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just a quick post to share some of my issues which in hindsight are entirely self inflicted, hopefully this will help others not to make the same mistakes. 1. Put your waterpipe in the duct from the outset, soo much easier than pulling it through later. (I did consider it but dismissed it as wasn't sure exactly where my duct was going to come up at the time) - don't be like me! I tried pushing 30 odd metres of mdpe through a 63mm duct, got 25m through then nothing. I dug two holes to find it, ended up having to attach rope to car - not gonna lie, it was a griz and I was hating life. 2. When laying your hardcore sub-base for an insulated slab do the foul drain runs at the same time. I was under time pressure to get ready for concrete so I just left stubs poking out to connect to later - dont do it, I've made life so much harder for myself having to dig through hardcore to do it. 3. If you ignore no.2 and just leave stubs make sure you leave a good length - i didn't! The stubs i left only just poke out from under the slab, god only knows why I did this. I have spent all day yesterday and today digging them out so I can put an extension length on to bring them out to roughly where the ICs will be. Digging through the hardcore really sucks ass. Yesterday wasnt too bad, today was on another level. The trench kept collapsing in on itself and my 600mm trench ended up about 1.5m wide - a very bad day today. Dont be a plonker like me. I've made other rookie errors so far but fairly painless. These have been a right PITA.

How many times Ferd !!!!!! Its a shed you tart.

Just a thought I've decided to post in case anyone comes across while deciding what to do with their windows... In hindsight I would have specced a lot less openers on the windows and had a lot more direct glazed. It's my first house with this ventilation system so I was a bit green. It would have saved cost and sometimes improved aesthetics. Apart from satisfying MOE requirements I'd cut down to the minimum openers and save some money. You literally never use them. I've got 2 openers either side of my french doors with a transome halfway through the frame. These could have been full length direct glazed would of looked better and been cheaper. In the lounge i've got 6 opening casements, ridiculous, i'd of just had 2 in the windows on opposite walls. The windows which were split into 3 sections being 1.8m wide i've had 2 openers and 1 fixed pane in centre, I would have reversed this in hindsight. Just a tip in case anyone is as green as I was and it doesn't occur to them to save some money!

@Matt64 similar to my set up but my windows were on the back of the external brickwork, will do a little sketch in the morning.

I wish I had taken pics, I seem to be doing a poor job of that lately as I keep checking stuff only to find i havent got a pic. The clutch on my car lost a few yrs that day, who knew it would be so hard. The best bit is that pulling it like that cut through my duct chamber like a hot knife through butter which then created an additional repair task for me! By full runs i mean put the whole lot in, pipes and Chambers all connected up. I wish i had done this at the time. I have a manhole on site to connect in to but I didn't lay any of it. I basically put the three downpipes in that go through/under the slab and then brought it out beyond where I thought my slab would be. The problem is that I misjudged where the slab would end and so had next to nothing coming out beyond the slab so I've spent the last couple of days trying to get to make them longer but at the same time not bring the house down by undermining it - not a fun game. I think my mistake happened because the lines I had sprayed on the hardcore at the time represented the outside of the timber frame/concrete slab but there was an additional 350mm on that for the cavity and toebeam which I didn't consider so it messed up where I'd put the pipes. I should have just put a good 2 or 3m on them. Another problem was finding the damn things. I had marked an x on the kore insulation where they were but still struggled to find the things. I've certainly made this far harder than it needed to have been. You can see in the pics how the trench started and how it ended - not good!

The pre made are better I use them all the time Easy to use and don’t fill up with dirt

Awaiting our glass and ours is a bungalow.

You have to send HMRC a copy of the planning permission too. Has your plot been legally separated from the existing house and the dwelling and the land it’s on able to be sold separately? If not then it’s not eligible for the reclaim regardless of what property you build.

It was a cleary failed attempt at humour using the analogy of the ExCel centre being only slightly smaller than @Big Jimbo's shed. I was initially going with "NHS Nightingale Removes Beds" but thought that in bad taste...

Lvt dry laid, and blinds fitted. Floor will get glued down Monday. My back has had enough for today.

