ryder72

I have been getting quotes for structural warranty for a 280 m2 house. LABC declined to quote. They dont like the KORE passive slab system that MBC supply. Has anyone managed to get LABC to provide a warranty for an MBC frame with the passive slab? CRL - 4000. Buildstore - £3350 Waiting to hear from Protek. Have I missed anyone? Do these sound reasonable?

Hi Jeremy - I am starting to shop for site insurance. We are going with a contractor who is initially contracted to demolish the house, prepare the site, groundworks and build the garage. We intended to keep the same firm involved for the external finishing of the house but it was my intention to keep this as a secondary contract. The site has a small amount of retaining walls but nothing on the scale of the retaining walls on your site and the contractor will be doing this work. I have so far being looking to get an all risks policy from day 1 of project to cover any risk. However, at the mention of the word 'retaining wall' I get a 5 page form to complete with no distinction between a wall 750mm high and another holding back a mountain. So, is there a need to get an all risks insurance policy under these circumstances given that the contractor carries their own insurance as like you, will be responsible for all aspects of the build such as H&S, insurance, fencing etc.

FYI - we were in the same situation. Our existing bungalow has (had?) bats. We are replacing it with a flat roof structure which originally had a flat roof garage. Upon discovery of the bats, we had to recreate the space so we decided to make the garage into a pitched roof building with a void to suit bats. This is going to be significantly (probably 70%) smaller than the space its replacing but no one has flagged it as a problem, neither the ecologist nor the LA. If it helps, I can forward you details of our 'bat man'. He is a nice bloke and has been more than helpful in navigating the mess that is ecology.

Since you hav this resolved now my post is meaningless in a way. It is however worth noting that a built-in microwave is designed to ventilate from the front while freestanding ones ventilate from the top. What Baumatic have done is created a frame to fit a 45cm slot and slotted in a freestanding microwave into this space. The spare space around the microwave is meant to serve the purpose of the ventilation gap. In practise, this is a workaround at best. I have seen blown carcases where humidity from the oven was constantly fitting the shelf above the oven and caused water ingress into the carcase. Further this approach leaves you with a smaller oven than you could fit in using a microwave designed for a 45cm cavity. These are obviously at a much greater cost.

After nearly 30 months of planning, discussions etc we are close to making a start on our project. The plan is to appoint a main contractor for the initial phase which would involve demolition, site clearance, building garages, groundworks, site preparation etc for MBC. This will be followed by MBC doing their bit and then we embark on phase 2. Work pressures being what they are, I intend to use the same contractors to carry out phase 2 which would be getting the building wind and water tight. A glazing supplier has already been identified and the contractor will do the cladding, rendering roofing, skylights, balustrades etc. after which we get to phase 3 which would be the internal fit out. My question here is about the contract to use. The builder has offered the option of either a JCT (where home owner has not appointed a consultant to oversee) or their own. I find their own contract to be reasonable (but I am no legal eagle). The JCT contract is very vague so while time tested, I am not sure how a dispute would get resolved. Any thoughts on which type of contract is better in this specific scenario?

ummm... I will tell you n a few days Nick.

Ryder72 from the old website. Hope everyone is well.