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Whoever it is make sure you don’t fit it like that picture

Well that’s the end of your holiday with me then ...... it’s definatly a caravan masquerading as a wooden cabin.....

The slab team from MBC arrived on site this morning. It's like having the building version of whirling dervishes who've just dropped a few speedballs. My word, they make progress! The team is headed up by Harry and he has 3 others in his team, but this will fluctuate a little over the course of the job with Harry needing to have a look at another job for most of tomorrow then the younger lad taking some leave to go to a music festival. Tsk, the youth of today! He worked like a machine, though, apart from the bit where he nearly rolled over one of the piles as he was looking in awed astonishment as a rather attractive young lady farmer drove past on the nearby track in a JCB that was most definitely bigger than the roller machine he was on. I don't think it was the vehicle that caught his attention so much as the driver. Sniggers all round. I arrived just after 8 am this morning and the first lot of hardcore had already been delivered. In total, there were 4 loads of type 1, but I piggybacked onto this and ordered an additional load (paid for by me) which the team will then spread and roller for me in the area beyond the bucket in the above photo, which will create a nice level area for the crane when it arrives to bring in the timber frame. I've had really good luck with the weather so far and hope it continues, but if it rains between now the completion of the timber frame, the site will turn to mud PDQ and slow things down horribly. Once the hardcore was going down and getting compacted, the piles were cut off to the correct height, leaving the rebar in position, ready to be tied into the beams. I have no idea what you call the digger thingy that they are using to move the stone around the site, but it's an impressive beast. It looks a lot like the bottom of a tank with its caterpillar tracks and then something a bit more transformers-like with its swivelly cab and arm. Either way, it was mechanical poetry in motion when driven by someone who clearly knew what they were doing. The team will have been working till 7pm this evening, so they will have got all the hardcore down and compacted and were going to start on the sand, if they had the time. The first load of sand arrived about 4.30 this afternoon, more to follow on tomorrow morning. As well as working 12 hour days, Harry has already had a chat with the neighbours to let them know that they will be working over the weekend, too, on both days. The insulation is due for delivery tomorrow and they will be putting the pipes that carry the service cables into this, along with the UFH pipes. I'm not sure when the steels will arrive, but that must be also imminent as the piles will need to be tied in before the concrete is poured. The building inspector is coming on Monday to check out everything before the pour. For interested parties, THE CONCRETE POUR IS CURRENTLY SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY. I've read a couple of horror stories and some not-quite-horror-but-not-very-nice-stories about uneven slabs, so I've told Harry that before they leave site, I need him to demonstrate with a laser that everywhere that a wall rests is absolutely level and within tolerance. Harry is a man of few words and he didn't quite bat an eyelid, but I explained that I would much rather that something like that is demonstrated rather than just verbally assured. He seemed fine with it. So, one final picture of the hardcore going down, from the garage side of the house. More blow-by-blow action to follow tomorrow.

It's been a busy old day on site today, and the main MBC associated action was deliveries of EPS and steel and sand, and the team getting on with putting the blinding sand down onto the hardcore, that they finished yesterday evening. The EPS supplier is based in Essex - the driver left at about 4.30 this morning to make an early delivery but even at that time of day, he didn't make it to the site until just after 8.30 as the roads were so busy. The amount of polystyrene sitting on the site makes it look as though I've had the mother of all Amazon deliveries and this is the left over packaging. It's in 2 forms, large flat rectangular sections and the angled corner pieces. Later on this morning, all the steel arrived, 6 tons of the stuff. It was interesting to see all the component parts of this as I'd never seen that much in real life and, for my own build, only on SE drawings. The MBC guys were very patient and explained to me how it all gets laid out then tied together to form the ring beam and how they tie everything into the piles. Very interesting if you've never seen it before. That lot was all put to one side until they need it, and then the main order of the day was getting the sand down. Progress was slower today as there were only the 2 men on site, but they're still working at a good pace. The garage area had the sand laid first. The brown pipe sticking up in the foreground is one of the foul water exit pipes. These have all been put in situ now, along with ducting for any electrical cable that needs to enter or exit through the slab, and this includes my broadband cable. The following shows the foul water runs; MBC put these to 1m outside the perimeter of the slab. And then we have the ducting to take the electrical cables, visible to the rear of the picture: Then there's a final shot of the blinding going down over the west facing living room area: The other thing that happened today and is worth of mention is the site visit from the scaffolder I'm using. If you look at the last photo, you can just make out some high voltage overhead cables that don't directly cross the new build, but are very close. These are close enough that a scaffold erector might accidentally touch the wires with a pole when putting them in position, so the upshot is that the cables need to be shrouded to protect the workers. This can only be done by the DNO and it's the scaffolding company who contact them and arrange it all as part of their own risk assessment procedures. When the scaffolding guy raised this with me, he asked if I was project managing the build and whether I needed to do any CDM stuff. Thank god for BuildHub, as thanks to that thorny and long-running thread a while back, I knew precisely what he was talking about and immediately stated that I wasn't a project manager, but a domestic client and dealing with a sequence of main contractors. Right answer. He said that was fine, he would take care of it all. Phew! Back to the scaffolding and that shrouding, with another worthwhile point. Although the firm will organise everything themselves re. the shrouding, there is a lead time with the DNO, currently about 3 to 4 weeks, as it's that time of year. You may recall that the MBC timber frame team were due on site on 20th August which is more than a little tight. As it is, I had an email from MBC this afternoon to advise that, as it's that time of year, they've had to bump it back a week due to staff holiday, etc. That suits me just fine and gives me enough time to make sure the scaffolding is properly in place for the job. My windows are due for installation on 24th September; MBC will need about 3 weeks for the timber frame, so all of that works out nicely. The hiatus between the slab and the timber frame will be useful time to make sure I'm organised for the next push with getting the guts into the house and sorting out all those niggly little details. Like a roof. Onwards and upwards!

