Bitpipe

Didn't he borrow the money from community lending or something? I read today that he's finalising a plan to finish it and then sell it.

I can't bring myself to watch it as I'll end up throwing something at the telly and I can't afford a new one.

As soon as there is a hole to put them in Ours went in as soon as the roof was felted.

I've met a quite few entrepreneurs in the tech world over the years and they are all propelled by a complete absence of self doubt, some are bordering on the evangelical . Where you or I would look at the numbers or the market and say 'Nope, this won't work (or won't work within a sensible timescale / budget) ', they drive ahead with a vision (and often lots of other people's money). A small percentage are genuinely successful and create sustainable businesses, some have modest success and bump along (great times just around the corner, keep funding us) and a good chunk just crash and burn quite visibly. Can't help but think this guy was one of those characters.

Quite sure you don't need special oval screws ?

Quick, call the BBC - I think you may have hit on a new format there.

We lived on site in a caravan - bit of a cliche but our total accommodation costs over 18 months were £1100 (as we sold it on after). You'll need power and water on site initially anyway to facilitate the works so you'd just need to get your sewage solution in early. Buy a container for site and store your stuff in that (take steps to manage humidity etc), sell it after. It's not an ideal living situation but perfectly manageable and means you can sell your house up front and have cash in hand to get rolling. You're also on site which increases security and keeps you very connected to the build (even if you're not doing that much). If you want to move from one nice house into another with no inconvenience then that is always an option but you to be able to fund it. So I guess what I'm saying is 1) find a site and secure it (probably with a loan) 2) make site habitable, sell house and clear land purchase loan 3) use remaining equity to underpin a self build mortgage, which post build you will swap for a traditional residential mortgage.

The thing to consider with windows is that, if you agree supply only then as soon as they're dropped on site, they're your responsibility. With a supply & fit, any damage, poor fitting etc is back on them for resolution. We had some very large units (2.2x4.5m sliders) that were being moved round site on straps via a tele-handler and slid in-between scaff poles with a few mm to spare on either side. All went well and they used proper compriband & airtightness tapes (which we obv. paid for) vs a squirt of LE foam here and there. We also did a lot of joint planning upfront to ensure that we'd have a flush transition between the sliders and the finished floor levels inside (and outside) plus making sure the frame could accommodate the hidden boxes for the blinds etc.

I used to be an avid GD watcher but since completing our own I really can't watch it anymore - can't say why exactly but probably to do with the scant detail of the things that really interest me about a build. Instead I caught a documentary on Yesterday about underground structures - this is fascinating -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamson_Tunnels, a late Georgian era eccentric multi millionaire who quietly created vaulted ceilings over exhausted sandstone quarry workings to create viable land for housing above and generate useful employment for locals. The Victorians then treated it as a giant landfill site and it was forgotten about. No plans or documentation survive. In the last 10 years, it was re-discovered and has been re-excavated by volunteers. Best part is, you don't need to look at it if you don't want to

Also allow CAT6 for internet radios, printers, PV controllers, streaming units, network storage - basically anything that requires internet but does not move. Frees up wifi bandwidth for genuinely mobile devices. Consider a 5a lamp circuit in each room, switchable with the other light controls - enables you to have controllable 'soft' lighting in evenings. In bedrooms, 5a should be switchable from bed and door. If you have a nice wall mounted TV, plan for sockets and data / antenna directlt behind it to avoid trailing cables + ducting for cabling to other devices (dvd etc) Audio cables in wall for surround sound systems? Door bell / external cameras / etc? And yes, unless you're planning and old school tv antenna on-top of your flat screen tv, you'll need antenna + signal booster in loft and distribution to rooms with TVs.

