Bitpipe

Superfast BB is still copper to the premises from the street cabinet where the fibre is terminated. We put in 5 pair gel filled cable bough from TLC which meets the BT spec, pulled it into our build, ran through duct, across road and coiled at base of pole. https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CAEXGPO5.html BT will only supply 2 pair by default. Annoyingly, the OR engineer who did the original install did not put our cable up the same protective cover that protected the rest, even through the duct was at the foot of the pole. Anyway, now a few years on from the install and we started getting BB issues last month. OR came out to take a look and found that the cable had got nicked by whoever last cut the hedge! At one point we were worried that a new cable would need to get pulled through and we did not leave a spare draw string in the duct which was an oversight but OR were able to repair it and all good now.

With you on the difficultly completing once you get out of self build mode. Nothing wrong in getting a competent landscaper to do the ground prep & edging (as we did), however our guy recommended the resin firm directly - same guys who did all the surfacing around the Oracle in Reading. N.B. the proper contractors use a 'candy floss' style machine, not a bell mixer - worth asking for pics of their equipment

Well, 'beware' is a bit strong but I agree that you need at least one of the 3 waterproofing options (membrane, water proof concrete, internal membrane & sump/pump) - some warranty or BCO will require two. Knowing where your water table is, and more importantly your ground conditions, will dictate your structural design (inc. waterproofing & ground gas mitigation) and site strategy and ultimately your cost to construct. We have friends who built more or less in a Thames feeding stream - they had a full dewatering system during the build and a 2 part warrantied waterproofing system. Still dry as a bone, main design challenge was preventing hydrostatic pressure pushing the basement out of the ground!

Well not really as the first report would have sufficed if the supervising engineer did not mis-locate one of the boreholes and fail to interpret the data correctly. I got a 'discounted' rate for the more comprehensive second investigation but still cost me £5k more. Wrote a complaint to the CEO listing all the failures and got a 'well, that's ground investigation for you' reply. However they did send the SE a bunch of flowers to apologise for messing her about (she recommended the firm). Did tick me off for quite a while.

There are stories of basement construction commencing based on thin data and then discovering unexpected ground features that stop work until the contractor, and possibly SE, can resolve. Costs can spiral significantly. We were prepared to walk away from our basement if the GI report suggested it was not viable economically. After the first investigation borehole suggested that we were sitting on made ground which would have meant piling and end of basement plan. We paid for a more comprehensive investigation and confirmed that ground was solid.

It's a good initial investment but no substitute for a full GI on the footprint where your basement will reside. Should give you a good idea of local conditions.

I found it useful to give immediate neighbours a letter with my mobile on it, a summary of what was planned (times & date) and suggestions to move cars to avoid dust or getting blocked in by a big delivery etc. I found that when people know they can contact you, they're less likely to.

This phase of our demo really upset the neighbour as the slab ran quite close to their house and was particularly thick. The contractor should have a 'pecker' to break up the slab but a large enough machine should be able to grub them out also. Problem is usually that the general purpose excavator being used is too small so they need to break the concrete up into lots of pieces. Our neighbour claimed that these works caused pointing to fall out of his chimney and ended up having it re-built and reduced in height but he had no 'before' pics so not sure if the contractor paid him anything. So my advice is to ensure that the machines used are properly sized and that you take lots of photos of the neighbouring properties before works starts incase any existing damage is attributed to your works. Also ensure your contractor has the necessary insurance etc and make it clear that any complaints will be directed to them and not you

We had similar. The sub-base layer will be dependent on the ground conditions and how deep you need to go down to get to something firm. Our base layer was limestone (?) scalping (pink) as they compacted nice and smooth vs the generic 'crush' that was used under paving. @Weebles who are you using? We went with Pavillion Paving.

Hmm, I would have had either slab or foundations, probably not both but the slab would have cost more as that was just the build price and did not cover prep. I'd say the basement was £50k over for structure and £15k to finish, it really did not need a lot of work. But again, my site and ground conditions were very favourable and that is the big variable, the latter needing some investment (GIS) to confirm before design and accurate costing can be completed. BGS data can give you a good estimate if you can find a borehole in the vicinity.

@pocster, @Thorfun and myself obviously listened to a lot of Jam when we were younger. We have friends in a nearby, quite posh village on the Thames. They bought a single story traditional cottage and were not allowed to exceed ridge height, so they built a full footprint basement and contemporary flat roof 1.5 story on top. Sailed through planning.