The main issue/risk it that HMRC might refuse the reclaim for the house because not all buildings on the site (eg the garage) were knocked down. You can try asking HMRC but in recent years HMRC have stopped providing opinions "in advance" on virtually anything. If they reply at all they will probably refer you to the guidance that says you need to demolish all buildings on the site. You can try an accountant but it would need to be one very familiar with this area of VAT law and case law. My guess is your average local accountant would probably just hedge his bets and point out the risk you already know. The only way to know for sure is to see what HMRC say afterwards. In order to minimise the chances of HMRC looking at the reclaim too carefully I think I would show the garage on the new Planning Application but not claim for anything with invoices dated before PP is granted (eg only claim for things purchased after PP is granted). That way it looks pretty much like a normal run of the mill self build reclaim. Other things to think about.. VAT on landscaping, trees and plants etc can only be reclaimed if there is a landscaping plan included with the planning grant. So you might care to include one in the planning application even if the planners are unlikely to make one mandatory. For a new build a contractor doing "supply and fit" must zero rate BOTH materials and labour to you. You only reclaim VAT for materials you actually purchase yourself. Don't pay VAT in error on supply and fit as you can't reclaim it from HMRC. If necessary get contractors to requote at 0% VAT before they start. Has the CIL been introduced in your area? Starting work on site (as you have done with the garage) before you have done ALL of the paperwork for the self build exemption can mean you loose the exemption. That may of may not matter depending on how big the replacement house is. Sorry a lot of this is in other parts of the forum.

to go through the timber frame on ours I used these: https://www.schiedel.com/uk/products/additional-ranges/ignis-protect/

I have two lots of membrane, metal roof but similar, membrane counter batten, sarking fitted hit n miss style membrane metal roof.

is the horizontal section the intake pipe? and as above as @ProDave says, dig into wall a bit to make connection to twin wall to keep single wall away from anything flammable.

i used thes guys http://www.meteorsoilsurveys.co.uk/index.html no connection other than a satisfied customer, didn't seem too expensive

I used an insulated sleeve sold at flue-pipes.com This was for a roof penetration. By definition, because it was sold as such, it must be made of a non flamable material so is okay touching the twin wall flue pipe. And it is okay for anything flamable to touch the outside of the sleeve as that then meets the minimum distance from the flue to flamable materials. So you would seal your air tightness layer to the sleeve. Problems you need to solve: It needs to be twin wall not single for this. How to join the twin wall to the liner up the chimney. Would that need to be done in such a way that it can be inspected?

I think one issue not mentioned enough so far on the thread is Marketing Communications; it is a bugbear for people offering professional services to self-builders is finding the self-builders, and helping them find you. Routes to market are often informal, and you need to know where your customers will come from. On the project aspects, perhaps the experience of the client is - as said above - a key factor. For me I have a formal contract if it is being managed through a third party, and I would need to trust their own management arrangements. For example, this summer I have had a student house go through its 5-7 yearly makeover / market positioning refurb (nothing structural) in the 15-20k ballpark managed by the (very professional) lettings agent. They have contract paperwork, and I have a normal Letting Agent agreement with them. If I have a refurb or work (say in the 2k-20k range) done myself I would not normally have a formally written formal contract, but may have a well written letter of requirements plus a signed copy from the contractor, or it could just be on written or verbal instructions and trust, or a written quote based on whatever their terms are and being reasonable. It would be hands on management with visits at least daily. Resolving any issues by agreement and conversation would be the norm, but I would be working with either regular tradesmen, or those who have been recommended. But then the individual elements would be considerably less than 20k. The biggest would be just a few thousand eg a rewire or a cental heating or a roof. Ferdinand

There was a tribunal case here that has some similarities. I think you should be ok to claim for the new build as long as you wait until planning permission is formally granted before starting the demolition as that is the date that zero rating can apply. I don’t think you will be able to claim for the garage but I don’t see why you should need to demolish it either. As long as none of your invoices pre date the date of the planning permission no one should be any the wiser. Can you leave the garage off the PP anyway if it meets the criteria for permitted development? Added to say caveat emptor .... https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/6851-a-guide-to-the-vat-reclaim-process/?do=findComment&comment=226636

