LA3222

Also I have had a couple of issues with two of my deliveries (A neighbour signs for them as I don't live near my plot) - one was missing parts, other they sent the wrong size OSB, a quick email to the sales rep and rectified both times with no hassle even though I wasn't able to identify the issue till days/weeks after the delivery.

I now go through IQ Builders Merchants for my materials - I just send the sales rep a list of what I want and they source it all for me. It seems they get the bits from other merchants (I had OSB turn up from buildbase the other day) but the price they charge is less than if I went direct to said merchant. I've just had a quick comparison of some stuff I've bought via IQBM vs Pipestock and IQBM came in cheaper each time - albeit by a couple of quid (Will add up in the long run). The other thing I like is that although the parts get delivered from loads of separate deliveries I have only ever been charged one delivery fee - usually £8. One of my orders had stuff come direct from Naylor (ducting at a significantly cheaper price than elsewhere), buildbase and a third supplier - still only one delivery charge applied.

Interesting as I was looking at something similar for my own build. Fibre isn't in the village yet - only to the cabinet which is 2km away, so the best I can get is around 2MB connection. The 4G signal is good though. When you say "fitted with a sim", does the SIM live in the antenna? TIA Jamie

I learnt a few years back to not mix business and friends after my brother fell out with a chippie mate of ours - very awkward. There are a couple of builders in the village my plot is in, however I will steer well clear of using them - I'm approaching the build expecting to encounter cowboys and having to sack them, it seems to be par for the course which would become awkward if living near to them. Hindsight is always the same - it's disappointing when someone you feel you could trust fails to live up to expectations and equally it is bang out of order to take advantage of your goodwill as a a family friend and produce poor workmanship thinking it's acceptable.

I would be looking to 'mag to grid'. The building trade in general seems to full of long in the tooth old sweats who will only do a job the way they've always done it, regardless of whether conventional thinking has evolved over the years. It's your money, your house and you who must decide if you can live with it. Although getting rid may be the easy answer, when you've got no roof on the choices are not so clear cut - circumstance may necessitate making the best of a bad job and cajoling may be the best approach vs combative.

Welcome Chris, I'm about 40 miles from you, in the Wolds. I'll be interested to see how you get on - I'm in the process of altering the design, getting services on site and some groundworks done in the meantime so I'm just at the beginning of this journey the same as yourself. Jamie

Rgr. I'm a ways from having to tackle the issue yet but I will be interested to hear how you get on.

@Triassic did you happen to find the solution to flashing the various areas where different finishes meet? I was pondering the same thing the other day as I have similar joins to sort out to those you describe above!

I'm aiming towards passive standards so I would like to think space heating demands are low. Will use UFH on both floors, SunAmp for DHW demands. Not sure how I'm going to power the UFH yet, either ASHP or from one of the newer SunAmp which I believe can do both UFH and DHW. As many solar panels as I can fit in the house/garage roofs, and now the FIT is going I will look at battery storage. I haven't crunched any actual numbers yet - just a plan of attack that I have in mind.

So, got into a conversation with a neighbour earlier who to be honest came across as a right bawbag, but in the interests of maintaining friendly relations I engaged in polite small talk - wish I hadn't! He tells me "I'm in the trade" oh I think, one of them. Asks the question everyone seems to ask, "have you got a builder", no I says, I'm doing the build in stages I.e. foundations by x, timber frame by y and so on. I intend to manage the build myself all the while thinking "I'm not having a builder because I don't trust them as far as I can throw em and the vibe you give off tells me I'm right". Mention I intend to have a passive raft....get a withering look, so ask if he is familiar with passive standards and get a disparaging "I'm in the trade" response and then cue lots of it will cost a fortune yada yada. Ok , I think - whatever. Then subject of heating comes up as no gas here. Said I'm going all electric, no oil for this call sign - cue more withering looks followed by it will cost a fortune. Err, not if I insulate the hell out of the house and pay attention to details where air tightness is concerned. "Won't work he tells me. I built a house, put solar malarky on it and then had to put a 5kw wood stove in to pass SAP" he tells me. This conversation was both pissing me off and depressing at the same time. Cue more, it"'ll cost a fortune to build. At this point I politely left. Won t be speaking to him again. For what it's worth,I will have a passive slab and only electric. No stove for me and bollocks to those "experts" who ain't bothered to move with the times. And ultimately, the house costs what it costs. I am not buildi g to sell or make a profit so screw the lot of them. I hate speaki g to people about the build when they have nothing good to say and can only critisize...its depressing so "bugger orf!" Rant over. Peace out.

