Ralph

Imagine mowing your own lawn! Some people live in a completely different world.

That's a good idea. This place is about 10 minutes away from us and is amazing. A mini version would do fine.

That's a good point so something with a collection box would be necessary. I'm assuming that's a Ferguson going by the colour, very nice.

I have been concerned about it only working on flat lawns, neighbour told me to get a garden tractor not a ride-on, spendy. Maybe a decent self propelled is the way to go. My wife has this idea that we can leave most of the 1 acre site as a "natural meadow" and does not seem to believe me that it will still need some sort of maintenance to avoid 6ft of nettles and cow parsley. Maybe a couple of goats is the way to go.

I've been looking at 2nd hand ride-on mowers and the prices are not too horrible given the amount of time it will save.

I seem to remember that one of the solar installers, Greenshop maybe used to claim that going for MCS would cost £1k-£2k more on an installation although I think this was disputed. What I have noticed is that the quotes we've gotten back from MCS certified companies are certainly higher for ASHP and UFH. Whether this is because the are generally better at the job I could not say.

Sorry If I'm confusing terms but do you not need to have a warrant approved before you can commence building work?

I'm having the same thoughts and have decided to go for UFH upstairs instead of radiators. The costs seem to wash out about the same and as we're having hard flooring throughout I liked the idea of warm floors in bedrooms and bathroom. My understanding is that even if your u values meet regulations you will notice a difference from houses built 10 years ago in terms of heating requirements.

No experience personally but I've read of a number of people refused equity release on timber framed buildings with no masonry and this includes high end German Haf Haus, not just the older builds. We did have a building society pull an offer for self build mortgage when we went to 100% cladding from about 80%.

I thought there would be no way we would get a 2 storey build passed in open countryside here but there was not a murmur from planning about it. The couple of neighbours that we had to notify just assumed that it was 1.5 and are only now finding out that the ridge height will probably be north of 8 meters.

You'll also find some online build costs calculators that are pure fiction. The Jewson one comes to mind: 2 storey, 200 m2, built in Scotland to a "good" standard using a single main contractor = £197,400

That makes sense, what level are the extra costs for UFH upstairs rather than rads in terms of flooring materials? Do you still need some sort of screed?

Definitely thinking about not bothering with the RHI now. The feedback we've had on the UFH upstairs has either been that it's not necessary and a few radiators will do (we've been quoted too many radiators) or that there have been issues with things like floor boards and joists creaking and pinging when they warm up cool down.

Floor area is 200sqm , don't have the u values quite finalised but the quote was based on using a scotframe kit which was quoting u values of 0.16 for the walls. I think we went for this particular installer more from the point of view of them having a good reputation rather than RHI although you both make a great point about that. We've heard quite a few horror stories in our area of ASHP being badly specified or fitted that we did not want to take a chance, Re quotes from other suppliers obviously needed .

Newbuild

This is the price we got for supply and installation of an ASHP, underfloor on ground floor and radiators on 1st North of £18k seems a bit expensive to me. Any thoughts AHSP NIBE Air Source Heat Pump Pack 2-12 2040 12kW/ NIBE UKV 40l 2-pipe buffer tank 28mm pipework Joule High Gain 200l HW cylinder 22mm NIBE HR10 ASHP Immersion Connector Kit ASHP Heating System Glycol/Inhibitor upto 12kW system 2 x Domestic RHI Single Phase Electrical Metering £10,250 Underfloor 9 Port Underfloor Manifold Manifold valve set 900m x 16x2 Pex/Al/Pex Pipe Up to 21m Copper Underfloor Heating F&R 28mm 5 x Heatmiser Slimline Thermostat Heatmiser Slimeline Thermostat Wetroom Thermostat Inc Sensor & Enclosure Heatmiser UH8 Wiring Center £3,800 Radiators Radiator Distribution Pack 22mm Radiator Distribution Pack Dual Fuel Towel Radiator Pack 1.00 7 Radiators: Stelrad Softline Compact Vertical IFLO 400W Heating Element and T-Piece IFLO Straight Towel Rad 1800mm X 600mm Chrome £4,000

Hi Mike, We tried a number of things: We contacted low volume builders and ask them if they knew of any plots that had been offered to them but were not right for them. looked at the Buildings at Risk register for any suitable ruins or derelicts that we could convert. The names of the owners are often listed so no problem finding them but no one was really willing to sell at a reasonable price. Contacted landowners, there are a lot of shooting estates and large farms around that would be happy to makes some cash off of unproductive land, quite a few were up for selling but planning constraints torpedoed most of them. Then it was Google maps, find a bit of land that fit the requirements, area planning etc and then knocked on the nearest farm door and asked. We got leads from all of the above but In the end it was a farmer that eventually said yes to selling an acre of lightly wooded ground a few miles from Brechin. It was a lot of hassle but worth it for the plot.

We offered to plant more trees than we were taking out which were mostly Alder and planning seemed happy with that approach.

I have the Brinno and it's quite cool the way it works. They have a calculator on the website to help https://www.brinno.com/index.php/support/time_setting_calculator The picture quality is not the greatest but the batteries last for months depending on the setting. Someone on here has used the Brinno and posted a video, @Cambs perhaps?

Personal taste and all that but I've never really wanted cozy. If I had the money I would be aiming for something like this, piano makes it too cluttered though ?

BS6206 is the old standard superseded by BSEN12600 so I would say you're covered.

The mention of RIAS and ARB code of conduct seemed to have a magical effect on ours although I was still waiting for some sort of legal letter months afterwords. We've ended up with what I think are an excellent architect and architectural technician, both experienced but still young and enthusiastic. Proof will be in the pudding and all that. This is all stressful enough without the supposed professionals being dicks. You'll get there in the end and it will all be worth it, good luck to you!

I felt quite naive not to say stupid for believing our first architect because now with hindsight it was obvious. With our new architect whenever we ask if we can have x he says yes but it will add y to your budget, then offers a more cost effective alternative. We wasted at least 2 years trying to cut and re quote on a design that was just not going to get near budget. All this at the architects prompting. When we dropped him he sent a in a fairly massive settlement bill.

Not gone down the QS route yet but from my experience some architects will woefully underestimate costs at the design phase. Nearly 100% with my first architect.

If you got to https://www.mybuildestimate.co.uk/ you can download sample of Schedule of Works, Cost Plan and Bill of Quantities that may help. From my experience some builders will give you a decent enough breakdown some just give you a single figure.