Bitpipe

Welcome. Me too, although in my case '3 bed house gobbling', although we did live in it for 4 years first while we got those ducks in a row. Developers typically are not interested in a 1:1 replacement project, unless its a very exclusive area, they tend to target plots where one house can give way to multiple (planning allowing). And there is the rub - the value uplift is in getting PP for land. Without it, the land is cheap but useless for building on - with it, the land is very expensive. There is not much profit in teh building process itself which is why the big box developers cut so many corners when it comes to putting the houses up. Now, when you say 'eco' what do you mean? Energy efficient (when complete)? Low carbon construction? High reuse of water etc? For the majority here, it's the first category - designing and building a home that is comfortable and very efficient to live in, now and for the future. It need not be that more expensive to construct than 'traditional' build methods and does not need to be stacked with 'green tech'. It can also look as contemporary or traditional as you wish - this can be key from the planning perspective. Budget wise you need to think on what you can afford, how quickly you need it built and to what standard - known as the 'builder's triangle' you can typically have two at the cost of the third. Many here (me included) have PMd the build while living on-site (the classic 40-ft caravan experience), this really means you take the role of 'main contractor' saving that 20% overhead and organising and sourcing what needs to be done. Does not mean you need to lift a hammer if you don't want to, essentially you are co-ordinating contractors and trades to do the skilled work. No experience required but skilled use of a sweeping brush comes in handy. That said, if you have practical skills and the time to spare, you can roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. Whether this actually saves money is a moot point as you'll inevitably take much longer at a given task than a professional but you may well do it more to your satisfaction! A friend's husband is a professional builder and she's still without a kitchen 18 months after he started their renovation project 'on the side'.

I used a broker and when the surveyor came by I explained the construction. His main concern was - have BCO signed it off (yes) and do you have a build warranty (also yes). He never asked to see any proof. I don't think TF is considered 'non standard'.

Acorn insurance, I think I found them through Quidco. I made sure to speak to an agent to confirm the building construction method and they checked with the underwriter that it was OK.

Really? I have a high st mge and buildings insurance on my render clad timber frame house. No issues. And the value is not far off that which you quote above.

Our contractor used Sika and they came to site a few times to inspect installation of their system (water bar etc) and issued the warranty. The only issue with ICF is that you can't see the final quality of the concrete in the same way you can when you strike in-situ formwork. If the mix is the correct spec and is poured and vibed properly during the pour then all should be well.

We didn't need one in the end but my understanding is that it is primarily to remove the continual ingress of ground water, however I believe it can also be used for internal fouls also (if you had wet services in the basement).

Totally agree, but I was trying to address the more direct 'is it worth it' question from a monetary standpoint. For an existing dwelling, where there is already whole house heating and extraction, then the return would be much lower. Possibly negative as low airtightness would render the heat recovery element negligible. Maybe this is what I need for my fancy stairs

The common business calculation for determining 'value' is Return On Investment. ROI=(Net Return on Investment/Cost of Investment)×100% My MVHR system cost me about £4k and I self installed. Given I needed a ventilation system to meet BR so you could subtract, say £500 for decent external extractor fans for each bathroom and the kitchen and some means to ventilate the basement. Then I'd have needed trickle vents for the windows (given mine were passive, not an option) but lets assume I could get them for another £500 as an optional extra. So now I'd need to model the heat loss incurred by traditional ventilation and understand how that impacted my space heating design. It's likely I'd have needed to put heating in each bedroom (currently none) so maybe another £1500 for first floor UFH. So the net cost for the MVHR is £1500. I'd then need to calculate the additional energy cost to heat the house year round (currently its an average of £1/day for gas) and then I could work out the 'saving' factoring in the electric used by the MVHR and consumables (filter etc). I'm not sure you could model the 'fresh air' benefit. Let's say it's a £250 net saving per year in energy cost (assuming no change in energy cost). So assuming the system has a useful life of 15 years, it will save me £3750 so the ROI is 3750/1500 *100% = 250% which is about %16 per year - a decent return. Obviously these numbers would need much more scrutiny but probably not a million miles off. Now, next job is to calculate the ROI for the engineered stairs that have no stringer and look the same from below as above. Doubled our stairs budget but they make me smile every time I look at them - what's that worth

Those are the ones! only ever saw them in my local BM and they stopped stocking them. Glad to see that Screwfix still do them. My cut & noggin method seems to work pretty well as the noggins (which I cut to be as long either side as the hole itself, so plenty of area in contact) , glue very well to the inner papered face of the PB. I pull them tight against the wall using some string and a dowel as the adhesive dries. I've used the grippits to hold up a couple of TVs and they are rock solid. Need to drill a perfectly clean hole though.

