Planning Permission Leads: How to Price, Pitch and Win the First 30 Days After Approval
2026-10-26 · 7 min read
A practical guide for UK builders, architects and trades on what to do in the critical first 30 days after planning approval is granted, including how to price the approach, pitch the homeowner and convert planning permission leads into signed contracts.
The 30-day window that decides most planning jobs
A planning approval is not a lead in the way most people think of one. It is a signal that someone has spent money, made a decision and now needs a contractor, and that signal has a short shelf life. In practice, the overwhelming majority of applicants start ringing firms within the first fortnight of the decision notice landing, and the shortlist is usually set before the month is out.
That means your job is not to generate demand. The demand already exists. Your job is to be in the right conversations during a narrow window, with something useful to say. Firms that treat planning approvals as a slow-burn database to be worked over six months consistently lose work to competitors who moved in week one with a specific, relevant approach.
The rest of this piece is about that window: how to price your approach, what to say, and how to turn a decision notice into a signed contract without cutting your margin to do it.
Read the application before you make contact
The single biggest differentiator between a good approach and a wasted one is preparation. Every planning application is a public document set, and it tells you more about the prospect than any lead sheet will. Ten minutes reading the drawings, the design and access statement and the officer's report gives you material no competitor using a generic list will have.
Look for the things that shape cost and programme: a change of use, a listed building consent running alongside, a condition requiring a drainage scheme or a materials sample, an awkward access, a flood risk note, a neighbour objection that hints at a difficult site. Each of these is a hook for a specific, credible opening line.
- Decision notice and officer report: what was approved, what conditions were attached
- Drawings and elevations: scale, complexity, structural implications
- Design and access statement: the applicant's stated intentions and budget signals
- Heritage or conservation notes: listed consent, conservation area, Article 4 direction
- Site history: previous refused or withdrawn applications on the same address
If the applicant has used an architect or planning consultant, note it. That consultant is often the person the applicant trusts most, and a short, professional note to them asking to be considered for the build is rarely wasted.
Price the approach against the job value
Not every approval deserves the same effort. A single-storey rear extension on a semi is a different proposition from a nine-unit conversion of a former chapel. Before you spend time on site visits and detailed estimates, work out roughly what the job is worth and how much pursuit it justifies. This stops you burning days on £40,000 jobs while a £600,000 conversion goes cold.
| Approval type | Typical contract value | Pursuit effort | First contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic extension or loft | £30k–£90k | One call, one visit, fixed quote | Within 48 hours |
| Full house refurbishment | £80k–£250k | Visit plus staged estimate | Within 72 hours |
| Change of use fit-out | £60k–£300k | Site meeting with drawings review | Within 72 hours |
| New build or conversion | £250k+ | Two meetings, pre-construction input | Same week, in person |
| Listed building works | £100k+ | Heritage experience pitch | Within 72 hours |
The point of the table is not precision. It is discipline. Decide your thresholds in advance so your team knows which approvals get a phone call and which get a letter, and so nobody is chasing small work while big work waits.
What to say in the first approach
Your opening contact should do three things: prove you have read the application, give the applicant something they can use, and ask a small question that is easy to answer. That is it. Long emails listing your accreditation badges and years of experience go unread because they answer a question the applicant has not asked yet.
A workable structure is: one line naming the site and the approval, one specific observation from the documents, one concrete offer such as a site visit or an indicative range, and one question about timing. Keep it under 120 words. If you are phoning, the same structure works as a 30-second opening before you ask whether now is a good time.
The observation is what earns the reply. “I see the approval includes a condition on surface water drainage, which often catches people out on programme” is worth more than any amount of marketing copy, because it demonstrates you understand their actual project.
Convert the site visit into a defined brief
The site visit is where most firms lose the job without realising it. They walk the property, nod along, and promise a quote. What the applicant actually needs is help turning an approval into a buildable, affordable scheme, and the firm that provides that help first tends to win the work.
Go in with questions rather than a pitch. What is the budget range? When do they want to be in? Are they living on site during the works? Have they got a party wall situation with the neighbours? Do they intend to do the kitchen and bathrooms themselves? Every answer narrows the scope and gives you a defensible basis for your price.
Write the brief back to them within 48 hours, even if the full quote takes longer. A short email confirming scope, exclusions, programme and the next date they will hear from you marks you out as organised. Most of your competitors will go quiet for three weeks and then send a number with no context.
Handle the three objections that stall planning jobs
Approved applicants stall for predictable reasons, and you can plan for each of them. The first is budget shock: the approval is bigger than they can afford. The second is decision fatigue: they have already dealt with architects, planners and neighbours and cannot face another process. The third is timing: they want to start next spring and assume nobody will quote now.
For budget shock, offer a phased version of the approved scheme, or a reduced scope that keeps the permission alive. For decision fatigue, take work off them: handle the building regulations application, the party wall notices, the structural engineer. For timing, explain honestly what your diary looks like and offer a fixed-price quote with a validity date.
None of this requires discounting. It requires being useful at the point where the applicant is stuck. The firm that unsticks the project gets the contract, and it usually gets it at a sensible price because it is no longer being compared on number alone.
Measure what your planning leads actually return
Track every planning approval you approach through to outcome, and do it simply. You need to know your contact rate, your visit rate, your quote rate and your win rate by approval type and by source. Without those four numbers you cannot tell whether a lead source is expensive or cheap, only whether it feels busy.
- Approvals approached vs. conversations started
- Conversations vs. site visits booked
- Site visits vs. quotes issued
- Quotes issued vs. contracts signed
- Average contract value by approval type
Run this for a quarter and patterns appear fast. You will usually find one approval type converts well and another wastes your estimator's time, and that a particular source produces applicants who are ready to build while another produces tyre-kickers. Then you can buy more of what works and stop paying for what does not, which is the whole game with planning permission leads.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How soon after a planning approval should I contact the applicant?
Within 48 to 72 hours is the realistic window. Most applicants start ringing contractors in the first week after the decision notice appears, and the first three firms to make a sensible, specific approach usually set the shortlist. Waiting a fortnight means you are pitching against people who have already had a site visit and a rough number on the table.
Is it worth contacting applicants whose plans were refused?
Sometimes, but only with a clear reason. Refusals often turn into resubmissions or appeals, and those applicants still need help. Approach them with a specific observation about the refusal reason rather than a generic sales pitch, and expect a longer sales cycle than an approval.
What should my first approach to a planning applicant actually say?
Reference the application, the site and one detail that proves you have read the documents, then offer something concrete such as a site visit or a budget range. Keep it short. Applicants are busy, they are being sold to constantly, and a message that could have been sent to anyone gets deleted.
How do I stop planning leads turning into a race to the bottom on price?
Get in front of the applicant before they have a set of comparable quotes. Ask about programme, phasing and finish level, and give a range with the assumptions written down. The firm that defines the brief usually wins on value rather than being the cheapest number in a spreadsheet.