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...a little more action. The piles started going in today and it was a glorious sight to behold after so much waiting and anticipation. It was, in fact, very understated for piles; these are, after all, mini piles, but there was so little fuss and hassle that it was almost underwhelming. Not quite, though. I may just happened to have mentioned before that I'm on clay. Well, I'm on even more clay than I thought. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find anything other than clay on my site apart from a few meagre inches of topsoil where the garden used to be. Although these are mini piles, they still go down to 12m in some positions and all that came up off the augur was clay. Yellow clay at the top, dark grey clay from about 2.5m downwards. So onto a bit of technical stuff for the piles. They are being put in by Advanced Mini Piling Systems, who are based in Bath, and they're very nice chaps. I have 34 piling positions and these were set out by a surveyor on Friday afternoon. Late Friday, two of the piling guys dropped off the rig for an early start this morning and that's just what they did, about 8am. Now, don't ask me questions about loadings and things like that; I can probably find out if you really need to know, but I take the view that as I've paid an SE to work out these things for me, I'm not going to double up on the effort and fry my brain in doing so. Actually, if I come across the pile schedule I can post it if anyone really wants it. First up, the rig is moved to the piling position and the hole is augured out to the specified depth, with the augur being cleaned of debris as they go. Because my clay is so dessicated, it came away from the drill with no problems and no difficult cleaning was needed. The spoil was just shoveled out of the way of the piling positions. The top 3m of the holes are lined with an anti-heave sleeve - this looked like a giant tube of plastic impregnated cardboard and I suspect that's exactly what it is. I understand that they can, at times, be tricky to put in. The team tried to put the first one straight into the hole and seeing someone balancing on one of these to try and squish it in was quite amusing, but ineffective. The solution was very simple - before inserting the sleeve, it got wetted down with water and they dropped right in. The sleeves are a few mm smaller than the hole, so still a tight fit, but the water lubrication worked well. The concrete lorry turned up mid-afternoon. The drilled holes and sleeves aren't left open overnight, they are always poured and filled by the end of the day, with the rebar inserted. The concrete pour was equally straightforward. A dumper truck gets filled with enough concrete to fill one pile position up to the top of the sleeve, the rebar then gets inserted, tied and pushed in all the way. Rinse and repeat until all the positions are finished. Once the concrete has gone off, the rebar will get tied into mesh. Judging by the rate they're getting through the work, the job should be finished on Thursday or Friday morning at the latest. I will add a word about the dumper truck and, in general, the diminutive size of the equipment. Because everything is on a smaller scale, they were able to negotiate the site and all the piling positions that were down and I only saw one squashed pin. Larger equipment would have run the risk of burying everything, if only to manoeuvre around, but this system was very nimble and capable. The combination of smaller kit and the dry weather also meant that I was able to completely avoid the need for a piling mat, which wouldn't have been cheap. I'm chuffed with how the work went today and just hope that the remainder goes as smoothly and no one gets heat exhaustion - it was punishingly hot on site today, even with the strong breeze. Now, what you've all been waiting for, the photos.

I will try to give my view but it’s a bit tricky as all our build ups are different old school method. Two damp courses level with each other. No insulation in the cavity at below floor level. Cavity core filled to two courses below dpc. Moisture droplets form and drop off wall ties as it’s meant to. It falls down the cavity and lands in this two course void and then wicks to either the inside or outside but cannot climb above dpc. Winner winner chicken dinner. New school thinking. Fill the void below floor level in the cavity with a solid insulation to stop a cold bridge at floor level. Moisture drops down cavity and hits top of insulation, bounces onto inner skin of blockwork, KABOOOOM. Damp shows on inner wall at skirting level. So filling the cavity with a ridgid insulation has just created another issue. Remedy. Create a tray damp course. if you have found pictures of a level tray dpc ITS FOOKING WRONG. my personal opinion of course

https://goo.gl/images/yG8wE4 in my opinion it should look like this.

Think I'd be concerned I'd pitched the price too low with that much interest so quickly, so agree the sealed bid approach may be best. As for using PB, we sold our last place using a sort of hybrid EA in so much that they use the same model as PB but are local only and staffed by people who have worked in traditional estate agencies in the area for many years. The advantage for us was they have great local knowledge and contacts. I incentivised them with a bonus payment if they exceeded our minimum acceptable price (they did) and they also did some of the viewings when we were unable to (at no additional charge). The net result was that we saved well over £4k on fees compared to a traditional agent, and the only noticeable difference was their office was in an industrial unit in a boatyard rather than on the high street. Would definitely use them again.

