RedRhino

that’s why we don’t do them! And you don’t pay VAT on new build.

Yes, this is our sixth house build (never renovation), three for us and three for other people. Although it doesn't feel like we have any particular knowledge I guess it must count for something. One insight would be: being present and getting involved. We had a neighbour who had a major remodelling of their house. "Tell me when it's over". They couldn't stand the sight of their home ripped apart so the builder was left alone to do as he saw fit. Not good for either party.

Unfortunately it wasn't standard - "no flat roofs!" is our mantra and yet we ended up with three (four if you include the porch). And a member of our extended family lives in a house with windows facing only east and west. Does it matter not seeing the sun at midday? Yes! So we have an elaborate H shaped footprint to get midday sun into the centre of the house.

It was one year ago that we started our house build, and we moved in 4.5 months later on July 3rd. Well, that's the headline to catch attention, but there needs to be some qualification. A year ago we started building above ground. Before that, we had 3 months of asbestos removal, demolition, site clearance, excavation, concrete slab, drains and scaffold. But still, 19 weeks to build everything above ground is good. Our method: MBC completed the timber frame in 8 working days - that was a great head start. We had a fixed price contract with a general builder for all the external finishes. This meant we could leave him to manage that whilst we concentrated on the interior. We had plumbing, electrical and carpentry trades working on site in parallel. The house was big enough to have separate working areas. We (the client) were always present to create the culture of collaboration and courtesy. Me and the Mrs worked full time on the build without employment to distract us. One of us would be on site before 8am to open up whilst the other was doing desk work: chasing quotes / delivery / documentation etc. We had very few times when the site was unsupervised by one or other of us. We were disciplined in making decisions in the right order and not changing our minds. We lived a 5 min cycle away in a rented house. Cycling is ideal because you don't take up parking space on site, and you can come and go without asking trade vans to move. Our builder saw the advantage and started cycling too. We had Travis Perkins, Screwfix and the electrical wholesaler all within a 10 minute drive. I could collect ad hoc materials before 8am with an estate car + roof rack so the trades weren't waiting for materials. Our builders merchants is a favoured supplier for kitchens / bathrooms etc based 100 miles away. We worked closely with them to keep their supply of materials ahead of the trades. I did three months of carpentry assisting the proper carpenter. If I wasn't supervising deliveries, doing a site induction for new workers, cleaning up, moving materials then I was doing carpentry. The site was always clean and tidy with waste promptly taken off site. The site was working 5 days a week, every week but typically not weekends. And when we moved in, there was another 6 weeks to completion and then the landscaping after that. Photographs attached from one year ago Build photos here: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/45435-project-finished-mbc-timber-frame-self-build-220m2-over-three-floors/#comment-634389

It was one year ago that we started our house build, and we moved in 4.5 months later on July 3rd. Well, that's the headline to catch attention, but there needs to be some qualification. A year ago we started building above ground. Before that, we had 3 months of asbestos removal, demolition, site clearance, excavation, concrete slab, drains and scaffold. But still, 19 weeks to build everything above ground is good. Our method: MBC completed the timber frame in 8 working days - that was a great head start. We had a fixed price contract with a general builder for all the external finishes. This meant we could leave him to manage that whilst we concentrated on the interior. We had plumbing, electrical and carpentry trades working on site in parallel. The house was big enough to have separate working areas. We (the client) were always present to create the culture of collaboration and courtesy. Me and the Mrs worked full time on the build without employment to distract us. One of us would be on site before 8am to open up whilst the other was doing desk work: chasing quotes / delivery / documentation etc. We had very few times when the site was unsupervised by one or other of us. We were disciplined in making decisions in the right order and not changing our minds. We lived a 5 min cycle away in a rented house. Cycling is ideal because you don't take up parking space on site, and you can come and go without asking trade vans to move. Our builder saw the advantage and started cycling too. We had Travis Perkins, Screwfix and the electrical wholesaler all within a 10 minute drive. I could collect ad hoc materials before 8am with an estate car + roof rack so the trades weren't waiting for materials. Our builders merchants is a favoured supplier for kitchens / bathrooms etc based 100 miles away. We worked closely with them to keep their supply of materials ahead of the trades. I did three months of carpentry assisting the proper carpenter. If I wasn't supervising deliveries, doing a site induction for new workers, cleaning up, moving materials then I was doing carpentry. The site was always clean and tidy with waste promptly taken off site. The site was working 5 days a week, every week but typically not weekends. And when we moved in, there was another 6 weeks to completion and then the landscaping after that. Photographs attached from one year ago Build photos here: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/45435-project-finished-mbc-timber-frame-self-build-220m2-over-three-floors/#comment-634389 VID_20250219_094732.mp4 UBox_20250222_153442_246_019_P.mp4

