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There lots online But they will want you to be quite specific We are just going through this for the second time

You will need full drawings and details of heating insulation etc

Plus one there We where told that we could remove the slates off the building to be demolished But anything else would count as commencement Even having heavy machinery on-site could count as as commencement As Joe says Dig a trench or lay an access road in

A couple of hundred pounds spent on a camera survey is money well spent It will provide you with a written and visual record of where everything is going

It’s quite normal for a sem-dry screed to be loose around the edges along the membrane

The majority of Polish are working in unskilled or semi skilled jobs in factories Or cash in hand building work A very small percentage of the 150 would be skilled building SITE workers Anyone that is already here doesn’t have to leave Just fill in a simple form

I think the amount of Eastern European builders that are on UK building sites is exaggerated I’ve seen few but not that many I think most are in the private sector Cash in hand Wages in Poland and other EU countries have nearly caught up due to Labour shortages out there Anyone that’s already here Including the Just Eat guys Are allowed to stay My Brother worked as a Bricklayer in Germany throughout the 80s Earning four or five times the UK hourly wage No tax either I rember him telling me about the strange hollow blocks that they filled with concrete can’t see them catching on here ?

The problem is Certainly with lads that work for me Is that those who have taken the government cash (our Money ) Will need to show a 33% drop in there earnings for this year So they will carryon taking cash jobs Self builds extensions Till April There’s little that companies can do Ive been to plaster out a show sweet on a large site as a favor for a friend The company doing the dry lining and render have completed 6 very large homes and abandoned the job Siting labour availability problems They will not be paid for any of the work or materials Theres a lot of companies with cash flow problems also I visited a TF site we are doing and the Brickies where knocking the edges off all the face work that they had done Because the Bricklaying contractor hadn’t paid them It sounds gloomy because it is But all this could have been avoided Our £815m2 build cost of two years ago doesn’t look achievable now I’ve budgeted £1000 m2 for our next build But material prices would have to come down Any builder quoting for your build on a fixed price Will load the price by at least 50% Or pull off part way through when he realizes he’s going to make a loss In my business Gypsum K Rend and a couple of saw mills haven’t hit us with price rises because they know it would put us out of business as most of the jobs where priced two years or more ago I’m hoping things will start to get better in 2022 Let’s hope As while we are all keen self builders There comes a point where the end value is less than the build cost

It’s a bit of a myth that the Eastern Europeans are higher skilled than uk workers They tend to be a more versatile than UK workers But not as skilled at one particular aspect Most are earning three times what they would earn back home So have a get it while you can attitude Ive two two Ukrainian tapers that’s work for me full time Both like many are still here The government handouts are still crippling the building industry and are most certainly to blame for labour cost rises and partly to blame for the steep rise and shortage of materials

Some friends of ours have recently completed there third self build First being the late 80s They received a quote from the builder who did the last one 12 years ago and three other quotes of around 450k There preferred builder came in at 550k When they pointed this out he offered to knock 100 k off Builders are doubling up on everything Partly because of rising labour and materials costs and partly because they can

It will be fine

Osb is fine

Yeah Normally directly onto the back of the PB In your case you should board the inside of the bathrooms first Drive a dozen or so screws through The board to grab the ply If you need to fix the pattres to the metal Point the studs in opposite directions So you can fix through the face of the stud intro the ply and through the side of the stud at the other side

It’s just cheap rubbish We get a good deal as we buy ten packs in at a time

You don’t need to fully ply Just put them where they are are needed We normally put high pieces in Its easy to mark a drawing up accurately just use the cheap ply £8 a sheet

It really isn’t a big job

Yep We normally go over the Velux windows Then slit it and fold it in Staple it down PB over the reveal and leave the excess to be cut off prior to skim or tape Building inspectors like us to leave a flap sticking out of the PB The picture is of 1 of ten top floor apartments we did two years ago Brown patches have appeared (sweating) I drafted an email at the time warning of this This was common in the 80s as there was little alternative There loads of excellent products on the market But none as cheap as £20 for a 100m2 roll of polythene

It’s quite an easy fix 5 minutes will sort out the joints in the picture Once it’s been painted you can’t use joint cement They will have to use easy-fil

You are correct the VB needs to return down the walls It’s to keep you airtight I definitely wouldn’t use polythene Ive stripped so many ceilings out that have sweated because of using Polythene I always use DuPont Airguard Control Unless instructed otherwise More expensive at £100 a roll

The pricing and product looks good Our previous build had to be sash windows throughout We contacted Three manufacturers and asked if they would make us a small on suit window up One refused the other two sent us the windows out About £200 each Money well spent

There’s a lot of glass there We are about to submit Lots of glass and glazed piles I’ve run the design by a Structual Engineer friend Hes advised to loose a couple of glazed pikes and scale down the glazed doors He said I’m only telling you what planners will tell you in six weeks time We are busy rethinking ready for submission in the morning

One of the companies in the Build it Mag was offering a free design service

No expert But as above There are grants that we can claim Up to next March s when the scheme ends Hopefully to be replaced The supply and installation grants seem to be just for replacing existing gas boilers and may be income dependent Like the free gas boiler schemes

You should be around 300 plus for a 20 ton load on account Tarmac will do 1 ton bags for. £44

I was chatting to the owner of a Renewable energies company who has been fitting pumps for the last twelve years Much of his business relies on grants He was quite damming about the schemes Stating that if a home is not airtight ASHPs are a waste of time and are better suited to UFH He went on to say the 2025 deadline for new builds is unlikely to be met More likely that PV and other measures would be boosted In 2008 just as the recession hit I did the plastering and render on a site of 120 homes All TF All with Hps Whilst sales of new homes dropped through the floor We couldn’t complete these fast enough All homes had a 5k grant which covered the HP cost If the government cared Why not just bring this in now on homes that have yet to be built