Bitpipe

Don't forget to always leave the tool at the scene of the job and never return it to any logical central storage. Helps you hit you 10,000k daily steps target as you wander around trying to remember where you last used it, discovering all you other abandoned tools as you go (but don't be tempted to collect them up as you now know where they are...).

I have one of each and use which ever one my hand lands on first for any given job

For me, the value of the QS work we got done early on was the quantity bit and the decomposition of the build into an 18 page spreadsheet of individual line items- we treated the subsequent costs as indicative and targets to beat. It was very useful being able to go to a trade / merchant and request a quote for exact square meterage of plastering, rendering etc. I suppose I could have figured it all out myself from the plans but would probably have screwed up - like when I told our landscaper that the 23m x 23m back lawn needed 225 m2 of turf

Great observation (among all the others). Contractors will often choose a supplier for convenience, credit terms etc but rarely for price - as the client pays that. When I took receipt of my QS spreadsheet (which ran to 20 something pages), I was able to start knocking off £1000s buy getting competitive quotes from subs and suppliers which gave me confidence that we would be able to build on our budget vs the estimate. Another word of caution - what's your contingency fund? You may run into unexpected situations that require extra funds. Also, have you priced in site insurance, fencing & safety, site WC and amenities, services and build warranty (required if you need to sell or borrow against the build in the next 10 years).

I can testify to this - both my plumber and sparky were very difficult to get hold of and start on time - both did excellent jobs. I found that you need to be booking popular trades about 3+ months out at a min and then keep confirming each month and then each week of the final month. Make sure any materials you're on the hook for are on site a few weeks in advance in case they want to start a bit early - worst thing you can do is delay the trade yourself and then wait weeks to get them back. Good idea to get your plumber and spark (and maybe joiner) onsite for a few hours ahead of first fix start so they can agree routes and who supplies what wrt heating (this is usually where they overlap). Most of mine worked one after the other - it's only when you get to finishing trades that they tend to overlap - i.e. once you've plastered, tiled and done most of the decoration. To be fair, all my trades were decent - only the scaffolders were a bit scary

Many of my subbies were one or two man bands and no worse for it.

Can't agree with this enough - is exactly what we did. Before engaging a QS however I'd try and narrow the fabric options to one or two (i.e. timber frame / ICF / Block etc), then decide on your performance level (near passive, decent SAP, BR minimum). Once you have your shell, the fit out is probably the same from that point forward. You're also free to send your planning drawings right now to the slew of TF firms for a budgetary quote - you'll notice that you'll get a variation in prices as some include bits others don't so good exercise in doing apples to apples comparison. If you can deal with that then you've already taken your first steps down the PM route As Ferdinand says above - a QS will tell you exactly what you need and will use standard pricing to cost it up. Your task is then to bring in those items cheaper, either by cost reduction, spec reduction or elimination. While I respect architects and what they offer, designing to a budget is not a skill that many of the ones I encountered seem to have. We politely parted company with ours when they wanted £10k (back in 2014) to discharge planning conditions and engage building control - did these both ourselves, drawing on experience of others here (mainly Jeremy) and using the detailed drawings & calcs from the TF firm & our basement SE as the starting point. the BCO told us what was missing and we went and found it - quite an easy process tbh.

Happy to oblige - point I'm making is that the number of trades you need to engage with at any one time is manageable - especially if you use a single contractor for the groundworks phase and are going the timber frame package route as that gets you to a watertight / airtight shell (minus doors & windows) fairly quickly. That said, you can achieve similar with block or ICF using a single contractor.

A fall is the angle built into a flat roof (usually 15%) that enables rain water to flow off it to a gutter. If it's completely flat then you'll just have a big puddle. The fall means that if you want to use it as a balcony, you need to install a deck over it that is level - we did this on two small balconies (1m x 3m) and it cost about £5.5k supply & fit inc glass (ex VAT) for both together.

