Drellingore

For anyone discovering this thread in a historic search: we got a phone call to tell us that a case officer was assigned on Thursday last week (6th July). The application was made on 28th April, so almost exactly ten weeks. Again, the EA person I spoke to was very helpful.

Thanks folks! I've hired a concrete breaker for tomorrow, and that'll help get through whatever is under the surface. The farmer that used to live on the site said that the posts were concreted in 3' deep. Thanks for that. Do you know where I might be able to find any online communities for this sort of thing? It's not the first time I've heard it - a neighbour of the site mentioned that he'd heard of it happening before. I did an online search, and also phoned the company that now own the Atcost brand, but they weren't aware of anything. If a couple of people have mentioned this sort of thing, I'm sure there must be something to it.

Gah, I never know the right subforum to put posts in I've got to dig some trial pits for a structural survey of an old Atcost concrete-and-asbestos barn. They'll need to be right up against one of the posts and one of the walls. A couple of naïve questions: I'm guessing the intention is that I need to dig deep enough to get under the footings, to show how deep they really are? What kind of tools/equipment would people use for this? I recently dug a 2m deep pit to establish where the water table wasn't for the Environment Agency, and I figured it'd be good exercise to do it by hand with a spade and pickaxe, and it would give me an appreciation of how long these things take. Neither I nor my back particularly want to repeat the experience! I'm guessing what equipment to use will depend on how deep the footings are, which I won't know until I start digging. I'm guessing mini-excavators would be inappropriate to use so close to a building?

...and of course, immediately after post I find Approved Document L, section 6

Hopefully a quick one - are there any approved docs that relate specifically to house batteries and solar PV systems? I've had a quick look through, and haven't found anything yet.

When would y'all suggest is the best point in the process to look into and secure a warranty? We've got funds that'll cover the start of the build, but will likely need a self-build mortgage to finish it. We've got one scheme awaiting a planning committee hearing, and another that we've just appointed an architectural practice to help us with. Presumably at some point before trying to get lending, and after RIBA Stage 2? What do warranty providers need to see in order to provide a quote?

Before I do a thread-hijack, based on my limited reading of a CDM book and the HSE guidelines, your summary sounds about right to me @Sarah29. As I'm looking at potentially administering our build via a design-and-build contract with our own company, I'm looking at possibly taking on the Principal Designer and Contractor roles in the capacity as a company director (ie the client) rather than as a domestic client. I'm thinking that following the regulations doesn't seem that hard in itself, as the HSE book outlines what needs doing. The bit that's full of unknowns to me is all the trade-specific risks - that seems to be the kind of thing that you need experience for, as otherwise it's an exercise in trying to guess every possible way that a process one doesn't know about could go wrong. @Conor would you agree with that understanding of things, or do you reckon I've got it wrong? The alternative for Principal Designer is to pay the architects a couple of grand to take on the role. I ask you, as most other folks on here are like "here be dragons" whenever CDM comes up.

Yes please, all data is useful (and if not for me, then for future readers of this thread)!

Our site has no tree protection orders, and is not in a conservation area. It's in an AONB, and current designated usage is agricultural. Planning permission had been given for the previous owner to convert some barns; we re-applied and put a building nearer some low-value blackthorn trees. LPA asked their tree officer to visit the site and give comment (something that the previous applicant didn't have to do, because they weren't proposing anything near the trees). We've since had to have a tree survey done for about a grand. The survey results include all sorts of obligations and restrictions that we previously didn't have, and the previous applicant didn't have. I should note that we get on very well with the environmental/arborial company we used, so it's not like they've stitched us up or anything. So, we proposed putting a garage near some blackthorns. The survey however showed that an ash tree near the main barn has a root protection area that will get in the way of development, and now needs to be fenced off, and special matting putting down if anything drives over parts of it. This is something that never showed up on the previous application, and the previous applicants wouldn't have been obliged to do. I'm all for increasing biodiversity (and it's a key part of our plans) but I have to say that leaving trees standing that might be near your development makes it possible for the LPA to enforce further restrictions. If those trees aren't there, they are less likely to be able to do that.

