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Was this still under site insurance or regular home insurance?

Wow, a great house! Views to die for!!!

From our experience, builders do not refer to drawings / visuals as often as you'd like them to. We've had issues with wrongly positioned windows etc, ended up nailing post-it notes to critical areas saying "IMPORTANT! this should be xxx and xxx, refer to drawing or call us". This worked.

Also, Buckinghamshire is a nice area (commutable!) so some of your costs will be at a regional premium compared to other regions. We're building within M25 and it does hurt

if you plan do leave full completion till much later (as in not doing the whole house in 9-10 months to completion), then - if I get it right - your VAT reclaim will be delayed until full completion, and you moving in before completion can mess things up (I think). This has be factored in when you think budget (our current VAT reclaim is in tens of "£££ and I can't wait to get it back). I hope the Forum Gurus will correct me where I'm wrong.

Costs-wise, I'd say c. £400-450k (unless you plan to do loads of work yourself). With a hindside, we'd probably hire a QS for a proper estimate, but we went in with just our buliders' budget and the BuildZone team did a free budget check and added another hundred to it, came to c. £430k, plus our extras (I admit, we were very particular about some pretty costly items). Obviously, having the Covid in the middle of the build did not help, went over budget but we were lucky to have some private funds so it's OK. But looking back I'd really want a good QS.

We've had a bungalow similar to yours, really poorly planned and leaking heat everywhere. Tried to sell, to improve but ended up knocking down and re-building. We had a conservatory extension on the bungalow, so when knocked it down we reduced the footprint but instead built upward. We wanted a solar room in the loft - the council was firmly against this so we had our newbuild height capped at 25cm above the tallest of neighbours. Ended up with plenty of storage and potential for future dormers if we want it (not really). Plans-wise, IMHO your FF lacks a bathroom - for 5 bedrooms I think Building Regulations would demand at least one more on the FF (I'd put one into Bed2 as it can share the drainage with the other ensuite. If you are the happy owners of such a large garden, I'd probably increase footprint as well (may come useful with two kids), or plan a conservatory etc etc.

We are taking photos of EVERYTHING EVERY DAY, and have a database of weekly downloads (tons of server space!). This is such a unique chance for us to document the texture of the house, and to create a clear record of what's behind all the joists, plasterboard and under the floors to avoid guessing later on. You think you would remember where your MVHR ducts are - you won't. It has already proved quite helpful - naturally, the moment you affix plasterboard you immediately need to know where that bloody cable is!! That was, actually, one of the perpetual points of conflict with our previous builders - they were very much against us taking photos (naturally, that would be highly inconvenient when cutting corners!!), so we're glad we parted ways. The new team are all for it and even send us more pics.

With DIY Kitchens the only difficult bit was matching what was delivered against the order summary you get when you place the order and against the online plans. Online plans number the cabinets in one way (quite logical), depending on where they are placed on plans. When you place the order, the cabinets are split into the cabinet proper and - separately - the door(s) for it, so what used to be (eg) Cabinet 1 on your online plans becomes (in the order list) Item 15, Item 16, Item 17 and Item 18. The descriptions are good and detailed and yet it is a bit of a mess. Finally, in the DELIVERY NOTE which the guys give you when they start off-loading, all the cabinets are again listed as one unit (carcass+doors), but reference numbers are different again! The stickers on the delivered boxes were NOT matching the order or plans :))) I thougth I was well prepared, having my fulll order and plans printed out and neatly clipped to a clipboard (me looking all poised and professional ??), and then I looked in the delivery note in horror and realised that these two do not match! Luckily, by that time I was so obsessed with the whole kitchen design for the past 7 months since placing the order (what if I got it wrong? what if cabinets do not fit? what if i got ergonomics wrong? what if this?.. what if that?.. what if I don't like the colour when I see it?..) - that i learned all cabinets by heart and could recite my list and plans backwards. Ended up taking a photo of EVERY item's packaging sticker, and then verifying code by code against my order list. That was the best way to do that since the guys were offloading at a breakneck speed, by that time it was 22:30 (we were their last delivery), pitch black (the house did not have proper interior lights at that time), so was unable to properly check stickers, verify against 7x pages of paperwork etc.

Our DIY-Kitchen order (36 cabinets and endless panels) arrived on the exact date we agreed (we paid for Platinum delivery). The team of 2x guys did all the heavy lifting (plus, naturally, we helped) and did not bat a lid at our very rough terrain (we were digging patio at that moment). All items were very well packed in thick cardboard (we've recycled it all - tons and tons of cardboard). Three of 36 cabinets were missing, I logged a support ticket and from then on the communicaiton was quite good, we had a few very detailed exchanges, identified what's present and what's missing (mea culpa, I did not notice some accessories which were dropped inside cabinets), and received all the missing bits within 2x weeks. Checked every item once received (a day's work!), no damage discovered. So far very pleased with the look and quality. Generally found DIY Kitchens quite flexible and helpful - our built was severely delayed even prior to COVID, and then stopped for the lockdown, and all this time i have been in contact with them postponing the delivery again and again (and again, and again - a total of 7x times!!!). Eventually got it delivered on the dot.

