epsilonGreedy

I might need to push the limits of English regulations governing moving into my forthcoming self build project ahead of final building control sign off. Reading up before starting this thread I now understand: The property must have a functioning toilet and kitchen. There is no formal validation required to move in unlike Scotland's temporary residence permit process. I should notify the Council that my new build propety is occupied for local tax reasons. If I moved in without notification the council will likely discover the situation and issue a back dated council tax demand. Have other forumites encountered where the boundary of tolerance is for early occupation? Here is my hypothetical test case. Detached two floor brick & block property with established access to public road via rear site lane. Weather tight shell with mains water, electricity and sewer connected. No gas but heating provided via sealed external air supplied wood burner. Hot water tank plus plumbing to toilet and kitchen. Usable kitchen fully plastered. Toilet including washhand basin and door. Door to kitchen and all smoke alarms wired in. Staircase with balustrade fitted. Upper floor ceiling plasterboard up and 50% of roof space planned insulation just to rafter height. Wall cavity already insulated with 100mm of rockwool. Most floors screeded. Most walls with exposed inner blocks i.e not yet dry lined. Most upper floor stud walls incomplete. My hunch is that the English authorities take a light-touch approach because the system is self regulating i.e. Councils want tax income asap and self builders want their VAT refund sooner rather than later. At this point I am wondering what BC criteria might trigger some form of enforcement notice to improve the property or cease habitation.

I am ready to make an offer on a plot and start requesting quotes for a self managed build, hopefully soon after. It would be helpful to know where in the expansion/contraction cycle we are. Local indicators suggest the regular property market entered a negative phase summer 2017, this affecting detached council tax band E and upwards in particular. Completed sales are down 40% and asking prices are being revised down. Do cycles in the main property market affect plot prices and self build sub contractors? My hunch is that plot prices will only be marginally influenced but the day to day need earn a crust should mean labour rates and materials costs will come down.

Ok thanks I was hoping for 8% which was a figure I saw in a magazine web page. I am presently going through The House Builders Bible scaling costs for my smaller design, then subtracting some labour costs I can do and finally there is the regional 6% discount. Does this only apply to labour?

Do you have a current figure for Humberside? -20% would do very nicely.

Nothing to do with motivation just the problem of a fine financial balancing act. Even NASA planned for failure in its Apollo moonshot .

This has been informative and the advice now banked, thank you. When starting this thread I was focused only on material deterioration due to weathering if a build halts for + 1 year. On the other side there is theoretical financial increase in the value of a plot as it develops. For example foundation costs might vary between £6K and £10k, and so if completed for £6k the value enhancement to a plot should be £ 6 + 1K because a random £4k factor has been eliminated. The same could apply to completed service connections. That was my thinking when I started this thread, however I now realize I overlooked market factors and human aspiration. If say 1 in 1,000 shoppers for a home would consider an untouched plot with outline planning permission the ratio might fall to 1 in 4000 once foundations are filled because self build buyers would be shackled to another's design dream with its detailed PP. I can now see that aborting before a weather tight shell is reached would incur a big financial hit. Once a building looks complete externally I guess the number of potential buyers jumps, let's say to 50 in 1,000 because the incomplete property would start temping those not focused on a self build mission. I take the point that prior to final building control signoff, mortgage problems will limit the market size.

I wiggle a mouse and sometimes profitably.

Can I substitute baking fairy cakes instead of knitting because according to @Hecateh that would be beneficial for labour relations. I posh git like me saying saying "let them eat cake" will have a good outcome surely? Do you mean network to find for example good trade people or who needs some foundation dig spoil and will cart it away free of charge?

I meant the 3 year PP limit that would expire if zero build work is evident. Me the seller if I had to sell a part complete self build. For example: Take a theoretical completed self build property expected to be worth £250k. With £100k spent on the plot plus industry standard costs spent on foundations and brickwork to roof height, would I get my money back when selling such an aborted property?

Before I commit it would be good to hear views on the financial hit when aborting an incomplete self build by selling it on as-is. Given a desirable easy plot, middle of the road design and all paperwork in place for interim quality inspections my hunch is that the following would be the least costly stages to abort. Foundations dug & concrete poured. As per (1) + All services connected apart from telecom. + Foundation blockwork raised to DPC. + Walls, roof and windows i.e. weather tight shell. + Final build control sign-off but missing kitchen, decorating, finished driveway, garage and garden. Conversely would I be right in thinking an incomplete build on the market at the following stages would be unattractive. Plot untouched with less than 9 months to expiry of PP. Brickwork to roof height but no roof and signs of wet structure. Weather tight shell but no services connected to site. Weather tight shell with incomplete mix of 1st/2nd stage work in progress. [Edit: for complete change of view] Factoring in advice below I can now see that a self build should only start once funds and trades are lined up to get the build to the stage of weather tight shell. Prior to breaking ground the best incremental step to take would be to connect services with water being the top priority.