I'm definitely feeling this. They go into enough detail to make you think "this isn't that complicated," but nowhere near enough detail to be useful once you get going.

Have many people here worked with an architect on an "as required" basis? Ie on an hourly rate pulling them in as-and-when they're needed only, as opposed to them being responsible for everything from the beginning? I'd love to be using a proper BIM solution - it appeals to the software engineer in me.

Thanks for the thoughts @SBMS, although with my limited and inferior experience, I don't agree. A well-written contract is, in my view, a way of making sure everyone's on the same page about how things will work in various scenarios. I agree that enforcement is likely fruitless in a self-build context, and see more value in just having a written agreement of expectations. Happy to agree to disagree, and I appreciate your input. Nowt yet. I'm looking at architects' terms, who in turn want to either decide or constrain the contracts in play, because their terms assume that they'll be appointing the main contractor. I think I'd rather do this myself, hence why I'm swotting up so I know what I'm talking about when I tell the architects that I want to do a thing Google, HSBC, Fidelity International, NS8, SAP, and probably about half of the customers of my cloud computing consultancy dictated terms. I think it's got more to do with comparative size than industry vertical.

I was just listening to a presentation about NEC, and after an hour, the speaker who is extolling the virtues of NEC admitted that in three house builds, he used JCT because the architect advised that builders don't know and understand anything else

Which better options do you recommend? Also keen on other posters' opinions. I found this thread when I was searching for NEC and JCT contracts, hoping to see if there was consensus on what would be an appropriate choice for a the conversion of a barn and the demolition and rebuild of another. I avoided using the term "self-build" as it covers way too much Going contractless would be wildly inappropriate for our situation, and I'm a firm believer in both building trust and also using a contract to communicate expectations, not just as an arse-covering mechanism.

We've got an Atcost barn to be demolished, which has asbestos in the roof (had contractors out to size it up). I think they wanted about £6k to take it down and dispose of it. I figured that seemed reasonable. We had a local farmer come down to talk about something else, and he was like "ah, just take that down yourself, it's not that hard." I'm wondering if that could be a fairly easy saving?

Wots a TF?

Ta very much, all. It's reassuring to hear that quite a few folks have successfully taken a pick-and-mix approach (although maybe there's a selection bias here).

What ways are there of interacting with architects and main contractors? Are there a few common patterns, and can anyone point me in the direction of a few write-ups of them? I can imagine two extremes: architect does everything with a little input and a couple of years later you move in; we do absolutely everything from drawing the designs, digging the foundations, laying the tiles, and not paying anyone else to do anything It's the bit in the middle of that spectrum that I'm curious about. I think we want to have (quite a bit of) input into the design, manage procurement of contracts and materials, project manage, and occasionally get involved in unskilled manual labour. We've got a plot with two barns to convert, and the development principle established in a prior, lapsed, planning decision. We've been pursuing a bonkers scheme that is going to committee, and almost certainly will fail (I wanted to test the limits). We now need to come up with something more sensible and conventional, and get it built. My other half has done bachelors' degrees in interior design and architecture (so part 1), and has always wanted to build her own house. Almost all the drawings in our bonkers-and-not-going-to-get-approved-scheme are hers, as she's a dab hand with AutoCAD and uses it professionally daily, and she works on designing and refitting investment bank offices. She can't do technical design, and isn't qualified to. Conceptual stuff and spacial coordination: yes; being sure the thing is going to stand up and creating 'full information' for a main contractor: no. I've run a few businesses, with about 30 staff around the world, and some big banking and tech clients. I'm used to running multi-million pound projects and contracts, hiring and firing, ensuring compliance to ridiculous bureaucratic policies, and all that jazz. I'm funemployed at the moment, and am happy to stay that way until the build is done. However, the pain of working on a project with my other half is certainly making me reconsider that! We started talking to architects that we found online, and via RIBA's Find-an-Architect service. Unsurprisingly, the missus likes the really expensive artsy ones. They have generally given us fee proposals that are 'turn-key' offerings, where they'll do absolutely everything from conceiving the master plan to running the tendering process, procuring all the things, and whatnot. There's going to be a tension where artsy architects want to design the whole thing, but the wife will want lots of creative input. Architects are going to want to source their own contractor so they get someone that they can work with, and that they are sure can do the job. They'll probably want to procure all the materials for the same reason. Both the missus and I have professional experience that we're fairly sure we can put to good use, and it seems daft paying lots of fees to an architect for something we can just about to do ourselves, and more to the point, want to do so we have a sense of ownership. We're not the sort that want to hand over some money and have someone hand over a finished house. We're due to have a conversation with everyone in our shortlist about what we'd rather do ourselves, but my lack of knowledge in the area means I'm lacking the vocabulary to do it convincingly. I'm also wondering if architects are really the best solution to this problem and whether there is some other set of professionals who would be more appropriate. Any thoughts or suggestions? I realise the ask here is a bit vague, and it's not helped by the stress of working with the other half whilst simultaneously trying to navigate the minefield of her pride in her ideas.