There are two sides to this - investor and borrower. Just thoughts. The control with crowd funding is with the platform not the investor. In general, suspect the well developed funding infrastructure and many options in this country makes it difficult for them. I am only aware personally of one self-builder who uses them, and that was one of our members who used Folk2Folk, who do have a track record. But I understand that they have stopped doing self-build funding. Their main business is crowdfunded loans secured against commercial buildings. Investor side 1 - To me, crowd funding platforms are still a bit short on track record for this area. It does not yet for me pass the gift-horse test. 2 - There is a long history of innovative-looking get rich quick ideas in the property sector, wide boys and non-transparent deals, and it all going either missing or tits-up. And some of it can walk a bit too close to the line. Professionals and developers are still quite shy, imo for good reason, and every so often there is some sort of scandal. 3 - They would normally offer investors a 5-10%+ return at present. That is a lot for a self-builder to carry at present. 4 - I am not really convinced that any of them are self-build experts, which is what would be needed. I could be wrong - Have not looked at them all. Borrower side 4 - I can see it maybe for upfront or build or bridging costs, but is dependent on the build succeeding and a robust payback method afterwards. If a borrower cannot borrow from a bank, that is a telltale that they could be a high risk, or the crowdfund is the last chance saloon. 5 - The indeterminate end of self-build projects is a difficult-to-manage risk. 6 - The lack of experience of most self-builders is also a risk. 7 - I am not clear what sort of verification they run on borrowers. Pro developers would normally have other assets, and so could be gone after. If self-builders have other assets they will often be using them to fund their contribution to a build. All of the above is open to debate. One alternative is a private loan arranged via a local solicitor. Ferdinand

Well ! I have no opinion whether floors or walls get done first . But I don’t want to do the floor first . Lots of reasons . I haven’t done all the drainage in the bathroom yet . Don’t have a bath so not sure where waste is going . Don’t want to risk dropping tools on tile floor . Worried bathroom floor tiles won’t be flush with hallway tiles ( planned to do them first ) . Bathroom tiles are different to hallway ones - I want the tile change to be under the bathroom door when closed ( so you don’t see the wrong tile from either side ) . Hot water and a sink on site would be nice , floor doesn’t help me there . Don’t want floor down as bound to get filthy . Regarding my spray painting . The result is fine . But can’t do whole house as it’s not finished ! . Too much gear / materials in the way . Trying to break it up into smaller manageable jobs . Using up materials and making space !

I am more concerned that he has not laid with much of a bond, i.e. i would expect each block to overlap the one below by half a block, not just a short distance. Which was there first? the wall or the door frame? Have you put a spirit level up against the wall? It's normal to make a door opening slightly large and to pack the door frame. that gets hidden by the architrave.

Search CDM 2015 Regulations on the forum - it has been done to death and you’re not required to follow the full Regs as a private client. On the other hand if you are taking on a £6-900k build then I take it you’re not doing the work yourself so you may want to look at what the main contractor will be doing and see where any cross over occurs.

Might you have meant ... so few... options?

But why would you need to nail anywhere if you have a specific headlap and holed slates. It woukdnt be level otherwise?

I always start marking out from the windowsill height. If you have any sense any boxing in etc is set at the same height as you windowsill and follows round, so a whole tile(s) goes below the windowsill, then a cut to the floor. With staggered vertical joints there would be a half tile. Spend a bit of time laying it right out now and it will save you a lot of messing about later

Is the principle not that you ignore everything we say and do it your own way that we all tell you that it will be a disaster, and it takes 3 times as long? As evidenced by the sprayed ceiling? That way fups are reduced by 67% per unit time because you have only done the other 33% of the project? Ferdinand PS No abusive, prejudiced, anti-@pocster assumptions or unwarranted and unjustified floccinaucinihilipilifications have been made in this post. PPS /lie PPPS Have a Fogcutter and you will not remember any of it anyway. PPPPS Before you do, where does one find that sort of delusional optimistic SWMBO? I just got clearance from the medics for a sort-of social life.

