LA3222

Rog....I'm not really sure tbh. I see your point - is it 2 or even10 the cost of the design. It's the same as anything in life, you control the purse so only design something which is achievable within the limits of your finances. In my particular situation I'm not too concerned how much it costs. It's the end game getting the garden done - if I run out of money at this point then the work progresses at the rate which my spare cash regenerates. I expect to spend up to 25k incl large drive & patio and wouldn't be upset with that - the work will all be done by me so it's the cost of materials. I think the bottom line in all this, which is the point I was trying to make is that the services of a professional Designor should be considered. There is no reason why the cost of their services and the design produced can't be matched to your overall budget and hopefully the end product is a design beyond your own imagination which can be achieved on your individual finances.

My wife was very much against paying for a professional to produce a design and it took a lot of persuading to get her on-board. The process took about two months with several site meetings to discuss and about halfway through she changed her tune and agreed that overall it was money well spent. It's an area where you can spend nothing or a lot, but you are the person who has to live with the outcome and so it's down to the individuals perception of where best to spend the money in order to achieve a satisfactory end result.

Ha, not at all - I have stuck with the house design pretty much already ok'd by the planners. My bill for house design stands at about 2k at the minute which covered some alterations and a variation of condition application. Now putting the building regs app together, so another couple of £k incl. the Building Control fees. Yes £2.5k is a lot for the garden design but I have a very big garden to design and I am confident that the garden will increase the market value of the house (Not that it matters as I have no intention to sell) by more than the design fees. It all comes down to what people are happy to spend their money on. Garden design for me is as important as the house design as my family & I will be spending as much time as possible during nice days chilling out in it. Putting a bit of turf down with the standard decking/patio is a bit boring in my opinion and probably as far as my own imagination would stretch to!

Pay a professional to design one? Everyone seems happy to pay an architect to design a house but when it comes to the garden they tend to do it themselves. My perspective is that the garden is very important in not only being a space that works for you as your outdoor living space it it adds to the all important kerb appeal of your property. I paid about £2500 to get a design done for a half acre plot and i feel it was worth every penny. It is something i wouldnt have come up with....ever.....and is simply an excellant design. I am now left with multiple drawings showing planting schemes, drainage, retaining walls, water feature construction, schedule of plants to purchase etc etc. I now have a idiots guide set of plans to work to which suits me. The chap I used offers services starting at about £100 for a 2hr consultation up to £1000 for detailed designs (mine was the price it was due to size). I would say engaging a profesdional who does this for a living would be a worthwhile investment and pay for itself in terms of value added.

I am looking at combining an insulated raft foundation with SIP. Just rereading some of the earlier comments on this thread, I find myself scratching my head as all of the negative aspects apply to a standard TF build as much as they do to SIP.

Yarp....typo for PUR!

Interesting that you say this @ADLIanas that is what the site I went to calculated it as. I may be doing something wrong though - I'm certainly no expert.

I may be missing something here but surely I can have the foil face outwards so I simply tape the foil joins with foil tape?

I will certainly look to use a 'quality' tape - not an area I wish to try and save a few pennies!

I have just checked and I ran the calculation on ubakus and sure enough I have the phase shift as 12h. I am no expert and I may be doing something wrong but the wall build up I have is: Plaster board Stationary air unventilated Vapour barrier (the foil face of the pur with joins taped) 80mm of TW55 OSB 112mm of PUR OSB Breather membrane Ventilated gap 50mm Block work Render I assume by phase shift of 12hrs this means the decrement delay?

You don't need an VCL with SIP but I intend to tape the joins of the internal foil backed insulation to create one - belt and braces.

I am using SIP for roof and walls. It is my intention to use the 142mm panels and then add 70mm internally to bring the U Value down to around 0.11. When I looked at decrement delay it came out at around 11hours. Shorter than say blown cellulose, but still sufficient to iron out any temperature swings.

