Jenjen

Hi so sorry for the delay in responding - we went with Allan bothers in the end and are delighted with ours

Hi we are looking to hopefully move into our property in December under a certificate of temporary habitation (in Scotland). Does anyone know whether there are any insurers that offer a normal buildings policy at that stage or do we have to rely on the self build policy we have in place until we get the full completion certificate?

Thanks for the responses so far. I’ve asked for a breakdown so will be able to report back soon. To be fair our contractor has been fab with everything else, this is just a big unexpected budget hit so just thought it was worth asking the question on here.

I was looking for a bit of advice about k-rend. We were planning a crisp white rendered finish (alongside cladding and facing bricks). Our architect specified k-rend but in passing our builder mentioned a silicone render may be better. Has anyone used either or avoided one? There seems to be such mixed reviews about k-rend and it’s longevity over time.

As part of our drainage solution which has (finally) been signed off by Scottish Water we need to put in a 150mm pipe and new disconnecting manhole en route which involves about 95m of pipe. Part of the path of the pipe crosses a barely used public footpath so a small amount of digging up and restoring tarmac is involved. Our contractor has quoted £14k for this - does this sound about right or does this seem excessive?

We have used Arka architects in Falkirk, not a technician but we found them to be very competitive when comparing with technician’s quotes and we really liked their work

We are currently trying to decide between Rationel and Allan Brothers Aluclad windows. We are very familiar with the Rationel windows but wondered if anyone has used or considered Allan Brothers?

Thanks everyone. I’ll check in with the contractor but sounds like we can disregard the VAT figure for now

We have received our first tender response back from a contractor, with the rest to follow. VAT has been included within the quote. As a self builder (via a main contractor) should we not benefit from the zero rated VAT position, how have other main contractors dealt with this?

We received quotes from buildstore and Protek. The Protek ones came in much cheaper and they offered a price match so went back to Buildstore and asked if they could price match (they are currently looking into it for both site insurance and warranty) so may be worthwhile doing the same. Our Protek site insurance quote came in at £895.

Looking for some advice, we have gas on- site and trying to work our whether we should put in a gas boiler with pv panels or go down the route of an ASHP. We will have ufh downstairs and rads upstairs and the house is 300sqm. I’ve heard such mixed reviews about the ability of an ASHP to heat that size of house efficiently and cost effectively. I know there is a big difference in capital expense but keen to canvas people’s views and experiences of other issues other than costs. Thanks

Thanks, it’s food to hear positive feedback. Did you manage to do any pre-planning approval application or promise or did you need to have planning approval before they would do anything?

Hi Does anyone have any recommendations for self-build mortgage brokers other than Buildstore? Keen to explore options at this stage as haven’t always heard positive feeedback on Buildstore. Based in Scotland, if that makes any difference.

We will be making sure our shower controls are far away from our shower head, no more wet arm turning it on in the morning.

Thanks for taking the time to feedback, it is appreciated. To give you a little bit of context it’s more of a £500/550k house as opposed to £1M which maybe impact some of the overall comments. We had already considered a few of the comments/point raised and some are entirely new which is exactly the reason we thought it would be good to get feedback. The space itself is fairly flexible and we feel that rooms could easily be changed around to reflect our needs further down the line eg playroom could become fifth bedroom/grannex since the bathroom is next door. We are also putting in roof trusses to be able to go up a level in the future so this could accomodate future studies/cinema rooms etc should we require the extra space (especially if we end up having twins ?). We we have decided to square off the angle on the open plan living area as it seemed unnecessary so this might give us a bit more hidden storage and flexibility with the stairs. thanks!