Great comments everyone, the breadth and depth of knowledge is remarkable on this site. What a resource. Turning back to T-logic's post and focusing on say small extensions, slapping holes in walls to form more open plan areas and so on, say jobs with a builder cost from £5K to £40K. Due diligence. Sadly I see about one job a month where had a bit of actual due diligence actually been carried out rather than just looking on Facebook (I'm not talking Columbo here) the customer/ client could have saved themselves a lot of grief. It's old fashioned but what about looking at some of the magazine sites (Which magazine for example).. they tell you what to do in terms diligence.. or you can look on this site. The next step could be Companies house.. for say a director check, maybe the council online records for enforcement notices, the HSE etc. Then take references and actually follow them up. Make sure it's not a best mate, wife that is giving the reference..and yes I have seen this! If you get a sniff that something is not right then resort to credit referencing if you must, but if you get a bad smell at this point then really keep looking elsewhere. The Sole is bang on with his comment. There are standard contacts available (for example the JCT suite of contracts) that are crafted by legal experts, some of these terms are based on case law. A designer always thinks twice and three times before ammending the standard terms, for a reason, so it's not a case of form filling..it's serious stuff! As a word of encouragement. I would say that in 90% of the 5 - 40K jobs I deal with the Client only employs the designer up to the warrant (BC stage etc). Often they do have / sign a contract.. but it's the builders own contract and the t&c's are unfair. There is some extra protection for domestic clients (Scots Law, can anyone expand) but this only kicks in once thing have gone wrong and there are a few other finicky bits. In most cases on small jobs the reality is this. The Client can't afford to spend the extra on professional supervision and preparation of a fully comprehensive design / tender package/ management and contract supervision.. Also, they often visit sites such as "bob the builder.com" and don't appreciate the value of independant advice as these site have a commercial interest.. the police policing themselves and so on. Possibly one key is to recognise that one purpose of self building is to save money, or to use the money you have to get something that you otherwise could not afford. To achieve this you need to put in the work and do your research. There is no free lunch but your time is often free. T-logic. I do think you have picked up on some good points that could be commercially viable. However, before you loose your shirt, perhaps consider seeing if you can develop a buisiness locally. Build your network of local builders, access the merchants and get to know the sales staff. Work on your Client base, provide a great service, deliver real savings and build a reputation for good work. People will start to seek you out! Can I suggest you start with the small jobs. Actually, these are often harder to do than a house but you can cut your teeth and learn. Make sure you get some PI insurance and some PL insurance in case you run over someone on the site say. I work with a number of local builders who have a self employed QS. A good few of them have worked with the same QS for years. They trust them to price right, too high and the builder has no work! The Qs's they use make a good living and have a good quality of life in the main. It's all to play for so I wish you all the best T-logic.

it will still be a nailed direct job, just into battens as opposed to sarking, i have the same issue as i beam warm roof. had thought to clip them instead of nailing, biggest issue i have with slate on batten is someone going onto roof in future. must admit i hadn't thought to sark it, though would need to check whether 25mm would be sufficient or if would need to double counter batten.

iBoost is more configurable and can drive two loads, plus has the option of the Buddy remote display

This might be nearer to your case... https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-construction/vconst02370 But note it says buiiding not dwelling.

Not very clear but.. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-construction/vconst02250

See 3.2.1 and the linked paragraphs. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buildings-and-construction-vat-notice-708#para3-2

I work in engineering, occasionally with a QS. I've also recently almost finished building my house. There may be scope for the service you provide, but I'd second the comments above. In my opinion, there is a big difference between commercial development (i.e. housebuilding or industrial) and self-build on many aspects, from the size of the contracting companies used, the approach to cost management, detailing of the final development and knowledge of the client. I didn't use a QS and the closest I had to a contract were a couple of accepted quotes with no T&C's. I think the approach to managing construction in industry is vastly different to a large number of self builds, to the extent that in many cases I don't believe applying an approach of developing detailed costs, QS estimates and watertight contracts would work for most self-builders. One interesting aspect to understand would be what proportion of self-builds are those where the self-builder hands over responsibility to one or more parties for the build. That's your market, so answer that question and you might begin to understand how viable a business is.

Prior to my current project I was considering a more complex project involving a steading conversion. In trying to price the project my architect told me that the problem with Quantity Surveyors is that to protect themselves from litigation from the clients, if the project goes over budget, they over estimate all build costs. Not sure if that’s true but that’s what I was told. In terms of self build projects I may be wrong here but I don’t see many people on this forum embarking on a literal self build (as opposed to fixed price turn key type builds / main contractors), whereby they are totally clueless on costing etc. Seems to me that the majority of literal self builders have relevant experience or actively research costs including via this forum. I suppose your proposed business would be targeting those Self builders without any knowledge or savvy but also without a contract nor an architect, or project manager. And presumably in your locality. Not sure if there would be many of them, and if there were good luck working with them. I think that most self builders have spent years thinking about self building, watching tv shows, doing their research etc etc. Funnily enough just earlier today I was in conversation with someone at the very start of their self build journey. It was pretty easy for me to give them a decent steer on expected costings and risks. And that’s based upon what I’ve learned on this forum and through my own self build journey. Maybes there is scope to act a a self build consultant in some way though. Would be just a case of advertising what you can offer and see if there is any interest. In the same respects people offer VAT reclaim services. A stand at one of the self build shows might be a good shout. Would suggest though doing a fixed price service so pricing it transparent. Eg for £x I’ll check your build contracts, check your budget spreadsheet that sort of thing just to make sure you’re not getting ripped off etc. In fact now I’ve said that I’ve just thought about a business opportunity for myself.

