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TBH I was very impressed with both the people building last night, I don’t have many good thoughts regarding the younger generation and think the majority of 20-30 year olds are a bunch of wasters, however I was pleasantly surprised by the chubby lad and his misses. Well done to both builders, ( I was going to say couples, but she gave him the elbow) hope he finds a better model and the old one is jealous as hell.

And here it is fully boarded. Plastering of it starts Monday. So far so good.....

The street are the first 10 plots at Graven Hill, hence why we call them the Pioneer plots. Or more formally, Phase 0. Phase 1A is being undertaken now, with #35-45 in the north east all nearing completion or done, as are most of the houses from #71-95 and #118-135 (wood crescent) in the south east #148 to 177 in the south centre are currently starting, as you can see below from out plot foundations at #156. Neighbour behind (two plots in between, see plinths) with the crescent to the right, and affordable housing done and going up to the left. Yup, far more. These plots were quite discounted I believe to help kick-start the Graven Hill programme so they could start marketing and pointing to active projects. Ours was £255k for just shy of 500m2, which was £20 more than we'd been told when we'd originally approached Graven Hill, and £75k more than estimated back in 2015. Equivalent plots in phase 1B (to the west) have been on sale for a bit now and are about £315-320k, such as #276 for example. They're increasing the number of floor levels from 2 to 3 to increase GIA to bump the price up for the same land. Starting to get a bit too greedy now methinks as the uptake and start of new plots has slowed down quite a bit. Suspect they're having cash flow issues due to everything being much prolonged with them as bureaucratic middle men/women. Have a browse at their plots here: https://www.gravenhill.co.uk/map/ yes, I recall that too. They dropped it in favour of the code for sustainable homes which the government was pushing between 2010-15. Had to have 5 our of 6 stars through some points based system. That died when the government dropped it. They settled on plot passports instead, which have a chapter on the performance and sustainability requirements. See the full thing here: https://www.gravenhill.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/1982-p-p-c-plot-0156-33.pdf No, defiantly not. I was very surprised that Graven Hill allowed some of that to be aired at all. Guess they don't get any editorial say? It has taken us two years between reserving and starting to dig foundations jumping through all the hoops. Not just with Planning, Engineering and Structural control, but also via Graven Hill themselves. Planning was the only easy bit, everything else has an additional layer of bureaucracy one really doesn't need in a stressful self build... We have to file forms for every little bit and pay fees for stuff one would just be able to do normally. We legally own the land, but are treated as if we don't have a right to. Also had to bear significant risk due to Graven Hill, having to spend £50k up front and signed up to a further £100k+ worth of materials and contractors before we even got to sign for the contract on the plot. Stupidly risky. Next self build would be traditional for certain. As for the health and safety, was very taken aback at the living on site. That's a strict no-no for us. Not even a caravan or mobile home. Graven Hill to their credit are very responsible here, enforcing all the CDM rules to the letter, with a full time H&S officer on site every day. It is nice knowing that everyone is taking that seriously and not acting like idiots! Shame. You're invited to come down and join ourselves and our neighbours to hopefully change your mind about us young-uns. Most of us are far from the stereotypical millennial that the tabloids love to hate.

