Sue's Story:
How Dwellon Was Created

When I bought what I thought would be my perfect home, I had no idea that the experience would end up transforming my life and leading me to create Dwellon. At the time, I believed I had done everything right. I’d found a newly built property that suited my family, one of two houses put up by a local builder. They looked attractive, well presented, and seemed like a straightforward purchase. I reviewed the planning permission, as many buyers do, but I didn’t think to compare the approved plans with what had actually been constructed. The property appeared finished and compliant, and I assumed everything aligned.

It wasn’t until I was well into the conveyancing process, very close to completion, that I decided to look more closely at the approved drawings. I compared them to what stood in front of me, and that was when everything changed. The garage wasn’t the same as the one shown on the plans. The porch was different too. Even the boundary treatments had been altered. What I thought was a simple, clean new-build purchase suddenly became a tangle of planning discrepancies, each one carrying risk. I realised that these changes weren’t small cosmetic differences. They were deviations from the approved planning permission, and that meant they were potential legal problems.

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The moment I discovered those inconsistencies, I felt a mixture of frustration and fear. Like many people, I had assumed that the responsibility for these things sat with councils, builders, or conveyancers. I believed someone, somewhere, would make sure everything matched what was approved. Instead, I found myself facing the reality that non-compliance could delay completion, require retrospective planning consent, or leave me financially exposed. If something wasn’t lawful, it became my problem the moment I completed the purchase.

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That experience opened my eyes to how vulnerable buyers are. Most people trust that a property is what it claims to be. They don’t have the time, confidence, or expertise to scrutinise planning documents in detail. And yet, the consequences of not doing so can be severe: unexpected costs, legal obligations, and the emotional stress of discovering that your new home may not be compliant after all.

I kept thinking about how unnecessary these risks were and how easily they could be avoided if someone simply joined the dots earlier. Approved plans exist. Built structures can be checked. Risks can be identified. The information is all there, but nobody was putting it into the hands of the people who needed it the most.

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That is the moment Dwellon was born.

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I wanted to create a service that would give buyers the clarity I never had. A service that could assess planning permissions properly, verify what had been built, identify risks, and present that information in a way that made sense to ordinary people making one of the biggest decisions of their lives. I knew that if I had experienced these problems myself, others were facing the same issues without even realising it.

Through Dwellon, I channelled my frustration into something constructive. We now help people avoid the same shock I faced. We carry out detailed planning appraisals so buyers don’t walk into hidden problems. We look at approved plans, compare them to what is on the ground, highlight discrepancies early, and help people understand what those differences mean for them. Whether someone is buying a new-build or a long-established home, they deserve transparency and peace of mind.

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Looking back, I’m grateful that I caught the issues before completing my purchase. But the stress of that discovery, and the realisation of how easily I could have missed it, is what drives me today. My story taught me that planning compliance isn’t a niche technical matter. It affects real families, real finances, and the security of the place we call home.

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Dwellon exists because I don’t want anyone else to be left in the dark the way I was. My experience shaped not just my understanding of the system, but also my belief that transparency in property buying shouldn’t be optional. It should be the norm. And until it is, I am committed to helping buyers, sellers, and professionals navigate the planning system with confidence and clarity.

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