We're going with Velux. Keylight also make 3G roof lights and are a fair bit cheaper. If you have alook at their sizing sheets, you'll find a lot of crossover. What exactly do you mean about "conservation"? We're in a conservation area and planners had no comments regarding our use of standard Velux in our build, even though they wanted timber doors and windows in the rest of the house. We're now dropping at least three of the seven rooflights we have in our plans.... mostly because most are north facing and of limited value, and two were directly over beds and would be a noise issue. Plus, they aren't the best thermally or air tightness wise.

have you got planning permission for them? Usually you would specify them on there? Velux are usually well priced on the conservation types but it's a bit of a farce imo! put a centre bar and a different flashing kit in and charge a premium for them!

Check out this post to see the pressure reducing valve and capillary probe operated quench valve that ran through a 12kw coil in that TS. The company Dedicated Pressure Systems have the patent ( or did have maybe ) for that concept / design. We binned it as there was no need for it, the PRedV had failed, and the dry pocket for the capillary probe was rotted through and about to dump a few 1000 litres of water into the house whilst M'lady was out at work none the wiser Could easily be implemented in a solid fuel arrangement and tbh its a far better arrangement imo, to quench rather than dump, or to have a combination of the two. IIRC the quench valve operated at 95oC, so you could easily have a dump to a second thermal store ( what id do ) or to a heat loss rad in the attic. Theres no way id ever have a heat dump radiator inside my house as it would be lethal at those temps. Heat dump rads go in attics or garages, and should be caged even if in the garage. You'd have no choice or it would be continuously dumping heat by convection when you didn't want it to. +1 on the energise to close type, aka stored energy, and its the same as fire dampers which close using the stored energy that was used to open then eg by charging a powerful spring ( hence they're always low geared motors which take an age to open ). As Peter says, if I was ever looking at this as a solution id have the 3000L TS and use that as a buffer / dump. From there you'd be able to do 24 / 48 hrs of timed space heating and have DHW, but id also fit ufh pipes into a 200-250mm thick concrete slab too as a secondary storage / buffer and to regulate heat output into the rest of the house in a far more comfortable and manageable way. UFH pipe is just too cheap to not do that, its a no brainer. With the thicker slab and the huge TS you'd be able to become far less reliant on the stove actually being lit and burning so often, and instead just relax a bit and live Other than that you may find yourselves slaves to the WBS and thats not cricket. It would be nice to go out, and still have a nice warm house to come back to with oodles of DHW available whenever you wanted it, and then just lighting the stove for a few hours of an evening when it suited you best. A Solar thermal or solar Pv system would compliment this arrangement beautifully. Sun shines on the roof and charges your heat battery ( TS and slab ) and away to go. Even a small array of either to offset losses would be a massive benefit.

I trust that is a sprung maple dance floor that opens to reveal a swimming pool beneath...

"ExCeL London (an abbreviation for "Exhibition Centre London")[3] is an exhibition and international convention centre in the Custom House area of Newham, East London.[4] Its 100-acre (0.40 km2) site.....

Oh it’s a flex ???

There’s a (expletive deleted)ing big crack across the middle ?

Well it wasn't as if my original heckle wasn't blunt ... ???

Welcome. Like any project, make the big decisions first, the rest is just detail. A "box" like @joe90 has is a good start as has a low surface area to volume/footprint ratio. There is also some walk on glazing for sale near you, you could do all of us a favour by designing that into your built.

Excellent points. I wish I had hindsight, I might then have started at the window like you say, dropped the pockets in line and the long dwarf wall/shelf to the right. Luckily all my tiles are stuck on with Blu Tack so I'll change it over the weekend... ?

Clearly not Scottish runt is spelt with a C in Scotland...

Didn't know you were Scottish...

How often does that happen Building the same Only a stone throw away Great offer