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My wife and myself have just watched a catch-up Where Kevin McCloud stayed that most high spec self builds are coming in around £3000 per sq mtr That should scare the hell out of Most newbies

The problem with Plastering is the quicker you are the better the finish It’s experience First fixing joinery is very forgiving and you can take your time

My business that I run is Plastering Rendering Framing and tiling Tiling and framing are doable if you take your time Renderiing and Plastering are not Its something that you are going to be looking at for a very long time

As long as the drill has a slip clutch like all the hire ones Your perfectly safe on a platform I drilled all my 5 mtr high holes for fans off a tower

Most hire company’s will hire you a core drill and bit for a two hour slot I think about £30 round here It would be a lot neater Quicker and save you a lot of work Also when you are chiselling it’s easy to knock half a brick into the cavity

Ah the pools pretty big then We had two 7 mtr by 2 mtr tanks and decided to fill and use strip foundations

Welcome we are in the garden of a listed building Lots of planning conditions from British Heritage We thought it was going to be a nightmare it once we received full materials consent there’s been absolutely no issues

I used to run a damp proofing company Back in the 80s when every survey identified rising damp or penetrating damp 90% where neither Most where poor ventilation causing condensation

This will help me in my business At the moment I charge the contractor The charge the client The client claims it back This happens year in year out

I can understand the benefits of using a passive raft But can’t understand why your engineer has decided to use a conventional raft if the ground is good

Just totting up the hours that we worked over the last two years Monday to Wednesday 4 per evening Thursday Usually 6 Friday Saturday 14 each day with my wife Sunday early day 10 hours Monday to Thursday up and on the road for 6am working on other people’s building sites around the Northwest Wages and vat fell on my wife’s shoulders for our business My wife said if I’d of put as much time into our. business we could have paid a company to do the work But where’s the satisfaction in that ive enjoyed almost every minute The only time I felt stressed was the initial planning stages You all know what I mean Two steps forward and one back I envy those just starting there builds Would I do it all again watch this space ?

I rang the gas asked to zero rate Told them electric had agreed they said ok asked electric they said no told the gas had rang me back and said ok eater followed suit

Thanks Ian You should be so proud at what you have achieved so far Talk about never give in

We have finished at just under 8oo per sq mtr on a 285 sq mtre build with a detached double garage on top of that I haven’t counted the vat claim in that Of around 30 k But we have just spent 10 k for the outside paving My wife had hoped to spend the 30 reclaim on landscaping But with labour the best reputable quote she got for laying the 420 am mtrs of paving and drainage was £51000 Supply and fix So don’t under estimate how much you can save by doing it yourself The total cost for doing the paving ourselves will be around £12000 It has taken us two years We both worked long days Fri Sat and Sun Every day except Christmas and about a dozen day when we where waiting for materials Every evening I would do at least three hours sometimes til midnight on a Thursday We have a house that is worth £350000 more than we have put into it We both worked full time in between We haven’t scrimped With a large German kitchen and three German bathrooms But if we do decide to sell Cutting costs on these would Have seriously impacted a sale price Hope this helps

I think they make the rules up as they go along i was thinking back to yesterday’s thread about SW They excluded our fibreglass flat roof But would be happy to include it if I had a 20 year insurance backed warrantee from the fixer What’s that all about ?

I wouldn’t of thought so But it depends on the purchasers Mortgage Supplier and Solicitor The later can be a pain in the arse I built one on our last house about 5 years before we sold The purchasers survey just asked for BC sign off

I agree with the above I wouldn’t render directly onto any timber surface Even with a mesh A vapour barrier with batons on top then a cement board is normal Or insulation Like this one I’m trying to do this morning If it ever stops raining in sunny Garstang

