More home.
Less planning.
The space you’ve imagined.
The planning, beautifully simplified.
Find your house and see what it can build, drawn from open data. See what works today.
Council & submission fees extra
A house on Rawdon Road, Leeds, as Hivo draws it. Windows and materials as we guess them; your four photos will make it yours.Your home, understood.A measured starting point
Your ideas, made visible.Explore before you commit
Your next step, simplified.One connected planning journey
BIG IDEAS. SMALL STEPS.
How it works:
five steps from your address.
A home project should feel like a new beginning.
Hivo brings the moving parts together, so you can focus on the space you want to create.
- 01
Find your house.
Your address gives a free score: what you can build and how likely Leeds says yes.
- 02
Four photos.
Front, sides and back, about two minutes; they will make the drawing yours.
- 03
Pick a design.
Your options from the open data, each seen from the garden, or design your own.
- 04
Ten minutes inside.
The iPhone walk measures every room for the drawings; the drawings are drawn and checked for you.
- 05
Submit and track.
Pay when the council validates it; follow every step until the decision.
The five steps of the Hivo app, as it works today. Try its sample house below.
YOUR IDEAS. IN YOUR HANDS.
What this house can build,
drawn on the house.
Try another metre. Let in more daylight.
Make the space feel like you, before you commit.
ONE HOUSE, START TO FINISH
From the house as it stands
to drawings you can inspect.
A house on Rawdon Road, Leeds, through each step as Hivo works today: the same house as the pictures above and the sample in the app.
1. Starting point
The house as OS data and the roof survey draw it, its windows and materials as we guess them.
2. The idea
A 3.94 m single-storey rear extension under permitted development, 47 m² more, seen from the garden.
3. The drawings
Drawn from ten minutes inside with the iPhone app. Until this house is measured, this is sheet P02 of our sample set, drawn by the same engine for its test house and marked as such. Open all 11 sheets (PDF)
4. The checks
Each sheet is checked against the council's validation list before the set can be sent.
5. The next step
Explore your own house's options free today. When the application service opens, £495 including VAT prepares and sends it.
WHAT WORKS TODAY
What works today,
and what is coming.
One list, kept in step with the app, the pricing and the answers below.
- Address search and your first options
- Now, in the browserLeeds homes. Sign in with your email to keep your house; the sample house needs no sign-up.
- Exterior photos and design
- Now, in the browserPick an option drawn on your house and add four photos of the outside. The photos are kept; reading them into the picture is coming.
- Interior capture
- iPhone Pro with LiDAR, in testingTen minutes inside with the Hivo iPhone app, which is in testing and not yet on the App Store.
- Drawing preparation
- The sample set nowSee the full sample set today. Drawings for your own home follow your interior capture, once the iPhone app is released.
- The application service
- Not open yet£495 including VAT is the planned launch price. Nothing is charged or submitted today.
YOUR NEXT CHAPTER. A CLEAR PRICE.
Free to explore.
One fee when you apply.
One price, £495, brings the design, drawings, checks and application preparation together.
- A measured home model from eligible capture
- Your extension design and planning drawings
- Planning and application completeness checks
- Application preparation and submission journey
- Your documents, guidance and progress in one place
Launching with single-storey rear extensions in Leeds. Structural engineering, Building Regulations and construction work are separate.
Including VAT.
Pay Hivo when your application is validated.That means the council has accepted it as complete. It is not planning approval.
Refused? Your £495 back.Proposed launch promise. Eligibility and terms apply; council and submission fees are excluded.
External fees are payable on submission. See the £1,192 example total above.
Explore the demo. No payment is taken.
A BETTER WAY TO BEGIN.
Against the usual route:
cost and time.
Compare the cost. Understand the timeline.
See what happens when your whole planning journey lives in one place.
Keep more of your budget
for the build.
Enter a design and planning preparation quote to compare it with Hivo’s planned £495 fee.
Enter a whole-pound quote between £0 and £50,000.
£1,800 is an illustrative starting value, not a market average. Compare the same scope; exclude council and submission charges.
Enter a quote to see the difference.
External fees apply to both routes
Shorten the preparation.
Keep the council in perspective.
Hivo is being built to move eligible projects from an accepted scan to a complete application on the same day.