I agree there are good and bad tradesmen out there but the method of building is not the fault. I do believe the customer should be either capable of project managing or pay a project manager to make sure each stage is correct. Only get tradesmen by reputation and recommendation.

I think there is a little bit too much tar being slung around here. There are people that don’t care in every trade but that doesn’t make the system they are using and worse than the other. It all really comes down to the PM to spot and remedy any poor workmanship before the next trade goes on top of it.

Or better yet, don't!

I can't be bothered with Octopus right now, I've made a complaint and hopefully they will resolve things. However, the glitch has been cleared by the conveyancing people now, just took a quick phone call. As long as Octopus get their act together before completion it won't be a problem, apparently. Whether or not Octopus are able to do that remains to be seen, but I've put a rocket under their backside for failing to comply with the terms of their contract with OFGEM, so I'm guessing that they will want to sort this simply to keep OFGEM off their backs. Re: the Irish nationality thing, there was an agreement reached as a part of the formation of first the Irish Free State, and then the Republic of Ireland, that stipulated a lot of things. One was that the Bank of England would be the back of last resort to back and support the Irish Punt (which it was for decades) and another was that anyone born on the island of Ireland was automatically entitled to Irish citizenship. Another agreement allows anyone with a grandparent born in Ireland to be granted Irish citizenship by a very simple process of providing the evidence so their name can be added to the register in Dublin. It's a pretty quick and easy process; the hard part is getting hold of birth records, as they weren't centralised or well controlled back around the time my grandmother was born, back in 1898.

Our house in Belgium had an underground rainwater tank. It was built as part of the krup kelder a 3ft deep cellar just used for services. Not sure how many others had smilar

Probably not .... it’s too cheap !! If I used 500 litres a day for a month that is £40 of water to water say £1000 of plants then it’s not costing much at all - and that’s metered water. We have no concept of not opening a tap and water coming out in the UK and tbh I read something last week about the pipe losses accounting for some ridiculous percentage of “usage” in the UK. We haven’t invested in the core reservoir and filtration infrastructure for decades and usage is on the rise and the system can’t cope. We need to stop paying £bn dividends to shareholders and start investing that in the infrastructure ..!

Poker won’t level a slab - it needs to be tamped and probably power floated to get it flat. Self compacting concrete levels itself to a point but you can still make it have an overall “slope” as it’s nowhere near fluid enough to truly level.

Our materials were supplied by - http://www.optimumunderfloor.co.uk/ Another option to consider perhaps.

As an aside I'm building in block so have no vested interest in TF one way or the other. I just so happen to be argumentative and stubborn ?so will throw out a counter argument if I disagree with something - no offence is ever intended though!?

Having the ability - and tools - to do the job in the first place gives you skills some people don’t have, and then to be able to do the install yourself is again, something many people don’t find themselves capable of doing. There are many people - me included - that sometimes make assumptions about capabilities in others and it’s something we need to be aware of. Not every self builder builds them self...