Congrats! Wait is always a killer, causes you lots of grey hair and bitten nails. Now the only way is forward

Please please can someone point me towards any formal document setting in stone the rule re 3m distance between the meter and a consumer unit? Our house was designed so that we have the meter box at the front elevation of the property, nicely accessible and not too ugly, but the consumer unit is in the utility and at 6.5m direct distance (no bends round the corner etc). The builders did not bat an eyelid. The electrician did not mind. Building Control visited at 1st fix stage and it was impossible not to notice that the huge bunch of cables tails is stuck to the wall in the utility cleary indicating that THIS IS IS, THE PLACE for the consumer unit. BC did not comment on this. Solar PV people installed the panels and did not mind either. Now at 2nd fix stage all of a sudden the Solar PV people kicked a fuss saying it's all wrong, blah blah 3m, BC won't sign off etc etc. I really need to see something in writing or have some reference. I read Part P and comments to it, did not find anything re 3m. ?

I've read what I could on the Forum, but the overall end to end process picture still eludes me (probably due to info overload on bathrooms tiling...). Can someone please help me understand the step by step process of completion certification? I have a vague understanding that we need a certificate from our electician and plumber re their respective areas being completed, then we have to have a visit from a Building Control (we use a private one) who is also supposed to issue something. If it is private, do we have to also get something from a local authority buiding control? And what about Valuation board? Sorry, totally confused.

We went with a big-name private one and are quite happy (so far we are at 2nd fix stage). The guy has a quick turnaround, is VERY thorough on site visits and issues strict but very sensible and relevant advice. Flexible re emailed photos and other evidence, stage certificates issued promptly.

Do you have any pets? Our cat tends to leave paw marks on any glass surface she can find, as well as poke her nose onto it (snot marks ? ) - i'd rather be dusting the spindles... Also me being a bit challenged I am always anxious not to break such glass panels on stairs when carrying something bulky / heavy upstairs.

XL Joinery doors have a note in the specification saying they cannot be fitted in newly plastered/decorated properties (ie fresh newbuilds). This somewhat limits the range to choose from. Did anyone have any experience with this? We are also at the stage of ordering doors, but DH is focused on the solid core only, and then I want only paintable whites in a certain design which again narrows it down...

Thank you - I ordered colour samples from Mapei but what they sent is a joke - a palm-wide strip of glossy paper with horizontal colour stripes of various colours. Obviously trying to match the width of a joint but not working really. thanks everyone for your opinions, we also can't be bothered to daily scrub all the joints so they'll never be white... (or pearl white... or even decent silver grey.... )

Yes, ideally I'd like to blend it all together as much as possible, not to emphasize the joints. So - Silver grey?... ?

Need urgent help as am at breaking point. Bathroom is tiled in Calacatta Lappato Extra by Minoli. Which Mapei UltracolourPlus colour grout would the distinguished experts here use? Am torn between plain white and silver grey. Cannot get swatches / samples of grout at the moment. Thank you

To minimise any moving of walls/ doors etc, and still keep a tray (if you don't want tiles to a fall as recommended above), then like this. Linear drain in the tray can still be applied against the top wall. Then it's up to you how you screen it off with shower screens, can be creative here to make any shape.

I would +1 squaring off the awkward angle. Don't go in too deep when squaring it off - and you will have a massive amount of in-shower storage recesses!! All those bottles, and bits and bobs you always need in the wet area! You can even put plants in it! I love stuffing in shelving space wherever I can find it.

Welcome! Where are you located?.. Advice differs per region as do costs

Have anyone tried duropolymer skirting?

They said so back in May! and promised 100% capacity by mid-June. No multi finish around West London. A dozen of bags pop up online in Wickes or the likes, but disappear in a second. My closest today was 77 miles away .... Grrr....

Quite often, you all of a sudden develop a strong opinion once someone researches 3x options and presents them Normally you tend to opinion towards Option 4-6. With regards to a main contractor, if you manage to find one who is 1) a solid pro with quality and excellence to show in a real-life (visitable!) portfolio of previous projects 2) who can be honest and transparent re their costs and mark-up (I'm yet to see one) 3) who have a high level of tolerance towards variations and won't ignore them Then they're worth your 100% trust and you probably won't need a PM / QS. Ideally your PM should not be too related to the main contractor to maintain a fresh outlook and not to trust him blindly - PM is paid by YOU so should work for YOU at all times rather than take Contractor's side in any arguments you may have. Quite often PMs tend to do the reverse (it's likely they won't see you for the rest of their life but they are highly likely to cross paths with your main contractor in their future projects, so they start taking sides (apart from your money) quite early on). +1 to the above expressed opinion re keeping a PM on an hourly rate rather than a %. But they fight this.