Which engineering and planning consultancies in Woking do AI assistants actually recommend?

We put the 14 questions a person in Woking asks before choosing engineering and planning consultancie — cost, specialism, who to use, how to check them — to Claude, 5 times each, 70 answers in all, and recorded every firm the answers named. 29 firms in Woking were checked against those answers. 1 of them were named at least once. The rest were not recommended in a single answer.

The league table

Firms are ranked by the number of answers that named them, then by how many different questions. The assistants do not give identical answers twice, so a difference of one or two mentions is noise; being named on questions a rival is absent from is not.

The questions we asked

1. Do I need a planning consultant or a structural engineer for a loft conversion in Woking?
2. How much does a planning and engineering feasibility study typically cost in Woking?
3. Should I hire an independent planning consultancy on contract or just pay ad hoc for a single pre-application review?
4. What's the difference between a civil engineering consultancy and a town planning consultancy for a barn conversion near Guildford?
5. I'm extending a house near Woking and the council wants a drainage strategy - who handles that kind of work locally?
6. How do I check if a local planning consultant near Woking is actually accredited by the RTPI?
7. Is it better to contract one consultancy for both planning and engineering or hire separate specialists?
8. Independent planning consultants vs big national firms for small residential schemes near Byfleet - worth the cost difference?
9. What reviews or case studies should I ask for before trusting a small engineering consultancy near Woking with a retaining wall design?
10. Our site near Chobham has a flood risk issue flagged by the council - what kind of consultancy do we need and how fast can they turn around a report?
11. What's a fair hourly or fixed rate for an independent structural engineer operating around Woking and West Byfleet?
12. Which independent engineering consultancy near Woking has a solid track record with local council planning approvals?
13. Which supplier should I use for a combined topographical survey and planning application in Woking?
14. Which company should I choose for highways and access design near Knaphill - a generalist or a transport specialist?

How this was measured

• Date: 1 October 2026. This is one day, not a trend; the index is re-measured monthly.
• Sample: 14 questions × 1 assistant × 5 runs = 70 answers. 29 firms checked.
• Assistants used: Claude (Anthropic’s Sonnet model, through its API, with web search). Answers from these programming interfaces can differ from what the consumer apps show.
• Counting: a firm is counted when its name appears in an answer. Names are picked out of the answer text automatically, then matched to the firm list.
• Limits: the assistants vary between runs, so small gaps are noise. Firms that were not named may still be recommended by an assistant or a question we did not ask. National chains are left off the list.