Sounds like a 2 day job to me at most - get a bloke with a digger and lay the duct yourself as they dig. You shouldn't have to mess about laying sand blinding or any such if you put ducts in so should be a quick and easy task.

I've got an unadopted lane to my plot. Granted it is untarmaced, but council don't own it and I've just cracked on. One man and a digger to create the trench, me laying the duct then back over to my digger operator to back fill and tidy up. Northern Power grid have essentially done just the same to lay a new electric cable to my plot. They dug the full 70m length, no questions asked, one bloke with a digger whilst his mate laid the duct. Once done they pulled the cable through and connected it at the top of the lane to energise it. They are coming back next week to connect that to my electric kiosk. Cost of digging so far - £170.

@joe90 has your comment added any value to this other than to stir the pot again (I'm not aiming at you specifically - just you were the last to post!) - I don't disagree with what you say by the way, just the tone. Again I will reiterate my point - is anything being achieved with the aggressive tone of this thread? Can a Mod not end this saga?

Just throwing my two cents in. This thread seems to have descended into quite a hostile atmosphere and it needn't have. The OP made a comment, some in the forum whom could be deemed to be SMEs saw an issue and highlighted it. Job done - what seems slightly distasteful is how the thread then subsequently drew the vultures in to poke the bear and keep the running argument going. This could have ended about 10 posts ago - it comes across as a bit school playground ish, two people have a disagreement and then the mates of one of them all crowd in to see what's going on. Come on, no need.

Some good examples there @Russell griffiths and @worldwidewebs - very similar to what I'm looking to build. Three Phase Supply there @Russell griffiths....Im getting a three phase supply put in, a nice expensive heavy duty isolation switch you have there. Only problem with three phase so far is everything seems to shoot up in price!

@ProDave I did consider sticking meter boxes in there. A three phase meter box though is larger and disproportionately more expensive. Because the cabinet I make will be weather proof - does this mean I can stick a non IP65 (waterproof) distribution box directly into the cabinet without also putting it into a.n.other container. In my mind I can, the cabinet will protect it from crap weather. What I don't want to do though is spend good money on the distribution box to be be told "sorry pal, needs to be an IP65 or some such rated box" I'm wavering between taking the hit and sticking a box within a box by putting a three phase meter box in there aswell and swallowing the couple hundred that will cost vs wacking the Hager distribution box straight into it without any additional protection. Jury's out at the minute!

Hoping one of the forum sparkies can throw me a bone and shed some light on what's currently puzzling me! Building an external meter cubicle - brick, concrete roof etc so like a mini outhouse for want of a better description (think there are a couple of members with something similar). It will be weathertight - does this mean I can fit a standard Hager TP&N distribution board in there or, as it's "outside" but not outside if you get what I mean, does it have to have a minimum IP rating to comply with regs? As always, any guidance is greatly appreciated. TIA Jamie

Ok I'll concede that if compared on a like for like the package they offer is cheap when compared to a direct competitor offering the same standards, so in that regard you could argue they are the 'budget' option. I think the gold standard perception is a consequence of my own observations being influenced by the numerous threads where others have given positive feedback from their own experiences. I do feel that when reading such reviews there is little to counterbalance the argument the other way. It is this lack I think that can lull the unwary into having false expectations of the service to be expected - which could ultimately lead to oversight not being what it perhaps should be and the issues that can develop from there. I think we can probably distill all of this down to two things: 1. Things can and do go wrong with builds regardless of what build system is utilised. 2. As the purse holder you MUST protect your own interests. Everyone wants your cash - only YOU want a quality build. Jamie

As an aside I'm building in block so have no vested interest in TF one way or the other. I just so happen to be argumentative and stubborn ?so will throw out a counter argument if I disagree with something - no offence is ever intended though!?

I think our opinions diverge here somewhat Jeremy. As a relatively new member of this forum there is a lot of information within these here walls about your supplier and I am left with the impression that these are big dogs in the TF world offering high performance houses at passive level standards and for a premium price. In addition there are a hell of a lot of glowing endorsements offered by others to support that view. To suggest otherwise seems a little disingenuous to me (just my opinion). I would challenge anyone to read this forum with a non partisan mindset and not come to the same conclusion. I certainly see them as offering "gold standard"....Huf Haus we will call "platinum"? It's amusing how this thread has exploded somewhat from its original theme - I have just finished reading a 2016 thread Jeremy which you may recall - about Actis? foil insulation (or as you said "snake oil" ?) Just goes to show that there were disagreements back then just as much as there are now! Free and healthy debate is always good, if I'm ever wrong then so be it...... I'm not very good at conceding defeat though so bear with me because it takes a while☺️

