Explicating excessive financial resource allocation by building control in achieving regulatory conformity in domestic extensions

Building regulatory control of Domestic extensions in contrast to volume house building and commercial projects manifests a propensity to consume more economic resources than that generated from fee income. In personal Building Control practice cost and efficiency savings were achieved through linear programming, economies of scale and new technologies but the problem remained. More efficient and alternative mechanisms for alleviating this quandary were required, and academic inquiry provided an opportunity. The current literature was reviewed and thereafter continually revisited. A kaleidoscopic research model involving different epistemologies and methodologies but combining microscopic and periscopic views was regarded as a pragmatic means to synergise the relationship between academic inquiry and industry. A preliminary practice based case study was conducted followed by interviews and archival retrieval at various Building Control units. The investigation was a heuristic trial and error research tool and sufficiently robust to form the foundation for the main research based on region-wide case studies, building surveys, interviews, and archive documentation. The empirical evidence established resource use overruns were found in all districts researched and up to half of domestic extension activity failed to cover fee income. The presumption of regulators and regulatees was that overruns were caused by the poor practices of inadequate Builders. Analysis of the data contradicted this sentiment and revealed the major cause was Designers' mistakes and to a lesser extent unexpected externalities, Building Control procedures, and Home Owners' revisions. Solutions are proposed and evaluated to overcome the challenges presented by these complications and remedy these causal incidents. Ways are explored and assessed that have practical application for Building Control bodies in achieving regulatory conformity within fee income for domestic extensions and be practically functioned. The research was limited to a single English region; to establish if the phenomenon is found nationally will require further inquiry.