Data Source
All metrics are calculated from public planning application records submitted to Ireland's 31 local authorities. We aggregate applications from each council's online planning register and link them to planning agents (architects, planners, and design firms).
Data coverage: 488,000+ planning applications across all Irish councils, updated daily. Agent statistics use a 5-year rolling window to ensure metrics reflect current market conditions.
Visibility Criteria
Not all agents appear in our public rankings. To be listed, an agent must meet both of these criteria:
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Active status — Must have submitted at least one application within the last 2 years. This ensures we're showing agents who are currently practicing.
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Minimum volume — Must have at least 20 applications in the 5-year window. Small sample sizes don't produce statistically meaningful metrics.
Agents who don't meet these criteria are excluded from public rankings but may still appear in application searches if you're looking up a specific project.
Metrics Explained
📊 Success Rate
The percentage of applications that received planning permission (granted or granted with conditions), excluding withdrawn applications.
Success Rate = Granted Applications ÷ (Granted + Refused) × 100
📝 FI Rate (Further Information Rate)
The percentage of applications that received a Further Information (FI) request from the council. A lower rate suggests more complete initial submissions.
FI Rate = Applications with FI Request ÷ Total Applications × 100
⏱️ Average Processing Time
The mean number of days from application submission to decision. Factors include application complexity, council workload, and submission quality.
Avg Days = SUM(Decision Date - Received Date) ÷ Decided Applications
📋 Average Conditions
The average number of conditions attached to granted permissions. Fewer conditions may indicate cleaner approvals with fewer caveats.
Avg Conditions = Total Conditions on Granted Apps ÷ Number of Granted Apps
🔢 Volume (Applications)
Total number of applications submitted in the 5-year window. Higher volume indicates more experience but isn't a quality indicator on its own.
Quality Score
The Quality Score is a composite metric that combines multiple performance indicators into a single 0-100 score. It's designed to provide a quick assessment of overall performance.
Quality Score Formula
Quality Score =
(Success Rate × 0.35) +
((100 - FI Rate) × 0.30) +
(Processing Time Percentile × 0.20) +
((100 - Conditions Percentile) × 0.15)
Component Weights
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35% — Success Rate: The most important factor. Getting approval is the primary goal.
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30% — Clean Submissions: Inverse of FI rate. Fewer information requests means better-prepared applications.
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20% — Speed: Based on percentile ranking among all agents. Faster processing benefits clients.
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15% — Smooth Approvals: Fewer conditions on granted permissions. Lower weight as conditions are sometimes unavoidable.
Leaderboard Categories
Our leaderboards highlight top performers in specific areas. Each category focuses on a primary metric with a tiebreaker:
🏆 Most Experienced
Ranked by total applications (5yr). Tiebreaker: success rate.
✅ Highest Success Rate
Ranked by grant rate. Tiebreaker: volume (more data = more reliable).
⚡ Fastest Turnaround
Ranked by lowest average processing days. Tiebreaker: volume.
📋 Cleanest Submissions
Ranked by lowest FI rate. Tiebreaker: success rate.
🎯 Smoothest Approvals
Ranked by lowest average conditions. Tiebreaker: volume.
Why We Focus on Top Performers
You'll notice our public rankings only show top performers, not "worst" lists. This is intentional:
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Constructive purpose — Our goal is to help you find good agents, not to shame underperformers. Negative lists don't serve that purpose.
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Context matters — Low success rates might reflect an agent who takes on difficult projects that others won't. Raw numbers don't tell the full story.
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Fair representation — Public data can lag or contain errors. We don't want to unfairly damage someone's reputation based on incomplete information.
Individual agent profiles still show all their metrics — we just don't create comparative "worst of" rankings.
Common Questions
Why can't I find a specific agent?
They may not meet our visibility criteria (20+ apps in 5 years, active within 2 years), or they may be listed under a different business name. Try searching for specific applications to find agent names as they appear in records.
Is a higher success rate always better?
Not necessarily. Some agents specialise in challenging projects (heritage sites, sensitive areas) where refusals are more common. A 100% success rate might indicate an agent who only takes safe, straightforward applications.
How often are metrics updated?
Agent statistics are recalculated daily based on the latest application data from all councils.
I'm an agent and my data is wrong. How do I fix it?
Contact us at
corrections@planwatch.ie with details. Common issues include name variations (multiple trading names being counted separately) or council data entry errors.
Why 5 years? Why not longer?
Planning practices, regulations, and even agent competence can change significantly over time. A 5-year window captures enough data for meaningful statistics while ensuring metrics reflect current performance, not historical patterns from a decade ago.