newhome

It was tongue in cheek . You never know who sees these things however, especially when there is lots of info that could identify you.

How does the air get in? Mains pressure was pushed through the pipes initially, even in the extension (which was then emptied as that room wasn't built at the time).

Hope so

So, after the novelty of having functional heating for the last few days and fiddling round with the room temperatures what do people suggest I set them to? I currently have the main living space that I use set to 20c and the bedroom set to 18c which seems to work ok. Other rooms that I only transit through (eg hall) or don’t use at all (eg main lounge, guest bedrooms) are set to between 16c and 18c currently. Do people bother keeping rooms they don’t use heated at all? The heating and hot water is coming in at around £6 a day currently (all electric) when the solar thermal isn’t helping. The sun hasn’t been out enough for me to see how much of a difference that might make yet.

I'm not asking .......

Well you were the one who showered with him!! Little Willy isn't on here or I wouldn't have forgotten him. He said that BH was 'dad's thing', not his when I asked him, and also he couldn't believe the 2 of you could talk for so long as he'd had to suffer it on hands free in the car on occasion and then in the van on the way up! He was gearing himself up for the trip back down when I last spoke to him!

Thanks! It does feel like a big step forward now. Heating finally working properly on Monday for the first time EVER thanks to BH's @Nickfromwales and @PeterW who were total stars, and the final completion certificate on Friday. Just some relatively minor bits and pieces left to sort and I finally feel like I might start to tackle clearing out the garage now. It's been a heck of a long road after the purchase of this plot in 2009, and a lot of rubbish stuff has happened since then but finally I'm almost done. Older, wiser, but by some miracle it hasn't put me off giving it another go if the circumstances were right. I would just be much more involved from the get go, oh and build a house half the size!

That’s the way I tend to operate too. My biggest regret was being way too hands off with my build that bit me in the arse big style later. Always trust your instincts.

