How to turn a lead into a phone call

Planning registers publish names and addresses, but almost never a phone number or an email address. Here is how to bridge that gap. How long it takes depends on the country and on how common the name is - we are measuring that properly rather than guessing at it.

Start with the architect, not the developer

On most building projects the architect or designer specifies the materials and appoints the subcontractors. For anything specified rather than bought off a shelf - HVAC, lifts, glazing, apertures, stone - they are the person who decides.

1. Search the professional register. The professional register for this country is linked above. It confirms WHICH professional this is - their licence number, discipline and region - which is what makes the next step reliable. It does not usually name their practice. Take the confirmed name and licence to a search engine, or to the company register below.
2. Search for the practice. Type the architect's name plus the country into a search engine. Practices are small businesses; nearly all have a website with a phone number and an info@ address.
3. Try LinkedIn if the practice has no website - useful for a direct approach and for checking they are still there.

Or go to the developer

For things bought in bulk - kitchens, tiling, pools, finishes - the developer usually decides.

1. Look them up in the company register. Every country here has a free public company register. It confirms you have the right company and gives the registered address and directors. The one for this country is linked above.
2. Search for their website - company name plus country.
3. Try the phone directory. A national business directory is still the most reliable source of a switchboard number when a practice has no website.
4. Ask for the named person. Where we show an "ask for" name, that person is named on the application itself, so you skip reception entirely.

Go and look at the site

Planning rules require a notice displayed at the development, and it carries the architect's details. For a local supplier, driving past a shortlisted site is often the fastest route to a name and number - and it tells you whether work has actually started.

Call at the right time

This matters as much as the lead itself. Ringing about air conditioning the week a permit is granted wastes everyone's time - the building does not exist yet.

These windows are for building permits (France, Poland, Flanders). A public-works tender is different: call the buyer before its deadline for offers - each country’s own guide explains it.

Every lead on this site shows its own call window.

What to say

You know the case reference, exactly what is being built, where, and whether it was approved. Use it.

That is not a cold call.

A few rules

• Contacting a company or a professional about their work is normal business practice.
• We never publish private individuals. Where a homeowner applied, their details are not stored at all - so the temptation does not arise. See Privacy.
• If someone asks not to be contacted again, stop immediately and permanently.
• Never suggest you are connected to a planning authority. You are not, and neither are we.