Frequently Asked Questions

Here's the workflow in a nutshell:

1. Set up your project - add the project name, plot numbers, and link to your assessor.
2. Take photos on site - the app walks you through each Appendix B section so you know exactly what to photograph. GPS, date, and time are embedded automatically.
3. Generate your report - one tap creates a professional, formatted report with all your evidence organised by compliance section.
4. Share with your assessor - send the report directly from the app. If your assessor has an Assessor Portal account, the report and photos land straight in their dashboard. If not, the report is emailed to them automatically with a download link for the raw photo zip (valid for 7 days).

That's it. No spreadsheets, no Word documents, no chasing metadata. The whole process takes minutes instead of hours.

You can use Buildsnpper to capture photos and generate reports without linking to an assessor. But to share reports directly through the app, you'll need to connect to one.

If your assessor already uses Buildsnpper Assessor or the Assessor Portal, linking up is quick - just search for them in the app. If they don't use Buildsnpper yet, you can still generate reports and share them as PDFs by other means (email, file transfer, etc.).

There are two costs to think about. First, the assessor's fee - a typical OCDEA package covering design-stage SAP, as-built SAP, and the BREL report ranges from a few hundred pounds per plot on a simple new build to several thousand for a larger development, depending on complexity and how clean the evidence is.

Second, the tools and time your builders spend capturing photographic evidence on site. With Buildsnpper, that's £6.67-7.99 per month per device - compared to the unbillable hours typically lost organising photos from WhatsApp, email, and phone galleries.

The biggest hidden cost is poor evidence. Missed photos mean opening walls back up, delayed handovers, or a more conservative as-built SAP that knocks your Energy Performance Certificate down a band. Getting evidence right first time saves far more than it costs.

For a new-build dwelling, you need an OCDEA (On Construction Domestic Energy Assessor). A plain DEA doesn't have the qualification to sign off Part L on a new build.

The letters look similar but the qualifications don't. Every OCDEA is also a DEA; not every DEA is an OCDEA. Check your assessor is accredited for on-construction work before you start a plot - accreditation bodies (Elmhurst Energy, Stroma Certification, Sava, Quidos, ECMK) all maintain public registers you can search.

For existing homes being sold, rented, or post-renovation, a standard DEA producing an EPC is fine. For new builds specifically, it has to be an OCDEA.

Appendix B splits photographic evidence by construction stage. You'll typically need clear photos of:

1. Foundations, DPC, and ground-floor insulation - before the slab goes in
2. External walls and cavity-wall insulation - while the cavities are still open
3. Floor and floor insulation - before the screed or final flooring
4. Roof and loft insulation - before the ceiling or roof covering closes it up
5. Windows, doors, and glazing - installation and sealing
6. Airtightness measures - membranes, tapes, and sealed service penetrations
7. Heating, hot water, and ventilation plant - installation and commissioning
8. Renewable and low-carbon technologies - solar PV, heat pumps, and similar

Each photo needs GPS coordinates, a date, and a timestamp embedded in its metadata. Without them, your assessor can't confirm when or where the photo was taken - and the evidence is effectively useless.

Part L isn't a single event - it runs alongside the whole construction process.

• Design-stage SAP calculation: a few days once the design is finalised and before construction begins
• Photographic evidence capture: ongoing through construction, as each stage gets buried or covered up
• As-built SAP and BREL report: typically a few days to a week after construction completes and all commissioning certificates are in

A clean evidence package speeds the whole thing up. A messy one drags the final stage out for weeks as the assessor chases missing photos, commissioning data, and airtightness results.

Yes - as long as location services are on so the photos are GPS-tagged, and you organise them by plot and by Appendix B section.

Where people come unstuck:

• Location turned off when the photo was taken - GPS can't be added later
• Multiple plots' photos mixed into one zip - the assessor has to sort it
• Photos without timestamps (sometimes stripped by messaging apps like WhatsApp)
• Missing a stage because you didn't know it was needed

A purpose-built evidence app like Buildsnpper removes these risks. GPS and timestamps are embedded automatically; photos are organised by plot and by Appendix B section as you go.

Building Control won't sign off the dwelling, which blocks handover and occupation. In practice, your OCDEA will flag missing or weak evidence before sign-off so you can fix it - but fixing means one of three options:

1. Supply equivalent evidence if it exists elsewhere (rare)
2. Open the work back up to photograph what was missed (expensive)
3. Accept a more conservative as-built SAP, which can mean a worse EPC band for the finished home

The fix is always more expensive than capturing evidence right first time. For a volume housebuilder, the compounded cost across a development can run into tens of thousands of pounds.