I got the primer, adhesive and grout as "we" have decided on white grout... When I got to the place they didn't do the Larsen extended set stuff (no real call for it, they just do the rapid), I wanted so I got this: With this primer. Slightly more expensive than the Laticrete (same brand as the adhesive) one. Guys there reckon I need to put this primer on the tanking membrane and leave to go off before putting adhesive down? And this grout: Nothing more will happen on the tiling front until the end of next week when I get the rest of the tanking done.

I put plugs on the end of a CAT 6 cable and plugged one end into the NVR and the other into the camera. So apart from crimping RJ45 plugs onto CAT 6, it was plug and play. The NVR i have does have Power over Ethernet (PoE) on 4 ports, and the cameras connected to these ports are detected automatically so nothing complicated in its setup. I did have to add the other cameras and have tinkered with other settings etc. Maybe I'm a professional?

I don’t think you should feel foolish, had, maybe, by people not doing their job properly.

Thanks @lizzie - appreciate that update on what sounds like was a difficult time. Glad you are enjoying the new house though !

I think we could debate until the cows come home about where responsibility lies during a build and which system is best. It's all horses for courses and the build type will inherently depend on each individuals requirements/taste. Responsibility is a tricky one. As the purse holder ultimately checking everything probably falls to the self builder regardless of whether you have a PM or not - once you hand over the cash are you essentially saying you are happy with the standard? If not happy then why pay? Again this isn't straightforward either - a lot of the time you have to pony up the cash to actually get the goods/service in the first place and then what? Small claims court if there are unremediated issues? I do believe there are times where some members have fallen foul of bad service where it is more than reasonable to believe that the service would have been good and others have taken the line that the self builder should have checked. I don't necessarily agree with that view but hey, such is life. Nothing's ever black and white....which can be attested to by the countless healthy? debates buried away within the numerous threads of this forum. As long as there is the freedom to highlight the good, bad and ugly of members various experiences then it will ensure that future self builders (Myself uncluded) can at least learn from the painful lessons others may have endured. ?

Yeah they're good, ive no complaints at all. I've got a variety of different cameras, initally bought 4 cameras and the NVR from Aliexpress. Then a few more cameras from the UK here, some are indoor some outdoor. All good. Not thought about spraying them, nice idea.

We bought an internet radio / streamer - Revo. It struggles to connect to wifi (keeps dropping out) and it's in the only part of the room with no cat 5/6! Data points are something of a commodity now and while you genuinely may never see a need, the next person who buys your house likely will so may as well first fix them for pennies and only second fix them when you feel the need.

You are right - anything can be built out of plumb or wrong. It's unfortunately the case that not all self builders are competent or confident enough to scrutinise and call out the work of the 'professionals' they contract to carry out work for them. I think TF is especially an area where it is unfair to say that the self builders as PM should ultimately identify any issues. The reason most self builders go with TF is that it is seen as the easiest way to 'de-risk' getting to the wind and watertight stage. You are giving a company a wedge of cash on the understanding they will do as advertised and unfortunately some members have had bad experiences in this approach - even when paying more for a gold standard service from reputable companies with established track records. If you are told by 10 people these people are the bees knees and they have provided me with XY and z standard service then I would argue that they are not being daft to expect the same. Unfortunately you can still get caught out as has been shown. Personally my own approach will be to scrutinise everything to the nth degree. I may make mistakes and miss stuff - if so then that is my mistake. Anyone I contract with will do so on the understanding that I will monitor and scrutinise the standard of work, if that is not acceptable then they won't get the job. Simple. This approach may make it harder to find contractors but so be it - I rather take longer and get it right than mess about paying twice to fix shoddy workmanship.

TBH unless you are very savvy, I would use WiFi cctv for one or two cameras on a small property as wiring for a true cctv system is a professional job. In any case you need to get power to it - that is what needs planning first ..!

You would be surprised how far out of plumb you can build blocks. I have seen some really bad block houses over the years as well. No matter what method you choose you should always be checking up on how it is going. Doesn't take long to put a tape over a base to see if it's square or put a level on a wall to check for plumb. I accept with tf things move at a much faster pace and maybe you don't want to get in the way but it's your money paying for the work so never be afraid to call a halt to work to check whatever aspect is troubling you. The most important aspect of the troubles Lizzie has experienced is the simple fact if it's not right at the bottom then you have no chance of it being right at the top. Attention to detail is critical here and never ever be afraid to question either the guys doing the work or if your not running the build yourself then the PM.