I get what @PeterStarck is saying @JSHarris. I normally would agree it is nigh on impossible to compare, but in this instance where @lizzie first made reference to her costs for just the frame/slab far exceeding your own I think we can compare - it is as they say, apples vs apples. The way you describe your preparatory work is exactly how I would have to do so, therefore it is easy to compare your price vs mine. As I say, approx 35% increase in price.

I know you have no commercial interest etc, it was just a turn of phrase and not meant to imply anything sinister or ulterior motives. So going off the £408 You mention it would seem that costs have potentially risen by approx 35% since you built which appears to more than can be explained by inflation etc.

Dodging the question I posed @JSHarris? I think the system you used is great and if I could afford it then I would use it too. However for my two storey build the price per m2 is the same as @lizzie price for single storey. There doesn t seem to be any difference between single/multiple stories which is interesting. Like I say - a great system but I do believe you should stop peddling the line that it's cheap. Burying the price within your overall cost per m2 just hides the fact that prices have potentially risen a lot since you commenced your build and skews new members impressions of what is cheap or not. And yes, I agree that comparing like for like is bloody difficult - probably the most difficult aspect of selecting a supplier and an issue I am currently wrestling with.

@JSHarris in £/m2 how much was your frame/founds? @lizzie other issues aside, I think that when she refers to "Not cheap" it is regarding the frame (how I read it) Time and again you use your build as evidence to suggest it is cheap - but as Lizzie rightly points out, there's been a lot of water under the bridge since you built your home and times are very different. What was cheap may no longer be so.

Looks like spot heights to me.

@sean1933 I built a kiosk out of concrete and block work. I left enough slab to be able to add a brick outer at a later date once I know which bricks I intend to use for the plinth of the house. I too put a concrete slab on top - yes it's fugly it I will do something later to tart it up - cover it with wood, paint it or some such at a later date. I intend to plant around it to semi hide it too. To make the roof I made a form out of wood, bit of rebar and concrete then job done. Weighed a couple hundred kilos so took two of us with a strop and digger to lift into place. I have no temporary earth. NPG have connected the supply to the pme earth from the get go. I intend to get a caravan consumer u it installed using a TT earth which will give power for the build and our static. Once I'm back down sarth I'll post some pics from my computer showing wot I dun! Disclaimer. I am no pro. I am entirely making this up as I go. It may not look particularly pretty.?

As mentioned I consider 7k as middle of the road. Some get it cheaper, some more expensive. A new 70m service cable was installed for my connection. iirc my share was 6% of the total cost. It is what it is. Suck it up and move on to the next battle!

My electric was 7k - It is what it is, suck it up and move on. Service costs vary wildly from plot to plot so it's difficult to compare apples with apples and see if you are being charged fairly. For me: Elec 7k Sewerage 4k Water 1.2k It is what it is - you need them, so pay the piper.

In the grand scheme of life does it really matter? Why waste time and energy getting pee'd off about something inconsequential like this?

Ha, I was just about to type something similar @Barney12 Thread creep is inevitable but makes things confusing for current and future readers.

This thread seems to veering off from the main issue now?

My meter was fitted in the same day the supply was installed. NPG laid a service cable to my plot and left it exposed in an open trench. They came back on the day I arranged with them to make a junction to it and install the service head. When I arranged a new meter with Eon they were able to do the same day - so all done in one day. NPG in the morning, Eon came in the afternoon.

I'm not sure if you've misunderstood me slightly. I have no issue with the fact either have shilled the benefit of SunAmp, as at the time it seemed an excellent product - one I was interested in myself and the feedback they gave on how to integrate such a product remains invaluable. Clearly there is now an issue and SunAmp seem to be acknowledging the damage that the feedback we now have from Jeremy can do to their potential future sales. Albeit to a small market of self builders. There's a fair few self builders who were going down the SunAmp route whom are now following this thread closely to see how this develops. I daresay this thread will be very useful for future members as well. One could argue 'are they really bothered about us' as their target market is likely the big developers? The positive I take is that at least they are starting to engage with us by proxy through @JSHarris as our 'champion' in solving the problem he has idea identified with the product. Hopefully it gets resolved.