Wagas

Is that restriction 800mm? So for living room/ground floor bedroom as long as windows are 800 above finished floor there are no toughened glass/restricted opening requirements? Thanks

Personally from experience so far I'd say don't sweat the small stuff and put some time into negotiating the big ticket items. Attic roof truss quotes ranged from £6,250-£15,000 and the £6,250 guy turned out to be the most helpful and engaging guy with a better product so guess who I went with. Saving £9k on the trusses is worth the time spent whereas saving a few quid on sand deliveries probably isn't worth the hassle. For bricks/blocks I ended up just contacting the managers of two local builders merchants and were surprised at how keen they were for my business. Offered me 30-40% off web 'trade prices' without me even asking. There will also be times where it's worth paying a bit more for peace of mind. My brickies offered to lay the b&b floor but I got the beam manufacturers to lay it. It cost me a bit more but I figured they lay these things all day so there will be no mistakes (eg cutting beams). They laid it in about 2 hours, I think my brickies would have taken a couple of days. Another example is I had some steel windposts made and I was thinking of just getting a keen DIY neighbour to fit them and in the end I asked the chap who made them to install them thinking he had all the proper tools and knows what he's doing, best £60 I've spent so far as it turned out to be a fiddly job.

BC is not interested? That makes sense as I can't find anything online about it

Hmm I was getting confused with mm! Mine is set at 1050

Hi, my architect has the kitchen sink window starting at 950mm above finished floor level. This seems a bit high to me, 915-930mm would be better I think. I'm wondering if 950mm is the minimum distance from floor level that a kitchen sink window needs to be for building control? Does anyone know? Thanks

Thanks for input Yes cloaks is WC No the right side faces south but the bottom has the views

Please have a look at these. I've gone back and fourth and am suffering from brain fog. Please have a look at the layout and flow, any comments welcome. I'm thinking the car port is too tight for starters. Please ignore bedroom 2 and 4 as I'm not using that layout. I'm worried that the extended right 'wing' will look a bit odd. Thanks GF.pdf FF.pdf

I'd say so... professional fees seem to be huge. £3,500 for building reg plans + £1250 structural engineer for a not very fancy house. This is after you've already spent thousands on plans to obtain planning permission. £700 to test soil?? You can test blood for a tenth of that! £1,000 for someone to walk around for 30 mins looking for bats and then supply a copy and paste report saying there aren't any. It's one long gravy train. Had a guy quote to move a 30m post and rail fence, no concrete involved in the posts just pull up old fence and position it somewhere else. He told me it was a days work and wanted £550. So no materials and he wants £550. People must be paying these fees because these people are booked up weeks or months in advance.

Stupid question but I'm guessing the reason you can't discharge directly into a dry ditch is because of smell?

How do you go about getting permission to discharge directly to ditch? Do you even need permission? My LA has referred me to Anglian Water who in turn have referred me to the Enviro Agency but I was wondering if anyone here knows. Thanks

What's he charging as a day rate out of interest?

Funnily enough I just found that page. Thanks

Interesting, thanks Christine. Well done you! My quote is nothing like yours...£6,200. It's mostly the cable which is £44 per meter and I need 100m of it. Sounds like expensive cable to me but then I don't know much!

In peoples experience are the independent connection companies any cheaper?

Were you able to get the cost of the mains cable down? My biggest cost is 100m of mains cable which UK Power is charging £45 per meter for

Indeed. If I had a wife, kids, full time office job I wouldn't consider it. Cost of mistakes is an interesting thought.

Thanks for the responses. 20 quotes seems to be causing a stir and it I think I exaggerated. In reality it would have been more like 5-10 and having read your responses I'll get 5 max.

Hello Mainly due to budget constraints I'm looking at buying most of the materials and managing the build myself. I also live 5 mins from the plot and work flexible hours from home and my work involves organising/negotiating/patience so I feel I'm well suited to PM...famous last words! I feel I'm in a good position to negotiate with labour as I'm not in a rush, I'm thinking the build will take up to 2 years. For example I'm thinking of calling say 20 local groundwork companies to get quotes for the groundworks/foundations/soakaway and just simply saying they can do it whenever they want, but in return I want rock bottom price. It's a nice plot with off road parking, water, electricity and toilet and I have PP for 3 further dwellings for the future which I'd dangle as a carrot to the companies I use for constructing the first dwelling. I feel the tide has turned in my area (Cambs) and projects are starting to be shelved due to Brexit. I've had a main contractor already tell me he's had a development cancelled on him this month for this reason. I think conditions for negotiating on price are better this year than last but of course things can change quickly. Keen to hear what others have done. Did you use groundworks company for the foundations and then hire bricklayers. Or did you get the groundworks done and then get a builder to get it to roof level and then hire roofing contractors etc. Any advice welcome especially the breakdown of stages you did everything

I was just planning to get the warranty before starting any works

Hello For various reasons I'd like to make a start on a self build using some of my savings. I own the land outright and I'd like to at least get the services and groundworks/foundations in place ASAP. I'd then like to get finance to finish the build maybe one year from now. Does anyone know how lenders feel about this? Do they prefer to lend at the beginning of a project or are they prepared to lend half way through for example? I'd make sure I have a warranty from day 1.

Ok, thank you. I thought I read somewhere that if it was a condition of planning it could be zero rated but I must be going mad!

Hello Newbie here..hello!... I did do a search for this question so apologies if I missed it, I am in a bit of a rush. I have a planning condition, post approval, to provide a contamination report. This report is a desktop study and I have been quoted £600 + VAT. Should the provider zero rate it? If they refuse would this report be viewed as something I can claim the back on at the end of the build? Many thanks