Well, it has taken some time to get anyone from the DNO to speak to me and I have been given a jolly good run around, but finally today I managed to speak to somebody who sounds like they are going to engage. After two calls, with a break in the middle while the guy I was speaking to went off to speak to his senior I think the first round of the dance was done. The DNO guy said that the wayleave with the old owner would have terminated when the property was sold to me anyway and that they now have a "bare wayleave". I have searched on google for the term "bare wayleave" but as yet I have not found any reference to it, that may be down to my IT skills but I am also not sure it matters anyway*. The DNO guy has said that I have two choices, I can pay the cost of moving the equipment and it will be done "quickly" or I can serve notice on them to remove their equipment which has a twelve month lead time. I wonder if this is a standard part of their playbook as it was accompanied with a bit of "well I am sure you want to get on as soon as you can" patter. I pointed out that there has never been a Wayleave in place according to their own Wayleave Registry team. I also said that I have plenty of things that need to be organised and so a twelve month wait may not be any particular issue, especially as the planning consent is valid for a lot more than twelve more months. He came back with his second gambit, saying how much easier it will be for me to get a connection for the replacement house if the cable is accessible on my land. We then took a bit of time looking at the drawing for the rerouting at each end of the phone, I pointed out that the cable seems to serve a lot of their customers and that the engineer that carried out the design work said that if I would not have a relocated pole on my land the rerouting would become a lot more expensive as they would have to dig up a road to lay it under it. Of course at the time he told me that he did so to get me to agree to have the pole on my land, but it was rather useful to play this back to the guy I was talking to now. Having looked at the diagram he did not deny that other than having a pole on my land the only option was to put it under the road. So after I had demonstrated I was not going to cave in at the threat of a twelve month wait and shown I also had a bit of leverage myself, as it would be a lot cheaper for him to relocate it on my land than to have to dig up the road he reached for the next page in his negotiation manual - he would have to speak to "higher authority" to discuss this. I'm not sure if it was genuine or a play for time but apparently "higher authority" is on maternity leave and will not be back for a couple of weeks. But he did say he would copy me on the email he is going to send explaining the situation and asking for guidance. So I have at least managed to get an initial engagement and have broadly given him a couple of weeks to discuss it internally. My gut feel at this stage is having started off trying to be helpful I should not it drift too long now and if in a couple of weeks they do not come back minded to cover the cost I will probably serve notice for them to remove the equipment. But when I do that I will explain I am doing it just so that I have a 'backstop' in case we can't reach a sensible commercial agreement. Any thoughts much appreciated. Randomiser. * From what I have read it is right that a Wayleave terminates when a property is sold. This seems a little odd to me as it means that every time a property changes hands the DNO runs the risk of the new owner serving notice for them to remove their equipment. I would have thought they would want a bit more certainty than that.

It’s not the getting down I have problems with, it’s the standing up again ??

Hello, I joined minutes before you and I can already answer someone's question!? We are looking to build a small 2 bed bungalow 10m x 8.5m. The costs we have at the moment total app £46000.00. This covers foundations ( top end estimate as we might have problems) cavity walls with block interior and sandstone exterior, internal block walls, windows, roof with concrete tiles, guttering etc. This is WITHOUT labour costs, just materials and does not cover the interior. Also, we have not factored in gas or electric mains connection cos we can't have them, and no drains connection cos we are fitting our own septic tank and soakaway. Obviously depends on the size of the home your building and the materials you choose, but hopefully this might help a bit.

Things take a while when you are self building don't they? So, back to this circular rooflight internal finishes joinery. I thought you'd all like an update, particularly @Onoff who I was expecting on site back in November ? Here is what has been done. Firstly, there was a slight thermal bridging issue with the metal frame for the roof light being inside the thermal envelope. Got some drips earlier in the year when plaster was drying out and condensing up there. Not a huge amount we could do easily but I have at least stuck some aerogel (left over and lying around) on those areas. Those are the silver triangle pieces. Hopefully there will be less moisture (than plaster drying out) when we are living in it. Back in Jan the tackers said they would have no problem with that rooflight meaning that HWMBO was left with stud wall construction only. And this week was the week for them to do it. They turned up with a flexi 6mm board (that they also said was moisture resistant). They used some plasterboard to batten out slightly from the square bits of the hexagon, some 25mm battens a little bit further out and then some creative battening across the corners and then they bent the 6mm board into shape and fixed it. Today they did the top bit (no photo, too dark when I got home). But they have left the plasterboard about half an inch short of the glass and made sure that the black edge is covered (in case the finished skim isn't quite circular - otherwise the absolutely circular black edging would show it). I'll post again after the plasterer has been in on Monday - hopefully he'll have no issue with it. But so far so good. Did have to hire a huge tower scaffold though. Ours only goes up about 3m and they needed the platform for this work at over 5m. Its still pretty hairy standing on a step ladder on top of the platform but even I can reach the roof light from the top. Bodes well for painting.

I'm Roger and we have just secured an option to purchase a plot in East Lancs. We foresee some issues with planning as it is outside the urban boundary, so fingers crossed. This is our second self-build: we are leaving the first after 35 years to down size but only moving 150m. Joined the site to get up to speed with latest materials and methods.

