Canski

Jeez that looks bad on the video. I take it that the bifolds were retrofitted ?

That looks better. Cheers

I'm just looking at drainage now. At the start of my surface water run is an ACO along the edge of my patio. Would it be a good idea to put something like a back inlet gully in just after this to catch any silt from the patio area ? I've looked at silt traps but these are mega expensive.

And a PRA bat survey. I think your planners may want it but check. I couldn't apply for planning until this was done. If they find anything you could be in for a long wait. Sad but true.

Thanks. Yes existing electricity supply disconnected. I hope to be able to borrow the existing water supply until I get connected and the stop tap has been found about 200 m away in the middle of the new park. I tried tracing the pipe to the boundary but it shoots off in an illogical direction from the house so will wait till I have machines on site to trace it to the boundary and erect a 'stand pipe' No nasty planning conditions thank God. My planning consultant says that Ian his 30 years of the job he has never seen a permission granted with so few conditions.

Thats right it's in the middle of a new housing site and set at an awkward and wasteful angle. ( See photo) This is why the site is ideal for two new builds that fit in better and will be pleasing to the neighbours and far more economical to run. I hope I have all the ducks in a line but this is the first build for myself and you guys in here who have already gone through the self build process have more experience in this area than me. I have been in the industry for 40 years as a brickwork contractor but I feel that I have learned more in the last year ( much credit to this site) than the 30 previous years. I am never usually on site after the roof coverings go on.

Hi all, I have spent a few days at my site ( 2 virtually identical plots) bird and bat spotting over the last few weeks and it looks like I am clear of creatures so I spoke to my ecologist and have arranged a destructive roof survey for 19/06 and lined up the Demo guys for 21 /06. I am now in that stage of what have I forgotten. It has a been over a year of pain since I first bought the site. Due to :- Ecology survey needed before application for PP Bats discovered in the last 30 minutes of 4 surveys (The only time that I wasn't present for the survey) Application for PP Bat mitigation licence required. Bat pole and multiple temporary bat boxes required as part of the mitigation process Section 106 agreement required for affordable housing (this was an unexpected £13 k surprise) 10 weeks delay caused by the section 106 which led to ... Nesting birds and a further 6 week delay Requirement for an extension of the mitigation licence 4 week delay DNO multiplying their quotes for connection by 3.5 x ( this is ongoing) But now it looks like we will get the go ahead subject to a destructive survey on 19/06 So I need to go ahead with my warranty application a couple of weeks before construction. I'll get this sorted this week coming. Section 80 and Section 81 Demolition applied for and received. Asbestos survey completed. Building regs approval obtained with LABC HSE informed of construction works Service Connections applied for but electric not finalised, Water and openreach are fine Foul & surface water sorted with Severn Trent. ( a most helpful company) All quotes in for the build that I can think of. concrete, floor beams and oversite concrete,UFH will be installed by my buyer of the other plot, bricks and blocks, insulation, joists, scaffold, roof trusses, windows are in progress, garage doors, All brickwork ancillaries are in my container ready Demo guys set up to go Engineer for setting out on stand by Digger driver and machines on standby. To crush on site or remove and re deliver to be confirmed Temporary electric connected from a nice neighbour Site insurances in place Welfare ( porta loo) in place. first aid box and accident book in place. Garden office ( site office 50 % instructed but had to halt in case the demo guys get over excited. I can't help feeling that there is something that I have forgotten. All comments are welcome. Does everyone go through this phase of anxiety before the build ? I can't wait to see the back of this ugly building and get cracking with my new residence.

