AartWessels

I found using Buildstore as a broker to be very helpful. Our conditions are complicated, being here on a visa, only since 2 years ago, and wanting to do a real self build in Scotland. Buildstore made sure to approach lenders first, to see if there would be any willing to accept us. Then they made sure we would lend solely on my income, as per our request. Then they kept us right in preparing all the paperwork. They prepared the costing, which corresponded with mine, but presented in a way the lender wants to see, etc. So yes, costly, but worth it I think.

We had the formal offer the day after the valuation was done. Going from formal offer to money in bank account depends on many things. Are all conditions set out by the lender met, such as structural warranty, site insurance? How quick will your solicitor act in terms of title deeds, etc. So could range from a week to a couple of weeks or more. Depends mostly on what you have prepared?

That's it. Works wonders in a rural environment, and an ROI of around 10 years if you included a pump, or less than 7 years if you don't. And maybe even less if it is in a location without any existing infrastructure.

Although I agree that is factually true, I don't think in real.life it matters that much. With that, I mean, there are so many factors in the actual environmental conditions,that you can't accommodate for all of them, not even when designing. KISS. An oversized track will hardly ever fill completely, so the tank must fit to the roof surface. Only water from the roof areas should go in. Keep your gutters clean. That has a very big impact. Clean the inflow filter regularly. Again. A big impact. In a big storm, you won't catch it all. Many reasons why not, but mostly because the time of year these usually come (the wet time), when your tanks are filled already anyway. Now, if you don't intend to use it for the house, but just for the garden, allotments, greenhouse, etc., the story changes. Using a catchment basin, IBC containers, etc. change the ROI dramatically I'd say.

Maybe. I'm not against storing rainwater, I just think using it in a house is not a case with an ROI. In our new build we'll store it in a wildlife pond.

It's mandated to prevent water problems. Prevent a bit of flooding, etc. And then 'sustainability'. I don't think it's hitting either of these targets. Doubling the tank size depends on the size of your roof. Still, watering the garden in summer will suck it dry in 2 weeks.

I moved here from Belgium, where rain water harvesting is mandatory. We had a 5000L tank installed. Water costs around £2.20/m3 there. We used rain water for laundry, toilets and the garden. There is however absolutely no way to get an ROI, or at least not in Belgium. A major part of summer, the tank will run dry. In the wet periods, it will be full, and therefore the rain water will overflow to a drain. So the theoretical volume of rainfall can not be used, as it cannot be harvested in practice, and part of the year you will have to fill the tank from mains water to keep toilets and laundry running. Anyway, that's just my practical experience.

That's what I've been looking for as well. Not been lucky yet, but I guess I will be at some point.

No, I don't think so. As far as I am aware there are no grants available here for self build.

That is what an architect is for, partially...

I get that, but the exterior part of that insulation is just a former and will be removed after the pour as far as I understand. So I guess your other suggestion is better, albeit a bit messy and indeed requiring lots of trust and/or oversight.

Considering the size, and not remembering if I've seen your budget, though I assume the project will come in around the £1m mark. So yes, I would definitely get an opinion from a different architect. I am no architect, but I echo (no pun intended) @Owain1602's words. I am missing the flow, I see huge open spaces and it has a high risk of being something massive without a soul. Now mind you, some people love that, and I do love large open spaces. I do however also value the proper flow in a house very much, as well as making the best of available space. The room I will use as a plant room pretty much has the same dimensions as yours. And that's tight. It serves a 115m2 house though. And then, as mentioned before, a proper design shouldn't just look great, it should serve its purpose. So when you get your groceries, what's the route from the car to where it needs to be. When you've been out with the dogs, where do you access the boot room without creating a mess in the house. How do you get the laundry to the washing machine. What's the distance and angles between hob, sink and fridge. And plenty more like those.

Thanks, I understand your concern and will propose this to the SE first. I do not see how there would be harm in this for the outer leaf beam. The main doubt I have about using steel for it is that when you stick that in the insulation that you'll end up with an exposed end of steel.

Poking some small rods across seems to make sense. I had been on a witch-hunt for spacers which would take 2 vertically spaced rods 😁

Feeling a bit thick here. I'm working out what I will need for the steelwork for my foundations, and have a hard time understanding how to space the two parallel bars above one another.

I understand that. It needs to work for you. All I intend to say is that I think in the current design the plant room indeed suffers from very little space compared to the bootroom, pantry and utility room. The flow might be optimised as well. Getting to the utility and pantry seems to take you through a round tour of most of the ground floor, whereas I would normally expect a utility to be easily accessible. The boot room also seems to take you through the main entrance hall. However, I may be overlooking doors in your plans. I do believe an architect should be able to help you improve the balance of the room sizes and the flow.

Great project! Love it! 180m2 ground floor surface and struggling where to find space for things? Probably you need a redesign by a proper architect. Just think about it. People put all functions you have there in a full house half the size of your ground floor.

That IS standard. Still surprised to see how few of these seem to be fitted here in the UK, whereas in Belgium and NL you'll have to search hard to find newer houses without them. All maintenance should be possible through the front opening. If it isn't your installer will have to do all the maintenance by himself I guess 😁🤭

Which is what I did 😁

Thanks, it's still a bit hard to follow your thoughts though. Kore and others provide guidance on what to do with soft spots. Regardless, I'd call my SE, to agree on the solution. Truth be told, I found it quite hard to find an SE comfortable with insulated raft foundations.

Sorry good man, it's probably because English is not my first language, I have no clue what you're trying to say. I guess your message is: if you want an insulated raft, buy PIR and do it yourself. Ill advice coming from an SE I'd say. Anyway, I'm sure it's coming from a good place.

Overall in life. It's best to build 3 times. The first build is for your enemy. The second for a friend. The third is your forever home. I'm starting my third, and when I look back, I'm not far off. When looking forward, I'm happy it's the last. I've lived in both houses with lots of joy, so don't worry about that 😁

Hmm, you should be seeing a field to set the COP value when selecting heat pump as heating source. It takes that same value for all meteorological conditions though. Haven't yet figured out if there's a standard formula to apply to COP based on outdoor temperature and water temperature.

What type of heating and cost per unit did you enter? Which location roughly?

I've been going through them as well, and di think they are correct actually. However, I should probably improve the user experience. Step 1: verify the baseline inputs Step 2: define the areas of your house with their respective materials or u values. Step 3 : pick your heating source and cost per unit Step 4 : select your location for accuracy in in energy needs and cost. Did you go through all 4 steps?