Do you have MVHR? That helps mix temperatures. It also indicates that the house was built with airtightness in mind : ) We don't have upstairs on our two upper floors but we do have MVHR. Sleeping in 18c is fine, maybe not sitting at a desk working.

We demolished a house to get a building plot. As a result there was already a gas supply but we chose to have it disconnected in the street. Our reasons were: Increased insulation means heating loads are small Solar panels can heat DHW for 2/3 of the year meaning the heat demand is zero - the gas standing charge (something for nothing) is galling As fewer people subscribe to gas heating, the cost of the network is going to be carried by fewer and fewer consumers - best get out early In contrast our ASHP + solar + battery performs very well without emissions or fossil fuel dependency

We have built brick and block as well as ICF. We lived in our ICF house for 7 years - when I measured the gas bill it was £365 per year, in other words £1 per day. You start saying it is not worth insulating any more than that. It's a good system and living inside so much thermal mass is beneficial. Our builder had to go on a training course, and with oversight from the supplier all went well.

The houses are not owner occupied. Rather, they are built as show homes and typically have a room serving as an office for their sales rep. You can imagine the manufacturers host sales prospects as well as having the house open all site hours for anyone who walks up.

Flats are much more common. But in the context of self build, it seems Bavarian planners want to maintain the look of traditional detached houses. On examination you realize they have two front doors.

Which companies sell into the UK? Dan Wood? Huf haus? Baufritz? Definitely a minority. Also to say, IMHO the German market is ahead of the UK in terms of energy efficiency (no nuclear, no native fossil fuels) and also space utilization. A common model is two dwellings under one roof. No one can afford a whole house.

I thought to mention for anyone seeking self-build inspiration this is a great place to visit https://bauzentrum-poing.de/de/ Your browser should be able to translate. I've visited a few times (because I have family living nearby). There are 56 completed houses from different manufacturers. Even if your tastes are very different, there are lots of bits of detail design to give food for thought. Sometimes, it's as useful to agree what you don't like as much as what you do. You can see the houses online but of course so much better to visit in person. Munich airport is close by.

I imagine that the vendor would have confirmed your order with the size of the patio door they were installing. That defines the contract - their glazing to match your hole. The patio doors fit the hole and they have fulfilled the contract. IMHO it would take higher level knowledge to think beyond this (e.g. it would be reasonable to expect an architect to anticipate this problem). But I wouldn't be too upset. What's done is done. We all learn through experience.

Haha - good spot! What I meant to say is that all the heated rooms tend to have a common temperature and all the unheated rooms have a common (lower) temperature. I'll investigate the cooling for our model (Valiant Arotherm 5KW) ASHP - thanks

Thanks for the comment. I believe the current gov’t ASHP grant is only applicable to heating machines rather than heating / cooling machines. So no, ours doesn’t cool. Our bedroom only has easterly windows to avoid overheating in summer. As mentioned, we have no heating upstairs so the bedrooms are cooler: about 18c.

We are entering our first winter in our self-built timber frame house. ChatGPT created a graphic and I thought people might like to see it. With MVHR the good and bad news is that room temperatures tend to equalise; and the rate of cooling is slow so nighttime temps are very similar to daytime temps. On that basis we have just one thermostat on the ground floor which is set to 21c. 220m^2 across three floors. No heating upstairs. Tesla Powerwall 3 to store solar. We only exported about 10kwh in November.

