Susie

I used this recently it comes in marine grade and I found it cheaper. easy to cut and bend and well packaged. Only used it on the gables so far from batten to bargeboard, whilst scaffold is still up . https://www.robinsonwirecloth.co.uk/online-shop/Soffit-mesh-c12856839

I completely get the coffee in bed with a view that’s what we will have too bedroom window is 1500mm x 1500mm tilt and turn inwards £1500 alu wood triple glazed from norrsken. In reality I can see it never open on turn possibly a bit on tilt. It got me a pass though. try it tilt only first just to see if it passes you def have cross ventilation for example a studio apartment with only one ‘clock face’ doesn’t have cross ventilation. you actually have a similar problem that I did either make some fixed windows open or add some Velux as they open massively (90% can’t remember the allowances) and you can put them on the North side possibly. when I did mine it was still very new and the dynamic modelling was either expensive to do or the altered aspects it could have suggested costly or the wait time for some one to model it meant my time on the spreadsheet was worthwhile.

only had a very quick look but a few q’s bed 1 does it have two windows your calling them north and south but both on clock face 3, so this impacts on the most glazed facade. You have marked south as being clock face 6 but said the windows are on 3 being east. A quick look at the plan makes me think the clock face is correct just the label misleading to me anyway. This room will be a problem can the window that opens open inwards and more degrees you need more air flow at night. The living/kitchen/dining area sounds like it’s open plan on 3 different clock faces so it should be calculated as if it’s three different rooms see guidance below can’t follow your window and pane numbering I did mine to match up with the clock face starting at window 1 until all the way round the building giving each one a number 1,2, 3 through to the last window before the first. BCO probably won’t pay the spreadsheet much more than check it says pass but keeping it so they see 12 windows on building matching up to 12 windows on spreadsheet keeps it simple. Then if one window is split into two panes eg if window 1 has 4 panes that’s shown as window 1 pane 1, window 1 pane 2 etc same for a sliding door or bi fold only a sliding door is one fixed one open .I had a sliding door one side fixed and one side fully open 100% Make any changes if necessary then upload again.

Have you tried using https://easy-pv.co.uk/ the free account is ok and you can select different panels on different strings.

It seems ages since I used the spreadsheet now but aren’t the facade directions calculated rather than rooms. it looks like you have large (bedroom) windows upstairs do they open? Do they open enough at nighttime? if you upload the spreadsheet we can possibly help, a pdf would be ok as that still gives the overall values and how close you are to the figures you need to be within.

Your saving the builders mark up on the materials. if he is ordering, possibly collecting, paperwork etc they all have a cost usually also 20% mark up but this will vary by builder. if you want to save money one option would be to get the materials your self and reclaim the VAT if your a new build.

I’m not sure why the simplified won’t work. Are you saying some windows are fixed non opening. A big patio door on the east can still be ok. have you tried the simplified I got ours to work.

The old mannequin purchased the Jensen Interceptor in September 2011 the car was a rusty wreck that many in the Jensen Owners Club thought was too far gone to restore. In 2014 it won many trophies in the Jensen Owners Club Concours. The old mannequin enjoyed restoring the car so much we bought a Jensen FF. In September 2015 we came on holiday to Cornwall to meet up with other Jensen owners, on the way home we made a five year plan to move down here. The original plan was to find land build a house and a big barn but less than a year later we had found our current home with a big barn. We left our business in Manchester in the hands of his brother and staff who all became small shareholders in the company and started a new business in Cornwall restoring Jensen’s. Our current home has 3 staircases although you could just stay on one level if you chose too, ignoring the 3 extra beds rooms, snug and other rooms. As you can see we’re no spring chickens, the bungalow will be great all on one level for both us and our elderly greyhound. Follow this link https://www.oilyragclassics.co.uk/projects-gallery/jensen-interceptor-mkiii/ for more info on the Jensen Interceptor and for the full restoration blog click here https://joc.org.uk/joc-forum/?w3=dmlld3RvcGljLnBocD9mPTE3JnQ9MTI0NTg=

I’m sorry I don’t know cost of the pumps they where part of the builders quote for the foundations. The pumps came from a local quarry about 15 miles maximum, they had at least two like this and it could reach the far side about 20 meters from its parked position. The pump operators were all very good remotely moving the telescopic boom to the correct position.

I use companies house to check out directors how often they start up new businesses and then close them down again within a few years. Companies house will mark up when a strike off on the gazette is updated this is the first stage to a business not filing accounts or a creditor pushing for liquidation etc. I look at the accounts and see how many they employ, gives you an idea of permanent employees or subcontractors used. The capital retained rather than fully drawn out as dividends, but that might depend on size of business, personally I always take dividends after closing accounts. Check the total debtors and creditors balances. Investing in the company in assets. If you’re not sure of how to read accounts get a credit check on them, try https://www.companysearchesmadesimple.com you can pay per company search or a subscription for a month then cancel.

