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Well, sort of. Working physically hard is sooo emotionally easy compared to the frenetic whirlwind of strip foundation digging and filling. If that means that to you, I sound an emotional fruitbat then I commend your perceptivenes. I find it impossible to predict in advance the bits that will be most stressful. In the last two weeks I’ve had all but two days on my own on site, as Steve has been on his hols. So it’s background organisation tasks and planning for the most part. That means tip runs; getting blocks and bricks and sand and cement delivered for below damp; yet more manual moving of soil; generally tidying up; bumping out stupidly heavy 140mm concrete blocks; breaking up soft reds from the demolition for hardcore; and lots and lots of measuring and thinking. The two days Steve was there were spent setting out and getting some blocks laid. Setting out would have taken Steve on his own just a couple of hours. However, he had me to help him, so it took over half a day. I did learn a lot and because of concerns about preserving the precise sizes of the alleyways either side, and making sure the front face of the house is nicely co-planer with next door, and by the way still sitting properly on the foundations, and working out where to set block levels to, and my constant re measuring and questioning, I managed to burn a lot time more than just the morning. The levels thing was, in hindsight, quite comical. Not at the time however. We ran round the foundations with the laser level trying to spot the highest point, allowing for the 225mm steps. With the best will in the world foundations don’t end up perfectly level, so one finds the high spot, and all blockwork works to that level which saves stupid amounts of block cutting - adding more pug (perhaps a Suffolk word for mortar) is a lot easier than taking some off of a block. But with a laser level a higher number means a lower level, and one of the two of us just kept getting confused by that. I’ll let you guess which one. Confusion is, however, contagious it seems, as eventually I asked enough silly questions to get Steve confused too. It’s nice that I do have something to contribute to the process. Steve’s relief when he finally could get on with some blockwork was palpable. To his credit he must have been sorely tempted to insert the laser level staff somewhere painful, but he kept his patience, bless him. So we didn’t get that many blocks laid but we did enough to be ready for the windframe for the back of the house. Getting that fitted was fun. 200kg is not much by steel standards but my goodness it took some grunt. Because of the slope of the site instead of the legs (columns) being just over 2.5m long they were 3.5m long. The crew were a man short but I knew that when I asked them to come fit it so I gleefully volunteered to help. They were a brilliant pair - it was a constant stream of jokes and leg pulls and laughter. The only exception was getting each leg upright - that was pure grunt work - done nearly silently apart from grunts and barked orders. But the three of us got the first leg vertical. They then told me to ‘keep ‘old of that’ which turned out to be hard work, as keeping a near 12’ length of 1’ wide steel still on a blustery day wasn’t trivial. I also found it hard to believe that some goo squirted from a mastic gun would hold it up. I’ve read about but never seen a chemical anchor. Amazing. The other leg done we attached both legs to the previously lifted beam (with a genie lift - bloody handy that is) - and 16 bolts later we had a windframe. After weeks of a flat site it looks way too big, but after measuring many times I can now confidently confirm that I hope it’s right. Fingers crossed. The other thing this week is that the costs for the strip foundations are now all in, and we are quietly pleased. We were offered a fixed price of £16.5k, and lord knows what the extras would have really totalled as we did go deeper and use more concrete in many places due to soft ground. Instead, overall on day rate they cost us: Digger hire and diesel: £800 Labour (Steve and Kev the Dig) £4,400 Ply (some second hand) and cutting discs £700 47m3 of concrete £5,200. Waiting time for concrete lorry £74 Rebar (for steps and joins in foundations) £100 Spoil away £1,600 Total just under £13k. Happy days. It’s amazing what one doesn’t know and can’t imagine. When ordering concrete from the company we used (they only do 8m3 wagons) ordering 1+ means they send a full lorry then wait for us to tell them how much to send in the second lorry which turns up half an hour or so later. Ordering 2+ means two full wagons turn up at once - yikes! Ours site is just too small for that - hence the charge for waiting time. Anyway, next week Steve is back Wednesday so it’s blockwork to damp and over site over the next few weeks. And after a year of not doing anything towards my man cave at the bottom of the garden suddenly now I need to progress that too. It’s a nice problem to have.

