ultramods

Thanks @ProDave The timber frame company would be designing the house again using their own CAD software and they haven't started yet, so I could ask them to make the changes.

With the current design we have designed it around only the 3 of us living in the house. Our son would have bedroom 2. Also I wouldn't want to start reducing the size of the void over the dining area just to make the access to bedroom 2 and 3 slightly less "odd". Having said that what do you think of these changes? Right now we could relatively easily make these changes. Only issues I see are potential issues with window positions as some of the first floor windows line up with ground floor windows and also the garage limits the position of one of the first floor windows. Other issue is our relationship has completely broken down with our architect meaning he wouldn't make the changes, which could potentially cause issues for the waste pipe positioning by the ground workers. We are also 1 - 2 days away from getting our building warrant, would these changes effect that?

in our previous plan the left and right sides of the house were the same size, however we then put the gables on the right hand side which made that side 600mm longer. Do you really think bedroom 2 and 3 are cramped? I thought the proportions were generous, both rooms have king sized beds in them.

We quote often have a lot of family staying over, which means our dressing room can also be a temporary bedroom with the current configuration

@PeterW I agree with you regarding changing the access to the ensuite. The reason we did it this way to keep the house more flexible in terms of resale (we plan on selling in 10 years), the only bath in the house is in the master ensuite.

The reason that the bath isn't currently in front of the window is because there isn't much of a view from the window, it looks into a neighbours garden). The window will probably be frosted..

I saw the basin in front of the shower in the porcelanosa showroom in Glasgow and it looked cool. The shower screen was a mirrored on the basin side and on the shower side you could still see through the glass (good in terms of light getting into shower area)

The ensuite ended up as large as it is mainly due to the downstairs layout and because we have the double height space cutting through the middle section of the house.

The size of our master ensuite is fixed at 5190mm x 3000mm, as is the entrance door position fixed. The freestanding bath will be 1800mm X 870mm The basin will be wall mounted - 1200mm wide The toilet will be wall mounted Shower will be ceiling mounted monsoon/rainfall shower head and a normal wall mounted hose type one. Below is the current layout, however I'm not sure if it's a bit boring and will look sparse with so much space in the centre. What do you think of the following layout? I like the look of this layout, however not sure if it's making best use of the space. Also i preferred having the shower further away from the door so that any water from the shower is more contained. I also like the layout as it allows us to have a built in cupboard in the room. Some other layouts I have thought about are

You could probably save £800 by choosing a different brand for the fridge and freezer. I am currently looking at Hotpoint for the integrated fridge and freezer (still to do further research on them) HS1801AA Hotpoint Fridge Larder Integrated A+ HF1801EFAA Hotpoint Freezer Have you considered buying the appliances from ebay? That's what I plan on doing, figuring out what is a really good price for each appliance and over the next few months buy anything that enters the ideal price point.

Towards Ben Wyvis?

My MSP is Gillian Martin, I think she has a bit more free time as of the last few weeks......... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-44643327

Scottish Water have told me that we can't connect to the sewer because they don't own it. We contacted the hose builder that does own it and they won't give us permission to connect to it because they are currently transferring ownership of the sewer to SW and don't want the process delayed. They expect the ownership to be transferred towards the end of the year. It's frustrating because it means that we can't don't the sewer connection (which is also in the road) when we do the road crossing for the other services. We are getting a second quote next week for the road crossing so going to see if it will be possible to lay the sewer pipe in place but don't do the actual connection until we have permission, so we don't need to dig up the whole road twice. I have asked my MSP to see if there is anything she can do to help, within a couple of days of asking she had written to the CEO of SW and the house builder.

The guy i spoke to from BT (I think he was a local estimator) seamed to think it would be OK. However he did seam like a decent guy, so maybe other people in BT wouldn't be as accommodating.

@Christine Walker Have you looked into the phone line connection yet as it might be able to save you some money on the road crossing. I need to do one road crossing for water, electricity and gas. BT called me this week and said that each new phone line connection has an allowance of £3500, which means if there is a road crossing required for the phone line it could be paid for by the allowance. I would then put in the ducting for the other services at the same time.

