to industry-standard JCT contract forms for larger projects. If your tender documents name a particular JCT form, tell us when you send the pack. We do not work on informal or verbal agreements.
Can you work with our architect and structural engineer?
Yes. If you already have an architect we are happy to work directly with them, and we work closely with architects and structural engineers, either yours or our recommended professionals, so the design and structural package is complete before work starts on site. Dunstan Road in Golders Green was built with a full professional team including architect, structural engineer and CDM health and safety coordinator. At Hawthorn Cottage in Limehouse the client was also the project architect.
Will you compare your price with another contractor's tender?
Yes. An itemised quotation is what makes tenders comparable, and we are always willing to review a competitor's quote and explain any differences in scope or specification before you decide. Send it with your drawing pack. Differences usually come down to what each price includes, so we set ours out trade by trade, based on a complete specification, with no provisional sums for items we have not properly scoped.
What do you need if planning is not yet approved?
Send the drawings as submitted, plus any structural information you have. Our guide to extension timelines recommends starting to tender early and selecting your contractor before planning consent is granted, so that construction can begin as soon as consent is received. Bear in mind that a price is only as fixed as the drawings behind it: if the approved scheme changes, the items affected have to be priced again. If you are earlier than that, we are happy to advise on feasibility and provide a preliminary budget.
Do you take on projects outside London?
Our work is in London and the areas around it. We work across every London borough from our office in South Woodford, E18, and we cover the surrounding areas too: the areas we list run from Kensington, Chelsea and Richmond to Loughton and Buckhurst Hill. If your site is further out, include the address when you send the drawings and we will tell you plainly whether it is a project we can resource properly.