Have you a copy of the Home Builders Bible? Pretty much does what you ask, using a model house to base the numbers around. You can also get hold of SPONs to price individual elements. However, may be worth getting a QS to independently draw up a costings worksheet from your plans - we did this (£1500 plus a PHPP analysis) and it was money well spent as I was able to target each individual element and set my self the goal of beating the price. Regarding getting sub trades vs a single contractor, not that complicated really. You just need to break the job into logical stages by trade and then go get quotes to compare. On our build we had the following trades/contractors in the following order (quite a few trades overlapped at end) - Electrician (site prep for relocation of existing power, supply to caravan and container/site office) - Groundworks (demolition, site prep, basement & services) - Scaffolding (design & erect, 12 week hire) - Timber frame (design, supply, erection & return to insulate & finish airtightness detail after doors & windows fitted). - Windows & doors (supply & fit contract) - Roofer (supply & fit, also fitted the velux that I purchased directly) - Render contractor (supply & fit) - Guttering contractor (soffit, fascia, parapets, guttering & downpipes) - Front door (supply & fit) - Electrical first fix - Plumbing first fix - Joiner (boxing in, door frames, pocket door preparation etc) - Plasterer (supply & fit board & skim coat) - Decorators (supply & paint) - Tiling (I supplied) - Plumbing second fix - Flooring install (supply & fit) - Joiner (hang doors, cills, skirting and architrave) - Resin flooring - Kitchen (supply & fit) We then moved in, and about a year later started - Landscaping (laying patio, prepping for driveway and gates, wall building etc.) - Resin driveway and gates were by separate specialist contractors. - Internal & external glass balustrade & balconies (Supply & Fit) - Electrician still coming and going to finish driveway lights, external power etc. As you can see it was mostly supply and fit (that way everything is VAT free). We supplied some of the groundworks material (EPS & GRP light-wells), Velux windows, MVHR I fit), first & second fix timber, internal doors & ironmongery, bathroom fittings (Megabad), bath, sinks, tiles, wood flooring and all the landscaping materials. I'm sure I've forgotten something here but you get the gist. Key to my success was getting a fully insulated airtight timber frame that included felted roof, floor decks and all internal stud walls as this took away any concerns about the structural elements being in multiple hands. We shared the TF design with the SE doing the basement spec - that was my main concern but both elements came together without a hitch. Main frustration was trades getting delayed on other jobs and throwing out your schedule, but you just need to roll with it. It also gets a bit busy near then end with plasterers, joiners, painters, tilers, plumbers and sparks all trying to get done!

Pretty house but agree that the design is quite complicated. My eye was drawn to the first floor terrace above the dining room, I'd be sceptical that you'll ever use it and it will be expensive to have a flat roof that you can walk on plus the safety glazing to the perimeter - that will be thousands in its own right. Our architect specced balconies to the rear of our house for the master and guest bedroom. They look great, break up the back wall. Also cost a small fortune, complicated the frame design and we never use them. Would have rather had the additional space in the bedroom but there you go...

Just attacked the lawn with the aerator - now have a series of holes about two inches deep by 1/2 inch wide every 4 inches on the lawn. Machine (looked brand new) made a sound like a bag of hammers hitting a bucket but was easy enough to use. Apparently best practice is to leave the cores on the lawn and to feed & weed immediately - doing that tomorrow. Then will let the rain later this week wash everything in. Best part was the hire co screwed up with the Weds delivery so dropped it off yesterday and will get it Tuesday, so been round a mates garden already and will probably do a couple more before it goes back

In defence of the Guardian, it's broadly well written and its investigative journalism is to an international standard (Panama papers etc). Some of the opinion writers are flakey but they're there to add controversy. Times is also decent. Every newspaper is far from perfect wrt accuracy - they're in the business of selling copy and advertising. I've yet to read an article on my speciality (cybersecurity and the like) and not groan and roll my eyes on occasion but that doesn't mean the main thrust is incorrect. Looking at the Daily mail and their ilk, about 50% of their output seems to be reporting on someone tweeting a reaction to some celebrity nonsense or other.. all about driving eyeballs to the website for the ads.

If you have a decently airtight house, then having one door open (however large) does not cause a draught as there is nowhere for the air to come from/to. Opening a second door in our house normally causes something of a shock as one suddenly slams shut. Granted, the MVHR won't be super effective but you can just switch it off in that case or keep it running as we do to ventilate bathrooms and the basement. When our house was being finished off in May 2016 - it was quite warm & there were a lot of trades here (plumbing, electrics & decorators). One day they complained about the heat and had every door and window open. Obviously this was just letting the warm air from outside in. We ventilated the house that night to fill the house with cool air and then kept every door and window closed and ran the MVHR on summer bypass - they were amazed at the difference - house stayed pleasantly cool all day, even with regular comings and goings. Back to ventilation, you'll need to meet part F BR regs ventilation requirements regardless of system and if your house is otherwise airtight then you'll have to have trickle vents in windows and powered extraction in bathrooms and kitchen. In the winter this will pull heated air out of your house that you'll need to heat again. You also won't be able to control the internal humidity. If you're not planning to have MVHR then why bother with overall airtightness much beyond the building regs ?

+1 for using MVHR in summer and for what it's worth, I open window / sliding door when I feel like it but also purge like Jack. With MVHR, In the winter, you have a warm well ventilated house that does not allow air you've paid to heat fly out the window (or extractor in kitchen, bathroom etc..).