Building Control doesn't formally approve individual apps or tools. What it accepts is the evidence itself - organised photos with verifiable GPS, dates, and timestamps, mapped to the Appendix B sections, assessed by an OCDEA.

Buildsnpper's report format was designed in collaboration with BREL assessors to meet exactly those requirements. In practice, reports generated through Buildsnpper are accepted by Building Control bodies and OCDEAs across the UK. We always recommend showing your assessor a sample report at the start of a project to confirm it meets their expectations.

The Future Homes Standard is the UK Government's transition, rolling out through 2025 and 2026, to make new homes zero-carbon-ready. The headline shifts:

• No new gas boilers in new-build dwellings once fully in force
• Low-carbon heating (typically heat pumps) as the default
• Tighter fabric standards - better walls, roofs, floors, and windows
• Stricter airtightness expectations
• More photographic evidence per plot, reviewed with sharper scrutiny by OCDEAs

In practice: more photos, better organised, faster reviewed. The evidence bar is rising at the same time as the construction standards. For a deeper dive, see our Ultimate Guide to Part L Compliance.

Buildsnpper is the core mobile app for builders. It walks you through exactly what to photograph at each stage of a new build, tags every photo with GPS, date, and time, and generates a professional report your assessor will actually accept - all in one tap.

Available on iOS and Android. From £6.67/month with a 14-day free trial.

Buildsnpper Manager is for site managers and project managers who need oversight across multiple builds. You get a real-time dashboard showing which plots are done, which are behind, and which need attention - across all your projects in one place.

You don't capture evidence with the Manager app. Your builders do that with Buildsnpper on their devices. Manager gives you visibility into their progress without needing to be on every site.

Available on iOS and Android. £39.99/year with a 14-day free trial.

Buildsnpper Assessor is the free companion app for energy assessors (DEAs). When your builders send their Part L evidence through Buildsnpper, it arrives in the Assessor app structured, complete, and ready to review.

If you've got an Assessor Portal account, the PDF report and a zip of all the raw photos land straight in your dashboard. Otherwise, the report is emailed to you with a download link for the photo zip (valid for 7 days). Either way, you get the formatted report and the original images. Completely free - no trial, no catch.

Available on iOS and Android.

The Assessor Portal is a web dashboard for assessors who want to manage everything from their computer. You can set up projects on behalf of clients, review evidence, buy licences in bulk, and add your own branding to every report your builders generate.

It's free to use alongside the Assessor app. Log in to the Assessor Portal.

Without the Portal, you'll receive reports by email with a download link for the photo zip that expires after 7 days. It works, but it means chasing expired links, digging through your inbox, and managing everything yourself.

With the Portal, every report and photo zip from your builders is stored permanently in one dashboard. You can:

• Access all client reports and photos anytime - no expiring links
• Set up projects on behalf of your builders
• Buy and manage licences in bulk (with volume discounts)
• Add your own branding to every report your builders generate

It's completely free, so there's no reason not to. Sign up here.

Here's the full breakdown:

• Buildsnpper (for builders) - £7.99/month or £79.99/year (works out at £6.67/month). Both plans come with a 14-day free trial.
• Buildsnpper Manager (for site managers) - £39.99/year with a 14-day free trial.
• Buildsnpper Assessor (for energy assessors) - completely free, always.
• Assessor Portal (web dashboard) - free to use alongside the Assessor app.

No credit card is needed to start your free trial. You can cancel anytime during the trial and you won't be charged.

Absolutely! As a new user, you get the first 14 days for free on both the monthly (£7.99/month) and the annual (£79.99/year) plans. No credit card needed. Once your trial ends, billing starts automatically - but you can cancel anytime during the trial.

Buildsnpper works differently to platforms that charge per user. Here's how it breaks down:

• One licence = one device. Your subscription covers a single account on a single phone or tablet. Photos and evidence are stored locally on that device.
• No user limits. The device can be passed around on site between as many people as you like. There's no per-user charge - it's tied to the device, not the person holding it.
• One device can handle multiple plots. A single phone can capture evidence for as many plots as you need. However, once you start collecting evidence for a plot on a particular device, that device must continue to be used for that plot. Plot evidence can't be moved to a different device mid-way through.
• Projects can be shared. The project itself can be shared across multiple devices. So different team members can work on different plots within the same project, each on their own device - they just can't swap plots between devices.
• Reports and photos go to the cloud. Although photos are stored locally while you're capturing, once you generate and send a report, the PDF and a zip of all raw photos are uploaded. If your assessor has an Assessor Portal account, both land in their dashboard. Otherwise, the report is emailed with a 7-day download link for the photo zip.