The council’s clock stays separate.Householder planning decisions normally have an 8-week statutory period after validation; cases can take longer. Hivo cannot promise or shorten the council’s decision.
Planning, without the juggling.
An illustration of a conventional workflow beside Hivo’s intended experience. Individual providers vary.
How we make these comparisons
Cost. The calculator compares your entered service quote, including VAT, with Hivo’s planned £495 service fee. It is not an average price claim or a like-for-like survey of the market. Professional services, advice, surveys and revision allowances differ; some providers may quote less than Hivo. External fees are excluded from the savings figure.
External fees. The £548 example is for an England householder application to enlarge or alter a single dwellinghouse. Different routes have different fees. The £149 Planning Portal service charge is its Band 2 charge including VAT; other submission routes may differ. Submission charges range from about £85 to £149 by route. Example total: £495 + £548 + £149 = £1,192. The council fee is proposed to rise to £575 from 8 December 2026. Fees checked 23 October 2026 and may change.
Time. Hivo’s same-day preparation is a product target, not a measured or guaranteed customer result. Council validation and determination are separate from preparation; the council’s statutory period for a householder decision is eight weeks from validation and cases can take longer.
Planning application fees Submission service charges Council decision times
LESS CHASING. MORE CREATING.
The whole project
in one app.
From the first scan to the final click.
Everything connects around the same home, the same design and the same next step.
Ideas worth keeping.
Saved projects and designs, ready when inspiration strikes.
A little guidance.
Questions and what-ifs, with your home at the heart of the conversation.
The bigger picture.
Local planning context and extension options, all in one place.
Product preview. Native capture and live planning services are being prepared for launch.
A LITTLE MORE CLARITY.
Questions,
answered.
Big plans start with the little things you want to know.
Is Hivo available for my home?
Hivo is preparing to launch first in Leeds, focusing on eligible single-storey rear extensions. Other project types and areas are part of the wider vision, but are not promised as launch services. You can explore the interactive sample-home demo now.
What does the £495 include?
The planned Hivo service includes eligible home capture, extension design, planning drawings, checks, application preparation and the submission journey. The £495 includes VAT. Council fees, any submission service charge, specialist reports, structural engineering and Building Regulations are separate.
Are council and submission fees extra?
Yes. For example, an England householder extension application currently has a £548 council fee. If submitted through Planning Portal, its £149 Band 2 service charge would also apply. Together with Hivo’s £495, that example totals £1,192. Different application and submission routes have different charges; the applicable amount must be shown before you proceed.
Can I get planning permission in a day?
No. Hivo’s ambition is same-day preparation and submission for eligible projects with a complete, accepted scan and all required information. That target does not include council validation or the council’s decision. The usual statutory determination period for a householder application is eight weeks after validation, and some cases take longer.
What happens if the council refuses?
If the council refuses the application we submitted for you, we refund our £495 in full within 14 days of the decision notice. The council's fee and the submission charge are not refunded. Planning approval itself is never guaranteed. The refund does not apply in four cases, each shown to you before you order:
- You withdraw the application, or ask us to.
- What you told us was wrong: you did not own the property, the scan was not of your home, or you hid a fact we asked about.
- You chose to submit against our advice.
- You refused a change the officer asked for that we told you, in writing, was needed for approval.
Do I need a particular phone?
No phone is needed to find your house, see what you can build or add four photos: that works in any browser. The ten-minute walk inside for the drawings needs the Hivo iPhone app on a LiDAR-capable iPhone Pro (iOS 17 or later); the app is not on the App Store yet. Android is not supported at launch.
Does Hivo replace every professional I might need?
Hivo is being designed to simplify the planning stage for eligible, straightforward extensions. Complex buildings, listed properties, unusual structures and specialist requirements may need professional advice. Planning permission is separate from Building Regulations, structural calculations, party-wall matters and construction.
Can I try it before I commit?
Yes. Open the site's sample house, a house on Rawdon Road, Leeds, in the Hivo app with no sign-up: the house as open data draws it and its options seen from the garden, exactly as the app shows them. It is labelled as the sample, is never submitted and no payment is taken. The drawings are shown by our sample set.
A LITTLE MORE HOME.
Stay where you belong.
Make room for what’s next.
The bigger kitchen. The table everyone fits around.
The space that changes everyday life.