the_r_sole

need the rest of the drawings too, sections and elevations would help to explain that plan better...

Going from two to three storey has a whole host of knock ons for escape routes etc so make sure your plan can easily accommodate the additional storey without too many expensive issues

Sorry I don't understand, what are you expecting to be signed off and for what purpose? For contractor payments? For compliance? For mortgage release? It might be worth trying to explain to us what you want your technician to do and for what purpose? RIAS don't publish fee guidelines any more, and they wouldn't have any remit for a technician duties either

When you tender a project to a builder, you have to give them all the information to price, if you dont, they make assumptions - and they'll usually not assume the same as you do. Tender drawings should identify all the finishes and their location and also have a wall type breakdown - you can't expect a contractor to ask all the questions you think they should, you've said you didn't tell them because they should have asked but if you knew, you should have given them all the information required for accurate pricing. Did you pay your architect to prepare tender documents?

Did they only price on a set of drawings, or did you give them a schedule of works/bill of quantities etc? In all seriousness, take a step back and look at the elevation drawings you have given to the contractor, then ask what clues would tell him to price that as stone?

If we have a detail like that, we would do partial elevations to show the full building (actually working on a u-shaped house at the moment where we have done 6 elevations to show where everything is...

I'm afraid it;s your responsibility to explain and describe the building you are asking the contractor to build, although your floor plans should show the cladding too. What's to stop you saying it was something different, way more expensive there? The contractor is well within their rights to charge you for something you haven't told them about

well, if you haven't provided a drawing to show it, or explained anywhere in the information you have given them to price it on - then I think you're hard pushed to say he should have known it was stone cladding on the reveal!

but where's the side elevation?

How can that not be seen on the elevation drawings?!

That's some turd you have to polish ?

Hah! Have seen this happen before, the danger of only giving a brickie the plan drawing and not the elevation for the window on a stair turn/landing...

Have specified knauf ones before (but no idea if they are the best, just had decent technical info!) Pretty sure you can get British gypsum ones too...

payments should be made at the end of the stage I.e. as work is completed rather than upfront - what contract are you using? There's a few standard homeowner ones which are pretty robust and straightforward be careful if the contractor is preparing it, especially if they are using confusing acronyms!!

I can't see it giving you any acoustic advantage as the noise is transfered through the structure, if anything it might transfer more noise? Plasterboard is much better for acoustics, two sheets would definitely outperform osb and 1 sheet, resilient bars would be the rolls Royce ceiling here

What do you mean by "signing it off"?

There's a couple of things to consider imo - how complex is your build, and are there any real technical or aesthetic choices you've made so far? If you aren't intending on having a contract admin or any one tracking variations, what is the builder proposing to track and charge for changes? (the last thing you want is a bill for extras, three months after you've moved in) Do they have any checking process for changes, so for example, you say to them, I fancy moving that door way, or I want that door to open inwards, not outwards - who checks that it still complies with the building regs? I've been on site recently where the client wanted to install a shower tray which was 200mm bigger than I had shown on a drawing and the builder said it was fine - I got them to mark out the shower tray and the activity spaces required for the room on the ground and they could then see that it didn't work, but unfortunately, someone had to pay a restocking charge! What you want to make sure is that your risk is managed, I always say to people, we'll upset the builder so you don't have to! It's fine when the builder is moaning about the architect and the client is moaning about the builder to us, rather than having a direct confrontation between client and builder...

do you know the product used for the EPDM? I've had one in a previous office where the manufacturer sent out an inspector to look - basically it hadn't been done properly, but the solution was to basically start again from scratch to make sure it was done to the manufacturers spec and then it got a guarantee on the work too

You're correct there - and a self build forum might not be the best place for this comment as most on here are hugely knowledgeable! - but, I've seen a lot of self-builders fall into the trap of getting rid of all the consultants after they get a builder and end up with something go wrong during construction, 99% of jobs have changes as they go along, at least in scotland you must have building regs approval so the builder can only go so wrong! But I've seen a lot of costly mistakes due to builders thinking their anecdotal understanding of particular building regs doesn't have an impact to the overall picture. saying that I've had projects which have gone on site and we've never heard a peep again, I've also had one where the builder appointed us for the site stage because the client was making changes all the time! (I'd also say I've been involved in very few, if any, houses that would be considered "grand designs")

Builders don't always know or understand the finer points of the building regulations - I've lost count the number of times the "expensive glazing" that we have specced very specifically, has been down graded by well meaning builders and caused huge knock on effects when you go for completion. There are many reasons why having a third party expert inspecting throughout the process - but if your mindset is that they are unnecessary middle men, then there's nothing I can do to change your mind, after all, why would you possibly want to ensure that someone is making sure your life savings aren't all in the hands of a builder?!

what material are you using? I've found the time is really in all of the verge/gutter/facia details rather than just the main roof covering, do you have rooflights etc too?

If you don't pay me to inspect construction regularly, you don't get me at the end of the phone answering queries either - once a project goes on site without our involvement then there's far too many implications in answering queries on work you haven't seen. Regularly we have builders offering clients "cheaper alternatives" (especially on glazing/rooflights) not realising that the spec of glass is determined by the SAP etc. then at the end they can't get completions and bring us back in to try and get things signed off... Our building warrant (regs) drawings are only there to confirm compliance with the building regulations, construction drawings should be much more detailed and specific - so it depends on what level of information you have had prepared, how much you trust the builder to make assumptions based on your priorities (not theirs) and how much you want a third party to carry out inspections for quality and finish (not just technical compliance with the regulations)

although not mechanical , your strategy is designed to pull air around so I'd go for the test to be sure

Use the right window for the right place! I tend to not even use the 150 upstand around worktops anymore in kitchens and just run the worktops into the window reveals instead of cells... But anyway, the external elevation should give you a hint of what's happening inside, so people would know where the kitchen is on your house by the nature of the windows... have windows as big as are useful, certainly in the sitting room I'd go fairly low to make sure I can see out of them when sitting

So a non-habitable room to a non-habitable room - the planners should be telling him politely to go away!