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All the lighting circuits are on, the thermal store is hot. The kitchens in, bathrooms tiled. Glass for the stairs has been delivered and there is only the chimney to plaster. Dare i I dream that the end is actually in sight?

Good stuff. You'll be in in no time if our experience is typical as we found an extra burst of energy for the final push. The nearer the finish line gets, the more eager we were to cross it Okay, we still have some cosmetic stuff to finish off, but two weeks on from moving in we finally have a home rather than a 'site', and it feels great.

Hi We are at the "finding an architect" stage for a 2 part project: 1) Fairly standard 2-storey extension to a 1920s detached house (extra bedroom, utility room, bigger kitchen) 2) Near-Passive detached studio and workshop in the back garden We'll get a local company to do most of the extension but my husband and I intend building as much of the studio/workshop ourselves. The past few weeks have been a steep learning curve going from "What's a strip foundation?" to comparing the technical differences between different passive slabs and "How would I make that light socket airtight?" We don't have an architect yet. Friends' recommendations have been people who could only draw nice pictures for the planners. I live in an area where most of the architects seem to design huge expensive properties or are just too busy. I put my details into the Home Owners Alliance "Find an Architect" website yesterday and have suddenly been contacted by number of companies. But of the 8 names I was given, only one was a qualified architect. However, one of the architectural technologist does seem to have some impressive work on her portfolio. Should I be restricting my search to architects or should I also be considering architectural technologists? Or, does anyone have any architect recommendations in the Surrey/Hants/Berks border area?

What goes around, comes around. My philosophy in life is that if you try to help others whenever the opportunity arises, then some of those people will go on to help others in a similar way, too, and gradually we'll get to a point where altruism trumps greed. 99% of the time it doesn't take much - like the 5 minutes It took me to dig out that PRedV. I know you will do things like this for others from time to time, and with luck they will go on to do the same for lots more people, so the virtual circle grows. All it takes is for more people to realise that money is not the be all and end all. It's one reason I also strongly support the Freecycle enterprise locally, and also why I'm so depressed by the way that the local recycling centre won't let you take anything away to re-purpose yourself.

@AliG What boiler have you fitted? Convert to LPG as a temp measure and say FU to adversity. ? In goes the wooden floor and the house gets some heat. ?

Somebody needs to get their ar$e in gear...

I have a feeling this may well be a Grenfell Tower backlash. I'm hearing rumours that some building control organisations are significantly tightening up on anything that may possibly, under any sort of definition, be called a "new method of construction". Basically they are arse-covering. They are, apparently, running scared because the potential liability where non-standard details have been approved and it's then backfired (as in the Grenfell Tower cladding) might well be massive. Nothing has changed, but building control has been exceedingly lax in some areas in recent years, and this may well be a company, or perhaps the warranty company they are tied to, being excessively cautious as a knee-jerk reaction.

Well there are exta stages because of the warranty. The next one is "pre plastet" but he will not pass that unless we do all this stuff and any extras he thinks up. I spoke to him last night and said that if I have to measure and report every single staple, screw etc in the place he's basically closing down our build as we'd be on for years.He agreed to find out Kingspan approved VCL stapling distance (I'll be utterly amazed if they have such a thing - I mean why would they?) when I said I wasn't willing to ask stupid questions on his behalf any more. Standard overlap seems to be about 150mm but nowhere can I find a recommended stapling distance - not unaturally as its a bloody stupid question -but remember this is just his latest fixation and as he can refuse to approve the house for the purpose of the warranty he has us over a barrel. I'm now at the position of not knowingly what work we dare do that he won't make up a rule about! *** update *** just picked up a message from him - surprise surprise Kingspan don't have a specification for how far apart VCL staples have to go (and why the hell would they? ) as long as it's firmly fixed and overlaps taped (you mean exactly how I started doing it before you stopped me!) - you couldn't make this sh** up! ?

Cheers @Nickfromwales it’s quite the piece of kit. I expected it to be heating up the whole utility but it’s practically room temp on the outside of the store. The only leakage is off the pipe work! Updates coming thick and fast now. Today’s is the final stair parts going in.. you need to look closely to spot my favourite detail...

Too late, I've just been up in the loft and found it, and it's now in the back of my car! I have no need of it, as our pressure is now set by the pressure regulation system for the borehole supply. It's a Caleffi, adjustable one, that was notionally set to 3 bar, but has been adjusted down, IIRC. They are easy to adjust, there is a screwdriver slot in the top. The model seems to be this one: https://www.ondemandsupplies.co.uk/22mm-caleffi-pressure-reducing-valve-ca-533651/ The instructions are here: https://www.caleffi.com/sites/default/files/file/581035.10.pdf

@daiking it is £219 but I also got a discount on that too as I had a £10 voucher. Got to say the impact driver is superb - not quite sure how my Wiha bit holder will stand up to it but ......

Really liking the light wash on the wall in the first pic . Good to hear the TS is in and functioning. ?

So by way of update I’ve gone with the Makita LXT 18v and have both drill and impact driver. I priced up getting the individual components (just after I gave @Ferdinand my spare LXT rapid charger....) and unless I bought pattern batteries I couldn’t match an offer from Screwfix that included two genuine 3Ah batteries with a standard charger. I’ll probably add a couple of pattern batteries and a rapid charger and then the circular saw. Its not like I didn’t need a nice early Christmas present to myself anyway ...

I'm pretty sure I have a spare adjustable, 22mm fitting, PRedV in my may come in handy box. We had it fitted originally to reduce the pressure to 3.5 bar when we were running the thermal store (which had a 3.5 bar limit). We took it out when we fitted the Sunamp, and also reduced the pump system pressure to 3.5 bar. If I can find it I'll chuck it in the back of the car and you can grab it when we meet up in a couple of weeks time.

That must be a very satisfying feeling. And managing to do so on top of doing a full time job is all the more creditable. Got a house-warming date in mind? (Sorry )

Yep.

Looks great! Can't wait to be in the same position. I do like your light fittings sans ceiling rose - a nice clean detail.

Good stuff! I'm hoping I can post something like this soon too!

Related to this withdraw the application thing. I will tell the cautionary tale of someone I used to work with. He applied for a massive extension to a house more than doubling it's size. It met with several objections. He was advised to withdraw and re submit. What he actually did was submit a second slightly different application, which got a new application number. THEN he withdrew the original. Nobody noticed the new application number and when it came before the planning committee, there were "no objections" and it was passed. I think his planning consultant knew the system and played it.

You're going to lose a lot on the house sale limiting your market to people who don't want to live next to a building site, probably 5% and wanting to rent it back will make it even more limiting. Meanwhile put a nice house up next to it and you could increase its value. You said that you plan to do up the current house then sell it. Could you use the cash for that to get you started on the new place. Is the house liveable in its current state whilst you build? Could this with a self build mortgage get you most of the way there. It depends what the budgeter for doing up the current house is. Of course higher interest costs could eat up the benefit of getting a higher selling price. Again a lot depends on how much you can get done using your own finance, if you could finance the ground works and the house is a fast timber frame build then you are only looking to borrow money for maybe 6 months. Ultimately there will probably have to be some compromise and you might not be able to maximise the financial outcome. Not building a house quite to passive house standards may be another compromise.

Hi Here's one for everyone, talk about stress and haven't started yet, digger booked for Monday next week, went running with my dogs last week, tripped over on coastal path into a heap and on the floor, 40minute hobble home turned out fractured ankle, wearing a special boot for 4 weeks, so have delayed the start date. Hopefully be more mobile by the time the digger turns up in four weeks. Thanks John