The panels I want are these. https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/eurener/mepv-500w It’s only that they are 500w and the builder wanted to put lower w on the roof. In total it meant a lot less when I have 16 panels.

I don’t think a property being on the findmyaddrees search has any link to land registry and titles. When I use findmyaddress I can find my existing property and the unfinished new build. Our land is all under one title with two properties on it and both addresses are correct on the search. I presume in my case it’s because Cornwall council have assigned us a UPRN either when we named the build or now we have started the build. From the website. UPRNs are allocated against a property or street as soon as ‘construction' begins or ‘street naming and numbering' has been carried out – whichever comes first. try searching on here https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry on this search my existing property it gives some details and says for example the name how HM Land Registry have described the property in the register. But for my new build not registered it says ‘no information held’ which is correct, until we split the title Land Registry don’t know about it.

Amendment to blog I mistyped 157 hours should be 157 man days of labour.

Week 9 and 10 The gable ladder is up, and the OSB 3 is installed over the rafters. The overhang supports are shaped for the secure attachments and put up. The South side of the roof gets its cross batten. The scaffolding comes down, unfortunately due to miscommunication between the director of the company in the office and the director working on site the scaffolding comes down before the North side gets battened. The builder has given us the materials and refunded us an amount for the labour. It was always our plan to try and get the foundations and walls put up by the same company, so there is no doubt about site measurements. During the tendering process we found it very hard to get a groundworks team who worked closely with a builder where the combined price was what we expected. We had builders who came and quoted then ‘ghosted us’, perhaps they didn’t like us living so close to the build or like that it was only a shell build. One builder put his estimate in for both groundworks and the build but suggested his mates company could do the groundworks cheaper as he had his own equipment, but his mates quote doubled the first estimate. Which left us with little confidence in the builders estimate. Getting a detailed estimates and quotes for groundworks, build and roof became nigh on impossible, and I was quite prepared to call the whole thing off or just do the bare minimum to secure the building works had started. We had still added value to our land and it would have kept our long term options of selling the land with the planning permission commenced. Eventually we found a building contractor who could do the foundations and the build. Although I ideally wanted a dry shell before we took over the project managing, we are parting company with the builder sooner than planned. This is partly due to his inflexibility of using only his choice of solar installer who wouldn’t put the solar panels on that we wanted. The builders solar installer wanted to install 6.52kwp but I had found panels giving me 8kwp and this was better for us and the SAP/EPC. The builders installer kept looking at an outdated list and saying the panels were not MCS certified. The panels only got their MCS certification in July and despite me telling him the MCS certificate number, checking with the wholesaler and MCS that they were ok he wouldn’t change his mind. Due to the builders rising costs we decided we could no longer continue with his company and instead we have sourced our own roofer and solar installer, who will install the all black 500w panels I wanted. This has saved us over £12,000 but delayed work slightly as one lot of scaffolding had to come down on the Friday/Saturday and the roofer will put his own scaffolding up on Tuesday. Total man days of labour for week 9 is 14 days. Total man days of labour for week 10 is 17 days. Grand total of labour from building contractor is 157 hours, this has been recorded by me just for reference it does not include any scaffolding, up or down. The actual cost was on a fixed price quote. Total cost to date. Brought forward £45645 Payments to builder for installing ICF walls, internal load bearing walls, stud walls and roof structure £95000 (ICF £15,000 apx) Total to date £140,645 I have quotes for £20k for the roofer, £8k for the solar and £22K for the installed windows. If this all goes to plan thats less than £200k before internals start.

That will be a big saving in time and money not digging out as much. We have just covered our windows up as well. I hope your enjoying it and not working too hard.

The Velux windows are delivered. It pays to shop around for the windows as the prices vary. As I wanted 4 of the lacquered pine, and they are less fashionable now, they are not kept in stock, so although I paid a good online price they were delivered straight from Velux. The pallet contains 6 velux PK06 windows (apx 1m square) and in the middle are the fixing kits. It looked like we were going to be playing a giant variant of Jenga as we had to carefully cut straps whilst holding onto the windows. The first two came off easily then the next 4 were on opposing sides of the slightly broken pallet. Being very careful, with husband cutting the tape and the weight of two and me taking the weight of the other two we won the game. They are now safely stored away. The interior walls are also going up, the SE included them as structural when we changed to the steel beam. Outside we will have a small veranda the concrete plinths were cast weeks ago but we are now working out the height as this ground will be built up slightly as can be seen by the door opening and the ground to the right of the photo. We have been paying the builder as stages are completed so full cost is lot higher than stated below. I will go into more detail in the coming weeks, when the builder departs site and our new roofer starts, after the dry shell, excluding windows, it's all down to us to complete. I have just paid the deposit to Norrsken for the windows, which will include a site measure, I am not expecting them to be ready to fit until March so we will temporarily cover the openings. Total man days of labour for week 9 is 14 man days. Cost to date b/f £45645 Velux windows and flashing kits. £3,000 + VAT (Our first big VAT bill in the reclaim folder) Gabions inc delivery no stone £400 Total to date £49045