lol - I'm used to working with diva programmers. A mate of mine, who worked for us quite a bit, charges £1,500/day. He knocks 25% off for charities and carbon-negative companies, and another 25% off if he gets to work with his favourite things. He'll reduce his rate by £100-200 a day if he doesn't have to use a Windows laptop. So basically, if you're a god-awful crusty enterprise bank, you pay full rates, and if you're a hip startup you pay less.

Generally, I'd agree. *looks over at bookshelf with about 350 non-fiction books on it*. However, I've found self-build books not terribly detailed... The Self-Builder's Bible is reasonably broad, but not much deeper than the average magazine article. I also find it reasonably challenging to read books while running, driving, and doing gardening stuff on-site For some reason, audiobooks always feel like cheating, to me. I should probably get over that.

Can anyone recommend any decent podcasts about self-building, or all the related subject matter, from which I can learn? Ideally on Spotify. I used to listen to Built:It by Andy Stevens, but almost every episode has disappeared from Spotify, and there don't seem to be any new episodes on other channels. I listened to a couple of building-related podcasts, but they all seemed aimed at the property developer demographic, talking about flipping things for profit.

I don't know if this translates into the building trade, but in my previous line of work I would've asked something along the lines of "is there anything else I can do to make the job more attractive?" There are other motivations than money. Are you going to be a PITA client? Is the site going to be cold, wet and miserable? Can you do other payment terms? Is time-and-materials vs fixed cost an option that's attractive to you both? On the supply side I was given sagely advice to never drop my prices unless I got something in return. We were doing IT consultancy, so if we offered a discount it was often in return for better working conditions for the staff, better payment terms, offering a testimonial, that kind of thing. If you're asking a supplier to drop their price, it might be worth thinking about what you can do in return. Beyond that, @ToughButterCup's lines all look ace!

Ah, looking through attendees of the meeting they are all appointed to the committee, and the ward councillor for the area of my plot isn't. So presumably it's not a matter of turning up when there's something in their area. They're all due for re-election in May, so perhaps there'll be a new set by the time the committee hears our case.

This is where my knowledge of local government breaks down. The Parish Council objected (and I foolishly didn't keep a track of when it was on the PC agenda, so missed that meeting) and the Ward Councillor is the Vice Chairman of the Parish Council. So unless he was on-the-fence or could be converted, I'm guessing the best case is that I'll be showing good will by reaching out. I'm also unsure of under what conditions the Ward Councillor would attend the planning committee - do they show up when there's something in their area?

For future thread readers - Dover District Council puts planning committee meetings on YouTube, although I think they get removed after a month. It may be worth looking at those to get a sense of what your local authority is like.