I've had this issue in a few places in our house where we didn't make provision for hanging heavy items (i.e. extra noggins behind the plasterboard). I originally used some nifty plasterboard fixings that were round discs with steel lugs that rotated out behind them but they seem to be discontinued now. Was putting up an Ikea floating shelf for the kids room last month and used some of the other types. As soon as the shelf was loaded with books, the fixings pulled straight out. I resorted to using a hole cutter to take out a section of PB for each fixing location, cutting a length of timber (wide and thin) and putting it inside the hole, glueing the external face of the noggin to the internal face of the plasterboard. When glue has gone off, the original disc of plasterboard was glued back to the face of the noggin and the circular cut was filled. Quick sand, lick of paint and it's invisible. I then just use a decent screw to fix back to the new noggin. Works a treat.

Having seen some of the deal detail, it does broadly meet the UK's stated 'Canada +' deal parameters and the EU has held their red lines also both sides will paint it as a win. I doubt the Brexit ERG purists will be happy but they never seem to be anyway. Economically it can't ever be as good as full membership as it mostly covers traded goods (a smaller % of our exports by value, majority % of EU imports by value) but not services, of which financial services makes up the majority. Plus added cost of leaving customs union which is expected to add a few percent 'drag' on the process. Financial services will be subject to a separate agreement but looks to be equivalence only (and not the hoped for passporting) which the EU can turn on and off at will. Right now it suits them to still permit UK financial institutions but over time that may change as Frankfurt / Dublin / Paris / Amsterdam build up equivalent capability. I also dislike the concept of a United States of Europe, however that's not what we left (even if it was portrayed as such) and in any respect we had a veto on further integration. But that's all history now so we need the dust to settle and judge whether we're net better off or not in 10 years or so. Question is how and from where the gap in GDP can be filled. It may never be and those who advocated Brexit may consider that a price worth paying which is fair enough. My guess is that will be the timeframe when a closer relationship will start to become politically palatable again. I expect there will still be disruption from Jan 1st until the new customs systems bed in and traders get familiar with them plus more visible differeces like increased travel insurance premiums (especially for older travellers) due to no more EHIC or increased mobile roaming charges- that may drag on public sentiment as the expectation will be 'we have a deal'.

Well done Ian, same amount of fingers at the end that you started with too. You will slowly notice the transition from actual building to maintenance and gardening...

Our electrician wired up the neutrals of our bathroom lights, plus proximity sensors, so that when either is triggered the MVHR goes into boost mode (via the light switch input on the main unit). This also triggers the pump for the DHW hot return. I think there's a humidity sensor in the unit itself but this set up triggers everything automatically when required.

As a similarly inexperienced first time self builder, my advice is to get the most turnkey frame erection service you can afford as an experienced crew will have your building up and ready to receive windows, roofing, cladding etc (which you pre-schedule) to get you to weather tight an a matter of weeks. If you're building to a low energy standard (good airtightness and insulation) then get that as part of the package also. We found that our time was best spent planning ahead and sourcing materials and trades, making timely decisions etc. You can also save money by having trades properly scheduled with a clear understanding of what you need them to do. I did self install the MVHR, quite enjoyed it, but it took ages. As we had a lull in the build at that stage (plumber and electrician were delayed on other jobs) I wasn't holding anyone up.

This is what happened with us - lots of objections for the first app (rejected) (including houses either side who we discussed plans with, fairly friendly with etc). Second (essentially same as first with minor tweaks) got a lot less and the third app (some changes made by us due to basement expansion) got zero. The reasons the planners used to reject the first bore no correlation to the objections raised by community comments - were technical in nature and easy to address. One neighbour who is a conveyancing solicitor wrote a ten page opus for which the planners needed to address each objection and acknowledge in their response. I suspect this irritates them somewhat and may be counter productive. I let all the objections wash over me as everyone is entitled to air their opinion and ultimately the planners will decide with defensible planning policy to which you can appeal.

What does your final invoice say? Should have his VAT number. If they get awkward, just say you've already notified HMRC and they've taken note and are expecting him to refund...

A new gas connection is often subsidised. It cost me £1500 for a pre-demo disconnection and £300 for the reconnection from a different part of the frontage. The disconnection took two of them all of 30 mins, the reconnection was a full half day with a crew of 4. So if they do it and leave the pit open.... you can perhaps cover with steel plates until it gets reinstated.