I'm sharing my private water supply with a neighbour; I put a garden tap next to her vegetable garden, as she was concerned a couple of years ago that any hosepipe ban might leave her unable to water her vegetables, plus she's on a water meter, and was worried about the cost. Given that our water is, to all intents and purposes, free, it seemed unreasonable not to share it around, although I did have to put a notice on the tap saying that it was not drinking water - failure to do that could have got me into all sorts of legal problems, not to mention needing to have annual water tests at £120 a go.

Just heard from Octopus, who have acted quickly, confirmed they are my energy supplier and given me the account number I now have with them. Pity it took a strong email to their complaints people to get a response - the effing numpty on their telephone help line could have actioned this, had he been so inclined, rather than making me go to OFGEM and then through the Octopus complaints procedure. Anyway, our conveyancer now has the details of the account and Octopus will be set up to switch/close the account as soon as we tell them our completion date. I get the feeling they are like a lot of the smaller suppliers; running right on the very edge, and often taking on more business than they can handle. Bidding to take on all Iresa customers to OFGEM may well have overloaded their ability to provide reasonable customer service.

I am a consultant electrical engineer working in the construction industry, I deal with all sorts of building related issues (even non-electrical) and the thing I come across weekly is bloody electricians who think they know best. I think the issue with most of them, not all I hasten to add, but most, is that they don't have the imagination to foresee requirements such as data and signalling etc. I have a young chap who we use to do remedial work where the electrical contractor cannot be trusted to fix things properly. He will take instruction well so it works out, but he cannot understand why anyone would want lighting controls, he cannot understand why anyone would want data in every room, his reply, "I have wifi in my house, does my phone and my laptop" . I explain to him that I have a media/data server in my loft, I have lighting control, I have a network of laptops and PC's throughout the house, I have ability to have a landline phone in any and all rooms in the house (including the garage when it is done). I have 6 and 8 core cable running everywhere for wired TRV's etc. Only then he can begin to see why throwing all this extra cable in for such a small outlay is worth it. I hate and love wifi - but I would not have it in my house at all if it was not basically necessary for iPad's and things. I don't like wireless control, I like copper! I would say for your house as a bare minimum at least 2 maybe 4 at your TV area, 1 or 2 in the kitchen where you may want to temporarily plug in laptops or a phone, 1/2 in each bedroom, 1 the hall next to where tables or sideboards etc. may be located, more in offices or dens, some to the loft even if just coiled up for now, you may opt to put in NAS units or something up there. It may only be 100m of cable and 6/7 runs in your case. I would also make sure they are near power.

Get the quote sent to Boulder Developments, Wunda and NuHeat and get them warring

As SWMBO often reminds me there's "pointy" screwdrivers for making holes in things like flower pots or hitting with a hammer if trying to put a Rawlplug in. You then get "flatty" ones. Ideal for any scraping job and getting tin lids off of paint. Either type can be used for stirring paint...

I don’t know how competitive they are now but I went with green energy for our site (yet to work out house usage) mainly because of no standing charge as our usage would be small. Their customer service is excellent and I would recommend them. They recently confirmed that with a charge of £150 to change the meter they would supply E7 or E10.

@Nickfromwales I think knows this lot...discount? https://www.bhfunlimited.co.uk

We bought all of ours from warmup See if it’s any good tomorrow when we commission the UFH

My parents lived in the UK for several years in the early 70s based on that right. Ireland's relationship with the EU is the complicating factor. I don't presently see any approach to the Irish border that will satisfy the UK, Ireland and the EU, made worse by the fact that the EU seems intent on using it as a cudgel - or should that be shillelagh? - with which to beat the UK.

Statutory period is 8 weeks - so expect something less than that. Our council left me hanging till the 8th week and I called them to have a gentle prod. I had the head of planning dealing with me within minutes, apologising and basically saying she would put it through right away but neighbour notification had to go in first and we had to wait out the 14 day period. They agreed it in principle within about 1 day and had the planning officer out that week, we waited our 14 days and as soon as the neighbour notification period was over they called and said you're fine. JCB rolled in the following morning. So lesson learnt here: I would never let planning simply sit now, about a week after I submitted anything I would always check it has been assigned to a planning officer and I would make contact with them just so I know what is what. So really they should have it done in 5-7 I think is normal, which means they come in under the statutory period (13 weeks if it's like an office development!) - no mention for any other categories so regardless of your CatC listed status it is still just a planning app. Bear in mind the CatC stuff will just mean they adhere to a slightly stricter rule-book.