Thanks for all the useful tips and info, I think I'm going to do this, as we've just had yet another viewing appointment for tomorrow (that makes 6 that are coming tomorrow, 2 on Wednesday and one on Friday). The latest one is "house sold subject to contract" too, so that gives us half a dozen pretty good prospects. We've already made the advert "offers in excess of" the listed price, which will fit well with a sealed bid system, I think. I'll double check that we can sort everything our side out in time, but I'm pretty confident that I've already got most of the key info sorted and available. I'm still slightly stunned at the pace with which things seem to be happening. When I clicked the "submit" button to make the advert go live about this time yesterday, I didn't expect to have so many viewings booked in the first 24 hours.

But you don't need to spend a fortune to get a good quality build. It's all in the detail. Mine is most definitely not a high end deluxe build, it's just done right with lots of time and effort put in to get it that way. To get a house that barely passes building regs and comes in at a c rating won't require vast loads of money and time to get it to a B and even possibly an A with the addition of some pv. What score you get in the air tightness test will be a massive indicator of how your build has went. How are you sealing up the inside skin of blockwork?? At all the junctions, floor to wall, wall to ceiling, wall to Windows/doors how do you plan to sort these out?? Will your Windows have trickle vents and will your front door have a letter box?? Are you going to seal up every conduit in the house plus around all sockets and ceiling lights??? All that's above is what is the difference between a mass built house and what you hope to end up with. Not one care is given towards these. Dot and Dab plasterboard is used so you end up with a thermal tent. If you're lucky you get scrim cloth at the ceiling junction but as your house dries and and moves it cracks and then any heat escapes. You won't have anything at the window door junctions. All conduits and service pipes won't be properly sealed up. Not one of these issues will cost a fortune to remedy but each will have a massive impact on how you're house performs.

Have an open day on Saturday to mop up the viewings 1 hr slots or free for all if they have said they are coming if you wish. With a published deadline for offers of Tue 31st 12pm. Hard deadline at Wed 8am or Tue 7pm if people ask. Then decide on Wed. Then make a choice. People making offers will be looking elsewhere after about 1 week, or will be finding greener grass if they are looking continuously. Need to strike before the birds return to the bush. F

This is getting silly. In the last fifteen minutes I've got four more viewing requests. Looks like all I'm going to be doing this week is showing people around the house...

The photos are a tool to get people through the door. There are stats for rightmove where people flick past properties with unappealing photos. These days Estate Agents are generally too lazy to actually work at getting people in the door and rely on the internet pics. Dont underestimate the value of good pics for getting people round to look. If you are not happy with them ask for them to be done again. Also ask for the main intro pic on internet sites to be swapped every week or so to keep it fresh. e.g. An internal or garden view may catch the attention of someone who passed over it a week before as they didnt like the look of it from previous the intro pic. Not everyone clicks through to look at all the pics. Once you have them over the doorstep then at least you have a chance. Good luck to all who are selling!

Great to hear. Cant wait to do the same in our new place, my current flat is shocking. Only 5 years old, adequate standard of insulation but the decrement delay is terrible. The natural ventilation is quoted to be 5.0m3/h.m2 but I think its much lower than that. We cant fully open the windows until the 2 year old is in bed because he'll climb out! Mechanical ventilation needs to be mandatory on new builds IMO. Anyway here's to a chunky slab!

I agree with this and my 6/8 weeks was just something for @JSHarris to think about, having a better idea of what he can support from his side. When we bought the house (that we demolished for our new build) we offered a bonus of £20,000 to the seller if they exchanged by a set date. There was some history with them procastrinating with sellling and they wanted a higher price than we really wanted to pay. So essentially we agreed to a lower price but with a bonus to take them to their asking price, but only payable if they exchanged on a specified date,. They missed the date by a day because they/ their solicitor wasted weeks. So, we paid less, with a lot of moaning and groaning..... It something to consider in your price and sealed bid process to keep the focus on the exchange date

Sounds a damned good compromise to me. I think we may have been lucky, in that our PB contact used to be a local estate agent, and seems pretty switched on. We know the price is low, but frankly that was our choice in order to try and facilitate a quick sale. We don't need to make any more than the minimum asking price to put us back in our planned financial position, and would rather trade speed of sale for a bit of additional profit - we're both heartily sick and tired of our old house, especially in this hot weather where it's a bloody nightmare. I've been at the new house all day, which sits at it's normal 22 deg C, only to come home to a house that's close to 30 deg C, and shows no signs of cooling down much overnight. Boy am I thankful for having got to grips with the concept of decrement delay!