A relatively quiet week this week - the lull before the storm (hopefully not literally!) The scaffolders arrived to put up a single-lift all around the exterior on Thursday and Friday (and Saturday morning as it turned out). I say single-lift but there were due to be a couple of hop-ups for the gables on the south-facing roof. However, at one end the gable is over a canopy roof which means the first lift is 2m away from where the gable will be. We've left that one off for now - I'm hoping the timber frame company (Turners) can work off the scaffold tower at that end, or I will get the scaffolders back and put in what the frame erectors would like (we may need a sky-hook to hang it off though). The site is looking spick and span at the moment; the groundworkers were really tidy, the weather has no doubt helped (dust is easier to sweep up than mud), and Mrs P. has done some sterling work this weekend tidying up the few bits of spare timber, pallets, bulk bags etc, left by the scaffolders. As they were packing up one of the scaffolders saw an empty bag (which they had brought) and asked "Is this rubbish?", to which I replied "Oh yes, thanks", thinking he was going to take it away, but no, he just threw an empty Red Bull can in it 🤷‍♂️. Scaffolders truly are a breed apart. The house has proved to be too wide for the CCTV camera, so we moved the camera back. Now we have the workshop roof in the way - grrr! Looking at the project finances, frighteningly we have already spent over 1/3rd of the budget 😱. Major spend so far has been on design and planning, the timber frame and windows are both paid for, a good slug of the groundworks costs has also been paid with an invoice for the balance expected soon. This week I ordered and paid for the MVHR kit (based around a Zehnder Q350) and the ASHP and cylinder (Panasonic L series 7kW + 300l cylinder). I ordered the latter through Air2Heat who provide an MCS umbrella service (Paul Thorney - really helpful) so we should get back £7.5k via the BUS grant scheme, which would leave the heat pump and cylinder costing a net £1,200 plus installation costs. Anyway, we're currently running about £500 over budget (excluding contingency) with some opportunities for future savings and a fair few areas of potential overspend. Time for Benpointer's three Laws of Budget Management: If you go over budget, that's bad management. If you come in under budget, that's poor estimating. If you come in bang on budget, you've almost certainly committed both 1. and 2. Next week is going to be very exciting - I hope in a good way. Tomorrow (Monday) our timber frame arrives from Turner Timber Frames, with a team to erect it. The weather forecast is good, so fingers-crossed the frame fits the footings and it all goes up smoothly 🤞.

We’ve had another very good week of progress by the groundworks team and they are pretty much done now bar some further levelling of the paddock area and one or two other minor details. We are really pleased with their work and the Building Inspector is pleased too, thankfully, so our foundations are all signed-off 👍. Bizarrely, it’s only now that we can submit the “Commencement Statement” for our construction to Building Control, which I duly did this week. Also bizarrely, we are still on schedule - I can guarantee that won’t last! Once the block and beam floor was in and grouted with cement slurry, the concrete block upstands for the internal stud partition walls were laid. With hindsight, it might have been better not to pay the timber frame company (Turner Timber Frame) to supply and erect the internal walls but rather build them later on top of the screed. But we’re way past that decision point now - Turners will be installing those partition walls as part of the overall frame build, so concrete block upstands have to be ready in place. One minor issue that had to be resolved this week - the block and beam floor ventilation ‘periscopes’ are designed for 100mm cavity walls and weren’t going to fit inside our 50mm cavities between the walls and the render-board. The solution proposed by the groundworkers and approved by our Building Inspector is to run them up the inside of the foundation wall before exiting just below DPC level. That gives us a potential cold bridge at each vent (26 in total!) but I think we can mitigate that by doubling the PIR insulation upstands to 100mm where the vents are. It’s not perfect but I think it will have only a very small impact on the overall insulation levels. Next week the scaffold is scheduled to go up on Wednesday/Thursday, then the timber frame is due to arrive the week after - when the fun will really start! Meanwhile next week I need cut the five 150mm oak posts to size and chamfer the edges, ready for them to go in to support the roof canopies over the front porch and rear terrace. (Six oak posts in the picture - I’ll choose the best five!)