Some divergent opinions here. I should have clarified that I would not expect to eliminate a complete trade skill with my newly acquired personal skill. For example as a rookie brickie I might be able to assist a team of two pro's in the day but not lay bricks and then in the evenings and weekends lay 1500 bricks for the garage once the pro's have built up the corners for me. Plastering is a black art I thought mastered by few, I need to reassess that view. Summarizing the advice in this thread, the most useful contributions I can make are: 1 - Maintain velocity with an onsite presence by... Keeping the site tidy. Opening up the site daily. Making sure supplies arrive on time. Resolving ambiguity by knowing the plans intimately and making tactical decisions. Scheduling trades 1 to 2 months ahead. [Edit] Clean the portaloo. 2 - Save money by... Negotiating material prices. Buying in advance. Cutting down skip costs through picking over the contents. Doing project management paperwork. 3 - Reduce labour costs by learning two simple pre and post first fix trade skills e.g. brick laying and plastering. 4 - Save on finishing costs through hands-on decorating, tiling and hard/soft landscaping. Savings arising might be: Maintain velocity = Advance completion date 2 months = £2,200 avoided on other home rental and site insurance months avoided. Negotiating material prices = 5% of £70,000 = £3,500 Buying in advance = 2% of £20,000 = £400 Cutting down skip costs = £500 Laying 1500 garage bricks = £600 Skim least two visible bedrooms = £ ?? Decorate 3 bedrooms and two main rooms down stairs = £750 ? Total = £6200 (in build) + £2,000 (rental avoided). And the saving of not having a full time PM = £15,000 - £3,000 (for occasional light touch consultancy) = £ 12,000. Grand total of £20,200 but happy to accept corrections.

Given a 3 month window prior to a digger breaking ground, which building trade skill could I acquire to lower final £/sqm build costs? I can be onsite for the first 5 months of the build and I have oodles of free dry storage space 15 miles away from the plot. My present trade skills do not progress much beyond a paint roller and a natural inclination to comprehend technical complexity. The build is a mid sized 3 bed, 2 story house of conventional brick & block on an easy site. My current plan is to self project manage with some light-touch part time pro advice from an experienced builder. I suspect the depressing rational advice is that I should focus on becoming an expert in material price negotiation, form filling, gantt chart critical path planning, caravan refurbishment and expert brewer of builders tea. What would the forum cognoscenti suggest?

I can dedicate 5 months full time to this project while hopefully making substantial progress towards 1st fix. The next question is what specific input to make hands-on while I can be onsite.. I will start another thread on that subject.

Would mining your own coal seam help with your eco energy self sufficiency score?

And you can look forward to years of trouble free ownership of an all-new house. I am currently in an old rented property and feel awkward about notifying the owners of the latest failure, £500 of oil fired boiler repairs, gummed up radiator circulation, collapsed drain, rodents in the attic, randomly tripping RCDs due to ancient wiring.

Until you posted I was not that familiar with the dynamics of the ££/sqm equation. I am surprised by how the cost escalates even though I should not be. Time for some creative thinking. Belfast sink perched on top of cheap wooden trestle with plinth + white 1960's style free standing enameled electric cooker. That's the kitchen sorted for £200. Next

Not what I want to hear but something I should acknowledge I fear. One financial joker I can play is the option to move in (subject to building control temporary residence checks) and complete the interior in stages over the following year or two.. My partner is keen to go down the self build route now that she is disenchanted by available properties in the main market. She has surprised me with the low bar of roughing it deemed tolerable in order to grasp a long term property vision.

Hmm I see what you mean, having fully read the link below. CIL exemption claim dates will be another another item for my self build diary. https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/community-infrastructure-levy-cil/

Thank you, at the moment I am indexing web pages faster than I can peruse them! The past 24 hours have been like watching a single episode of East Enders in the year and then trying to fill in the last skipped 364 days of plot development. Dramatic cliffhangers such as "Code for Sustainable Homes" and "Community Infrastructure Levy" have been and gone it seems. [Edit: Correction, CIL can be avoided with a diligent paper trail.]

A good question... epsilon greedy is a term used to describe an algorithm in a type of artificial intelligence called reinforcement learning. https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/248131/epsilon-greedy-policy-improvement Reinforcement learning is how human toddlers discover the world i.e. run too fast, fall over = ouch. Must try better. I hope to avoid reinforcement learning during my self build.

I have found a plot with PP and now I am trying to figure out if I can afford the build. The dilemma I face is public domain figures on building costs indicate that £900 per sq meter is achievable in my region North-East whereas I notice that the figures quoted in forum threads here are in the £1200 to £1500 range. Can this discrepancy be attributed to forum folks here building their "forever home" (to use fashionable TV parlance) and thus they incorporate deluxe extras?

I have not been so excited since I opened my Scalextric on Christmas morning in 1972, there are many questions buzzing in my brain but I will try to ration myself to posting two questions a day. Serious Stuff. I have found the plot with planning permission in the centre of a postcard perfect English village. 1,500 sq ft two story, L-shaped. A ton of conservation criteria to be met. Externally build will be in an architectural straight jacket which is probably good for making progress. Limited funds so I will have to forgo all the fun self-build extras like media networks and a fancy kitchen.