Why choose Local Authority Building Control?

Approved inspectors have existed since 1985 and operate in competition with local authority building control on a profit making basis. Local authority building control continues to provide an independent, publicly accountable service, which operates on a cost recovery basis only.

Despite over 25 years of competition, we still deal with twice as many projects in the borough, as all our competitors put together. The secret of our continuing success is having excellent customer service standards, combined with a large client base in a small geographical area (which allows us to operate far more efficiently than our competitors). Our charges are therefore generally lower, even though we usually carry out more inspections.

The advantages of using local authority building control include:

• independent local authority checks

• experienced professional staff with trusted technical expertise

• unrivalled local knowledge and can visit at short notice

• local authority completion certificate

At Stockton, we have always respected the wishes of those clients choosing to employ the services of an approved inspector. However, we strongly believe that the client should be free to decide this for themselves.

If you do choose to opt for an approved inspector, we recommend you ask yourself the following questions before making your choice:

• How long has the approved inspector been in existence?

• Where is the approved inspector based? If they are based out of the region, how will this affect the frequency and timeliness of site inspections?

• If the contractor feels strongly about using one particular approved inspector, why might this be?

• What will happen if the approved inspector ceases to trade?

• If things go wrong, what complaints procedure is in place?

Stockton Council Building Control complies with ISO 9001:2015 quality management standard.