Susie

I would ask about the new company they have registered. It does sound odd. Only innocent reason I can think if they are splitting company supply and fitting. how late are the accounts for fileing if you PM me the company I can do a credit check if you want. name, company number, address inc postcode.

Would an extending or swing arm wall light help you read. depends if it would suit your decor.

If we ever manage to get a local builder to quote I will use RWall blocks simply because they are local. My plan now is to make payment and collect same day. Started back in October getting quotes for next year as every one says you need to book the builder early a few have been round seemed interested then not responding. had one quote so far. ICF Homes are also on my list but no quote back yet I think they use Nudura and Jackon. I hope they take card payments. We need a new protection like we have with cards payments when we pay direct through the bank.

It doesn’t sound like the purchasers had much choice it was pay by credit transfer or go else where. Many companies only take money in by direct transfer. My company does not take credit cards mainly because we do mostly business to business transactions but do get asked occasionally and I have to say no because of the fees involved in taking the payment by card. I’m not aware how having an overdraft makes any difference for protection. Do you have any info on this @Dave Jones I hope when the time comes for me to pay for my ICF blocks the company accepts cards. it must be very difficult for all the purchasers my thoughts are with you all.

Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with NICEIC I thought since MCS escalated it to them there was a specific notifiable problem e.g. your dangerous wires and that you had MCS helping you. It’s probably a bit late now but if you still have unsafe work another registered NICEIC could give you an installation certificate and if they state it’s still ‘unsatisfactory’ then that should be enough proof for NICEIC to get involved more.

Did you not put any loops under the beds. I’ve had two drawings done both have loops under the bed. For one room I definitely will as it may be an office the other two rooms I’m not sure, what if the bed is in the place for the next owner or even me when older with a walking frame. 😂

So happy for you. try to enjoy it all from now. have fun digging the trenches. 👍

Have you been online and checked there weren’t any conditions. We are not Part Q but we had to do a landscaping plan that the type of fencing.

I have read lots of articles about extra coatings that can be specified for ASHP and also for windows. I think for allu windows the marine paint is for when you are within 2 mile of the coast. Personally I think the distance is a bit misleading as I’m nearly 2 miles but the sea mist comes in quick up the valley and can hang around for hours. If I forget to bring something in from gardening it will rust up, even things in the barn get the sea air pitting. The ASHP you see nice and clean white outside doesn’t mean it’s all ok inside like @Jenki says protection is the answer and regular checking.

Good timing for me also I hadn’t thought of the condensation in the bathroom. We have one in our bathroom now but it’s nearly always on vent and it’s very high ceiling. I wasn’t thinking about the solar gain as they are on the north side and they are there for ventilation to pass part O. Nice to hear your thoughts @ProDave on 2G and 3G I had been concerned about them only being 2G but feel better in my choice. I like the way you can open them with a pole mine will all need a 1.5m pole to open them at least. Have you @richo106 found any other makes you like?

Drawings are just structural but I have had free drawings completed for the UFH and the MVHR and shall be looking at those again in the next few weeks. David will do the Electrical drawings and I will do the plumbing. I need to look up loop cad I think it’s called and get a free trial. I think the rectangular shape will make it easy and the plant room is a decent size. The hall goes straight down the centre of the building with the plant room at one end and the utility just after half way. I was always thinking how pipe runs would work just not got it out of my head yet and onto paper. I know where the Christmas tree will go and it will have a power socket near by. 🌲 I’m never going to say which Christmas we will move in by although most likely 2030 something. The architect was definitely not the most expensive quote we received but he has been very very slow, it’s a good job I’m not living in a caravan or paying rent whilst waiting to start the build. Just getting an email reply takes a week. I’m not sure if it’s the Cornish ‘dreckly’ way or because I’m so organised that it seems so slow, it does take a bit of getting use to down here.

