Dreadnaught

Slightly unrelated to your request for a name, when I was looking around for ATs, I found their hourly rate was typically about £75 per hour + VAT (Hampshire), which is the same as many architects I found around the Southeast. (That was too much for me, so kept searching until I found a good-one charging less). Out of interest, I would be interested to hear the hourly rates that others have been paying for architects or ATs around the country.

On one of your points, it is my understanding, that so long as the designs and drawings are used for the construction of the dwelling for which they are originally produced, there is no concern over rights. A concern would arise only if you were, for example, to re-sell the design to others for profit. With some architects obtaining the CAD files, on the other hand, can be tricky. Not with my architect I should add; I have all of mine for my build.

Now that's a good idea. I don't have a house to demolition but I do have some old bricks on site that would otherwise go in to a skip. I could keep some for an electrical kiosk and perhaps even some planters. Thanks!

Would it be easy to bend this this aluminium profile by a few degrees? I have an external corner in my façade where there return is not 90º but about 105º. I'd be good to use this profile after a bit of bending. Thickness 1mm, length 3m, link. Would it be easy-peasy? Or end up looking rubbish?

Thanks guys! Great advice. That sounds like a solution: use Cedral stop end profile and open-up the perpends.

Thanks @Mr Punter. … slightly opening or closing up the slips … That sounds do-able I think, thanks. Do these return round a corner? Good question. The rear face of the building (around that corner) transitions immediately in to Cedral click cladding*. I am not sure how to make the transition from bricks to cladding look good. So don't know … Return around the corner with a pistol corner slip, and then transition to cladding with some sort of profile? Corner end aluminium profile? Something else? * I will never see that side around the corner, only the neighbours will, which is why I went for cladding rather than slips: to save money.

My architect is designing my brick slips elevations. Note: they are slips not full bricks and they will come from by Eurobrick if that is relevant. See the 62mm gap at the end, what to do about it? Do I … Re-design the timber frame? Absorb 62mm into the mortar joints between the slips? Cut the slips? Something else? I have zero experience of brick-laying or slips. What do you all think? Now is the time to make any design changes, if needed.

On the subject of escape windows, I found my particular window supplier (Ideal Combi) was well clued-up on the requirements. I was able to simply say to them that I wanted the smallest compliant opening section and they specified it, including taking account of the angle to which the window would open.

Bedroom above bedroom, noise transmission through the floor? Rearrange so they are not stacked? Which way is north: path of the sun around the dwelling?

That's a good idea! Thanks.

Thanks all. I'm on site at my plot tomorrow meeting Anglian Water. I currently live 2+ hours away so cannot visit every day. Will have good nosey around the plot looking for evidence of anything underground before taking it further.

Thanks both! OK message received although my screw piles look puny compared to that beast in the photo. Looked in my files, I do have a map of the both the water supply and electricity cables in the area. These were supplied with the quotes for the connections. They both show no services on the plot. Is that sort of map good enough for the purpose do you think? The only ones missing would be gas, which I am not connecting to, and which I would need to check; and drains.

Great advice and tips. Thanks! Looking forward to hearing how it holds up over time. Considering LVT for my build.

I was just chatting to a setting-out engineer. He was urging me to check with each and every utility for any services under my plot before the screw piles go in. Mine is a rear garden plot and I am almost certain there is nothing there. The legal search at purchase-time revealed nothing. All the services are accounted for in the access road next to the plot. There are no manholes on the plot. There are no obvious reasons why any service would cross it. There is only one old terracotta land drain that I know about on the plot. On the other hand, the piles will descend up to 8 metres. I am reluctant to spend the time and cost of contacting every utility. Am I being foolish?

? not quite what I was imagining!

What sort of building kit runs off these 16A sockets?

@joth, did you ever get a reply from OSO about direct sales?

@nod, great advice. Where do you look, eBay or elsewhere?

Welcome for BuildHub @TomBee. I am south of you in Cambridge, just at the point of starting my build. Good luck with your planning!

What is AGD? Google suggested it was wither Agricultural Drain or Australian Geodetic Datum.

@Dan F, I wonder are planning using timber studs or metal framing for your internal walls? (I have chosen metal framing).

I'm interested in this too. Had chosen a Sunamp Uniq12 for my build but am now wavering. Will be interested to hear what you choose.

Thanks @Thorfun. Likewise! This is the scheme: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk. A voucher is arranged by the ISP not the final user. I was able to get one by working with ISP and by showing that I work from home, which entitled me to a £2,500 voucher, whereas the more usual one is just £250 or so. My advice would be look for small local broadband companies installing fibre and talk to them. I made a list of the local ones in my city, Cambridge, and might have just been lucky to have found one keen to connect me and a neighbour up. I have heard the scheme is changing so I recommend being quick. In fact it might have already closed, although I wonder if there will be another scheme to replace it. I visited them and Velfac (which is related to Rationel). And I am familiar with a few other window manufacturers, like Gaulhofer, InterNorm and Norrsken. I am not one to spend ages agonising over such a choice. My choice of IdealCombi & Velfac over the other manufactures was purely because the of style of window frames, which appealed to me. And once I had chosen the windows, it seemed sensible to include the front door too. In terms of quality, they seemed fine to me but I don't consider myself an expert as these will be the first windows I have ever bought. In comparison to buying other things for may build, such as the roof windows, Ideal Combi (and Velfac for that matter) were a breeze to work with. Very efficient, helpful and quick. Easy to negotiate with. And I also thought they were good value for money. I've seen your other thread inviting comments on the front door, which I am following with interest. I can't explain the price difference other than with a slight suspicion that other doors may have slightly better insulation and wider range of fittings. Only a guess. I suspect perhaps the biggest issue may be wider margins necessitated by a different sales model using local agents. Hope that helps.

That's an interesting approach. I like it. To add to this in my case, as a novice in building, I also want to try everything* at least once. There is nothing quite like being hands-on to really learn about something. Moreover, this would then put me in a much better position to know what's-what when I have someone else doing the job in exchange for my money. * with well-known exceptions, like plastering, brick-laying and electrics.

Another important difference between full fiberoptic solutions and wired solutions, which I believe includes most of VirginMedia services that inherited the cable television coaxial infrastructure, is much increased reliability of the connection. I learnt about this when arranging my FTTH solution for my forthcoming build. I wonder if others agree with this advantage for fiberoptic.