I did this and the buildup came to about 25mm which was miraculously the same depth as the low profile tray I used. Build up was was 6mm insulated tile backer board, UFH heating wire, latex levelling compound, adhesive & porcelain tiles. You have some discretion with the adhesive and latex to increase the thickness - if you're going for a wet-room style then you'll need to think on tanking the floor, you can't rely on the grout to prevent water getting past the tiles (same goes for shower walls). Think also about the flooring immediately outside the bathroom. We have engineered wood floors which would have come up below the tile edge, so the fitter built a little ramp with latex on the bathroom threshold so everything came up flush - used a stainless steel T bar to fill the gap.

Much like a lawn that gets wrecked during a build, you'd be entitled to re-instate it. May be tricky to get the contractor to re-invoice you but they have 4 years to correct their VAT return so it's feasible. You will want to speak to their accounts dept (or accountant / book keeper) and say that you'll be making a submission to HMRC VAT in relation to the build (quote the scheme details etc) and advise them that as they've incorrectly collected VAT this may create an issue for them. Most firms want to be squeaky clean on VAT so should want to sort it out - it's not as if its their money anyway. However I was in a similar situation with a ground investigation company I used at the outset of the build process. I should have ensured that on site activities were zero rated but the advice is not black and white and I was unsuccessful in persuading them a few years later. Good luck!

Hard landscaping is zero rated if it is show on your planning drawings. Soft ground landscaping (e.g. turf) around the new build is expected but other planting must be specifically required by planning conditions (e.g. re-instatement of a hedge or street facing greenery). In reality, you should be ok to submit reasonable invoices for materials for VAT refund or get the contractor to zero rate at source and get them to do whatever you want. We got our resin drive and electric gates zero rated by the respective contractor and our general landscaper zero rated his labour. The materials we claimed back on were stuff like hardcore, sand, cement, blocks, pavers, fencing & turf. I don't think they'll do exact measurement on turf, pavers fencing etc but you may attract attention if you're way over what's shown on plan.

In my view, the architects #1 job is to design you a home that meets your requirements (function, aesthetic & budget) AND can get it through planning - whether it goes to committee, appeal or just delegated to the officer. Everything else flows down from that and can be given to others. However if you don't get past that first requirement then everything else is academic. So what is that worth to you (and as a % of your overall build budget)? FWIW, my architect designed a great home for us and got us planning after an initial refusal - he had a planning consultant who was ex LA and could pick up the phone to he planning dept and have a straight conversation. Also had traffic engineering consultants etc as seemingly minor issues like parking and turning can easily kill an application. However we decided not to use him for post planning (conditions discharge & regs) as they wanted £15k (2015 prices) and we were getting full drawings from the TF firm so were able to DIY conditions discharge and regs and save the fee. Still maintained a good relationship with him though and picked his brains on a few issues.

We have Basalt grey (7012) which is a more bluey grey than the near black.

Well, we'll wait and see. There will be a lot of disruption no matter what happens, need to see how much of it is still there in 12 months. Boris is potentially in a pickle either way I think, but I'm pretty convinced he's going to bugger off in the spring anyway due to covid / parenthood / boredom / better pay knocking out a weekly Telegraph column / etc..

Looks like we're inching towards a deal. Boris and co have gone into overdrive in positioning the EU trade negotiation terms as blackmail, punishment or surrender of sovereignty etc so that when some highly arcane and technical trade mechanisms relating to automation of tariffs relating to evolution of evolving standards are eventually agreed they can claim success and sell it to their back benchers and the press as an EU cave in. No doubt the fish solution will be similar. Any eventual agreement should not be positioned as a UK cave in either, its just normal trade deal negotiations. As has been said endlessly, if no-deal is wonderful and we will prosper mightily with it, why expend all this energy on trying to land a deal? I think Boris is in a pickle in either situation - if it's no deal then he gets lambasted when there is (hopefully short term) chaos and shortages for not being able to do a deal. If there is a deal there will still be chaos as that arises from our abrupt leaving of CU and SM and the immediate transition to a new way of managing trade that is still poorly understood and not fully deployed. So he'll get lambasted for that too, especially when people say 'But I thought we had a deal??'

I believe it's a similar story for other eu based staff who are employed from the UK like holiday reps, ski instructors etc.and pay UK tax and NI. Leaving the single market (which is happening irrespective of deal or no deal) now makes that impossible so they need to be employed by a local entity in their country of work and comply with those national labour laws, which for many mean increased taxes, contributions etc. plus extra cost for the UK business to facilitate.