I will probably be using Russwood larch painted black. https://russwood.co.uk/exteriors/cladding/Gallery I haven't seen the wood yet, planning on visiting them in the next month.

£171 psm for labour only ?. Is that price for a celebrity builder?

For the timber cladding have you looked https://russwood.co.uk/ ? A lot of the decent architects in Aberdeenshire specify it. From what I have heard their customer service is very good as is the quality of the wood that they supply.

Yes. I have updated it

Scotframe were 25% more expensive compared to Angus Homes. Some of the differences between Scotframe and Fleming might be: Fleming don't do an injected foam closed panel system, their kit uses rigid foam boards cut into shape. Some of the insulation may need to be fitted on site. Scotframe provide floor cassettes rather than lose joists. Scotframe roof may not have lots of trusses rather the roof will be made of the same closed panel system. So with the SIPS and Scotframe you may find that the structural erection is faster, however is the worth paying a premium for? Ask the companies for details of the external wall make-up and ask what arrives pre assembled from the factory and what needs to be fitted on site. You may be looking to do some of the work yourself which means an open panel system in which you can fit the insulation may be advantageous for you.

Some that I looked at are: MBC Timberframe - quite a few people on this site have used them for constructing to passive standards SIPS industries - Dalgety Bay THCL SIPS Scotland - perthshire Rob Roy Homes - perthshire Claymore homes - can't remember where Angus Homes - Turriff I have just signed contract with Angus homes. I have gone with them because: They do injected foam closed panel 0.15 u-value system (the also do rigid foam and open panel) So far the customer service has been very good and they have been very accomodating Price has been better than most of the other quotes Lead times, only 4 weeks for the main frame (I didn't check what the other companies are) Also remember when comparing SIPS with more traditional timber frame companies that they may not be supplying as many items as the traditional companies. SIPS tend to be just the structural elements, so potentially no facias, soffits, windows, external/internal doors, internal partitions, skirting board, internal insulation etc. My advice would be first work out what sort of u-value you want to achieve as this may rule out some companies. Also do you want to timber frame company to erect the frame, so do and some don't. How much or how little do you want the timber frame company to provide, again this may help narrow the options. as @newhomehas also mentioned, do you want the timber frame company to produce the designs and get building warrant etc as again some companies may not offer this service.

The road crossing is an additional piece of work that I have asked him to quote for. The road crossing can be done separately to the rest of the work, and the ducting left at the boundary for the builder to continue. it would be no different than say the plot was a serviced plot and all the services were available at the boundary. As for the patio and paving, that could be done by another company at the very end of the project once all the builders work has been completed. I spoke to the company that would be supplying me the granite paving and they said £54 psm to lay the slabs is a ridiculous price for 106 sm.

Yip

yes, he priced back in January for doing all the groundworks (drainage, driveway, patio, foundation, UFH screed) and the superstructure block work and granite. last week we asked to change the Riven slabs to granite and the addition of the road crossing for the services as in January we didn't know where the services were.

Last week I asked our preferred builder (ground works and block work) to amend a couple of items on the quote and to quote for the road crossing for our services. The prices that he has come back with all seam quite expensive what do you think? He has quoted £5400 for connecting to the sewer which is in the middle of the road and ducting for water, electricity, gas and phone which are all in the pavement, across the road The £5400 doesn't include any permits or traffic management, that is an additional £1600. Does £5400 sound OK as I thought that it was expensive? He has also quoted £1350 for dropping the kerb on the pavement, to provide access to the drive - again this sounds expensive. And finally he had initially quoted £46 psm for 104 square metres of riven paving slabs (supply and fit) for patio and path around perimeter of house. I then asked him last week to quote for laying granite slabs (I would be providing the granite slabs), he has quoted £54 psm. Again this sounds very high. When I told the builder that I was going to get some more quotes for the road crossing and laying the granite paving he told me that if they don't get to do it then they would review if they do any of the work.