In practice, you keep the same phone with each plot from start to finish. Take photos as you go, generate the report when you're ready, and send it off. Simple as that.

We're currently working on a pro version of the app that will allow plot evidence to be shared across devices.

Yes. The licence is tied to the device, not to a specific person. Anyone on site can pick up the phone, take photos, and add evidence to a plot. There's no per-user limit.

The important thing to know is that once you start collecting evidence for a plot on a device, that device needs to stick with that plot. You can't start a plot on one phone and continue it on another. A single device can handle multiple plots - but each plot stays on the device it started on.

If you need different team members working on different plots at the same time, each device needs its own licence. They can all share the same project - just not the same plots.

We're working on a pro version that will allow plot evidence to be shared across devices in future.

Once you've captured all the evidence for a plot, you generate the report with one tap. The app compiles everything - photos, GPS data, dates, times - into a professional PDF report organised by Appendix B section.

When you send the report, the PDF and a zip of all the raw photos are uploaded to the cloud. If your assessor has an Assessor Portal account, both land straight in their dashboard. If they don't, the report is emailed to them automatically with a download link for the photo zip (valid for 7 days).

After that, the device is free to start capturing evidence for the next plot. Everything stays safely in the cloud.

Yes. Buildsnpper works on both phones and tablets - iOS and Android. Just bear in mind that the licence is per device, so a tablet and a phone would need separate licences if you want to use both at the same time.

You can still use Buildsnpper to capture your evidence and generate reports. The report is a standard PDF, so you can share it with your assessor however they prefer - email, file transfer, USB stick.

That said, it's worth letting your assessor know about the free Assessor app. It makes their life easier too, and there's no cost to them.

Yes. There's an example report built into the app so you can see exactly what the finished product looks like - layout, structure, and how the photos sit within each section.

The images in the example are placeholders, so focus on the overall format rather than the specific photos. Your actual report will contain the real evidence from your site.

Top tip: have a quick chat with your assessor before you start, so you both agree on what photos they need.

You can also view a sample report on our homepage.

There's no single "official" format for Part L photo evidence. We designed the Buildsnpper report format in collaboration with BREL assessors - the industry professionals who assess building regulations compliance for energy and ventilation.

That said, every assessor has their own preferences. We'd always recommend showing your assessor a sample report at the start of a project so you're both on the same page.

Buildsnpper needs location services switched on to tag your photos with GPS data. If your phone's location was turned off when the original photo was taken, that data doesn't exist - and it can't be added after the fact.

The easiest fix: always take photos through the Buildsnpper app itself, which prompts you to enable location. If you do import from your gallery, make sure your phone's location settings are on when the photo is originally taken.

This is an optional section for any extra documents your assessor might want alongside the photo evidence - for example, energy performance calculations (SAP results), sound test results, or air tightness certificates.

It's not a required part of Appendix B, so you don't have to fill it in. Check with your assessor whether they'd like anything included. If you do add documents, they need to be in PDF format.

Your photos and generated reports are stored locally on your phone or tablet while you're working. Everything else - project names, plot details, assessor information - is stored securely on our servers.

When you send a report, the PDF and a zip of all raw photos are uploaded to the cloud. If your assessor has a Portal account, both are available in their dashboard permanently. Otherwise, the report is emailed with a 7-day download link for the photo zip.

If you've already sent the report to your assessor, the PDF and photo zip are safe - either in their Portal dashboard (permanently) or via the emailed download link. Your assessor can still access everything.

For photos you haven't reported yet, it depends on your phone's backup settings. If you've got app data backups turned on (through iCloud or Google), you should be able to restore them from the backup onto a replacement device.

If backups aren't enabled and the report hasn't been sent, unfortunately the photos can't be recovered - they're stored locally on the device. This is why we always recommend keeping your phone's automatic backups switched on.

We're working on a pro version of the app that will include cloud storage, which would remove this concern entirely.

Usually, yes. Most phone transfer and backup services (iCloud, Google backup, Samsung Smart Switch, etc.) will copy your app data across to the new device. If it works, you'll pick up right where you left off.

If your transfer method doesn't include app data, you may need to re-add photos manually. To be safe, make sure Buildsnpper is included in your phone's backup before switching devices.

We're working on a pro version of the app with cloud storage, which will make device upgrades seamless.