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Biggest general mistake is not trusting my gut. When you think someone is full of crap or outright lying you are probably right and you should act on it. I found it too easy to trust people to do the right thing and just hope.

Something I have learnt at places I have worked in the past. One guy was so full of shit that a tenacious student did some digging, printed out a few sheets of truth i.e. guy claimed to have a Doctorate, just happened that someone else with the same name, and at the same university, did have one. Then this enterprising student left the printouts in each room that the guy lectured in for people to 'find'. Moral of that was, never upset an Irishman. Actually I have the same name as a fellow lecturer I worked with and we made sure people knew there was a difference. He had a beard.

Then under our current system of financing public infrastructure, very little would get done. In my view the government would be better off getting total control of RE, and nuclear planning, it is barmy that a local council can control new national infrastructure. Why we have so many compromised systems. They (the government) could pay for new grid reinforcing and cabling. Been driving past the new pylons for Hinkley Point most weeks recently. Be interesting to see how much time they took to get the agreed route, and if that route is the best one

I agree, certain fundamental resources should be part of the commons where everyone benefits.

Apologies. I will delve into the archive.

OK, so we put in a pre planning application for a plot which had existing planning for 4 houses in Jan 2021, with a planning condition of building a cat 6 access "adopted" road to service the plots. The purpose of the pre planning app was to see if we could access the plot via an alternative entrance (an existing farm vehicle access from main road), bypassing the planning requirement and making the build financially viable for a single house. Eventually got the approval report after 4 months, after all the usual "working form home', "COVID" and "Staff off long term" runarounds. We are now sitting 13 months from our start date, still waiting for full planning (Submitted in August) to be granted, despite being informed unofficially that it was a done deal. We can't get an address, can't get water or sewage connected to the site, can't break ground, engage contractors or apply for the RHI (finishes at the end of this month apparently) for our heat pump and solar panels. Lord help us when it comes to the building warrant - next. On a more positive note, we will be posting in various other threads, asking for advice on all the next aspects of our build - Once it actually kicks off.All advice re: thumb twiddling activities in the interim welcome.

Hi All, I'm Jack! A chartered engineer from the Midlands who's looking to build our family home - Many moons ago did a carpentry/joinery apprentice Level 3 working on and off build sites, stair cases, extensions, hand cut roof trusses, orangeries etc etc then went on to Uni to study a MEng in Mechanical and Software engineering 📐🛠️ I've spent my last 6-8 months meticulously planning, drawing, obsessing, reading, watching, modelling etc and recently discovered the forum so thought I'd come and join to say hello... especially as this seems a more likely source of content and information for my circumstance in the UK than many many sites that are US oriented! Plan is to build a 'typical' North American stick frame construction internally, but with a masonry skin on the outside. Running with External and Internal load-bearing walls in 2x6 (45x150mm nominal) 600mm OC to allow for more insulation, but then some non-load bearing partitions (utility / downstairs WC and the walk in wardrobe in master bed) in 2x4 at 400mm OC where they don't need that heavy gauge construction. looking to have a thermally efficient and stable home, looking to be net-zero energy by utilising stuff like solar and natural heating from the get go. Looking to sticking around and the journey! Thanks, Jack!

https://www.meteorelectrical.com/pub/media/catalog/product/file/Shower Boards_1452600737.pdf

Do yourself a favour and get bigger rads.

I think many suppliers are jumping on the bandwagon If fuel was to drop tomorrow They wouldn’t drop there prices Through lockdown oil prices plummeted I can’t remember haulage companies pass that on to the end user Once the recession kicks in They will all find a way to discount prices

Smart EV chargers detect the max current and will throttle back since thy will be the biggest load and and can wait - dinner can't

https://www.omnical.co/products/hager/ed183/2295794 It was a domestic sparky that made me aware of them tbh. Well he was domestic and light industrial iirc.

Maybe if you ran everything at once, but in the real world it's not a problem. We have a 100A supply and a 32A EV charger + Induction hob 20A + 16A cooker +++++ but in practice we never get anywhere close to 100A.

No particular warning on my Titon units. My thoughts are. For what it saves why switch off and risk not switching on when you have closed the windows. Mvhr sucks in moisture from wet rooms, so be definition the extract side is wet or damp. Switching off for a prolonged period would allow these damp areas to generate bugs, mould etc. Neither is healthy for the unit or you.

I think it's even worse than that. The current government are relying almost entirely on 'the private market' to put in the investment, and we all know how this market likes to behave. It doesn't want to take the risks, but wants all the rewards. It certainly does need to take some control and make some serious investment both in terms of effort and finance, but the current lot aren't even close to being capable, nor do I see anyone who is right now.