Great progress by the groundworks team in sweltering conditions this week - laying concrete blocks in the sun when it’s 30deg C and 80% humidity can’t be any fun at all. Despite the heat, by the end of the week our foundation walls are in and ready for the block and beam floor this coming week. We can really see the house take shape now, although quite a few of the foundation walls are just there to support floor beams and won’t appear as internal walls above the floor. As expected, it all looks a bit too small at this stage. It always seems to be the case that the foundations make the rooms look small. They’re definitely the right size on paper, so I’m sure it’s an optical illusion at this stage (hopefully!) The foul and rainwater drains are also now in place. Our Building Inspector ideally wanted the SVP to come out through the roof above the bathroom but since that roof is covered with Solfit PV panels (https://solfit.co.uk/domestic-solar-panels/) that can’t be penetrated, we eventually agree to put the SVP up the outside of the north facing wall. This is the wall that isn’t really going to be seen from the entrance, front parking areas or garden and we’d really prefer not to penetrate the roof with a soil vent if possible. So, everyone’s happy. The ‘spaghetti’ in the bottom left corner is where all of our external service ducts come into the plant room. 17 ducts in total, including two spare at present, (I may have over-catered): Power to ASHP Power to garden Water pipe to garden Water pipe to workshop Power to workshop Lighting circuit - switched external lights Data to workshop Live power supply in (SSE - single phase) Fibre in (Openreach) Water mains in (Wessex Water) Power to sewage treatment plant PV panel in PV panel in Power to EV charger Data for CCTV Spare 50mm duct (to workshop) Spare 50mm duct (to workshop)

The groundworks team have been putting in the Sewage Treatment Plant and drains this week. We’ve chosen the Klargester Biotec+ 2 STP and that arrived on schedule from Tanks Direct on Tuesday. Also this week the concrete pads were dug and poured for five oak posts that will support overhanging roof canopies - the Building Inspector asked us to put in 1m x 1m x 1m pads which seems excessive for 150mm x 150mm oak posts taking point loads of 5-10kN but it was that or pay the SE for (possibly the same) opinion. The team also started reshaping the paddock area - losing a huge amount of spoil and burying a lot of rubble that had been dumped by previous occupants. We'll probably wait until the autumn to seed it - not much chance of seed taking right now. At the end of a busy week there is not a lot above ground to see for all that effort but we needed to get this all done before the below-DPC block walls go in. Access to the rear of the plot will not be possible for the big machinery once the blockwork starts. The wooden garage mentioned at the end of last week's blog came down over the weekend (in the pouring rain) and has disappeared off site. The extra space created has proved vital - the photo below shows the concrete pad that's left after the garage was removed. (The wooden building that remains is a 5m x 9m workshop which is staying, though it will need re-cladding at some stage.) No new issues this week - hurrah! Fingers-crossed for that happy state of affairs to continue. The timber frame is due to arrive from Turner Timber on 7th July, so just three weeks left to finish the foundations and get the scaffold up. No pressure!

With a few hot days I decided to plunge into fixing the outside drainage. These had been marked the wrong way around on the surveyors map which carried onto the Architects drawings which made its way into the construction drawings and the groundsworker dutifully connected up as per these last year. It was only a few months ago I noticed backflow of sewage in what I thought was the storm drain and discovered the difference between 4" sewer lines and 6" storm drain lines!! Unfortunately the 4,000 litre rainwater tank is already installed and the invert levels between the two systems are very close to each other so I was going to have to bring the rainwater overflow under the sewer line. That's what I started tackling today. The shores are to the left and the rainwater tank is to the right. The sewer is to the top of the picture so I can now connect that up next. I've also allowed for a direct feed into the storm drain from the front drains (more likely to get oil/car wash soap/contaminants in it) and the overflow from the rainwater filter (only 40% of the rear roof will make it into the tank through this filter, the rest is discarded via this overflow). The U bend might be hard to clean out later but I'm looking for a sump for the front aco drains to minimise sediment, similarly the rainwater filter should block leaf debris from the rear roof. The Wet Room work is being undertaken by a contractor so they have been hard at work all week. Just waiting on my plumber to finish a few bits and the tilers to get started. I've been painting the ceilings in advance so I don't mess up the tiles later and I've been asked to cover the marine ply boxing I've done with backer board 6mm so I'll do that shortly. I've also been busy using 2 tonnes of Fermacell, 100 one man boards (900mm x 1200mm) fitting out the 3 bathrooms and utility room. You install