I get what you are saying. The reality may not be quite so straightforward though. Your house is built demonstrably wonky but you don't realise until way after the fact it's been built. The onus lies with the self builder to take initiate legal action - at what cost both financially and mentally? Is it worth it to the individual? Can they even afford to take legal action? If they do and win, then what? Does the wonky house get pulled down and rebuilt? If so how much further stress is this going to put on the self builder? Are they married with kids? Does this then impact on family life or does the self builder just suck it up and get on with life in which case the dodgy contractor has won? Nothing's as simple as you portray it Peter and I imagine you would agree to a certain extent. A colleague of mine took legal action against a builder, after many months he won. The builder went bankrupt and no financial recompense was ever forthcoming. My colleague was left with a hollow victory and legal fees to pay. He even got the sheriff's involved - had to pay them to do so only to be told there was nothing to recover. An absolute waste of time, money and energy.

I think we could debate until the cows come home about where responsibility lies during a build and which system is best. It's all horses for courses and the build type will inherently depend on each individuals requirements/taste. Responsibility is a tricky one. As the purse holder ultimately checking everything probably falls to the self builder regardless of whether you have a PM or not - once you hand over the cash are you essentially saying you are happy with the standard? If not happy then why pay? Again this isn't straightforward either - a lot of the time you have to pony up the cash to actually get the goods/service in the first place and then what? Small claims court if there are unremediated issues? I do believe there are times where some members have fallen foul of bad service where it is more than reasonable to believe that the service would have been good and others have taken the line that the self builder should have checked. I don't necessarily agree with that view but hey, such is life. Nothing's ever black and white....which can be attested to by the countless healthy? debates buried away within the numerous threads of this forum. As long as there is the freedom to highlight the good, bad and ugly of members various experiences then it will ensure that future self builders (Myself uncluded) can at least learn from the painful lessons others may have endured. ?

Peter in Lizzies case would you really say that she should have had a PM considering the glowing reviews the company she went with have received from other members on this forum. If I was to pay a premium price for their services then off the back of what I have read it is safe to say I would not question their competence and would be gobsmacked at the poor standards that were delivered. I don't want to turn this into a bashing of particular people/companies but I think that suggesting to people whom have had bad experiences that it would have been prevented had an experienced PM been involved is a little unfair - each situation should be analysed on its own and in Lizzies case I think she wasn't wrong to operate under the belief that gold standard was paid for and therefore gold standard would be delivered. Anyway - it seems that the common theme to the whole self build journey is that even when not expected things can and do go wrong regardless of the build system employed. The only thing you can do is arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible and then hopefully you are able to identify the issues before they become too costly to rectify.

You are right - anything can be built out of plumb or wrong. It's unfortunately the case that not all self builders are competent or confident enough to scrutinise and call out the work of the 'professionals' they contract to carry out work for them. I think TF is especially an area where it is unfair to say that the self builders as PM should ultimately identify any issues. The reason most self builders go with TF is that it is seen as the easiest way to 'de-risk' getting to the wind and watertight stage. You are giving a company a wedge of cash on the understanding they will do as advertised and unfortunately some members have had bad experiences in this approach - even when paying more for a gold standard service from reputable companies with established track records. If you are told by 10 people these people are the bees knees and they have provided me with XY and z standard service then I would argue that they are not being daft to expect the same. Unfortunately you can still get caught out as has been shown. Personally my own approach will be to scrutinise everything to the nth degree. I may make mistakes and miss stuff - if so then that is my mistake. Anyone I contract with will do so on the understanding that I will monitor and scrutinise the standard of work, if that is not acceptable then they won't get the job. Simple. This approach may make it harder to find contractors but so be it - I rather take longer and get it right than mess about paying twice to fix shoddy workmanship.

To a certain extent I would agree with you here. However in a situation such as @lizzie experienced, the TF goes up so quick I feel it is extremely difficult for the self builder to identify such issues until it is potentially too late to do anything about it. Once the TF erectors have left site are they bothered if you identify issues 2/3 weeks after they have gone and the cash is in their bank? Yes the buck stops with you. But equally so when you are paying for professionals to do something which should be their bread and butter it is not unreasonable to expect that a competent level of workmanship is delivered. As an aside Lizzie who did your TF slab and frame? If I recall correctly it was one the suppliers whom has been used by many others on here to glowing reviews - your experiences are a useful reality check in that no matter how many people have good experiences with a supplier, it does not necessary follow that you too will have the same said experience. As an aside, I always thought that TF would be my route - in the last couple of months this has changed and I am now set on a block build. A couple of reasons really - but not because I am anti TF. It's all down to personal preference really.