Not entirely sure what's implied here, but I can surmise. Resources being part of the commons is totally different from how the services are run. There are many models available to provide good services yet retain public ownership and common benefit, it's the short sightedness and limited ideology of closed minded policy makers that stops it from being put into effect - and this isn't aimed at a particular side of politics as both the conservatives and labour are over the years just as guilty, just look at public private partnerhsip introduced by Blair to see what was in effect a massive fleecing of the NHS in the interest of an accountancy slight of hand to make it look like less national government borrowing, and basically benefited large, rich corporations and their shareholders. The idea that privatisation is more efficient is also a perpetual myth.

I've been in constant conversation with a very good friend and ex-colleague of mine who's a SE through out the design process, He has already agreed with me 2x6 with a 600mm OC, california corners at all external corners and 3-stud U-Channels for interior walls using 2x6 for all load bearing walls are more than adequate. I'll be cutting all the framing on site to account for undulation in the foundations obviously 'flat' pads can be a nightmare with undulations and waviness. Only thing I wont be doing is trusses, I can get these made relatively cheap compared to hand cutting them on site - Joists are still on the board, I'm still considering using a I-Joist over 45x220 - mainly because they have a higher load carrying weight, lighter so I can move them myself and come in longer spans than I'd usually get in 45x220 My only walls in the entire design that are 2x4 are non-load bearing partition walls between the downstairs WC/Utility and the en suite/master, everything else will be 2x6 interior and exterior. The total floor plan is less than 1780sqft not including the garage (main house 2 floors + granny flat only) I know I sound like a no-it-all kid, who's just being awkward, but I've done extensions, stairs/stringers, summer houses, porches, dormer windows with hand-cut hip rafters etc oh and a bed because I dislike Ikea I'm confident in my ability and between myself and my dad we have probably 40 years experience in carpentry and building (He's a chippy too, I'm just not one professionally anymore) - just now need to find some more cash and get cracking

Energy companies should not have share holders.

I mustn't grumble at the £400 I was charged for a brand new 3 phase connection into my green box then really...

@AccidentalSkydiver, If you don't want to go the supplied TF route, then I feel that following @ProDave's approach of buying in (mostly) pre-cut 8×2 or engineered equiv, then making up cassettes onsite for onsite erection might prove the best choice for you. External panelvent board-out and 100mm external insulation; breather membrane, of coarse just remember to mark off the verticals lines on the outer -- this makes fitting wall ties a lot easier as they do need to be fixed the joists and not just the panelvent 🤣. If you go for pumped cellulose, Then you can internal board out with OSB3 as you go along to give racking strength, then do the pumping before 1st fit. Of course, you will probably need an SE to sign-off on the entire structural design for B Control approval. One other thing if you go this route: go for a warmslab foundation if you can -- with integral UFL loops in the slab. Look on the blogs and YouTube. Search for the company that we used: MBC. I am not saying that you should use them (though they did do an excellent job for us) -- some members here (e.g. @Stones) went this route DIY, but these videos and blogs give you an idea of what I mean. Having the entire base to FFL with a +/- 2mm accuracy gives you a clean datum for cassette make-up and frame erection. 2×6 vs 2×8 is mainly a structural design issue for your SE, I guess.

Anywhere is the answer. No matter your start point, don't stop. Because in this sector, anything is related to everything else. Set yourself a task that you might enjoy like - the choice is accidental - Planning Permission. Look at who is being allowed to do what in your neighbourhood. And work out why. And work out how much its likely to cost. And who is being refused - and why. File that information away in your head so that when the opportunity arises, you'll have a head start. Good luck

We're being taken for a ride with wayyyy more than just bloody energy prices. Just puppets dangling from the strings of the elite............

Hi and welcome. I tried to buy a plot of land 35 years ago to self build my first home and hit a brick wall that it was financially impossible. Instead I bought a developer box as my first home. The issue then was nobody would lend to buy the land, but they would lend to build the house if you could buy the land. I think things have got better since then. The rough location you are looking might help.

Rishard, I am not trying to be difficult here, but you have to remember this is a pro-bono community. The regular posters who answer most questions tend to get pretty fed up answering some subtle variant of the same Q for the 20th time. I always search a forum for the answer to a Q before asking. 90% of the time good Q and A resolves my issue, and when I do ask it is on some specific point that is more likely to get an answer.

Interesting thread here by Richard Murphy about how we're being taken for a ride with energy prices: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1502671563530948610.html

It's the expandable honeycomb. I'm thinking of making one from an old saw.

Thanks, yes I have one of those Bosch kettles that's been doing great service for a few years now. It's a good bit of kit.

It is sometimes more effective doing a Google search with +buildhub or site:buildhub.org.uk in the search box.

