So I'm in the middle of the sales cycle for my Home. The first buyer pulled out but after a month I lined up another. The market is doing well enough despite % increases. So I had the estate agent around today to perform a valuation, the Surveyor comes around on Monday for 90 minutes to inspect the property and I'll be ringing the solicitor to get an update on where the contracts are at! I'll feel a lot better with them signed and a move out date to close the deal (hopefully!). 

In the meantime I've been looking at my timeline. The main constraint is I've to be up at wall plate level by the End of July. Working back that meant getting deposits (through borrowing) to the Timber Frame Company now to do drawings to get line loads so I can supply them to the structural engineer for the Kore raft foundation system. They want a soil bearing test which doubles their fee but another structural engineer I was hoping to use is booked out for several weeks and I can't wait. I sent a deposit to the first one and yesterday finally get a quote from the second and their lead times are actually ok! Too late as I've deposits down but a few K wasted perhaps but what can you do. Time is money and hopefully I can recoup later on.

Can't get a plumber for love or money to agree exact drainage penetrations through the foundations which I need soon. Might have to resort to posting plans on here to the plumbing section to get some answers, thank goodness for buildhub! 

Talked to a heating engineer today and was going for underfloor heating and ASHP with an option for fan coils (cooling mainly) but now am switching to Air to Air in the open plan area and the 1 bedroom I'll use as an office. Then get a dedicated Hot Water heat pump - the built in ones like Ariston Nuos / Dimplex. That'll be 4 x 200mm holes in the wall when I include the MVHR. But at least I'm confident removing the underfloor heating pipe work is not going to bite me and this should halve my heating system costs from 20K to 10K which is a major plus. The issue is ensuring DEAP/SAP software doesn't rule this out and it seems it's very hard to find anyone who can install/service it. The distributor is a few minutes away but they may not have anyone qualified to service it! Oh, the joys!! 

I've cleaned up the site and it's almost ready for action, once contracts are signed I'll take down the old side fence and gate and pull up the roots / dispose of the remaining soil by renting a digger & skip. Job done! 

Main learnings:

• I am going to wake up at 4am throughout this process while I grapple with various decisions and problems but it's only for 18 months (hopefully!)
• Simplify things where you can - no underfloor heating loop pausing foundation pour and no integrated PV means the flow of trades is easier (doing standard PV instead)
• Research as much as you can but a lot of the stuff I've learnt has been by accident - I've had an hour session with my Architect (despite not using them for the build), a famous media personality for a general pep talk (Harrison Gardiner) and the heating engineer today. I've to check fire ratings for plasterboard on ceilings and exterior walls and probably take a read through ALL the building regs for good measure. 
• Have some fun! I might work 2 out of 3 nights on this but I definitely need to take time off or I'll burn out too fast. There are breaks here and there for builders holidays, waiting on windows etc I can use to prep for the next stages. 

Anyway, the fun is hopefully just around the corner!