Up here there is a remote hunting lodge that was abandoned for a reservoir project. Embarrassingly, someone got their surveying wrong, and even when full the water level never actually quite reaches the lodge.

I like avocado and toast but not a fan of lattes or coffee in general to be honest.

I got all mine from ebay, mostly from a dealer called PSW Trade Supplies LTD

WundaTrade is what a lot of us use. Yes, you can get pipe on eBay for 5-10p/m cheaper but with everything from Wunda it all fits as a kit and it’s pretty good stuff. @Nickfromwales prefers a different pump set but have a look at the design of the blending set and see if it suits your needs.

Hi, Try Wunda. Google search them. They are supply only - you will need a plumber to install them or DIY it. Good luck.

And I would spam the Octopus FB page with complaints lol.

Isn’t there red showing underneath the overlap not brown as the original colour?

@zoothorn, if like some on here you lack social skills, struggle with interpersonal relationships, have a mild drinking problem and tbh generally prefer contact with tools rather than people then you might like to have a go at making an extension box out of a standard back box: I really can't recommend the use of a 4 1/2" grinder 6" from your nose though. I'd take a bid longer too deburring the cut edges than this bloke did and even consider a grommet strip! Don't either try it either, in the dark with a failing head torch and after 2 pints of Shipyard Pale Ale or you too could be sporting an L shaped burn on your leg from a dropped, hot back box...

Looks like a first class job! That's not OCD, it's CDO; like OCD but in alphabetical order...

I wish my house was that clean and tidy, but that's impossible until I've had my bigger house built with enough room for all the crap we've accumulated! I do like the idea of sticking the plans everywhere - no deniability!

Nice job James, i am also normally a Solo builder and I love it, however we do have a volunteer program and have people from all over the world popping in from 2 weeks to six months to help on all aspects of the project, it’s great to have a enthusiastic youngsters to keep you going on a dull day or to help bowl out the big monotonous jobs. Also very happy with velux, I had an old one without flashings in a shed roof for years and it still worked ! That’s why I went the velux route as they are very resilient even if treated badly. Imperative to make sure the windows line up with the frames before fixing everything in....... seen an instal where this was not done and the window now jams and it’s far lo Kate to fix it ! Better learning from others mistakes where possible. Good luck with the rest of your build.

All of the above can be applied to a timber frame house. Foundations can be exactly the same if not smaller than those for a masonry construction. Timber frames are about as traditional as you can get and certainly don't need to cost a huge amount.

I liked the fact that the TF company covered quite a lot so we didn't have separate architect or SE fees to pay for example, and we had someone assigned to 'project manage' it from the TF perspective who worked with us pretty well, took our wishes into account, and made some good suggestions. We were given different options to choose from, so we said oak skirting for example and were then sent options to choose from in relation to skirting style / height. Brochures arrived to allow us to choose the internal doors when we didn't like the ones in the original spec, and then when we still didn't like what was on offer they sourced more brochures and sent those when we explained in more detail exactly what we wanted. We also wanted a different staircase so they sent options for that, and then it was down to them to ensure that the dimensions of the staircase fitted etc. And when we changed our mind re the layout of the staircase mid spec so that we could fit 3 tall units into an alcove in the kitchen they were very accommodating and just changed the spec and the drawings without charging any extra. So yes, they may have been a bit more expensive than us ordering all the separate elements ourselves and either having the frame made on site or choosing to build in brick and block onsite, but any issue with what was supplied by the TF company was down to them and not us. If the staircase hadn't fitted for example it was their issue to address so it took some of the risk away. We didn't use the TF company at all for the construction (in fact they didn't offer it - they just gave us the name of a preferred supplier) so the main coordination of trades / scheduling was all down to us to get right. It just removed some of the risk of ordering the wrong things / sizes for some fairly major elements of the house. Working with someone who clearly knew what they were doing when we were both novices was a good experience too. Of course it helps if you get someone you can work with easily but we were lucky from that perspective. And they couldn't have been uber expensive as even with choosing some of the more expensive options from the TF company we still managed to bring the build cost in at under £1000 per m2.

From that I guess you’ve not been in a TF factory or manufacturer ...?? Construction of mainstream TF isn’t glamourous - it’s not all HufHaus and soya lattes ... Depending on what you are building then both have their merits although if 3 blokes turned up on my site in a tatty transit the first question would be where’s your CICS cards and PPE.... which means they have been on training thankfully which should hopefully save their lives ... I suppose it all depends on what you want as an end result ..?

I paid a professional PM