You also have the option of a thermostatic kettle, at the cost of about £70, or 3-4% of a Quooker. I have had one of these for about 8 years, and it is great at doing water for coffee at 90C. It is a Bosch TWK8633GB Styline. eg Argos https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4239712 I'm going th eother way and thinking about a boiling water tap and water softener as part of a kitchen refresh. (Checking the latest, I see you are already in this camp!) F

You know I hadn't considered that one at all 😉😁 nor had I thought about letting the water cool for a while in the pot 😉. I had singularly, and maybe unreasonably for £1.5 - £3k or more for a Quooker, wondered whether there wasn't some bright spark of an engineer that might have considered that when it's possible to provide an all in one tap that gives you hot/cold water, boiling water, chilled sparkling filtered and normal filtered - something that's sold as doing it all - it isn't also a decent idea to design one that also provides a thermostatic control for the boiling water coming out of the tap. 😉 I can't be the only one that would like water between 70 - 100 degrees when spending that kind of money. 🙄 It's not just green tea, even good coffee needs to be brewed at less than boiling temp. Maybe I shall just have to stick with my low tech variable temperature kettle as I reckon there's a design oversight here 🤔😉

Eeeeeeeek!

Cheapest option is a rectangle. You can use camber trusses that will give you a vaulted ceiling. If you build long and thin, you could have a vaulted ceiling at 1 end, and room in roof trusses for the remainder to get bedrooms. As soon as you move away from a rectangle / sq then the foundation and roof becomes more complex if you want vaulted ceilings.

On my private builds? There will always be unknowns in a refurb, so nothing to make me hurt. On commercial projects: 1. Doing a trial hole which showed topsoil, a little fill, then solid clay and then designing 300m2 of building with conventional footings. While digging the footings the bucket went through into peat. The clay was a compacted capping. Had to very quickly redesign with piles and beams at our own expense. Lost 2 weeks and a few £k and could have been so much worse. 2. Is it a mistake if you spot it first and correct it? Woke up one morning long ago, knowing my setting out of the day before was wrong. Asked the boss for the landrover and chainboy, before coffee and prepping for the day. Went to the spot and adjusted the trunk road alignment to point at where the bridge would be. Back to the site office, Boss said 'everything ok? and never asked me what it was about ....sound man. Not that I would have minded saying, but he didn't want to know. Moral...dreams can be very constructive. 3. Another issue setting out a big culvert, using a theodolite, over an obstruction. I used a spirit level as a line, but used the wrong side of it. Told the GF that the foundations were in wrong. How did it happen? Fair enough! Any easy way to rebuild it?...yes I gave him a method, No more said by him or the big boss, or anyone as I think no-one was told. That has lived with me as how problems are handled....everyone makes mistakes, better to know about it and sort it, and no point scoring or shouting.

Hmm, 1) not checking that the requested warranty for the render system was actioned which may have prevented the failure (due to a, now withdrawn, carrier board) and/or would have given us more leverage with the render manufacturer to remedy 2) not accepting the initial cash settlement from the render contractor and spending 6 months trying to get the latent defect warranty to cover it during which time the contractor ceased trading (and generally not being more on the ball to get it sorted from day one). 3) ordering a £5k front door without double checking the ratio of door and glass and not getting what we though we had ordered. Was able to live with that one though as at least the frame was the correct size! 4) not supervising the last of the basement backfill - crew obviously reverted to using poorly compacted spoil not stone (as specced and paid for) and that area has now settled making the patio decidedly wonky. 5) not checking where the fixings for the bathroom vanity sinks were (clue, the cupboard, not the sink) and smugly ensuring that there were noggins in place that turned out to be 100mm too high. However as complete amateurs we got way more right than we got wrong and prevented many other mistakes along the way, some at the very last minute!

we have a timber frame rather than SIPS and our TF manufacturer was more than happy to delay the manufacturing of the TF to suit our groundworks delays so I'm really surprised the SIPS manufacturer is saying they'll charge you for storage if there are delays! Ask them what lead time they need to manufacture the panels and then work backwards from that while adding a few extra weeks for potential issues. e.g. if they say they need 4 weeks lead time then when the Groundworker has got to a stage that they're 2 weeks away from finishing inform the SIPS company that you'll be ready in 4 weeks. yes, you may have a 2 week period where nothing is happening on site as you're waiting for the SIPS panels but that is a lot less stressful than trying to fit everything perfectly in a timeline. that was one of the first things I learnt! when I came to that realisation I started to stress less and things just flowed a lot better. remember things always take longer than you think (or are told) they will.

