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I ran 15mm everywhere from my central manifolds. I was just a little worried about flow rate for the 10mm plastic pipe. Option 1 for me. Every tap/outlet has its own pipe. One major benefit is no pressure drop when other outlets are being used and you don’t get scalded or frozen when another tap is used or a toilet flushed!! plus it looks really cool in the plant room for showing off your plumbing prowess. 🤣

Can you post a drawing of what you are going to build. The figures you present seem high at first glance. But I often do these types of design, they can be very time consuming, although small, and thus the fee cost is higher in proportion to the floor area. To put this into context. I have a potential Client that needs a modest new build and the design fees are similar to your over all fee. An interesting number is £120/hr for site visits. Now the 120 rate is fine if for time spent on site as there is travelling and then inevitably writing emails etc when back in the office. But if it is also booked at £ 120/ hr for travelling and then writing emails when you get back to the office then that is different. Do that and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Whatever you do it's better to do it outside the glazing. I've heard story of sealed glazing units cracking when they are blocked on the inside.

Run 10mm Hep2O pipe for everything except the cold kitchen/utility taps, outdoor taps and hot+cold bath and showers feeds. Heat the hot manifold by convection by having it just above the outlet of the UVC. Don't bother with pipe insulation outside the plant room. It makes no difference. I assume home run is having all pipes directly individually leading from your manifold to the destination. One pipe to one outlet?

A sketch or pic would help.

Thanks, just had a look at that and its really helpfull for what will work, all our space, headroom is very limited so it was good to see the different configurations that are still in regs. i was looking at stair x lite app, but the free version didnt do the type of stairs i want to build, i may still get the paid pro version as it gives you detailed cutting lists etc. Thanks again carl

The front of the house is built on a retaining wall as is my sisters (up to slab level) with a drive in between. So just trying to figure out what would be good. I was thinking a wall of wind turbines would be great lol.

It constantly comments on how crap chatGPT's code was . BITCH! ( but true!)

we're doing a geomorphic transplant now! I'll tense my arse hole just in case.

Good advice. Sounds like the architect is trying to maximise what they can get out of you. If you have the structural engineers drawings and calculations, then speak to a couple of good builders. It's likely you have all the information you need already. M&E drawings for such a small project is borderline ridiculous if you already know what you want. I'm currently working on a job worth £20k of electrical work and they have no M&E drawings whatsoever! That's the other end of the scale, a bit annoying, but the client tell me what they want/I point them in the right direction and we get it done.

I mean " Good terrain. Now — rather than eyeball stills for a pop (unreliable), let me measure it. The morph height is a continuous function of camera position, so I'll replicate the exact shader math in JS, sweep the camera in tiny steps toward the hills, and for fixed world points track their rendered height frame-to-frame. A pop = a large jump when a LOD boundary crosses the point. This is a rigorous no-pop verdict: Used Claude Preview: preview eval That result is a methodology artifact, not a real pop — but an important one to catch. My test evaluated morphedHeight at arbitrary points; a coarse ring's mesh only has vertices every N units and triangle-interpolates between them, so sampling the exact height function overstates what the coarse mesh actually renders. Let me redo it mesh-accurately — interpolating across each ring's actual triangles: Used Claude Preview: preview eval " JESUS!

Holy GOD!. Claude Is on another planet with what it can do!. JESUS! Makes chat 5.5 look like a a paper cup. It's not just the reasoning it's how it builds a test bed so IT can look at the graphics itself!! F-ME! and then it moves the camera round too see the issues, then it tries to fix, then it repeats. Then it goes "all works, shall I put this in your code now?" F ME!. Gets a bit stuck/BS a bit "draw a line under it and ship it" .... BUT! WOW!. Now I can do even more things and never finish my house for certain!. I'm stunned. Its creeping the camera forward in a testbed it made from my code so it can analyse the issues. It then decides to paint certain aspects red/green etc so easy to spot and analyse. Its burning tokens like (expletive deleted) - but THAT's INSANE!

Bundle up these fees and use that to bolster your actual build budget with the best General Builder you can find. They'll have a good electrician and a good plumber, and you'll get a good enough "M&E" experience with those guys being promised the work. It's not rocket science to add a few circuits for electrics, and run some extra pipes off existing for plumbing, tbh. Builder should become Principal Contractor, and be responsible for CDM2015 (if it becomes applicable) and the architect can remain as PD and just provide hourly paid support in isolation, if so needed.

Keter? I was talking about Paulk workbenches - Can make them pretty much any size you like. Agree with you about the number of holes versus number used. But, on that odd occasion they do come in handy.