We have bought and sold many houses over the years. Would recommend that you have 4 weeks to exchange and further 4 to complete, which tends to be standard if cash buyer, if not quicker. For those who are in a chain, who have a house under offer, this may not be posssible, as you may be held up by slowest in chain. Make sure you get a good solicitor working for you, one that specialises in conveyencing is best as they are not distracted by other things. We have an excellent one who has done many transactions for us, who knows that we chase continually, so we are always waiting on the other side.

Right then Pete. I'll tell 'em..... " My mate Pete, missin' a few teeth, needs a new nose and comes up from the Smoke (know what I mean; nod's as good as wink to a blind self-builder) , says you have ter come aert 'n measure up like.... " That'll put the wind up them. Up to now (Minera and Cheshire Floor Joists) have said - very politely - to measure it myself. Hence the concern about accuracy

You could set out a simple sealed bid procedure, which outlines your of selection criteria and may be based not only price but also: 1) cash buyer and ability to proceed quickly - they must give your their solicitors name and details with bid. No solicitor provided would put them down your list! 2) firm commitment to exchange/completion date - state your preference, say 6/8 weeks to exchange and rank their ability to comply etc On your part, you need to be able to meet your side of the deal and get all the paper work and solicitor in order asap

Probably true but the water company have a statutary duty to provide you with a stop cock at which point their responsibility stops. This may be adjacent to the meter or some way away. Our neighbours had this same problem and they called the water company and just asked them to turn off the water supply. The water company spent several days trying to find the stop cock and could not find one anywhere in the line from the main so they had to provide one so that our neighbour could cut their supply to work on it without cutting the rest of us off.

I usually drill a 6mm hole and put a 4mm stainless pan head in to hold it down so it can move sideways but not upwards

I assume you have the instructions for fitting oak worktops as you also need a couple of coats of oil on all raw edges and underneath before fitting and fit a vapour barrier above appliances like dishwasher and washing machines .The screws holding the worktop to the units also need to be able to move to stop splitting.

I currently have a build that is “standard” construction but has a target top B rating (not putting solar on to get an A) that is traditional build. Total cost to date - including £8k kitchen - is coming in at £775/sqm. It’s not deluxe, it’s standard construction, but it’s about attention to detail. Floor is 150mm PIR, walls are 150mm blown bead with some areas 25mm overboard, roof is 200mm Earthwool with 25mm or 50mm overboarding. All glazing is triple glaze uPVC. Airtightness is plastic membrane, foil taped joints on all PIR internally. MVHR is a commercial Mitsubishi unit, heating is UFH and ASHP. My - and the clients - notion of spending close to £1m is to get something that actually meets specification. It’s not to do with practices, it’s to do with getting what you paid for..! The reason I don’t like B&B is that unless it’s for specific ground conditions, it is more expensive and labour intensive than a ground bearing slab. The reason a lot of house builders use it is that they also don’t need to remove as much top surface generally with B&B so their muck away costs are less. On individual builds, a single slab of concrete with the UFH built in is cheaper and more effective as it is also dry enough to finish long before the end of the build unlike screeds that can need force drying. Most mainstream builders see UFH as the plumbers job and they aren’t on site until the shell is up and watertight as all underground services are completed by the groundwork teams. Having a plumber into a site for 1-2 days to fit UFH at ground works level would not be easy or cheap to schedule - hence why B&B at groundwork level followed by insulation pipe and screed at first fix is the norm. As you're building a single build you don’t need to follow this and tbh you can get a better finish for the same money the big boys play at per plot if you work hard however you need to save on the fabric where possible and work out the best way to maximize spend. Cost vs Time is the only equation a self builder really needs to focus on, quality should never be compromised.

Our ringbeam reinforcement before being dropped into position:

As you say there is no formal system here. All I did was instructed the selling agent to accept sealed written bids by a date. They needed to state a price and their ability to proceed (i.e. cash, SSTC etc). He then opened them and I chose one. No reason at all why you cant run that system yourself. We achieved bids over the asking price but actually proceeded with a cash buyer who offered the full asking price.

IIRC, our ring beam had four rebars that were around 10mm to 12mm dia running around it, all set inside the 200mm x 200mm ring beam section. These were tied to the fabric running across the centre of the slab with loads of 10mm to 12mm diameter bent bars, as in the photo below (not all the steels are tied in yet in this photo - there's loads more wire tying to be done before the pour):

A ground floor U-value of 0.3 W/m2K would give an automatic fail under the English Regs - must be 0.25 W/m2K or less, area weighted average. 100mm PUR probably gives better than U=0.2 in a typical floor, perhaps closer to U=0.16. This can easily be offset elsewhere in the construction. Note the DER/TER requirement can still be easily met depending upon fuel, heating system - air source heat pump, addition of solar PV etc helping reduce CO2 emissions. High individual U-values will impact on the DFEE/TFEE however and will be more difficult to resolve.

brilliant result - well done!

