Bournbrook

One issue is that a soak away is within 5m so I think that’s the reason. Also, to be honest, I was told that was what was required for a a full submission for building regs so I think I’ve made an assumption there

Ah sorry, 1000mm!!!

Hi there. Just wondering if anyone has a ballpark figure for cost of a structural engineer to do foundation design for building regs submission? It will be a 1.5 storey TF house with 100m2 footprint. Have already had soil testing done and it just recommends 100mm strip foundations. Sandy ground. I don’t think it’s anything too technical but would just appreciate an idea of costing (and any recommendations of SEs!) so I can plan. cheers

Thanks Mike. So just to be clear (/idiot-proof), we would have concrete poured over the UFH pipes to the desired floor level and then have this polished? Rather than a liquid screed and then a microcement layer or similar over the top of that? This would be preferable as I could offset some of the flooring costs with the screed we’ve been quoted. Thanks

Hi all. Having chatted to some TF companies it seems like the best option for us is to employ a PM to oversee the build with a TF company taking us to weathertight stage. I’d love to think we could do it ourselves but we both work full time and have young kids. I have tried all sorts of strategies for finding someone but to no avail so I thought I’d post on here. Does anyone has any recommendations for a good PM in the Surrey/Hants/West Sussex area? Or how I might go about finding one?

This may be suited more the the flooring section of forum but I wasn’t sure. We are having UFH in our new build on the ground floor and obviously a screed will need to be poured over that. My question is, is there a type of screed that can be used that can then be polished and act as the main floor? If so, is this significantly more expensive as an option (obviously the saving of not using another flooring can offset this)?

Apparently it’s just because labour prices are going up! That’s what I was told today…

I honestly don’t know. But looking online, similar sizes seem available of both types so I can’t see why they weren’t matched like for like. But I don’t claim to know much about roofing!

It’s part of a full turnkey package to try to minimise stress so quite tricky as don’t want to keep going out for quotes for every element. Are you saying get another quote because they are being unreasonable or just to benchmark the price?

Hi all. I think this will be a quick question to answer for someone. We had originally specified artificial slate on our new build as our builder said it was cheaper, but now LPA say it has to be real slate. Builder is now adding on £1500 for labour to switch to real (there is about 45sqm of roof that it applies to) plus of course the extra material cost. does the extra labour cost sound reasonable? I’m guessing this is because they are heavier to lug up there? Or are they fitted differently? Just checking I’m not being had on! cheers

Hence the title of this post. Trying to ascertain if cutting back hedges (which we could without planning as part of gardening) would count as ‘commencement’

Another option would be a pre-app meeting. We simply sketched out roughly what we were planning and then booked an appointment with LPA. May cost more than planning consultant though depending on your LPA.

Thank you. That’s why I’m trying to ascertain whether cutting back hedges and taking down a garage would be classed as development as we still have outstanding pre commencement conditions to clear.

Thank you. I have checked all documents and can’t see anything. Do you know which particular form?

Hi. We are going to be building a new house in the garden of current house starting next year. However we are keen to demolish a garage in the current garden. Although this was part of planning we could obviously do this anyway without planning permission. if we do this, would the development have officially started? Obviously we could do this completely separately to our actual house development, so I’m not sure where we stand. any info welcome. Thanks.

Yes true. I think the best option is to transfer out the plot. Just need to figure out the transferring to myself issue. I know we could just go ahead and they would never know. Just more stress though….

At the end, once new house is built. Then we’ll move into new house. Had planned on the split during sale, but now looks like mortgage company won’t allow us to build another dwelling on the land they have a charge on. Seems strange as surely this would only increase the value! They have suggested transferring out the garden plot and requesting the existing mortgage to stay on current house with smaller garden. Seems to be an issue transferring part of a title deed to yourself though….

Sorry, I should have clarified. This is mortgage company for existing house. We fortunately do not need a mortgage for the building of new house

That’s what I thought. However, they have said that essentially we are not allowed to create another habitable dwelling on the plot whilst it has the mortgage on

Further to this. We contacted our mortgage company and they have refused to let us build a new property on the land. It’s crazy as our mortgage is pretty small in relation to the value of the land (about 30%). Seems to just be a blanket Lloyds policy although I have asked for them to highlight where in the policy it says this (although each request takes 3 weeks to reply to!!). Someone at the bank said I could actually transfer out the plot of land and ask the bank to accept keeping the existing mortgage on a smaller plot? Does anyone have experience of this and how it works in reality? Any tax implications?

Do you remember how much you paid per sqm? I’m finding it’s a bit pricey!

Hi there. Just specifying some black external, vertical timber cladding on our new build. It is all in a fairly accessible place so maintenance is not too much of an issue, but still don’t want to be doing anything too regularly. We would like to go with real timber as opposites to a composite. We would like to do this fairly cost effectively. Does anyone have any recommendations on wood/stain we could use?

Thank you for this. I came to roughly the same conclusion having been on the phone to land registry and the bank since I wrote this post. presumably when selling existing house with a new title, this is all dealt with by a normal conveyancing solicitor as part of the normal sale process? thanks again

Hi all. I hope this is in the right section of the forum. we have got permission to build a new house in our current back garden which we will then move into and sell the main house. We have a mortgage on current house but only about 30% LTV and estate agents don’t feel that the smaller garden will cause a huge devaluation. I appreciate I need to check with my current mortgage provider whether we can build, but can anyone advise: a) whether we need to apply for the mortgage provider to drop having a charge on that piece of land? b) whether we need to apply to split title deeds with land registry before selling main house? I have read they can be funny about doing it unless there’s a change of ownership. Many thanks

Perfect. Thank you! This would be ideal as could just buy the front, but it seems as though the frame itself is also a wood veneer which is confusing me slightly. Will give them a call tomorrow!