The roof rafters are being installed with the openings for the roof windows. LABC visits for the second time, there have been a few photos sent as well, they inspect the roof, anchors and fastenings etc. The internal walls are built up around the steel goal posts. Not as many hours on site this week were one man down, its half term here. I started a Gabion wall, filling it with rubbish stone and facing the front with nice stone from around the plot, it just separates off the garden from the vehicle parking area, holding back about 400mm depth of soil. You can see on the photo the remaining post of the old wooden fence which was behind a skip now removed. Total man days of labour for week 8 is 20 days.

Hopefully when I publish last weeks photos showing the wall built up around the goal posts and that the rafters now have collars on them, all is well. Thank you for all your concerns I will double check all the details. We have not got as far as the OSB yet so it is all still visible to check.

The doorway has no door on this opening only on the next one, and the walls are now built up further. It has now dried out, even got to lay down where the beds will go to check the view out and ceiling angles. Very happy with the work so far from the builders.

Having a plot is a great start. welcome.

Your welcome to see visit my ICF build near Bude, message me if interested and read my blog.

On Monday the second gable is poured and most of the internal bracing, corner bracing and window shuttering is removed. Tuesday rains all day so no work on site. The internal floor is under 1 inch of water with no way to escape, without us brushing it towards soil pipe. Good to know we are airtight at the floor/wall joint. The steels are installed, we were supposed to have wooden roof beams but somehow this was not calculated by the architect who insisted the roof truss company would do the calculations later. The roof truss companys only want to do the calculations when they know you are ready to order and they said the beam spans could not be done. So on the last minute we had to go back to the SE who worked out our steel beams and the total cost of roof went up £8k. I wish the architect had suggested the SE looks at the roof calculations earlier but unfortunately we just have to move on from this, and up to this point we have had no other extra costs. Since we are no longer working with the architect I have had to find a new SAP assessor who I can engage with as the build progresses. We have been discussing how changing the steel beam might change things as the vaulted ceiling can now be higher if we want. This gives us more space to heat up. I also wanted to know the effect of not putting as much solar on the roof or not having the wood burner changes the SAP results. Since having a smart meter fitted at home we have reviewed our current electric usage and decided that less solar (7.5 kwp instead of 11 kwp) but with the ability to add a battery. Also I think aesthetically one row of 15 panels will look better. Total Man days of labour week 7 is 16 days. Total to date b/f £44925 New Design Stage SAP Calculations (previously done by architect) with ongoing advice about changes that will affect the SAP and to include the As Built SAP documents and EPC at completion £720. It does seem a lot compared to online prices but for peace of mind knowing that we can if we choose to only put 6kwp of PV on the roof instead of 11kwp, is an overall saving. Total to date £45645

I noticed you suggested secondsandco for the first layer of PIR which keeps the cost down, but I believe you can have variance in thickness, rumpled tape or crushed corners etc would you not do two layers from secondsandco because of this or was it just omitted?

The builders on site have done a few ICF builds previously. I think because the ICF supplier is local it gets chosen as a build method locally. There was a lot of prep work and the pump operator knew his stuff too having no doubt done a few ICF pours.

On Monday the internal structural walls are up to the top of the ICF walls and are tied in to the ICF walls. The windows and doorways have extra bracing ready for the pour. Nobody on site on Tuesday it rains all day and no more prep is needed before the pour. Wednesday starts with the last minute checks ready for the pour. The concrete pump arrives on site at 12pm it takes 30 minutes to set up before the first concrete pours out. We have 4 builders onsite plus the concrete pump operator. The concrete is poured into the ICF on all four walls in stages twice round and its up-to window cill height, the ICF cills are pushed into the wet concrete and the wood boards replaced so that the pour can continue higher. A poker is used to vibrate the concrete to ensure the concrete fills the ICF without any voids. At 4pm the pour is finished and the cleanup can start. The pump driver tests out our hammer head turn which was required by BC as we are so far from the road and Fire Engines are not allowed to reverse more than 20m. I think this proves our access works and it’s all down to the driver of the vehicles, the pump driver is great if only all delivery drivers are like this. The gables will be completed later so the concrete has rebar inserted, the other two walls are trowelled level. By the end of the week one gable is braced and poured. Total man days of labour week 6 is 17 days.