Don't mention the war, Brexit or that plug in the bathroom.

Not sure if this helps but this is our passive slab detail. Foundation section A Peter Vasey.pdf

@epsilonGreedy During renovation and rebuilding works where the inner leaf of the cavity wall has been taken down I've seen water running down the inner 'cavity' side face of the outer brick wall. On several occasions the outer walls were so badly built that you could read a newspaper through them. The weakness was unfilled or partially filled vertical perpend joints in the brick. BTW - here's the English Building Regs Approved Doc diagrams regarding this issue of full fill of cavities.

I have dealt with Purple Bricks before, but for a purchase. My comments: 1 - Yes, competent and a good system, but you are beholden to the competence of your counterparty. If your buyer is useless or appoints a poor solicitor, it can cause havoc. That is no different to normal EAs, however, except that the pile of doo-doo is on your plate, and you do not have a rep around to chase it up. 2 - Make sure that you have all the information in the system copied to be out of the system. In particular, make sure that the contact details of all your potential buyers or sellers are recorded in your own system somewhere. You need the direct communication. The best way is to swap details at the viewing for questions and so you can go back later if it falls through. Given your approach you have probably done this already ! 3 - Obviously the quality of the local Purple Bricks rep is important. On the transaction. 4 - You have highlighted that you want a quick sale. That means choosing the offer that is not encumbered but also the people with the support services that can deliver that sale. And responding to queries on a very short cycle. 5 - These days the selling and buying process is a hell of a lot more box-ticky than it was. Careful judgement needed when someone demands a change because of x or y whether to comply or walk-away. If you have eg all applicance instructions and so on in place, so much the better. 6 - Looking at the contemporary market (subject to Dorset being different if eg it is a total sellers' market or your place being gold dust), it will be dead in August and from autumn half-term; that is, a remarketing should the thing fall through will need to be in place by late Sept at the latest, or you will be taking a winter price, or waiting until at least March 2019 before remarketing seriously. 7 - So my conclusion would be to give it a very short time (perhaps another 10 days or end of July) for viewings and written offers to be received, then choose one that meets your criteria but with a strong emphasis on which one you believe will deliver, then ask for exchange quickly - perhaps end of August. That is easily doable if there are no serious problems. If you can find a cash buyer with a hard constraint kicking their backside (eg need to move in time for school year), then so much the better. 8 - Maintaining it for an extra 6 months will be £1000-2000, which counts against any costs from taking a slight hit elsewhere. I took a biggish hit (25%+ off a price which was really difficult to judge from the start so I started high and came down) on my last property, which took 18 months to sell, but do not regret it. I could have been in a situation of being stuck for several years, as the property was so unique. Was I there now, perceptions would also (falsely) be blighted by HS2 which is close but the other side of a motorway. OTOH we save about 20% on the one we bought. @ProDave has taken the other strategy of not slashing the price and waiting - horses for courses, as there is not a universal best strategy. Ferdinand

When my first quote came in at £52k for vcl, insulation, membrane, trim...I spent 3 months procuring a more rational quote elsewhere for £32k.....for exactly the same product. In between I got quotes for numerous alternative solutions...none of them bettered the £32k i'm paying for my preferred option. I had a reason for distinctly preferring one particular solution but i'd say if your project doesn't have any specific foibles/requirements just go with whatever fully guaranteed system is being offered by a roof co' that you gel with. Every horror story about one system can be matched with stories about another. By 'fully guaranteed system' I mean that a roofer will use his preferred product and be 'ticketed' to install it, and the product will have a specification written (by the producer) for its installation onto your project...and they'll inspect the work your roofer does with their product on your project before issuing the guarantee. Note that if you then plan to do the green roof bit yourself there may be expectations regarding what your green layers are, in order to maintain the guarantee.

I don't think so - wide angle lense in selling houses is well known and, I think, apart from weird perspectives, they do cover more as we see things. Ordinary photos show the areas we don't normally focus on so seem to minimise the interesting areas.