I received a reply from the complaints dept. I am holding my breath ..... 'Just to provide an update on this, as Design Manager, I am reviewing the project and the quotes we managed to obtain. I am confident that we will be able to reduce this cost as it is significantly higher than I would expect and have queried this. That we have multiple quotes from different suppliers all in the same ballpark suggests there may be something about the works significantly inflating the cost. Jack had initially requested this to be challenged and flagged the significant increase to me prior to issue. We were keen to get the cost that we had managed to obtain to you as soon as we could with an intent to hopefully offer a reduction soon thereafter. I have also spoken to and challenged the providers regarding these costs to understand what is driving them and to minimise their scope (i.e. on site trenching, ducting, meter box etc provided by yourself). I’m chasing for a response this week but wanted to reassure you that we are doing what we can to reduce the cost. Whenever we quote, we send the work to contractor’s who have been willing to quote in the past. We are also frequently going to other suitably accredited companies to see if they are willing to quote in order to get the best costs. In relation to whether a smaller capacity would save cost, I can confirm that the works involved would not change. There is an uplift going from single phase to three phase due to extra materials and jointing works involved. Very few properties require a three-phase connection as a single phase connection provides 23kW of capacity which is sufficient for all the technology including in a typical house. Occasionally a customer requests a larger supply for a high capacity EV charger though this is not usually warranted unless the customer needs charging speeds greater than a full charge overnight. Regarding the timescales, we are at the behest of these contractor’s to turn around their costs. We are exploring different avenues to address this (such as bringing in internal resource, standardised costing, working with our group companies) as well as our difficulties with application volume due to a 10x increase in generation applications relating to the energy crisis. We have significantly increased the head count of the team but are still struggling to meet the timescales we wish to achieve whilst trying to deal with applications fairly.'

Yes I married her. I'm safe now though.

Schief. Made in Deutschland.

I don’t know is my simple answer to this. I’m not an electrician. The site is an infill site on a 5 year old housing estate and I believe that all the houses are on 3 phase.

Thanks Dave. So I think I will go back to them and ask for a quote for 30KVA 3 phase per house and I should be covered or should I go in lower ? I didn’t mention (and not sure if it is relevant) but the supply is on the other side of a quiet road about 9 m from my boundary and then each supply would need to go about 15 m to the meter box on the houses. The water will need to cross at roughly the same point. Then I would need to try and get them to co ordinate the works to prevent disruption to the road users. This will no doubt be difficult.

The design is basically done , 9kw Daikin heat pump with UFH on the ground floor and rads on the first. The EV chargers are a planning requirement and I don’t have / intend to have an EV in the near future but would like to have the option to plug in if I change my mind.

I resent the original application form because they had ‘lost’ it.

This is what was on the application form. Is this correct ? remember this is for 2 properties. One for me one for my friend.

Thanks I’ll try but they are not very communicative. Like I said 6 months for the first quote.

Yes it is but it’s a planning condition. 1 fitted and cabling provision for 2 more.

Oh yes ! What goes up should come down. This is the wrong way round.

Thanks for that I’ll have another word with them. The thing is they’ lost’ the original quote and asked me to resubmit my application. I just sent them the previous one so they should have been quoting like for like.

I don't know, this is all that they have sent me. I don't understand electricity because I can't see it. What would be normal for a 4 bed house with ASHP and 3 car chargers ?

I would fill it in layers

DNO Ransom Letter.pdfI even cocked the attachment up. I think at the moment there is only one solution and that is to drink heavily.

This was the quote. 2 Nr plots with 9 KW ASHP & 1 car charger each with the provision for 2 more. Have I cocked it up ? Screenshot 2023-06-02 at 17.22.13.pdf

I worked in Germany for several years and saw some similar construction methods. I think that the lintels have been shuttered and insulation placed against the shutter then poured with concrete. The walls we built were between 300 mm and 365 mm Poriton blockwork. These may be faced up with EPS before render is applied.

So the quotes have finally come back to me from the DNO I am absolutely flabbergasted. Last year the quote for 2 x 3 phase was £4200 now it is £14017 Last year the quote for 2 x single phase was £ 2012 now it is £12017 Last year the quote for 2 x gas was £1770 now it is £12518 Is there anything that I can do ?