The architect's quote includes but does not seem to include the Bldg Regs/Bldg Safety Act Principal Designer role. So you or your contractor could end up being deemed to be the PD. See @flanagaj's recent topic re the same issue. Edit: Cannot find @flanagaj's topic, though I think it came up earlier today.

We get -9, no issues. Pretty well protected from the elements, ground under the house is around 6 degs.

I've done manifold before to each appliance. Good for maintenance purposes. Also meant I could run the pipework whereas I wouldn't be confident doing all the fittings.

Do you not have to worry about freezing?

It sounds like you're being quoted for the gold standard when you don't really need that. You will need a good builder though and the bad ones won't follow super specific drawing details anyway so whats the point. An architect who quoted mine allowed for a plan for electrics. Not needed in my case I'm quite comfortable marking a drawing up with what I want and where.

Another option is to discuss with a very experienced builder at this stage. It's a different way of working, through discussion rather than a linear process. To my way of thinking, the building control drawings should be working drawings by default, ie not just generic statements. The builder may also have practical methods for the process. But.... how good is the builder? How good is the Architect? We don't know.

Honeymoon period.

I've been reading this thread with interest - this seems to be one of the few fora on the internet that goes into these things in any detail. I'm not a self-builder, but am planning an extension. This is the first time I've initiated any building project, and as a complete novice I've been rather (unpleasantly) surprised at the costs of the stages before I get to 'spades in the ground'. It feels rather like HS2! I don't have any previous experience of the process to know whether I'm being, shall we say, overcharged or not, or whether there are ways that I can safely 'cut corners'. My planned extension is very small - a first-floor extension of about 2.5m x 2.5m sticking out above the front door, on stilts, doubling the size of a small single bedroom (copying an identical extension on my next-door neighbour's). A rough estimate by a local builder was that it would cost about £30,000 to build. I hoped that 'preparatory' expenses might be a few thousand. So I engaged an architect to draw up plans, and submit them for planning permission. The cost of planning permission to the council was £528 (standard I think) Fee to architect for plans - £995 + VAT. Then on to: Building Regulation Application - fee to architect £1,450 + VAT Health and Safety CDM Principal Designer role - fee to architect £950 + VAT Structural Engineer (separate company) calculations £600 + VAT Building control approved inspector (separate company) £695 + VAT That's the point that I'm up to now, something over £5,000 spent. I rather thought that by now I'd have all the detailed plans I need, and could call up a few builders, get quotes, and push ahead. But my architect has quoted for continuing the process as follows: Working drawings consisting of further junction details and setting out information. We will also produce an indicative small power/ M&E plan for pricing purposes. £1,950 +VAT Tendering to an agreed list of contractors. We will produce prelims and a pricing schedule to be sent out with the drawings and specifications. We will answer queries that arise during the tender process, analyse the costs once returned and provide a summary. £2,950 +VAT Preparing the contract based on a JCT Minor works, acting as contract administrator, attending site visits and the ongoing CDM Principal Designer role. Our cost for this are TBC as it will depend on the time scales and duration of works on site. Once we have a better feel for the length of involvement on our part we can provide you with a quote for this service. Any site visits will be charged at £120/hr +VAT. The above is based on the approved panning drawings and excludes changes in the design or scope. Interior design and landscape design are excluded. The above also excludes work associated with the building over notice. We would suggest this is submitted by either the builder or engineer [[the 'stilts' will sit over a sewer]] ...so this is another £6,000 for the first two, and "TBC" for the third. Just wondering (a) if these quotes seem reasonable, and (b) if I can shortcut any of this? For example: the "working drawings consisting of further junction details and setting out information. We will also produce an indicative small power/ M&E plan for pricing purposes". Do I need these? What are 'junction details'? I have the "Proposed floor plans" from a previous stage, which have some details (but no dimensions). If the 'small power/M&E' plan refers to electrical and plumbing stuff, this should be quite simple as it will just be moving one radiator, one mains socket, and adding a light fitting. And "Tendering to an agreed list of contractors." - is this anything more than sending out the plans to a few builders and getting quotes? £2,950 + VAT sounds a bit steep for that... Is it a skilled job, or one I could essay myself? Not quite sure what the 'contract administrator' piece is all about, nor how much it is likely to cost. . I did email the architect asking these questions, but they replied to 'phone them and talk it over. But before I do that, I'd like to be a little more confident as to what I'm talking about... Any advice gratefully received!

It's the webbed feet.

I used a pair of these for a year, until a pair of wrens nested in them two years in a row. They tucked themselves up underneath the cross-beam where the legs attach to the beam. The following year the (same?) wrens decided to use the padlock cover I welded onto our container doors. I know when I'm beaten.

Christ @SteamyTea , what size stiletto heels do Cornish folk wear down your way ? Judging by the three that are visible above the glass in the photo they'd fit Shrek's missus !