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!

Hi everyone A friend of ours is a quantity surveyor and has mentioned helping us out with our project. I was wondering how much a quantity surveyor typically costs and what the typical level of involvement is. I see it as a good way to keep control of costs however would imagine in a main contractor scenario it is slightly less crucial. Just trying to work out if the extra spend is worthwhile? thanks in advance!

It’s 303sqm. Originally the plan suggested by the architect was to keep the kitchen/utility to a single story but we decided to build up since we would be paying for foundations/roof etc anyway. I’d be keen to hear about those bits you aren’t convinced by, I’d like to see how our thoughts/decisions stack up against challenge. Yes, the architect mentioned this around the elevations and is working on a materials schedule now with this in mind.

Thanks for the heads up re windows and blinds. I’ll look into that a bit more. We we have a jack and Jill in our current home and it works great for us. Trying to minimize the number of bathrooms that need kitted out and cleaned! Lol

Thanks for your feedback, we quite like the angled wall and corner windowx as design features but appreciate they might end up expensive features which may have to consider changing when we get quotes etc. Ill have ave a look at the double landing, hadn’t occurred to me it could be tight. Yes; plot is too tight for a bigger garage however we had decided fairly early on that since all we use our current double garage for is storage, it’s a sacrifice that works for us.

Hi all We have been working with our architect to finalise our plans for our self build. We are really happy with the plans but thought it would be interesting to share them here and benefit from the helpful critique, experience and suggestions others have obtained doing the same. The house itself is on the larger side being 303sqm (exc garage) as it is to accommodate our growing young family. thanks in advance. jenna

Hi Since finding a potential plot of land, I've been a bit of a lurker on here for the past few months trying to work out whether a self-build journey is something my husband and I are brave and crazy enough to embark upon..... We are in the middle of the legals on the plot as I type and we have received draft plans from our architect. All going well we hope to commence our build, a 2 storey (potential to do a third floor in the future) 4 bedroom, modern timber frame house of around 300sqm (based on draft plans) in Spring 2019. Feeling crazy, excited and entirely overwhelmed and we are only just getting started! I know we will have millions of questions along the journey which is why i'm so happy to have stumbled across this forum. Hopefully my ability to answer other people's questions and chip-in bits of advice will grow as our project progresses!

Interestingly we have just received a quote from one of the other architects we met and their quote is pretty much £10k plus VAT all in for design, drawings, architect certificate/sign off and the co-ordination/tender set out above. It’s madness, there is over a £10k difference. We’re trying to figure out if our new quote is wrong or has something big missed out, so cynical and suspicious already! Just seems such a huge difference!!

Thanks, I think the main contractor will act no our behalf under CDM. I don’t think we will get the architect to do it unless there is any reason to!?

Hi We have just received our first architect quote (2 still to receive) and there is a fairly chunky section (2.5% of construction costs and £50 per hour (I need to clarify why it is an "and" as would much prefer a single fixed fee) apportioned to 'architectural contractual administration' which includes: -preparation and collation of tender and contract documents - issuing instructions to contractor -issuing certificates under the build contract e.g. payment certificates, practical or partial completion certificates -valuing the works and agreeing the final amount (where there is no QS) -dealing with contractor's application or extension of time and extra payment - inspecting the work sat stages during the construction and preparing defect lists When the time comes we will be appointing a main contractor who will project manage the entire build as part of their role. A relative works for a house building company so provided the quote is competitive it is likely they will be awarded the contract. Is it necessary to have the architect to provide the types of services listed above? It seems the majority of it is something that could be managed between myself and the main contractor but am keen to get people's views and experiences of this element of the services. The only bit I would potentially be struggling with is the tender documentation as i'm not familiar with how tender documentation should be compiled. I assume there is more to it than handing over our plans to a few builders to provide quotations. If anyone has any advice on the tender side of things that would also be most welcome. For info - there is a separate fee over and above what is noted above for the architect certificate which I am fairly comfortable with. Thanks in advance!

To put this in context and perhaps I could have been clearer in the original post but before we do anything we will have as much as humanly possible researched and costed. The financing route is one strand of about 20 things I am currently looking into and researching. I have meetings set up with architects this week to get initial advice and this will hopefully inform some of the questions around size/costings and eventual market value. All of which will be known (to the extent possible) before we do (or don’t) embark on this journey.