Hi everyone, My wife and I have purchased an 1840's former quarryman's cottage in North Wales and have just embarked on an extension to the rear and side of it. Over the weekend we excavated over 225t and now have a huge clay pit. Still need to dig footings and also sort a terraced retaining wall. The saying 'bitten off more that I can chew' comes to mind Day 1 we struck a problem with an old culvert underneath the floor level so we will have to divert it. It seems pretty daunting given the closest thing I've done like this before is converting an old outside laundry to a new bathroom plus - I don't have a builder as have decided instead to manage it and organise the trades. Would love a builder but as budget is tight (4 kids to feed) I've decided to try and engage the trades myself and order materials so this adds to the 'what the hell am I doing?' I'm thinking of tracking it in a blog or on FB so can post pics there and link to it (if allowed). Anyway, stumbled across this forum while doing some searches and glad I found it. I reckon I'll be using it a bit so hopefully my questions aren't to daft! Cheers Connick

Almost !

That walk on glazing is affordable ?????

The company we used for the sash windows windows didn’t make there own bifolds So we looked at the Nec and found a company that manufactured there own Great price service Realy easy to install also Duration Windows

No, not for home charge points. They are usually always active, and are turned on by any car that's plugged in to them. Some can be restricted use, so that they need an RFID card to turn on, but in my experience these have always been domestic type charge points installed at hotels, where they wish to restrict use to hotel guests only (seems fair enough, especially as I've used charge points like this as a hotel guest a few times now). Public charge points, i.e. those installed by councils, supermarket owners and at service stations and cafes along our road network, have a plethora of operating methods, which is one of the major disincentives for electric car use, IMHO. Last time I looked in detail, there were over 30 different companies offering charging services, and all used a different way of charging users. Most use a subscription service, with a monthly charge for a card, plus a charge for electricity used. The monthly charge is typically around £8, so having a handful of these cards in your wallet is a pretty big monthly cost, before the cost of any electricity used is added. Some charge points have shifted to a 'phone app based model, but generally these are very flaky. They fail to work as often as not, so charging has to be initiated by a lengthy 'phone conversation with their help desk. The app based systems all require a direct debit authorisation to be set up in advance, so again you could have maybe a dozen or more of these set up, just to ensure you can access a charge point wherever you happen to be. The government have passed legislation that is aimed at allowing free access to any public charge point, with a common payment system (just like buying fuel at a filling station) but the charge point operators are really reluctant to adopt this. The main companies that seem to be shifting towards compliance with the government requirement are Instavolt and Shell, who are both offering charge points that accept normal contactless payment by debit or credit card, or Apple Pay, which uses the same RFID technology. This seems to be the way to go, as it makes paying for electricity much like buying fuel.

So let me get this right. the only benefit was to them, and they want to charge you £50 if you want to continue providing them with data? I wonder how many mugs sign up for this?

This is because OLEV was paying for the data collection, and they've decided to stop, as new OLEV subsidised charge points will need to be "smart" grid compliant, so that the energy companies can control when cars get charged (or not) so as to better manage peak demand. You could have disabled the Chargemaster at any time by just taking off the cover and removing the SIM card, it's what some people who have been concerned about the pretty lax data security with these things have been doing, and it doesn't have any impact on the function of the charge point at all. The only function of the data link was to transmit data about the usage of the charge point, to allow manufacturers and electricity providers to build up a database of usage statistics. There was never any control capability built in to the data linked charge point, so they can't be turned on or off remotely (unlike the new "smart" charge points, that are specifically designed to be able to be turned on and off remotely).

My D & A statement is 17 pages and I thought that was a lot!! Unfortunately I don’t have the skills to offer any real advice other than I sent our first draft back with over a page of queries / corrections. The whole ole issue is not particularly size - each dwelling brings an additional household with the necessary cars & inhabitants etc. With it. I had tried to design our place as someone above - so it could be divided after completion. I just couldn’t do it well enough and small enough for us to be able to do it.

That's not going to happen. This guy has ranted at me for not doing what he wants when he wants it. He doesn't make requests, he told me to do something that wasn't necessary and when I asked why and what benefit it was he just stated 'IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN' He has threatened the Estate Agent and shouted and sworn at both the manager and the agent looking after my property. I wanted to pull out a fortnight ago when he started getting arsey but the Estate Agent, who hadn't had direct dealings with him at that time, said it was better to stick with it rather than start again. I'm glad it's been flagged up - I can now do something abut it and get it sorted. Hopefully I'll get a decent buyer soon.

