jack

Welcome to BuildHub. Some MVHR systems have a humidity sensor in the return (from the house) ducting, and enter boost mode when humidity rises above a certain level (e.g., due to steam from a shower). The humidity sensor could be positioned in the duct between the return manifold and the unit inlet. If you can access it, look for something poking into that duct with a wire coming out of it back to the unit. Not sure if your unit offers this option though.

I agree that basing architects' fees on actual build costs doesn't make sense, but that isn't what happens. As I understand it, the percentage is not applied to the actual build cost (which would be unknowable at the design stage), but to a nominal estimated build cost that assumes a particular level of finish. To rephrase your question from a different perspective, why would an architect's fee change just because their client decides at the last minute to put marble on every interior surface, add a solid gold bidet, and include 15 Miele ovens in their kitchen? The alternative would be to esimate the amount of time the job is expected to take and generate a cost estimate by multiplying that number by an hourly or day rate. I'm not an architect, but I'll bet that architects as a profession have figured out that nominal estimated build cost is a reasonable proxy for time, and easier to estimate. This is a different prospect from what I understood from your original post. Redesigning an existing plan on the same footprint, for which planning is already in place, should be way less than starting from scratch. To me, £5k sounds expensive for that.

Welcome. You'll fit in with the other grumpy old fossils on BuildHub.

I don't understand why. The cost that you could potentially build a particular design for makes no difference to the amount of work the architect has to do. It still ends up being a number though. 2.5% of a £300k build = £7500. Ignore the fact it's based on an estimate and just decide whether you think the number is reasonable. If you want less from them than is implied by the stage you're considering paying to, then I'd be arguing that point to reduce the fees. If you've worked with them before then presumably they know what to expect, in which case there's less uncertainty for the architect when pricing the job. Good luck, whatever you choose to do.

Brace yourself for several posts complaining about how basing the fees on an estimated build cost is ridiculous because if you do some of the work yourself the build cost is lower. Out of curiosity, why are you engaging an architect in this situation? A draftsperson who specialises in building regs drawings will be more than sufficient, especially if your local council is self-build friendly (i.e., it's generally straightforward to get planning permission). Some on here have even done their own, although I suspect there are traps for the unwary in that approach.

It's highly variable, but two or three weeks is a pretty common turnaround time (per hire). There's only one person on the list in front of you at the moment. I'll add you to the list. If you're not ready when you're up, let me know and we'll skip to the next person on the list (if there is one by then).

Thanks. We had a TPO slapped on all the trees at the front of our house while we were in the process of buying it. From memory, we didn't become aware of it until we'd exchanged or perhaps even later. The buyer who beat us when we initially tried to buy the property was a developer. One possibility is that they approached the council for planning advice (it's an oddly shaped block with an unusual level change across the back garden), which triggered the intervention of the tree guy at the council. Alternatively, one of the neighbours might have said something to the council when they realised developers were sniffing around. There'd been all sorts of nastiness during attempts by our neighbour to get planning so it's possible someone wanted to get some constraints in place. All speculation of course, but the previous owners had lived there since the early 1950s, and the trees are probably even older than that, so the timing of the TPO is suspicious. I do wish we'd appealed at the time. We subsequently had a tree survey done. Turns out most of the trees subject to the TPO were of very low quality and arguably should not have had TPOs on them. We were completely ignorant of what it all meant, plus had too much else on at the time to properly look into it. The result was that the front half of the house couldn't extend beyond the original footprint of the bungalow we knocked down. We could really have used even an extra metre widthwise, and the garage/workshop could have been made a more useful size. As I still say (nearly 9 years after moving in) when I spot something I wish I'd done differently: "Next house".

Ah you're right, I misread it. Thanks, I've edited my reply. Is it possible to appeal a TPO being placed on a tree?

Tricky one this. Planning permission overrides TPOs, but I wonder how that works if the TPO is applied after planning is approved? Could it be argued that the TPO was issued in error given planning permission had already been approved? Ignore this, I misread and thought planning had been approved.

