Mr Punter

You can often make contact with the fire service and I have found them quite helpful. Did the fire service speak to BC? Were they happy with your proposals? Did the fire service bring this up as an issue at planning stage? They will often relax some guidelines for a single dwelling.

Once you have a decent topo it gives everyone a reference for follow on work. You will be surprised how many times it is referred to from planning drawings, services, site setout, groundworks and landscaping.

Hello @Adele Tractor and welcome. Private or Local Authority, building control are overrun with work and do not have time to talk to you. You need to work out how to comply and they will check the plans and visit key stages. They will probably only visit site 3 or 4 times. Why don't you post what you are unsure about on here and see what replies you get? There are lots of members with considerable skill and experience.

There are lots of smaller developers who do less formulaic developments. It is not just a choice between Taylor Wimpey and self-build. If you were able to offer fully serviced plots with OPP similar to Graven Hill you may find a market.

We dry the washing in the winter with a Meaco dehumidifier in a small utility room. No windows in the room and a machine load of washing dries in about 8 hours.

I doubt you need to close the cavity in any case, but I would look at a Rockwool sock compressed between the wall plate and the outer leaf, resting on the wall ties.

Best drink it quickly anyway, just in case.

The green line would be your gas membrane, laid flat with no folds or laps, supported on the slab and external walls. You can add whatever other DPCs you may need, safe in the knowledge that the gas membrane is continuous save for correctly detailed service penetrations.

So can't you do this?:

Why have you lapped it up the brickwork? Just leave it flat.

Our guy used 4:1 with some fibres chucked in. Get the levels around the edge then fill in the middle.

I have never seen these. If you are doing a DPC cavity tray around the perimeter you could just lap any joins, but probably not have any other than change of direction. You could use some double sided DPC tape if you are feeling really keen. Who specified these? Is it a radon thing?

You may find it useful to get some measured plans of the existing building and site and any proposed new layout. That will make it easier to specify what you want. Do you want to improve insulation, ventilation, heating, hot water, solar, cooling etc? These are worth considering early on. £250k sounds a healthy budget but windows and external doors, kitchens, landscaping, automatic gates, wrap around balcony and glass balustrading can eat through a lot of cash.

Hello Hayden and welcome. The house looks a bit neglected. It is quite unusual being 3 storey with the integral double garage. What changes are you considering?

If they were cut to size that sounds like good value.