But is it more violent than hurling which lets you grab the ball in the air and pick it off the ground, resulting in broken fingers etc..?

We lived on site also and it makes things much easier from a PM point of view. Would be wary of using the architect as a PM, depends on how practical they are - also, what is their fee for this service?

Project managing a build usually means doing planning / resourcing work in the evenings, chasing people (suppliers & trades) during the day and being able to visit the site to keep an eye on progress each day if possible. Also being available (in person / phone) at short notice to make a quick decision if needs be. You don't need to pick up as much as a brush if you don't want to, but small jobs such as tidying up etc will save time & money and help you keep an eye on whats going on - which is key to success. Leaving trades unattended for days at a time is a guarantee that you will not get things the way you want and at worst will mean shoddy work and cut corners. Some things like MVHR are DIYable (and are something of a rite of passage for the self builder). Decorating is another job that you can do if you have the time. If you really can only entertain a fully managed, completely hands off build then you need to be prepared to pay a significant premium for that. The more 'management' responsibility you can take on, the more you can control the cost, but you need to sacrifice your time to do so.

We had a similar experience - took design to a QS and were shocked when it was 30% over budget. Architect shrugged his shoulders and said ' doesn't matter, prices here are rising' not making the connection that we didn't have the funds to commit. We had the option of radically scaling back the plans but that would have meant another go though planning on top of the 3 rounds previously. Instead, we took control of the build and project managed it ourselves (with zero prior experience), enabling us to stick to the original budget more or less. Remember that a main contractor will need to make a margin or overhead on the build, which is fair as this is their business, you will not. You will also benefit directly from getting the best possible price for materials and services and any value engineering you decide to implement. Finally, if the budget is limited, you can focus on the fabric and upgrade the finishes (e.g. kitchen) at a later date when funds are healthier.

Sound advice above. Can I just say well done for keeping your cool and not giving the trades person a roasting, which would be the default approach for many I think.

I built a basement with no previous experience. I saw this guy's page when doing research, useful info but as a one man band I'd not consider him for the actual build. The only 'experts' you need are 1) an architect to design the basement in conjunction with the rest of the house (i.e. as a living space) and to get you through planning 2) a SE to design the spec of the basement (waterproofing strategy, steel & concrete etc..). They will require a comprehensive ground investigation report which they or you can commission 3) a construction contractor , experienced in the conditions with which you will be working (not necessarily 'basement Experts') What is important is that you can get an insurance backed warranty from the contractor or the concrete / system provider once the basement is complete, otherwise you will not be able to include the basement in your overall warranty and may have issues re-mortgaging or selling in the future. For my build, it was a detached house on a relatively large plot so the basement was easy enough - did not need to invoke party wall and ground conditions were straightforward. I contracted with a local ground-worker experienced in underground structures (parking garages, etc) and they subbed out the steel and concrete works. We used a Sika waterproofing system which was inspected during the pours and signed off by Sika with a 15 year warranty. TF house built over the top (SE was main point of liason between firms to ensure appropriate loads from above were understood etc.) A local friend used a turnkey basement provider (Glatthar, usually present at the self build shows) and they were good also, especially given they had quite challenging ground conditions (an underground stream ran through their plot!). They were very professional but not cheap - we got quotes and it was about 50% more than our eventual option.

The keypad codes are chosen by the user, the fobs take their code from the gate controller, so don.t see how that would work. We have IR sensors on the outsides and induction loops on the inside that open the gates open if triggered. Didn't go for detectors on the gates themselves.

We have gates with Came motors. There is a hex nut at the base of each gate, inside and outside, that you can turn with a key to decouple the gate from the motorised hinge, the gate then swings feely open. Kind of renders them useless as a security feature but necessary if there is a power outage or emergency.

If you're using expanding foam, get some isopropyl alcohol (ebay) and use it to clean as you go before it goes off. if doing more than one or two cans, get gun grade and a gun. Wear gloves or you'll end up using sandpaper to get it off your skin. Ask me how I know this

Many here who have built airtight and well insulated houses need minimal heating - for me, a woodburner would make the house unpleasantly hot, even on the coldest of days. I couldn't even have a small ethanol burner type fire. Decent UFH will keep the house at a comfortable 20+o year round - we don't have any heating in basement or upper floors, just ground floor and it's rarely on (few months in winter). Overheating is really the main challenge - careful planning of orientation, glazing and shading is required - ASHP and UFH can be run in reverse in summer months to help with cooling. TBH, it's all about planning the house as a system and doing some basic calcs on performance to see what works and what does not. Good luck, you've come to the right place to get more advice than you'll ever need p.s. I love the ambiance of a real fire (N. Iron man). All I can do now to replicate is the occasional bonfire and a glass of Laphroiag.