@Dave Lee, I've moved your post to the subforum that covers dormers. You'll get more chance of a reply here - a lot of members don't read the "Introduce Yourself" section.

Thanks Tom, the approach you've suggested sounds fine. By way of background, some new members start a thread in this subforum without any introduction, and launch straight into a specific building-related question (I know that isn't what you've done). I've been making an effort over the last few months to move those sorts of threads to the right subforum. While this subforum wasn't intended to be for build diaries, I appreciate that this is probably the best location for such threads.

There's some useful DIY info at the start of this thread (plus a currently very short queue to hire, if that's of interest). There's more to it than dividing the total by the number of valves, as you also need to take into account building regs flow rates for things like kitchens and bathrooms.

Welcome to BuildHub. I get the impression that a lot of members don't check the Introduce Yourself forum, and/or stick to sub-forums that interest them. You're therefore going to increase your chances if you ask your question in the MVHR sub-forum: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/79-mechanical-ventilation-with-heat-recovery-mvhr/ Good luck.

@alfaTom, would you mind if I moved this post to the relevant sub-forum (probably https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/73-foundations/)? As @Gus Potter says, there's a lot of useful information in it, and it's likely to get lost in the Introduce Yourself sub-forum. Thanks.

Welcome to BuildHub @Accent Have you tried searching the forum for Nulok, ordered by most recent posts? It doesn't look like there's been a lot posted about the system in the last couple of years: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/search/?q=nulok&quick=1&updated_after=any&sortby=newest

Hi Gary. A lot of members don't read the Introduce Yourself section, so you'll get a better response posting in one of the building-related sub-forums. I can move this post for you, but I'm not sure what sub-forum best suits your question. If you'll mostly be doing renovations and extensions, then https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/60-house-extensions-conservatories might suit. One of the construction type sub-forums might do if you plan to be sticking to one of those: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/24-house-construction/ The Project and Site Management or Building Regs forums might also suit: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/19-design-architecture/ Let me know which you prefer and I'll move this post there (a link will stay in the Introduce Yourself sub-forum for 30 days).

Hi Mike, welcome to the forum. Thanks for not just plonking down your question in the Introduce Yourself forum. What sort of suggestions are you looking for? How to find a main contractor who'll work with the housebuilder you've likely chosen? If so, then "Project and Site Management" is probably the most appropriate subforum: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/105-project-site-management/ If you're looking for other suggestions, give us some more detail and we'll sort out the best subforum to post them in.

We considered this but never got around to implementing it. Would have been great for rinsing the dog down. Another thing to consider is a softened water tap if you wash your car a lot (not really a problem we face!) Also consider adding internal stopcocks for your exterior taps so you can turn them off and drain them down in winter. 100% this. Even running armoured cable to points within a garden where you might want a shed, lighting, etc in the future makes a lot of sense. Same with running undergound pipework if you need water a long way from your outside taps. It's so much easier to do when you have diggers onsite doing groundwork. Also consider running generously proportioned underground conduit if you have locations where you might want any form of wiring in the future. I wouldn't be without one. Forgot to put veggies on? Instant boiling water for peas or corn. Late getting the pasta going? Full pot of boiling water in 20 seconds. I think this is a good idea in theory, but we tend to do a lot of washing and drying overnight. I'm a really light sleeper, and with wooden floors upstairs and longish-span pozijoists, I was worried about noise. Jury's out about whether it was the right decision - my partner still thinks we should have found/made space for a washing machine and dryer upstairs.

To be fair, it sounds like you're using your loft as a plant room of sorts.