A friend of ours who is a site manager built a house in his garden He finished just as We completed on the purchase of the plot I asked about a warrantee and he replied I have t bothered They will carry me out of here in a box Well Two years later this amazing plot of land came up and with a possible 300k profit His forever homes goes up for sale I asked if the lack of a SW would be an issue he said Nahhh It never came up Well the sale progressed nicely The chap who was purchasing wanted to know about the solar panels running costs MHVR Then he got a call from his solicitor requesting his SW That his sale fallen through He just said Nahh Get a retrospective Warrantee Test holes around the foundations etc How wrong I was The Surveyor ? who visited him didn’t seem that interested in the house Just the BC cert and the rest of the paperwork He has an oak porch that they wouldn’t cover (Green) and a flat roof that they wouldn’t include He paid about £800 more than I did and took an indemnity with a separate company for the flat roof Think about £100 we have some green oak and a similar flat roof Buildzone didn’t include ours either

As you say we’ve had this question before But it is relevant to all Id be wary of using contractors that are not vat registered unless you supply the materials If they are not vat registered they will inadvertently charge you vat as they will paid it on the materials themselves im vat registered and when I’m Plastering or tiling a housing site I zero rate the labour and include the vat on the material on a separate invoice I pay it in to HMRC The builder claims it back You can do exactly the same thing

I’d stay away from the senco They where one of the first But haven’t really come on Hilti are light years ahead of the others A corded is about 120 quid and a collated end about 90 2 year no qible guarantee I use them for two years then stick them on eBay for £100 Same with the batterie kits But not worth buying for one job

What ever they tell the customer Most use subcontractors The small firms don’t have the continuity and neither do the large The job I’m on at the moment has around 30 plumbing & electrical guys All cards in to one contractor They have to be finished in five weeks Where would the building company put all these same with Plastering tiling roofing painting Sane with a smaller company When the plasterers finish your house they would have to have another waiting I get a call 3 houses 3 gangs Finished by the end of next week Very difficult to keep the quality

I don’t think they have a lot of choice Exspecially if they are on a deadline Thats why all the major players sub vertically everything out It would be great to employ three or four gangs of plasters or electricians But they either wouldn’t cope with the workload or you would be paying trades for waiting till work is ready I do some jobs for small builders We dry line and skim a five bed house in a week They are tiny jobs and I make 50% more than the commercial work and get paid right away Everybody is happy Ive a school to start for a local builder next week Around 1500 mtrs of framing birding and taped We will have ten days to have it ready for painting He employs two good plasters But they would simply take to long Unfortunately it is how the building trade works now I’m banking on a recession which would help me and all self builders to plan ahead All my jobs are on a fixed rate But I can’t blame someone who is offered six weeks work at double what I’m paying We used to fix plasterboards for couple of quid each Now I pay £1.50 per board for carrying them in With two Ukraine brothers that will load three packs each in a day If you get good trades it is more by chance than design The rates that the two guys are quoting give them room to manoeuvre Personally I would rather things take longer and get a better job When things go quickly Ie six months you will have little or know control The larger company won’t hold things up for a couple of weeks because the tiler of choice is on holiday They will push on The two guys will tell you we will get on with Something else It’s only a couple of weeks Your a long time looking at it if it’s not just right

You will probably get a better job off the two guys What you need to realise is that the larger firm will use subcontractors They will have a core of joiners apprentices Perhaps a couple of brickies But plumbing electrics Plastering tiling roof finish will be subbed out The smaller companies haven’t got the work for these The very large companies don’t even employ these trade Your two man band will have to be a bit more selective The other company will take whoever is available at the time

The cost of filling it sounds high Though 2.5 tons doesn’t sound that much We had two old tanks to fill Both 2 mtr circular and 6 mtr deep We filled both with concrete I can’t remember the cost But only took a couple of hours If you have good access it should take long to back a lorry up and tip 10 ton in and see how far you are off levelling I’d wouldn’t use sand I would use the cheapest hardcore Reclaimed If you haven’t the access you would need a nan and a digger for half a day Still well within what you have been quoted Get the area surrounding the pit graded at the same time Within the price

I filled ours with shingle sharp sand and cement 3 1 1 same mix as wet dash Sets like iron