That's a bit of a difference from our experience. Our chap turned up with a Nikon D7500 plus tripod and fill-in flash. He seems to have used the 18mm lens for all the indoor shots and I really can't fault them, they are a heck of a lot better than anything I could have shot with my Panasonic DMC-TZ70. Bearing in mind that our old house is pretty dire, here's a link to the advert on RightMove: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66568030.html I'm happy with it. We've had 43 advert views as of ten minutes ago and have two viewings booked this week, one a cash buyer, the other sold subject to contract. I'm under no illusions that this is very early days, and things could turn sour, but so far I have to say I'm pretty damned impressed. I suspect that a lot depends on the local agent that handles your initial data gathering and puts the ad together, but you do have the option via the control panel to take your own photos and edit any of the advert text. The principle seems to be that they put you in control, but give you advice when requested, and for me that seems an ideal approach, but I accept that it won't suit everyone

OK, time for another update on progress. We had reasons for holding off on getting the photos taken for the sale advert (like me panicking to get the drive refurbished, clearing out junk, making things look half way presentable, etc) and that happened to coincide with our Purple Bricks chap having a few days off, so the timing, from our point of view, worked perfectly. We had the joke EPC done, the floor plan done and then yesterday morning the Purple Bricks chap came around to take some photos and double check the descriptions etc. Given how much of a mess things were in the photos haven't come out too badly (I just love the magic "Estate Agent" camera that makes rooms look massive...). So, around lunchtime today we received the advert details for approval, with the option for us to edit any of the text, add some of our own photos if we wished, etc. As it happens all looked fine to me, no exaggeration, just accurate descriptive text, so I clicked the "submit" button on our Purple Bricks control panel page. Within seconds the advert was up on Purple Bricks, Zoopla and RightMove. Within the first hour of the advert going live the control panel was telling me that our ad had been viewed 20 times. Three hours after the ad going live we had our first viewing request, for Tuesday lunchtime (they wanted to view tomorrow, but I'm getting some fencing put up at the new place), from a potential cash buyer (no mortgage required). The info that you are fed from the Purple Bricks system is pretty useful, as it tells you a fair bit about the identity and buying status of the potential purchaser, so you can, if you wish, choose to filter out people you think may be time wasters, or that haven't yet put their own house on the market, so are a long way away from being in a position to make an offer. Whilst typing this another viewing request email has just arrived, so it looks as if I may have to do another update later. My initial view is that this method of selling a house is a heck of a lot easier than using a conventional estate agent, with the proviso that you need some time to get to grips with the way the online booking and availability system works (I've already made an error by not having filled in our viewing availability diary - I hadn't realised how important that is to the way the system works. I'll try and keep this thread updated with progress, in the hope that it might shed some light on how selling via an online agency works that might be helpful for others.

Why does the tray promote mortar damp bridges? my feelings are it’s there to stop them, the inner leaf is normally higher than the outer, so any moisture build up in the cavity is directed to the outer leaf and towards any weep holes

Ok, as this has hit the mother of all digressions, ive added my two-penneth here ; Please be so kind as to continue the battery chat there please and leave this thread to the FiT and export discussions. Thanks. The management.

My brother collects classic motorbikes but still has PV ?. He got the original FIT though so probably better value. He just paid 5k!!! for a FS1E for his son and was gutted he hadn’t kept his own from back in the day when they were peanuts. Who can ever predict how these things will go though.

Unless there is a planning requirement I would not bother. it will be expensive to achieve and perhaps more difficult to insure. A lot to strip back if there is a defect. I would be concerned about fire in this weather too.

It depends on the type of grass roof you want. You’ve three broad types. Lightweight which is about 1 or 2 inches of soil that contains sedum plants and mosses. This requires very little maintenance and isn’t suitable for regular access as the soil is so thin. The next is extensive green roofs which are deeper (about 3 to 7 inches) which allows you to plant grass and flowers and you can walk out onto. This needs a little more maintenance but not much. Then you’ve intensive which is anything bigger. This allows you to have a real garden with paving areas, grassed areas, shrubs, etc. The maintenance is like a regular garden cutting the grass and trimming shrubs if needed. The heavier the roof the more structure you need and the more expensive it gets. You’ll also need handrails and parapets for when people are using the roof. The lightweight sedum roofs are relatively cheap and can be on a timber frame structure. They come with their own build up of layers and are relatively easy. The key point is it’s all installed correctly as like any roof finding a leak later is difficult. Presuming you don’t need access and the lightweight is OK for you then it should be about the same price or not far off. They don’t need handrails as they don’t have regular access. The heavier grass roofs get very expensive. I’m not sure I’d trust the regular roofer down the road with a zinc roof. Slates sure but not zinc. The same is for a green roof but the layers and build up of a green roof are now relatively easy to lay and install. Environmentally and aesthetically the green roof I think is better and what I’d go with. If you’ve high bedroom windows that look out over a flat roof it’s nicer to look out over a grass roof than slates or zinc.