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Did you check with your SE? What loads are coming from above? Are you one of these Clients that are stubborn and it's you way or the highway?

Ok I get you feel that I'm not supporting the method you are adopting. That is ok. You are asking for a bit of support on your project. My language is maybe not what you are used to. It's blunt and straight to the point. The main reason is that it's your money! I'm chipping in here as I think what happens if I end up representing you! But why should you be used to this?.. the building trade has it's own language, contracts and weird way of working. I've explained how you can get help on BH for free. But ask yourself this.. I use my own name on BH.. do you think I'm trying to undermine you or maybe I'm just giving you a bit of professional tough love. I don't know you from Adam! It is unlikely you will be ever be a Client of mine! I post probono, with 40 years experience. If you don't like what I'm saying.. well that is up to you.. it's your money after all. But rest assured.. from what you have posted you have a desing chalenge ahead. Make it too hard and it won't get built as designed.. the builder will walk away with your money! In that process you will get stressed out mentally, that comes at a cost. You mention you have trouble with Architect communication.. ok.. but as an SE / Designer that is not where we start from. We start by reviewing the design and your Architects brief, see what you have paid for and what has been delivered. If that is a bit off then do we say.. well the Architect has cocked up a bit.. it might be your fault as you only paid for a rough design or maybe the Architect is shite! Yes there are some, as are SE's floating about! But at the end of the day you want to get the thing built properly, you also need to come up with a design that is buildable and cost viable.

No, your next challenge is to completely review your design! You are going to find yourself in a pile of manure! That is ok if you have plenty money and a bit more when you have to explain to your other half how you completely blew it!

Ok I use my own name so have to be very careful about what I say. Someone could report me for "hate crime" this is the way we have to live at the moment. My Dad took our family to Kenya when I was 4. The primary school I went to was a mix of every nationality. We then went to Uganda, Idi Amin came to the swimming pool but he stopped that when he took over the country and murdered most of the oppsition politicialns. We got "booted" out and went back to Kenya. The Asians got booted out and the UK took them in, the Kenyans did not want them, Indians etc , (note their religions), they integrated well in the UK, some are leading now leading politicians! ... so were the Kenyans racist! I suspect that a lot of folk, even some on BH are arm chair warriors! To add a bit.. my Dads job entailed us moving about in the middle east. I remember as a kid landing in Beruit airport when there had been.... a religious attack / or similar.. they used genades.. the blood was all over the floor, shoes and stuff. I have made posts before where I apply common sense, I have no time for woke and have no respect for folk who have not even understood about how the second world war started! Probably at least a year ago I exlained about West of Shetland crude, the price, the difference between heavy and light cude oil, how you process it. I also explained about Gulf crude.. but still the eco fannies just can't get their heads around the way world economics work and the hard reality of global politics. @JohnMo and other have picked this up. As an Enginneer that also understands risk I despair! I do chip in from time to timea bout my basic ideas on underfloor heating. But I just don't have time in my day to argue with eco zelots that want to spend every elses money apart from their own. I live and work just south of Glasgow.. folk are skint! I think the big problem is that we have a generation of folk now that are frankly ingonant.. they are the TIK TOK generation, they pretend they know it but they have not spent the time looking at history, analysing and digesting. As an SE I can tell you these are the kind of folk you do not want anywhere near your job!

To be fair the cheapest way per kwh to run a gas plant is at near maximum rate, all the time. The capital cost of the plant is spread over more kwh and thr fixed operational costs (staff, insurance etc) is also spread likewise. If you imagine buikding, mantaining and staffing a gas plant that onky produce 1mwh over it's life, it would be very expensive per Mwh! However, even with the higher costs of low utilisation gas, the overall power bill would be lower the more the grid uses cost renewables (solar and onshore wind currently cost the same as a high utilisation gas plant even after excluding carbon costs)

Granted (ha) the issues with grant harvesting will be ongoing but I don't see how you get your claim "Ed just ADDED £300 a year to everyones bills" from? Admittedly information is thin on the ground but it doesn't seem as if this funding comes from bills like the ECO funding did. Indeed the ECO program is being scrapped and the funding that would have come being from the levy on bills will be sourced direct from the treasury. The main source of the funds seems to be the treasury or general taxation rather than bills, so this measure would seem to be reducing the burden of "green stuff" on energy bills. But if you have any links to the contrary please post them

Why do you think this is a given? It's easily established that rooftop PV can have a payback time of 5yrs or less, and a lifespan of 25yrs or more. These systems are being bought by private individuals out of their own pocket in order to enjoy lower bills. Nobody would be doing this if it didn't make economic sense. I don't understand why switching to systems that produce essentially free energy, after installation costs are paid off, is a bad thing. And yes it's going to be necessary to run gas power stations to fill the gaps, but is there something fundamentally different about the cost of burning gas intermittently vs burning it as the primary means of generating electricity?

Thank you this is crystal clear. I guess it's an issue I can't avoid now but the height of my window openings are 1220mm, therefore I can only get 1 run out of a 2.4m closer. Hence the much higher cost than anticipated. I was considering the calcium silicate board as it looked to be available in bigger boards but the other side I'm fighting with is the SAP calculation. My SAP guys wants me to follow the recognised construction details and for this it's demanding a barrier that achieves 0.026W/mK. Here's the link to the details: mpf-150-e3-01-cill_-proprietary-insultated-closer.pdf https://share.google/HmekAly15xvNh65mD Unfortunately looking at the calcium silicate board it's 0.15-0.17W/mK. The Timloc's are what I had looked at but they say they can't be joined. It's a nightmare.