1/ Non vat registered. Well the current vat threshold is £85k and equates to two or three modest extensions a year for a builder if they do nothing else. Now if a builder is experienced in extensions they should be doing a few more than that. Ok if they are not vat registered then questions need to be asked... such as.. are they a limited company.. if so be very careful before you part with money up front. If not limited find out if they own their own house so in the worst case you have an asset to go after. However they may be starting out on their own but do have sufficient experience so don't rule that out and take care... but generally there is no free lunch here. Its a red flag this for the unwary. If you have to make up front payments only risk what you can afford to lose. No vat / cash = more risk for you. 2/ Your SIPs panels have to sit on a pretty level base and can't be altered. Watch your payment schedule to the ground worker as unless you are absolutly on top of the found setting out and levels then you are inviting a lot of grief. 3/ Word of mouth recommendation. Ask not least your Architect and the folk that are putting up the kit. They maybe will know who builds good bases / underbuldings and who to avoid. All the best.

Reading through this thread so many things rang true. Just checked my gallery on my phone and i erected my Hereas fencing in March 2017 and reckon I got another 2 years to go. There have been gaps in construction where very little has happened for a month or more as I have other commitments. I think I was naive with the costs and time it takes and over spent early in the build. Also I had limited network of trades and employing someone cold found in the local free ad is not recommended. My initial passion for project has been sucked away by stressful conflicts of time, cock ups, redos, and seeing other builds go up and now lived in since I started. Now still at it and in the third national/international crisis since start. The more prices go up the more I have to do myself. My advice to anyone starting is decide the max you can afford then divide by two to get your build cost budget. Never again.

Come on @SteamyTea, make us a version so we can all make one!!!, good for us in the wet south west eh?

Welcome, they all think that but will (should) be pleased with a well designed/built house 🤷‍♂️, I considered stick build, have a look at “Larsen truss”, less wood and more room for insulation. We welcome all the questions, including stupid ones (we have all been there) and stupid is not asking. A wealth of knowledge here in many different build types. p.s. How can you be an “accidental skydiver”? We’re you pushed? (I am an ex sky diver) 🤣

We used clip tracks, but you still need to staple the bends and any narrow buts where you can't get the tracks down. Plus the tracks themselves need to be stapled down as the will just lift the polythene of stuck down. We ended up hammering in the staples with a rubber mallet. Not as bad as it sounds!!!

It won't be wasted. AC power flows both ways through a transformer just fine, somebody else will end up using it - so excess PV is likely to ever so subtly reduce gas used by a turbine somewhere.

@Redoctober, one of the biggest problem we will see in the future is 'fairly well' insulated and airtight houses with no proper ventilation, poor design with cold bridging and may as well throw in poor build quality! in fact many children are growing up with ailments due to this. if you have a warm house and very little ventilation, condensation will go somewhere, usually a cold corner with no air movement. new houses with trickle vents will not be sufficient to do the job properly. it is fine if the windows are opened in all seasons, though the majority of people won't open windows having paid to heat the house, you may be different. it may cost more to fit an mvhr, however, the house will be properly ventilated and minimise problems in the future.

I still think that the MVHR should be run like a heating system, the thermostat tells the heating when it's needed, I.e.sensors ( co and RH) switch the MVHR on when it's needed, or manually over ride it when you decide. I think I have been told the co sensor is expensive. ( I too like having windows open in summer and can't see the reason for using electricity ( even if a small amount) when it's not required. Also the whole unit will last longer, not need servicing as much if used less.

You can turn it off whenever you like, it's primarily there to provide clean ventilation air and recover heat that would otherwise be wasted, but there's no point in having it on when you don't need either heat recovery or ventilation. For us it's not worth getting up to push the off button, as any time we might want it off it will be running from the excess PV generation, so there's zero running cost in just leaving it on all the time.

Mine is a bit different, render onto wood fibre external insulation, and I believe at the time Baumit was the only system approved for that. If (as looks very likely) it fails again then I am into unknown territory of what to replace it with or what alternative way to finish / clad my walls.

Or just line up the disingenuous, self-serving two-faced useless bastards against the wall.....and......

You struggle to get discernible answers about gas combi boiler features in the plumbers merchants TBH. Drop the words "phase change material" in and watch the poor buggers melt......

We had a deep bore soakaway drilled that went down 47m through various layers of material that were water bearing until it hit chalk and even that was water bearing. Needless to say we had to think of an alternative but on the positive side we had a borehole that produced plenty of water that we used for watering the garden.

There is another solution. Get an Architect to post-rationalise the design: a unique skill that makes good reading in Architects Journal. I can't really do it but something like: The sweeping curves of the sustainably sourced local oak staircase juxtaposes aesthetically and figuratively with the harsh rectilinear oversail, referencing the comforts of modern life contrasting with the harshness of the outside environment. If you can find a useful purpose for the corner of floor, then that will also take away some pain. Then convince yourself you like it and most importantly...stop looking.

I built the house in the wrong place, do I win? 😃 Long story but it ended up about 18” from where it should have been. Clearly I will have to live with it but it annoys me every time I think about it. Nobody else has noticed or will ever.