LA3222

I'm currently working out the cost of strip foundations with a ground bearing slab to get a feel for cost difference. At the minute I'm at a figure of £20k for strip (excl labour) so 16-40% cheaper but Labour is not accounted for.

The quotes I had include laying the hard-core layer to a depth of 150mm. If your ground conditions require more then that is additional cost. The assumption is also a flat and level site excavated to the required depth at your own cost. They will then lay drainage pipes etc in the slab to the correct position, but they terminate 1m beyond the slab perimeter. Any further work is your to do.

My quotes have come in within the last couple of weeks, one of which was part of a slab/frame package so my prices of £140 - £190 per m2 are very up to date. With UFH pipes installed I am looking at £205 per m2.

I had quotes of £24k to £34k to supply & install a 170m2 insulated raft. When I obtained quotes for supply only of the insulation, they all came in at around £9k.

Don't think you would lose much floor space. If I understand what the OP is getting at the wall thickness would be the same. The position of the wall elements would swap: Brick, cavity, insulation, block becomes Brick, cavity, block, insulation The thickness of each remains the same.

Skinny yes - but the DNO still want 125/145mm ducting for it!!

I agree. In my build there will be two ovens, an induction hob, sauna and car charger to name but a few, all of which will be on the electric supply. Yes I know that diversity can be applied. However if all the DNO are willing to supply on a single phase supply is a 60A fuse then it's a bit close to the wire as to whether it blows or not should everything be on at once. Installing 3ph cost me nothing extra. My connection charge was £5500 and that involves upgrading 70m of new service cable. Because I changed the position of where it ran to on my plot (20m closer to boundary in a kiosk) when the quote was amended it still came at £5500 so a no brainer.

3 phase allows you to have 12kWp of Solar without permission from the DNO as such because you can stick 4kWp over each separate phase. In your domestic setting you can run 3 separate circuits across each individual phase. AIUI best practice is to try and split the loads evenly across each phase so as not to have an unbalanced system. So it takes a bit more thought than single phase but it is not insurmountable and by no means overly expensive when you consider it against your whole budget for the build.

This is not true. If you have a fairly large build that is reliant solely upon electric then it is likely you will need a three phase supply. My DNO could only offer me a 16kVa connection on single phase. When I did some fag package calculations on potential usage and future proofing for potential 3ph charging of electric car I was on the edge of exceeding the capacity of the DNO fuse in the service head. So it made sense to pay a couple hundred extra and get three phase put in. I now have 3 x 80A fuses so more than enough.

We do seem to get some interesting planes flying over the Wolds - I'm no spotter but can appreciate it all the same.

Can you not put a backdrop IC in where your pipes join up with your in laws to bring them down to your level? I'm in a similar situation, I join the neighbours manhole about 900mm below so intend to dig it all out and put a backdrop in. This then runs the final 5m to the sewer which is at an invert of 3m.

Ha. Over thinking is part of the self build game isn't it? What puzzles me is how do I carry the block work up on the gable where it goes across the join where the extension is attached to the main structure? Have a steel running the full width to build On? I will draw a picture later, as they say a picture paints a thousand words!

This has been pickling my brain for a while now - I can't be the first person to have done this so there must be a standard way of detailing it all. My house has a main structure for want of a better description and then a smaller bit on the side as an 'extension'. If I build in TF but put a brick skin on it which is my preference, how does the interface between the two parts work? As I see it now the wall make up will be TF, 50mm cavity, brick, 50mm cavity, TF. Is there a simple answer to this? Normally the dpm at the bottom would be lapped and sloped so as to push moisture out to the external Wall? Where does the moisture go in this situation? Like I say, this has me pickled....I can't see it, if someone can lift this fog it would me much appreciated. ?

@DaveH I have had a 3ph connection put in. My set up at the minute is that a Hager 4 way distribution board is installed in an external kiosk. I then intend to have sub mains (seperate 3ph distribution boards) elsewhere - I.e. I will run a 3phase connection to the garage where I intend to have a 3ph electric car charger, and then another to the house. As an aside I don't know the extent of your knowledge but you can run single phase connections out of the board as well - I.e. a 4 way board gives you 4 x 3phase O/P or 12 x 1phase O/P or any combinations therein. I currently have a single commando socket connected with a 16a Hager RCBO in the board. I settled on Hager as a decent quality make for all things electrical - no other reason than I'd seen it mentioned on here a few times. My sparky seemed to agree Hager is good. As far as cost - yeah 3ph boards are more expensive than single phase but in the grand scheme of a self build I see little impact on the overall spend.

I'm with Anglian Water and working under the assumption that now they have connected me up and fit a water meter I will hear nothing further from them. I plan on cracking on with the build and will move the connection to the house when ready - I have no intention to speak to Anglian now other than to tell them when my sewer connection has been made (they sent a letter asking if I had made the connection yet so they could bill me - when I said it would be a while I was told just to ring them when it's done - simples).

Appreciate the offer - should be ok hopefully....a by cable may be too low, we shall see! Hope you solve the boiler issue - I may find myself with similar issues in a few days!

Sounds like you are having fun getting it up and running! Mine is due to arrive on site on Wednesday.

Ratchet cutters are so clean and easy to use and if you install UFH or use Hep20 type pipe for plumbing later on they will always find a use.

That picture was taken about three weeks ago - I daresay the puddles are there now! I'm back on site in a week or so, hopefully it's not too water logged.

Not sure if this helps with perspective but the picture shows a coil of 32mm MDPE x 50m on top of a pallet of other bits.

Yes

These sorts of things are a scam - you are a captive audience unfortunately and so they have you by the short and curlies. I daresay that being an old WWII airfield munitions of some description are likely. Even if it wasn't a range, military personnel seem to have a habit of burying things rather than properly disposing of them - always have and likely always will. Unfortunately that gives the whoppers doing your survey another excuse to add to the tab!

This is cause for concern. My house is going to be all electric, with the intention to install as much PV as possible dumping energy directly into SunAmps for both my DHW & Heating. There seems no point having 10Kw of PV on the roof providing power if the bloody SunAmp is not going to accept it. This appears to complicate things and I will have to scrutinise this carefully when the time comes to design the system.

I would also add that when I have checked the prices quoted against alternate sellers online I have managed to find some parts cheaper elsewhere....however when you go to 'checkout' the delivery charges become a game changer and wipe out any potential savings and end up costing more. I did intend to ask them to price match those items on my last order but I got distracted so neglected to do so....i will in future, if you don't ask you don't get and all that!

Not yet, when I've tried the usual suspects they are definitely not competitive. I'm at the very early stages of my build so how I go about sourcing materials in the future may change, at the moment this seems to work.