Looked at Internorm (2 different resellers), Nordan, Velfac and Gaulhoffer (via Ecowin, UK reseller). Spec was alu-clad timber frame, passive standard, 3G with as thin & flat a profile as possible. Spec was 5 largeish (1200mm) opening windows, a bunch of fixed glazing of various sizes, two 4.5m sliders and three external doors. We also wanted decent external motorised blinds on 4 of the opening windows & supplier to arrange install. All the windows were decent enough - Internorm fell on pricing (the latter kept pushing us to uPVC to get the price down), Velfac on the cost & sliders design (couldn't do a 'one door' unit at that width) and Nordan couldn't install even with 6-7 months notice. Only Gaulhoffer reseller could do the blinds and were not far out on cost compared to the rest. Very pleased with the decision 4 years on from install. Didn't like front doors from any of the above so went for a RK passive door from a reseller.

Any chance of getting your fee back if they exceed their timing? Post decision obviously. I did this when my planning conditions took 12+ weeks to discharge - was only £95 though as I put them all in in one shot.

So, I'm no expert, but these people are https://www.elandcables.com/cables/spen-cable so call them and see what 400m would cost - they should be able to figure out what your DNO would use and the rating for a domestic supply etc. You'd also need 400m of approved ducting as the DNO cable is not armoured. Now, not sure if this is at all relevant but if you were running armoured cable (known as SWA) that distance then looking here https://www.clevelandcable.com/calculator.php and plugging in 100A for supply (typical domestic) and 3 core armoured underground requires 185mm2 cable. Over here https://www.superlecdirect.com 400m of 185mm2 cable would come to just under £18k ex VAT. So not cheap.

In ours, loos are to side of door so if it's open you see sink / bath - only exception is the downstairs WC which is long & narrow so WC is at opposite side to door (also meets the BRs)

Once again @JSHarris you're coming up short of expectations. I would expect you to cobble together (from your shed of ex MOD spares) individual mouse trackers to monitor their return. Either that or blast them into space with a hobby rocket. BTW our cat is so lazy it would end up sleeping in the bucket with the mice as company.

We have ensuite pocket doors (and similar to bathrooms and dressing room). All are 44mm solid doors using Eclisse ironmongry and a haefle pocket door system. I'm guessing a glass door would need to be custom made - how would you fit it to the runners above? The pocket door systems are fairly fixed width so you'll need brushes either side to hide the gaps.

One other suggestion - our house is also white render but rather than Anthracite Grey (RAL 7016) which is practically black, we chose Basalt Grey (7012) for windows, rainwater and soffit / fascia. It is a bit softer and more bluey grey than black grey, looks less harsh and blends well with slate etc.

I prefer A - B is more symmetrical but has a wiff of prison bars

Thanks Tim That's pretty respectable - we're averaging £1 for gas and £1.50 for electric per day over the year (we have about 3.8KW of solar PV facing SE) and the house is a bit under 400m2. We're 0.55 ACH or 0.817 m3/h/m2 but it was a timber frame with guaranteed passive airtightness performance vs brick and block. We both work from home most days so that probably pushes up the electricity usage a bit. What's your view on the saving of the rainwater - do you have any idea how often the mains needs to take over from the stored water? Guessing the power for the pump is minimal.

Hi Tim, thanks for offering to share your experience, especially since we went for a fabric first approach and have relatively few 'eco' products. Would be good to understand your water & energy consumption / cost over the 11 years. To what standard did you build the fabric of the house (passive, SAP A etc) or what u values / airtightness did you achieve? Given you're in SE like us, where rainfall can be hit & miss, what size tank did you provision and how often do you need to revert to mains for backup? Any noticeable staining of the ceramics with rainwater?

Option 3) put down electric mats under the tiles. We have wet UFH on ground floor (suspended timber, alu spreader plates) but went with electric mats on a timer in the bathrooms. Works fine and was relatively low cost.

Our landing balustrade (frameless glass on steel feet) is 900mm - feels taller but no one gone over it yet.

Ours were dodgy (as they mostly are) and we’d had a few rows so I made sure I was watching when it came down - to be honest it was pretty swift and no damage done to my (then) pristine white render. They’d need to be very clumsy or unlucky to damage doors and windows.

Mine came from Howdens but is fire only - looks like this ...

That was more or less what my previous arrangement was - I had a 1" BSP to hozelock on the outlet of the pump and just used the outdoor socket controlling the pump.