Thank you for the encouraging words. My next challenge is VCL and Air tightness in the second floor and above the garage. This is my next battle and I will certainly need some help with this..... I bet it's the simplest thing ever if you've done it before. It's knowing exactly what to do and in what order. What I'm trying to avoid is doing something, and having to go back to rectify it a huge cost later on. I'll be honest, I'm at the stage where I wish I had just contracted the full build out.

Fair point! But we both wear our hearts on our shirt pocket! Yes do that. I'll chip in when I get the chance as others will do. What you will find is that we on BH are like a family.. we don't always agree!. Your job is to distill the info you get, rule stuff in or out and make an informed judgment. Once you do this then you are well on your way! Some, maybe me, will give you tips on how to bring your Architect to the table, hopefully that will not need to happen.

It will take you a bit of time but you can just post them on this thread. If you feel you have made a mistake, just ask the MODS to help you, they are great! If you accidentally post confidential stuff they will remove it. I think there is a Mod on duty pretty much all the time. The main thing to recognise is that BH folk are not going to jump down your throat, you are not going to get pulled up on your spelling.. you will get pulled up if you try and work a flanker! Give BH a go. But remember what you are doing is not that easy! In fact it is technically challenging. You are mixing up fire design, different roof construction and ventilation strategy. Look at it this way.. you have got so far in the design process, recognised that there is a design fit up and insulation / ventilation / fire compatibility and you are dealing with it by coming on Build Hub.

Just so I'm clear, I'll check my contract with them tomorrow and specifically scope. Out of curiosity, for someone to act as the architect during the build stage, what is a general finger in the air fee? Or is this part and parcel of the support they should provide in completing building regulations drawings and consultation during this phase. As in the designer being on hand to answer TQ's?

Ok fair enough. Hope I've not caused offense, it was never my intention. @jack has allayed any concerns I had about BH getting sold.. but I do think it is fair enough for me to ask the question in the first place! I also think it is fair for me to make suggestions about fund raising. I made my case, that is all. Nick, if you have a problem with me then you have my phone number, lift the phone and lets chew the fat. Gus.

I'd squeeze these lot for every once of blood I could get from them. Time to go at them to get what you expected to receive, or to ask for an adjustment in their fees to reflect your dissapontment.

I'm guessing there's no way of getting any money back for the lack of support? I just have to cut my losses and get someone else on board?

Thanks for the understanding. I'll grab the details tomorrow and post them on here with any personal details removed. Do I just post them in this chat? Or the introductions section?

I've not long got off a Teams meeting, with my new clients and the newly-appointed AT. It was a great meeting, ideas shared, bad ones guffawed at, and a high-value next step for the clients self-build adventure. At NO point, none whatsoever, should this be so fecking difficult!!

It's what happens, unfortunately, when unscrupulous companies see their client as subordinates. I've instantly dismissed more than 80% of the architects I've been asked to work with, based on easily demonstrable incompetence (and worse, over-charging).

Hello Jamie. My last post was intended to see if you were serious, bit of tough love! Ok now you are among lots of kindred spirits on BH. Everyone has to start from somewhere, don't whatever you do feel embarrased! What you are doing is not easy! The hard part is the interfaces. These ccan take lots of time and expense to sort out. This is very much up to you. I do this as a day job..there are other folk like me but also lots of folk that have forgotten more than I know! On BH there are contractors, glazing specialists, Architects @ETC for example..that are all chipping in with their professional knowledge and practical construction advice. This is up to you but the best thing to do would be to get all the info and drawings you have., bundle that up. Remove any personal details and identifying marks an post the whole lot on BH! I'll, when have the time chip in.. but the other members will really give you an insight and help. It's kind of a come to "Jesus" moment.. you post the lot and get lots of expert advice..straight off the batt. Some suggestions you get will be off the wall, some not viable as we don't really know what you want to do. But that is part of the desing process.. which is often about ruling out the things you DON'T want to do.. I'm a big advocate of this! Story for another day. I'll give you mine as an SE / Desinger but I can't spend time playing detective with you, if you hold back. Some sugestions you get will not be applicable but will help just generally inform you. BH members really do what it says on the tin! There is the odd wanker but the Mods sort them out quickly. To finish Jamie.. It's ok to not have a clue! I didn't when I first started out! Welcome to the club! Main thing is to enjoy the design and learning process. Remember it's your money so every pound is a prisoner!

Nothing would give me greater pleasure. For one previous client, the architect was a family fried, who said he would support on "mates rates". I got brought in when the wheels were starting to fall off the project (YAY!!!) and immediately confronted this individual for his dispondence. "I'm doing this as a favour so they'll just have to wait, I explained this to them". Tosser. I said it wasn't a problem as I had the clients agreement that we should lose this bell-end and introduce some new blood. All I wanted was the .DWG's converted to PDF's, and some stupid faux-pas corrected before hand. Not the world, and the sky and the chuffing moon. After embarrassing him sufficiently, low and behold, the requisite information started flowing. Prior to my employment, the clients had waited months for this muppet to get his thumb out of his (overpaid btw) ass.

I'll give them one last go before I do that bud. I'm really peeved off with the situation I've been left in, it's been the steepest learning curve of my life!

Be honest. You must get a bee in your bonnet, as do I, watching these barely-qualified pricks take good money, in good faith, and deliver disappointing sack-full's of dog turds?

My point is, you, and others, including government, keep saying renewables is going to bring prices down. Its not. Why cant we be honest and say, electricity prices are going to go up, probably a lot. Possibly cripplingly so. The effects of which are going to be widespread and painful.

Respectfully, I am going to shut this dialogue down. That's quite enough. Please rest assured, that from BH's inception, to date, we have survived on our own framework and principles. We shall continue to do so as a successful, accidentally formed entity, run solely by like-minded folk, for all the right reasons. In the unlikely event that lost souls discontinue to arrive at our doors, we will close down and call it a day. Until then......."play ball". End transmission.