To be fair, I didn't expect that they'd be used a lot. I read a lot of the classic architecture book "A Pattern Language" before we engaged an architect. One of the tenets in the book is that balconies less than about 6 feet deep will seldom be used. I thought we'd use it now and again - open the door, stand there and enjoy the garden for a bit, that sort of thing. But it really hasn't worked out like that. Our late decision to include a bath in the ensuite is a similar failure. I think it's been used three or four times in nearly nine years. My wife chose it based on how it looks, but it's one of those egg-shaped things, so it's really uncomfortable unless it's full. I don't have the patience to wait that long! I agree that it isn't necessary to have everything in one room, but our plant room is dead in the middle of the house, so is positioned for the shortest (average) runs to everywhere. We actually have a lot of home automation stuff in a separate cupboard, and had I planned it better, I suspect it would have been better to put all the electrics in there. Whichever approach is preferred for the circumstances (or based on personal preference), my warning is really more about my massive failure to plan properly.

It's interested how many points are being repeated (and I experienced several of them). We don't have UFH in the bathrooms. I think this was probably the biggest mistake, at least in terms of being reminded about it every single morning in winter. We've retrofitted IR panels in the ceilings, but it isn't the same sort of heat. I reckon it cost us at least twice as much to do that as what it would have cost us to add UFH mats during the original build. I'd have thought a lot harder about windows. Examples: We have floor to ceiling windows on the two "free" sides of our kitchen diner. Great for views, but terrible for furniture placement. One window is a 5.5m long slider, which if I were doing it again would be replaced by a pair of central doors with windows either side (starting at least a metre off the floor). The downstairs toilet has a window that finishes just above cistern height. Although it opens out onto a space beside the house where no-one generally walks and can't be seen from next door, we do park out there, and it would really have made more sense to have a smaller, higher-set window in this position. The same applies to the bathrooms on the same (north-facing) elevation. Our bedroom window is way too big, and again, floor to ceiling. Some of the windows have opening panes that are too large. This means they swing an awfully long way into the room, making them borderline unusable in some places (can tilt them rather than open them, but sometimes you want to maximise airflow!) Some of the upstairs windows have large opening panes but also start only 500 or 600 mm off the floor. For safety, we should really have stays preventing them from opening, or some form of railing or glass panel. Doing this again, I'd have had a fixed pane on the bottom up to the building regs height, and split the window into equal opening panes (rather than one very large and one small). I would have used a cheaper window supplier. I didn't think hard enough about the kitchen diner layout. We do have space for a sofa but it isn't really a place to spend a lot of time in comfort. We have balconies off two of the bedrooms. They're never, ever used, and all they do is collect leaves and dust (and, we noticed yesterday, a dead bird from some time ago). I'd have left the overhangs (which are only a metre or so) but done away with the balconies. They also introduced cold bridges that we didn't discover until it was too late. I'd have spent less on windows and found the money for a partial basement. One thing we'd really get a lot of use from as a family would be a gym, which basements are great for. We currently have half of the garage taken up with gym gear. It's fine, but it's way too cold in winter, and I'd rather use the garage for other things. I'd have put external venetians on more of the windows. They're hugely effective - it's very noticeable during hot spells which rooms have them. I'd have gone for a larger plant room and, more importantly, thought a lot harder about the layout. We have a lot of awkward runs of electrical conduit and pipework that could have significantly been reduced if we'd thought harder about things up front. It looks horrible.

Welcome to BuildHub! You'll get better responses to your questions if you post them in the relevant sub-forums. A lot of members don't follow what goes on in the Introduce Yourself section. Keeping this section focused on intros only also ensures that useful information doesn't end up lost in here. Thanks.

Hi Wes, welcome to the forum. You'll get much better responses if you post your questions in the relevant sub-forums. Let me know if you want me to move this one to the solar PV forum. Alternatively, feel free to start a fresh topic over there if you'd prefer to leave this post here as a brief introduction.

@marno17, we try to keep the Introduce Yourself section to introductions only. I've moved this to the building regulations section, but you might do better starting separate questions in whatever you think is the best sub-forum for each. Thanks.

@Amateur bob, could you please post your questions in the relevant sub-forum rather than the Introduce Yourself section? Saves me having to move them, plus you get to choose the sub-forum rather than getting stuck with whatever I think is the most appropriate. I've moved this one - let me know if you want it moved somewhere else. Thanks.