We moved from Manchester to Cornwall 6 years ago and we are very happy with the overall location. Our existing converted barn, was converted by the previous owner and is very nice but is built on three levels and has 4 double beds, kitchen, dinner, lounge and snug and 3 baths so it is far too big for us when we retire. When we bought the house I always say we chose it for the working barn apx 300m2, not the barn we live in. We are building for our future in the hope that we can continue to live her a long time, if it takes us 10 years to build we will be 65 when we move in. My husband has a history of bad backs a bungalow with no steps and easy access is high up on our want list. More recently our Greyhound is refusing to go down to the snug in the lower ground floor at night preferring to stay upstairs in the kitchen. He is incidentally another reason we bought the property, two fields he can run off lead. We don’t want anything too large, a well insulated bungalow that will be cheap to run and maintain. We have a small cow shed on our land and although our property is listed the cow shed is outside the curtilage of the property and built in the 70’s so does not require any listed building planning consultations. When we purchased the property a new build was never on the agenda, but it is now. In September 2021 we engaged the services of a planning consultant with a view to demolish the small barn and replace it with a new build, his view was favourable. In January we then approached an architect who suggested full plans would be best since what we were asking for was in keeping with the surroundings, not that much larger than the existing barn and since it was visible from the listed property more detail such as windows and cladding would be required. Two months of absolutely nothing happened then in March we met up to discuss our requirements and finally in May we submitted our plans. In June we had our necessary bat and bird nesting survey, the gentleman who conducted the survey nearly started looking at another old stone barn until we corrected him and he then told us that bats wouldn’t like the old cow shed as it would be too hot in summer (tin roof) and too cold in winter due to the holes, drafts, and thin wood walls. Then in August we had the Phase 1 preliminary risk assessment, required because we were previously farm land. From the survey I learned that in 1884 there were two wells 165m W of the site another 580m SW of the site and two quarries quite a distance away and in 1906 a smithy in the village, no surprise there as there is a house called ‘The Old Smithy” . The geological map indicates that the site is underlain by the Bude Formation - Sandstone. Sedimentary Bedrock formed approximately 310 to 319 million years ago in the Carboniferous Period. The report was very detailed but returned very little about the land the barn is occupying, that a visit to site wouldn’t tell you. Nothing bad was reported so we were happy and we continued pushing more paper around. Eventually its our turn for the case officer to look at us in detail and we get conditional approval in mid October 2022. Mid March 2023 and we have submitted our building regs drawings and my Part O Spreadsheet, window amendments to the planning department and the SE has quoted and is starting on his work. We are over 150m from the fresh water main so will need chlorinating. I found a great guy who has dug the first trench for the Water, Electric and Openreach, he will return when the new build is ready for the second trench to install the services into the house and will then chlorinate the pipework. Site electric is in from the pole in our neighbours yard towards the Old Cow Shed. We were offered a good price by National Grid for 3 phase, they would have struggled giving us single phase due to lack of supply network and another new build close to us in the village has gone off grid because there connection fee was too expensive. We wanted 3 phase any way as we hope to fill the roof with 30 solar panels facing SSW with no shading. As soon as it warms up and the field is firmer we plan to start clearing the site and moving the spoil down the field into our larger field. Doing it now would be like making a mud bath. Sometime between October and February we will demolish the barn and this time next year the new ICF build will go up. In the meantime lots of planning continues and I’m going on a short plumbing course. The husband is an Electrician by trade and can do some plumbing but hates getting down on his hands and knees now. Last year I tanked and tiled our existing en-suite and have learned all about wet wipes and silicone so another job moved from the husband to me. 😀 The main photo shows the site electric and the drive leading up to the cowshed to the left at the end and just on the edge of the photo are the old stables used as workshop storage each stable bay has a different items stored. A new entrance to our field will be made diagonally from the site electric to the left of the old cow shed which will make our farmer happy as he currently has a very tight turn left just in front of the cowshed. He comes twice a year to cut the grass and in return he usually takes at least 15 round bales away. The other images are from the architect but are already out of date. To pass Part O we are submitting an amendment for the removal of 4 windows on the North elevation and replacement with 6 roof windows that offer more ventilation. Costs to date Planning Consultant £600 Council planning application fee £500 Bat and Bird nesting survey £370 Phase 1 preliminary risk assessment £740 Architectural Design and planning £3000 Building regs Drawings £1250 SE £900 Trench and ducting etc for Water, Electric and Openreach £2830 Site Electric £2470 Openreach cable and ducting £0 Total £12660

If the company was NICEIC registered then if NICEIC find it at fault and particularly dangerous they can ask another company to put right it it’s part of the guarantee covering NICEIC registered installers. If particularly bad the original installer will then lose their NICEIC registration.

And was that before the move to Cornwall or have you had nice Cornwall BC as well. 😀

Surely you were on the old regs though, so not the part O?

I guess at some point a forum member will pay to have their house dynamically modelled for part O and we will all learn how much the shading and a MVHR effects the pass or fail outcomes. My building regs have now been submitted by my architect with my spreadsheet for the simplified calculation so fingers cross BCO are happy with it. @Furnace I have no idea how much your PHPP modelling has cost but could perhaps make more people think of building a passive house if they can save money on the part O. I wish it was in my budget now but too far into the design and timeline to make changes.

I presume that the underground option is underground all the way to your house not just under the road. It’s not a bad option if the cost is ok. Get it agreed and paid this tax year most utilities put their prices up April if you want to at a later date cut the overhanging tree down on your side I believe your suppose to give the off cuts back so throw them over to your neighbour. You already have got water and electricity presumably since you knocked a property down. Are they supplied direct to you not a shared water pipe between two properties. I had a water main coming in from street then split for a pair of semis these were built apx late 1930. I’ve also had an electric supply from street shared between me and my neighbour on an older terrace.