We have 6.25 kWp of installed PV, and I'm looking at installing battery storage. We're also "off grid" for water and sewage, but have grid electricity that we use as a big battery, in effect. Over the course of a year the PV generates a bit more than double the amount of energy we use (the house is all-electric, no bottled gas, oil, or other toxic fuel burning stuff). However, from around October to about March every year we don't generate anywhere near enough electricity from the PV to cover the house consumption, even though the house consumption is very low (it's a passive house, so needs very little heating). It wouldn't matter how big a battery system I installed, we could never hope to meet more than maybe 10% to 20% of our winter energy needs from the PV generation, so would need some other means of keeping the battery charged for around 4 or 5 months of the year. If we had a generator, then it would need to deliver around 15 kWh to 25 kWh per day, during the PV "dead season", so would be costly to run. Unfortunately, we can't install wind generation, but if we could I think we could possibly reduce the winter deficit. Paul Camelli (his blog has been mentioned in this thread before, it's well worth a read: https://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/ ) has managed (after many years of off-grid experience and development) to create a system that doesn't need a generator now, with the combination of some PV generation, a fair bit of wind generation, and, perhaps most importantly, a small amount of always-on micro hydro generation. His micro hydro system only delivers a couple of hundred Watts, but that apparently really makes a big difference in terms of keeping his battery topped up, and has meant that he rarely, if ever, needs to fire up the generator. At the moment we use the grid as a seasonal battery to meet the winter requirement, by putting far more into the grid in summer than we use in winter. That's not ideal, but my next step is to install a battery system so that when we need to use grid power we can do so at the best time, overnight, when grid demand is low. I doubt the battery system will be cost-effective, in terms of being cheaper than buying electricity from the grid, as the capital cost alone would pay the electricity bill for many years to come. It will, however, reduce the net CO2 we use, and even though we're already CO2 negative, reducing our environmental impact further has to be a good thing to try and do (and is why I drive an electric car, charged for more than half the year with PV generated energy).

We are a retired couple who have been lucky enough to get planning permission to build a bungalow in our garden (it is a very large garden :) ) This is our first complete build though we have renovated our 3 previous houses. Chris, my husband, is a plumber and so understands the building trade. He has not, due to knackered knees, worked at plumbing for quite a while. Having said that he completely re plumbed our current house during a recent re modelling. He just sat down for the kneeling jobs! We will have to sell our house to finance the complete build but hope to have enough saved up to put the shell up. I will pop off and post my first question about how much the shell is likely to cost.

Hello Jack We will In deed be installing a gas boiler. We are living in a caravan at the moment, and we have managed with the tiny LPG boiler for showering, and all hot water needs, and we have decided to install one in the house. Worcester/Bosch do a little one that is more powerful than the one we are currently using and we think it will be fine. So its LPG GAS cooker and hot water, solar power, and woodburner for heat. That's alot of power you have! We are low users..about 2000kwh a year! Going with 7 x 365 LG neon mono panels, Victron easisolar48/3000/70-50-230v-c/w integral mppt charge controller, BYD -B-PLUSL 2.56 kWh 48v lithium battery...any thoughts?

A hammer. Tap the screw left right up and down repeatedly and it will snap.

Be aware that if you want the ASHP insulated pipe to go under your raft foundation you will be hard pressed to fit this in the 110mm pipe. We had a hell of a job getting the pipework through, partly because we used a 90° bend as opposed to a slow bend to exit into the service room and also because the ASHP insulated pipe is not very flexible. We ended up having to fit two long flexible connectors to get it round the last bend and also we had to strip off the outer flexi casing and a layer of insulation to get it through the duct.

OK so I met with the architect today on a number of subject, including the fall from height bits. It seems these were included in the BR notes as a recommendation and they do not see these as being something the BC body has an interest in. The reason for doing so is professional indemnity related (you could say because they care ) apparently there have been claims against architects due to accidents happening relating to items that were not identified as risks by the architect. If we choose to ignore the recommendation that is our choice. Big relief - was very helpful though going into the discussion being much better informed so thanks again for all the helpful comments and links above.