I've just received my completion certificate for the extension that was built here (praise be!!!) but it hasn't been without its challenges as we didn't 'follow the rules'. I will note the issues I had below just to provide some hopefully useful info to others about the mess you can get in if you don't follow process. We didn't set out to deliberately ignore process but it ended up being the case. The background was that we purchased the plot (in Scotland) complete with planning permission and building warrant for this house. The PP and building warrant covered 2 houses one of which was already built and sold, and the builder sold us the 2nd plot complete with foundations. Once we bought it my husband wanted to change the house style slightly which included adding an extra single storey room at the back of the house, but the planners told him that they wouldn't allow it even though it would be allowed under permitted development once the house was built. So we made some changes to the internal layout only and the building warrant covering both houses was swapped into my husband's name. The timber frame company was asked to design the house to make it easy to add the extension at a later date so for example French doors were put in that could be moved to the new external access later, and a double door sized insulated 'panel' was put in that allowed a new internal door to be added easily later as it just required blocks to be removed and the panel removed. When the groundworks were being done my husband got the foundations for the new room laid and these were used as a 'patio' initially. The plan was that the main house would be signed off and then we would apply for a warrant for the extension. When my husband got sick he decided that he would get the extension built no matter what despite the main build not being signed off, and no attempt at reasoning with him would change his mind. He told me to apply for the warrant retrospectively later on but I’m sure he didn’t envisage that this would cause me as many issues as it turned out. So builders came out and added the single storey room at the back of the house . The only part of the build that he had no input to. His intention was that the racing simulator would be housed in it but that's still sitting in the garage ....... After he died and I finally got my head around completing the outstanding elements of the main build to allow the completion certificate to be issued I admitted to the council that there was an extra room here. I was told to submit a new warrant application which I did but it was then refused (although they still took the 500 quid) as there was already a warrant in place that wasn't satisfied and there couldn't be 2 warrants running. The council decided to make it an amendment to the existing warrant and although both this house and next door had SER certificates and form Qs issued for the main builds I was asked to obtain a new SER certificate from scratch for my house to factor in the new room. I tried to engage the original structural engineer who had provided the SER certificate and Form Q but he had left the scheme / industry and couldn't be located. I was then advised by a local SE to engage the SE who had been engaged by the timber frame company as at least they wouldn't be starting from scratch. However the SE said that the SER scheme didn't allow them to do what the council was asking. I've included some of the emails below as they tell the story better than I could articulate it. Here is the email the council sent me stating that the SE certificate was only required for my own house: It is worth pointing out that you only require a new SER certificate for your house including the extension and not the neighbouring plot. The neighbouring plot will be dealt with separately. The SE said that this was not possible and asked the council to 'turn a blind eye to the extension' in order to allow the main house to be signed off. The council said that they were unable to do this so here is the email the SE sent to the SER scheme. We have been approached by a Client wishing us to take over the SER from another SER Engineer. The original SER Engineer is no longer on the system seems to have left the engineering trade. Normally we would seek confirmation from the original SER Engineer that they were happy for us to take over the responsibility for their SER before we accept the appointment. In this case this is not possible. The matter is further complicated by the following facts; . There are 2 houses on the site covered by the same warrant reference. House 1 is built and awaiting a completion certificate. This cannot be provided until the form Q for the full SER has been provided to building control. The Form Q needs to be signed by the original SER Engineer. House 2 carried out additional works and applied for a warrant during construction. Their warrant application needs an amended SER to cover the additional works. . The amended SER needs to be an amendment of the original SER if it is all covered under the original Warrant. . The changes to the house include the introduction of a sunroom to the rear of the property. . Our understanding is that if we took on the SER we would; Need to take responsibility for both houses as there should only be one SER per warrant application; We would need carry out site investigations to determine how to design the foundations as there is no available information. This will mean carrying out investigations in House 1 which is complete and house 2; And we would need to carry out a full review of the designs for both houses amending the SER to suit the changes. Both houses have different kit suppliers and different calculations to be reviewed. It has been suggested by the Council that a new SER could be carried out for House 2 only. We believe this would be contrary to the SER system but any advice on this would be appreciated. We are happy to take on the project but we need to be in line with your recommendations. And the SER scheme's reply: We have considered your query and you are correct in saying that to provide a certificate which covers the design of house 2 only would be contrary to the requirements of the scheme as they are currently written. The Scheme Guide says in 4.6.15: 4.6.15 In exceptional circumstances this may not be possible (e.g. if for any reason the Certifier of the initial stages of the work is no longer available). In this eventuality the Certifier of the later works must not sign the relevant design certificate(s) unless and until they have satisfied themselves of the adequacy of all of the preceding stages of the work and the mutual compatibility of the various stages of the works. We realise that this requirement is particularly onerous in situations such as you have described and we are in dialogue with Building Standards Division to see if they would accept a revised form of wording. Until we hear back from BSD we are unable to offer any further advice. I do apologise for the delay in response to this query. The council repeatedly told me that the only needed an SER for my house and not next door, but also that the SER scheme was 'not very flexible'. My neighbours were also less than impressed that the SE wanted to dig up their foundations as their garden has all been landscaped etc. and they've lived there since 2008. And the costs mentioned to prepare 2 SER certificates for 2 large houses from scratch weren’t insignificant either. Weeks passed with no news from the SER scheme (I doubt these things ever resolve quickly), and the council threatened to cancel the warrant if things didn't resolve soon. I was left caught in the middle of a paperwork nightmare with seemingly no way of influencing the outcome. If I had found BH while this was going on I might have at least felt supported but it was just me caught in the middle of a nightmare at the time. Then suddenly out of the blue the council phoned me and said that they would treat the extension as a separate warrant (which is what the SE asked them to do from the get go). Here is their email to me. Further to our telephone conversation we have reviewed the file and feel that we can justify that the original warrant openings into where the extension is built was covered by the original engineer and therefore can issue completion on xx/xx/xxxxxx once the snagging items including the 2nd drain are completed. This leaves the extension which has been applied for as an amendment xx/xxxxx/xxx can be changed to a new warrant application (ALTEXT) For which we require a SER certificate to cover the extension only. I spoke to XXX who says that this should be able to be done by the end of the year for which we extend the application deadline too. The other issue is that the warrant XX/XXXXX/XXXXX is due to expire at the end of the month, unless the drain test can be arranged before then, we will require a further extension of £100 fee. So suddenly I had a way forward and by some miracle was able to get a plumber out to carry out the second drain test (the only thing still outstanding) within the 7 day deadline and the main house was finally signed off. Then the SER certificate for the extension was finally issued (but the SE company forgot to sign it hence the comment in the email below) and the council came and carried out the completion inspection and only required some minor things to be done as per the email below. Further to the inspection this morning I note the following: 1. The roof construction differs from the submitted drawings as it has traditional sarking boards and a breather membrane in lieu of OSB and roof ventilators. 2. The windows are not fitted with trickle vents – I appreciate the rest of the house has a whole house ventilation system, however there is no evidence this is connected to the sun room, therefore trickle vents will need to be fitted retrospectively. 3. There is an additional step to the patio door landing. 4. The signed SER is required. If you confirm by email that you are happy for me to amend the drawings to take account of items 1 and 3 I will do this for you and if we receive the signed SER certificate that will enable us to approve and issue the building warrant. Upon receipt of this you will need to apply for the completion certificate and I will need to check the trickle vents have been installed. So they even offered to make the changes on the drawings for me which was great. I think they just wanted to see the back of me in truth! . So all a bit of a saga and a warning not to step outside of process too much, or at least understand the possible consequences of doing so! I can imagine my hubby looking down saying it was 'character building'!