by placing, gluing, screwing, joint filling, fine surface finishing then priming and painting with some sanding thrown in. I bought a plasterboard lifter which has been great for the ceilings. Even these board sizes are over 19kg each. I'm getting better results as I go. The cutting is messy and playing havoc with my plunge saw and I've stocked up on vacuum bags and filters to help. I've multi tooled the sockets and holesawed the led lighting sockets without issue. Nice to see a room looking like a room and not a set of wooden partitions for a change! The collated screwgun has been a charm once I figured out I was accidentally setting it in reverse and it wasn't working! Very annoying for the first crucial screw per board! Stairs is ordered for July. Holding off on doors for now but considering one with a frosted glass center section for the main bathroom to let some light into the hallway. Kango'ing out the concrete for the downstairs shower was very tough on the guys. 3 days instead of 1 as the concrete was well cured. They stuck at it though fair play to them. Lots of dust! They also moved a drain so its no longer sticking out of the floor of the master bathroom so the finish will be improved. The tiling boss was over on Friday checking things over and keeps close tabs on the process. There was an issue with a Schluter heating cable being too long so rather than run it up the wall, I rush ordered a shorter one from the UK and have it on hand for next week. Will have to ebay the old one! You can't cut these to length and I'd rather not pay to heat a wall I don't want hot so that's how that went! Still discussing with the original supplier as the same kit was ordered for both bathrooms even though one is 1/2 the size. These things happen though and it was only picked up on this week as it's been sat in a box for months! Hindsight! The Brise Soleil have been amazing and I've had all windows and doors open all week to help with the heat but it's never climbed above ambient outside, some of the bathrooms can be a little hotter as the windows don't open and there no airflow there yet. So next is the tiling, more outside foul drain work, finish painting the Utility Room and then I plan to prep the kitchen area so it can be measured and ordered. The 6 meter high vaulted ceiling will be fun to plasterboard but will see how it goes. I think I'll need more Fermacell at the rate I'm going, I've lots of offcuts, saving them but who knows if they will be used or not. No date on delivery of mains water or electricity unfortunately but hopefully soon. Be nice to get some power, they don't do temporary supplies easily in Ireland....! That's it for this post!

Our groundworkers arrived on site as promised on the Tuesday after Spring Bank Holiday. Raining all day of course! Though tbf it’s fairly light rain. They made a good start removing a concrete slab left over from a long-demolished, clearing the oversight and creating a temporary spoil dump site on the paddock. Three issues this week: An unexpected armoured cable is discovered on day two - our groundworker Marcus is unsurprisingly cautious. Quick call to our electrician Nick. Nick thinks it’s probably the a redundant feed from the neighbouring house to what was their workshop - should be fine. He comes to inspect it and concludes it is dead. We explain that the groundworkers have asked him to cut it if it’s safe to do so. “You want me to cut it?” he asks, slightly incredulously. Yep. Nick angle-grinds through the cable - cable is dead, electrician is still alive - problem sorted. Second issue: We found out on Thursday that the Building Inspector unexpectedly wants a “Structural engineer to design depth of foundation due to clay soil and the nearby oak tree”. Both our architect and groundworker expected that the BI would be happy to agree the foundation depths based on the NHBC tables. But no, the BI is no longer allowed to do that he says. So, we are in a hole so to speak but just not sure how deep a hole... A rapid scrabble to find a SE who is able to help and help quickly, as we want to dig the trenches next week. On Thursday we got hold of a chap we used for another project 15 years ago - he thinks he could help in short order. We await a result. Third issue: We had hoped to keep the existing timber double garage for the duration of the build, for storage through the build. But the groundworkers are worried about access and off-loading our beams for our B&B floor. The timber frame and window companies also think the space is very tight. I conclude the garage will have to come down - now. It was a mistake on my part to try to keep it; we could have dismantled it carefully during the ‘phoney war’ ahead of construction proper. Annoying. Fortunately our PP includes demolition of this garage so, we are fine on that front. Our chippie knows someone who may want it and will dismantle and remove for nowt at their expense, hopefully in the next two weeks. Failing that the groundworkers will knock it down with a digger, but it would be a shame not to recycle it. Edit: The SE has come back with the foundation calculations over the weekend (what a hero!) so we should be all sustems go for digging the foundations next week. Hurrah! Pre-start "One day my son, all this will be yours" Making a start. In the rain obvs: End of week 1. Happy with that!