This is a good idea, but needs some thought. In order to be able to claim back the VAT you will have to submit the planning drawings and decision notice to HMRC, and they will not refund VAT if the planning consent is for a rebuild, rather than a new build, so that means you will have to get the planning consent changed.

Sliding gate would be more work getting the track installed etc. Best to stick to the double farm gate idea I reckon. So you've loaded the photo as your cover photo rather than your profile photo hence you can only see the green Z. If you click on your green Z you will go to your profile and see the cover photo. I can see your arse (and your elbow ) in it. The definition isn't great (which is probably for the best ..... !!). That's you and @pocster now in the battle of nakedness!! Hope you pair don't go using any power tools whilst in the buff. That belongs on a health and safety thread though! You need a much smaller pic to use as your profile. Once on your own page click on the box that says profile photo to the left of the green circle. Then upload a photo. To add a signature click on your username top right, then select 'account settings'. The bottom one on the list on the left is 'signature'. Click on that, add some text in the box at the bottom and press save. Voila!

They need something big to keep him from getting out too often.

Also - I’m assuming that RatedPeople is something like Check a Trade? If so, again you are not going to get a great builder that way. You may be lucky but in all probability you will end up with a builder short of work. A builder short of work generally means they are not very good - of course a job may have fallen through and so they are suddenly looking for work for their workforce but that is less likely. Local recommendations are the best way to find good builders.

Yes Frametherm is perfect for the job. It is flexible yet stiff enough that when pushed in between the rafters of a roof, it just stays there. My comment was about his suggestion to fill the frame with slabs of wood fibre. Those are not flexible enough to squash in.

Good advice, as usual. It looks as if the buyer has pulled out already. I'm sure that there are some good conveyancers out there, no doubt there are some good solicitors as well, but my experience is that they are few and far between. For instance, when my late parents house was sold a few years ago the first potential buyers conveyancer refused to do the first registration! (it was an unregistered property). That's part of their job and trivially easy. In the end I did it myself. We're selling and buying at the moment and getting similar laziness and minor incompetence from the solicitor we are using. (I would rather do it myself but there's an effective closed shop around here and the aggro isn't worth it.)

Waving your arms above your head, like you are swatting wasps, trying to hold the bloody stuff up. Add to that the shoulder ache at the end of the day. All good fun if you have a wierd sense of humor.

I was hoping to use Cellulose in my I-beam frame but I just couldn't make the numbers work within our budget. Instead I switched to 300mm of Rockwool bought at a decent price in bulk and saved a considerable amount. My recommendation if doing it again would be to look at getting the roof blown in Cellulose and do the walls yourself as a compromise in something like rock wool. Walls are easy, the roof was tedious as is any job working about your head. The Rockwool seems incredibly dense and even with some openings not yet permanently blocked the house feels very soundproof with little temperature change throughout the day.

Good luck. I have to sit on my bum aswell. Can't kneel down. Bum shuffling works well.

As I recall you have 6 months from grant of permission to appeal against a planning condition. An alternative is to make a section 73 application to have a condition removed. The latter might be quicker. If you move fast you might have time to do both. Failing that you can make a whole new application that states you will only have a single phase supply (and makes the case for it).

This time one couple split up and he then could not afford to finish so is living in a barely habitable house, but with a lovely garden. Next door a floating staircase that is completely devoid of any handrails. And the treads bend when you step on them. Both over budget.

it is clearly crying out for either an internal or external Helter-Skelter. Not as much as windmills do, but it needs one. ???

Welcome @connick159!

that single lass has got some bottle. Its a lot to take on when you're on your own - I often come home at the end of an evenings graft / whole days graft and its good that the missus is here - cheers me up, who did she rely on for some emotional help? Hats off to her.

Hi @K78 I have selected Isotex because it creates a much flatter final finish for my external wood cladding. Also it creates a much better continuous line of concrete and insulation because of the inner web design. I will try to arrange a timelapse camera so you can see progress once we start. We are starting construction drawings this week. Any questions let me know. I am no expert but learning fast.

Summer of 2017 - photos of the paddock near the stable. Our daughter wanted wild flowers for her wedding but she then brought the day forward from June to May due to another family wedding clashing. The flowers looked beautiful on the original wedding day but were not out on the wet and wild day she actually got married on.