Obviously it depends massively on the ground & site conditions and design and you need to spend some money to get a definitive answer, Your GI survey and SE fees for a basement will be more comprehensive than for just a slab or foundations - you need to get this far to get sensible quotes and make a true comparison. But let's make some simplistic assumptions. If you were planning a 10m x 10m passive raft foundation, 200mm thick sitting on 200mm EPS, then structurally you're adding the walls (40m x 3m x 200mm plus 200mm EPS to exterior) plus the ground floor, which can be suspended timber floor or a concrete lid - we went for the former and it has worked well with UFH in spreader plates. Needed some steel support to bridge the gap and take point loads from the timber frame above. You need to excavate and remove the spoil (11m x 11m x 3.5m) and allow for backfill of the working space. Muck away is volume based and different materials bulk up (chalk is 3x, clay 2x and stone / gravel is 1x). If your spoil is 'clean (WAC test required) then all good, any contamination will jack up disposal costs significantly). Waterproofing per site conditions & SE design. Internally you need to frame out the room spaces and meet regs wrt fire - either an Independent exit to ground level or sprinkler system. Add electrics, & finishes (plastering, joinery, decoration). So, our basement structural construction package was £120k but that included demolition of existing house (£5k) and all drainage & services (£15k) so call it £100k for the basement structure itself. The quotes we got for traditional strip foundations (we had clay on gravel on chalk so assumption was going down about 2m) were about £40k and a passive slab was about £28k but that was excluding prep ground works which I expect would have added another £10-15k. Framing out the rooms was about £1500 and the additional doors / plasterboard / electrics etc were not excessive as they were quoted as part off the whole house fit out. Now - we were lucky to have a large accessible site that could accommodate a lot of plant and did not need to worry about party wall wrt the excavation. No meaningful ground water so just waterproof concrete and land drainage were sufficient. If you're on a tight site and need sheet piling plus a more comprehensive waterproofing solution (and worst case, de-watering during the build) or on poor conditions (e.g. made ground) needing piling etc then your construction costs would be significantly higher.

Our neighbours were also polite during the pre-app discussions and then lodged lengthy objections that they did not discuss with us, despite every opportunity. We built, they got over it and relations are now fine. Best not to take it personally, just be polite and business like but do not attempt to appease them for the sake of good relations - often being over accommodating can make relations worse as they will keep expecting more.

Agree, but I didn't have the benefit of this forum back then so didn't know. They also refused to refund when I brought it to their attention a few years later.

Ours had to be repeated due to inconsistent results which turned out to be errors by the GI company but was unable to reduce the fee. I also paid VAT when a large portion of the works would have qualified as zero rated as they required tools, and were closely related to the build. Was not able to reclaim that either. You may well get what you need to satisfy the SE with much less investigation but depends on where you are and what local conditions are. You can look up BGS borehole data for free and that normally gives you a good start. You will need to do some soil analysis (WACS) for contamination to enable your groundworker to quote disposal. There are really too many variables to guess the price but talk to local groundworker firms, NOT basement specialists, and they should give you some ideas. N.B. If your site is small and close to neighbouring property, you may not be able to 'batter back' the excavation safely and may need sheet piling which adds more cost.

1) You can do a desk survey and look at BGS borehole data to get a feel of ground conditions. You can also get a feel for site conditions, access etc. Where will basement sit, will you invoke party wall etc. 2) Depends but your SE does not need to be near you so you could contract someone in a cheaper location. I used Tara @ build collective in Bristol - maybe they can give you an indicative cost. GI cost me a lot (£12k but I made some mistakes and so did they). You shoyld be able to do it cheaper - ask the SE what you need (holes & probes) and then shop around the national GI companies. 3) Yes, normally excludes the fit out. Some include the basement lid if that's part of the design. 4) depends £1500-2k / m2 would not be a bad start, you may pull it in cheaper once conditions are known or it may get more expensive.

Let's not go there However, like the best technology solutions, I look at our oven quad as a fully redundant load sharing pair.

We have a Dualit with two slots and a cage (25 years old and still going). Only bog standard white sliced bread seems to fit the slots but on a daily basis I do wedge in two nice thick slices of bloomer and watch it burn.

We got them in 2016 (the year setting goes back to 2014). I have WiFi envy, hate setting the clocks, especially as I have 4 of them they must all be exactly the same !

I'd agree - my resin bound driveway is never slippy (unlike the polished limestone slabs which can be like glass when wet). On our install, the crushed glass was scattered on before the resin had set, although given the drive has been pressure washed a few times it may not be there any more!

Agree, however self build encompasses everything from never lifting a finger, turnkey delivery to rolling up your sleeves and doing it yourself. UK is addicted to the big developer model which is delivering a lot of units but they are not of the best design or build quality.

Only issue I have with the Neff ovens is the display regularly freezes, either completely or with partial function. Needs to be turned off, wait 15 secs (light flashes inside) and turn on again, then reset timers etc. Have also replaced the inside glass on one of the hide and slide doors after someone closed it a bit too enthusiastically - not cheap but quite DIYable. The pyrolytic self clean function is decent but there is an inch perimeter around the doors that you need to manually clean with something industrial.

Hmm, teenagers always eating our treat stash so given they never cook, oven is ideal hiding place!

We have 4 ovens, all Neff Top left is a combi microwave / oven. Top right is a steam oven. Bottom left is a standard size oven, hide & slide door. Bottom right is another standard size oven, hide & slide door. Plan was that the bottom right oven was reserved for baking and was the highest specced - digital, super accurate etc, bottom left was a cheaper version for everyday use. When ordered, the cheap one was out of stock so we got a free upgrade to the fancy version, so now have two the same. Also turns out that both of these ovens have a steam function which makes the steam oven somewhat redundant. So the two left hand ovens get used all the time. Steam oven is now known as the broccoli oven as that's all that has ever been cooked in it. 'Fancy' oven mostly contains the shelves and trays from the other 3 ovens. Occasionally used for baking bread. When we do xmas dinner for 12, we manage to use them all but I suspect life would have been just as good with two. However, looks nice.

Interesting. Our BCO did not want to see electrical or heating layouts, just the structural frame details + calcs. I left the electrical & plumbing plan to the respective trades, BCO just wanted to see the completion certificates where applicable.