Hi Nicolas, apologies for the delay. Our solar company dealt with the DNO permission. We never heard of any issues.

Dear forum members, Our house is complete and we have been resident for three months. I thought to post some pictures and I offer to answer any questions people might have. I don't put ourselves on a pedestal as being any better than other projects, only to say that we have done it. Our primary decisions: We chose a RIBA architect given the importance of the initial concept The layout is somewhat novel, having an H footprint with a single storey 'extension' to reduce the mass of the main house for planning purposes and to help project the rear of the house beyond the shade of the ridge line We chose timber frame (we have built with timber frame, brick and block and ICF in the past) because of speed of construction, and thermal performance We selected MBC from a shortlist of three TF suppliers, and chose MBC's insulated slab We are very pleased to have chosen a large solar array (9KW) and Tesla battery. We have used no grid electricity since commissioning. We have a Valliant ASHP with UFH but haven't had need to heat the house yet We have MVHR which works very well with our air tightness of 0.89 We have no fireplace or chimney We project managed ourselves, and were onsite every day and I did a lot of carpentry / general work alongside the proper trades Project timing: groundwork prep Dec 24, slab Jan 25, frame erection February, windows March, resident 4th July, finished end of August.

My apologies if this subject has been covered elsewhere - you are welcome to direct me to previous posts. We have an MBC timber frame house sitting on the Kore insulated slab. The section drawing of how the house sits on the foundation is not entirely representative. Our slab is slightly oversize and so there is a step out of between 0 and 60mm on different walls. The foils from the timber frame and the red radon barrier needs to be tidied and we have to anticipate that moisture could get behind our final finish (brick slips on 50mm battens) and so needs carrying away. The anecdotal recommendation is to unpin the silver breathable membrane from the foot of the timber frame, insert a DPC and let that go over the lip and down on to the EPS. The red radon barrier is super stiff so won't sit nicely particularly where there are folds. I plan to cut that back. We don't have radon in our area. We learn that the foils can be cut back to end 25mm down the face of the EPS. We can then secure with render board or similar. My questions: is that what other people have done? how would you secure the render board? mechanical fasteners or glue or ?? Thank you in advance

As people correctly say: "Where are the pictures?"

Folks, We are on our self-build journey, we selected timber frame then short listed 4 suppliers and in the end chose MBC. They erect our medium complexity house in 8 working days - very impressive. I think MBC's strength is their experience which shows in the detail / thought in the design office and the efficiency of their erection teams. Our site is constrained so working out the order to deliver materials, how things are stacked, the order that things are lifted by the crane is complex. The team didn't seem to make any mistakes and just kept working, rain or shine. [To confirm I'm just a paying customer and have no other association with MBC]

Have other people run the numbers on PV vs roof tiles? For new build you can put the solar panels directly onto the roof so removing the cost of the roof tiles that would otherwise be there. We have a quote for pitched roof tiles with membrane / battens / counter battens of £150 / m^2. A Jinko solar panel 1.086m x 1.726m = 1.87m^2 so its fitted cost with undertray etc is surely going to be a chunk cheaper. I don't think we will have additional costs from the inverter. And of course extra PV is useful if only to extend your season into the darker months. Anyone else come to the same conclusion? Anything I'm missing?

Thanks @MikeSharp01, it looks like this product: https://www.21degrees.com/compacfoam/ May I ask, did you use this just under the cills or all around the perimeter?

Drawing annotated : )

Dear Community, We are struggling with the last piece of our Rationel window & door order and would appreciate help. We are going from pillar to post with MBC, Rationel and our architect unable to specify a small but critical detail. For balance I would say we are very happy with great service from all three agencies on all aspects but we are stuck on this one. The MBC timber frame is going to be battened and counter battened to affix brick slips creating an offset that will extend down to 150mm above ground. We plan to sheath the EPS insulation from 150mm down to below ground using aluminium sheet. Thank you to the Self Build forum for helping us learn of that solution. But what about beneath the door cills? They are cantilevered out from the door frame and need structural support. We have received the detailed drawing attached but no one as yet can say quite what should be below the cill or how it is fixed. Thank you in advance.