Things are moving quick for a few people I wonder if it’s the end of tax year and getting quotas in. goodluck @dpmiller hope they sort you out.

Good luck tomorrow. if like you say the visuals aren’t a deal breaker then I agree the chances of your cable blowing down are only a small fraction comparable to its full length above ground. Closing a road or digging up your neighbors are probably not worth it. our power is overhead as well and I don’t consider that a problem if it was to fall the longest I have been without power is 12hrs in 6 years and we are very windy here. A couple of times a year we get fly by checks on the whole village and surrounding infrastructure. Could be because GCHQ is close by and they will probably read this now as a huge percentage of our UK internet is monitored down the road.

Could you lay the cable yourself in the ground? If your in a windy spot I could see advantage to it being underground. Do you mind seeing the cable? ours is going in the ground because our nearest pole is 100m away at the end of our drive and the trench is open for water and electric. I have been told if we take a long time to complete the build then the cable might be upgraded by the time we’re ready to connect and the old cable will pull the new cable through.

Ours is Podium brand from Plumbase I like the the non slip and it cleans well but not sure it’s in your size. would be interested to see other people’s thoughts as well. ours has been in use for 12 months apx.

The simplified version does not take into account MVHR at all. If you don't want to make most of your windows open you will struggle. It depends on how use to a spreadsheet you are and how big your build is. Mine was a simple rectangle, not too difficult as im use to spreadsheets. Does the cost of @cheekmonkey put you off a dynamic model? I guess it depends on if the cost guarntees we keep remodelling until its a pass or if its £1700 and it either passes or fails and then more £ per hour until it passes. For me the cost of the dynamic was offset by me doing the simplified model and minor changes to some window sizes and although some windows now open and I would have preferred them to not open the cost of this change is still less than the Dynamic model would have been and as a bonus I have an opening window. I changed some windows to velux windows giving me more air flow on the North facade and I will probably have more art work on the wall or whatever looking to the positives. The following is for a non techie it breaks it down into sections if you are ok at allowing for frame sizes start with who you are most likely to choose as window supplier and use their data, enter all rooms one at a time. I made another table that allows for frame measurements jamb header non opening, jamb header opening, cill non opening etc and then a window opening that table that would reference the frame and input the data into the simplified spreadsheet. I can not show my calculations as Im a Mac numbers user not Microsoft excel and too much is lost in the conversion. A basic start for a non techie would be to start with what you think is your most glazed facade and don't worry about frame sizes just treat all windows as the full opening measurement and opening fully inwards top hung, unless it definitely can not be opening. You will need your Gross Internal Area and m2 for each room on that facade. If that passes or is very close to passing move onto bedrooms one at a time. On each one if you pass with all opening then try non opening and see if that's a fail or pass. Then move onto the other facades. If your passing or close then you have to start thinking about frame sizes and how each window will ideally open or not start with the windows that you don't want to compromise on then adjust the others either bigger for more ventilation or smaller if you have too much glazing. Each time you change something check which is your most glazed facade because if you start of with the most glazed on the West and harder % targets to meet adding windows to the North or East may change things and give you easier % targets to meet. I would be happy to look at your spreadsheet once started sometimes its just a case of another pair of eyes spotting a simple change. Before Part O Calculations After Part O Calulations

Well done as others have said very quick. Next up Building Regs?

Don’t forget liability insurance and either premises or if none then the garage becomes the business storage location. If more than just an office at home you need to inform your insurance company you run a business from home. vehicle breakdown cover for business use. no holiday pay has already been mentioned but chances are even when you are on holiday customers will be on the phone. The tradesman’s quote includes many overheads generally the customer will not consider.

Openreach have been great for me. Is that price when they dig the trench. I think there is an allowance for self builds of apx £2,500. If it costs less than this you don’t pay. If your neighbours have it then unless the local capacity is already full I’m not sure what they are charging for. We are currently digging our trench for water, site electric and Openreach. it took a few deliveries as they haven’t had everything in stock but we have been given free £0 all the conduit, box for in trench, cable covers for at the pole and at the house, 500m of pull cord (enough for the electric as well), and over 200m of cable. We’re self laying from the pole but they have to run 30m from one pole to an electric pole and they organise the wayleave. I do feel I have had great service of them so far, local contact and mobile number to keep in touch with deliveries and progress. They know we’re just preparing and will not move in and connect for a few years we have joked that the cable will probably be out of date by the time I get connected. To be fair Nation Grid have been great as well so may be it depends on location. I would definitely ask what the cost if for.