+1 I would do everything I could to include it in the original HMRC submission. 20% isn't to be sniffed at. Or at least order the materials and try to include those in the VAT refund if you can. Or you just delay completion until you've earned enough money to build the garage maybe. Many people move in without a completion certificate - I certainly did! HMRC are taking forever these days too apparently so don't expect getting the refund to be quick!

My build dragged on for years. I just had to pay to extend the building warrant every 9 months. Cost 50 quid a pop. We were the archetypal bumbling amateurs but they were pretty accommodating in the main until we made quite a big error which I will start a separate thread about. Even then it worked out ok in the end.

We got ours from Alpine Windows in Leeds. Only because we wanted integral Uniblinds and they supplied them but it sounds like they might be quite close to you. They were much cheaper than other quotes we had and 9 years on seem to be fine. https://alpinewindowanddoorsystems.co.uk/

Is the OPP for a 200 m2 house? The plan you posted the other day implied a 400 m2 house. You need an architect who you feel you can work with and who you feel will be working for you rather than dictating to you (although bear in mind he will be the expert here). Ask what he considers the house will be worth once built vs the build costs which will be important if you need a mortgage on it.

And we can only speculate what that 'something' might be

I'm sure you've already considered this but worth ensuring that the things you do before you 'camp in there' do not make you liable to pay council tax from that point (unless budgeted for).

I'm very sorry to read this. I don't have any really useful advice for you but I do know that most of us will have encountered similar issues during our build. Ours started during the groundworks when we quickly learned that whenever the guy doing the work made a suggestion of how to do something he was going to charge more. Luckily for us that became apparent pretty early on so we were guarded after that and mostly I just said no whenever he suggested anything further, or I negotiated a price there and then when I did want something he suggested. Not quoting for windows, doors and internal walls seems to be a massive con on the part of your builder though. It's like buying a car without seats or windows surely? Would never happen unless specifically quoted like that. I do hope that you manage to come to an agreement with this guy but don't be afraid to walk away rather than be pushed into something that feels fundamentally wrong. It does sound like he wants to stay and complete your build however so hopefully that gives you some leverage here.

What’s the danger of that?

I’m no expert on warranties but if your plan is to obtain a mortgage on the house once it’s complete the mortgage company may require you to have a warranty for the house. Something to look into anyway.

Where are you living now? Do you have any equity in that house that can be used? I had intended to build my house mortgage free but due to the slowing of the housing market I ended up having to release some of the equity in my old house (which didn’t have a mortgage) to do so as it took longer to sell than I had anticipated. I ended up remortgaging my old house and using that money to continue the build. 6 months later the old house sold and I had enough money to complete without a mortgage. You could do it like that if you don’t need to borrow anything, and by that I mean that you either have enough money to complete the house to start with or you may be prepared to live on site and pay for the work bit by bit as you can save enough to afford to do the next bit. That could be quite a long haul however. Or you could get a loan from a family member or whatever that you could turn into a mortgage and repay once the house is completed. So there are options but in order to borrow a significant amount of cash you’re likely looking at a self build mortgage.

FINISHED being the operative word in your mate’s case

The smoke alarms were going ballistic at one point!! I was just told ‘we’ve proved your smoke alarms work, more beer please’

I haven't bought furniture from there but when I've been in there they do seem to have lots of furniture on display so go and buy what they've got and then send the MIL in again for the remainder until you get all 7 things. Worst case you can just return it within 30 days. Might take a few trips but doesn't sound like a complete no no. The Range do furniture too although I haven't bought from there either ......

I have a Kaldewei. Wasn’t that expensive either.

If I can fill the bath up that still works for me . Half full not half empty .

At least there was a tiny little bit of positive amongst all the crap bits then .