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Hello everyone, Just got home from site, needed to vent out my frustration with some news from first BC visit so here I am! Today was the day we started marking out foundations (standard concrete), contractor organised a site visit with BC (private) at 15PM as he wanted to show him soil and if 1m deep concrete would be fine, we dug a hole 1m deep and waited for him to arrive. As soon as he arrived on site, he noticed that by the boundary of our plot there was a tree to the neighbours side, not really a big tree anyways. So he looks down at the hole and tells us that we would have to change the design due to being near that tree. He has requested a 2.1 deep foundation in the area surrounding it….so far so good, well more concrete so costs will be a bit higher than expected. Now came the surprising news: since we are going over 1.5m, any floor with a foundation below 1.5m needs to be suspended!!!! Don’t know how we missed this but we are now looking into having to go from standard concrete to beam and block can’t believe we only flagged this now, Im really down right now… Just looking for some consolation now and how much more I should expect to pay, although I do know it is more than a standard slab. Our house is a timber frame build, Im wondering if there is an alternative to this. Contractor will still go ahead with pouring concrete tomorrow for foundations, could anyone give me some good news? Thank you all, I need some hugs.......

@Dean My plans have changed, got a plot locally, however couple of years back I was really interested. By the way, got the newsletter today and saw your pic on it

yea I do understand their concerns. we had the alternative to going straight to mains, but then there is another set of paperwork to ask the authority for "permission" to do so I did a thread on this last month (regarding what constitutes starting), thing is, my groundswork wants to begin with digging for foundations, then service trenches.... it wouldn't make much of a difference to him starting a week before with clearing the site as that shouldn't take long he reckons

According to him, there was not enough data in one of the boreholes that the soil survey dug (3 of them). So because there was no data for one of them, he wants me to re-do it. And no, thankfully he is not charging for it, to be honest I think he is trying to be helpful as I did tell of my urgency in starting. It is a pre-condtion: "Development shall not commence until full details of the proposed surface water drainage scheme have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority." We submitted a soakway design plan however he wants to make sure it is compatible with what the test data reflects. Frustrated but nothing I can do (apart from starting before the discharge and risk pissing them off)

Groundswork army ready to move into site, applied for condition 6 to be discharged (surface water drainage), now drainage engineer does not trust previous test results, wants to come next week and assist in undertaking perc test so he can crunch numbers for me and advise on alternative soakway design….. And I thought I was going to start 2 months ago!!!! another week anxiously waiting….

I wish it was that easy with my LA!

Nice information from you all. My groundworks guy suggested we start after condition is discharged, as getting the drive base in the soakaway and ducting would need to go in at the same time, and that may be looked upon as starting work. Although I am sure I would not get any enforcement action or neighbour complaints (people are eager we start as the site has been neglected for years) who knows if the LA gets nosey and decides to keep a look!

Yes water and sewer, Thats one option, I think I may have to do work out something with my neighbour luckily they are very friendly

Thanks for the feedback guys. When I thought I was ready to get started everything stands to a halt again. I will discuss with my groundworks guy, if we can get a head-start by "tidying up the garden" then I will risk it, as I don't want to delay things any further (my timber frame delivery is scheduled to beginning of March) @PeterW so I assume any connection of services could be defined as starting development? (only asking since I want to get water meter box installed as we need for concrete!)

@Temp FYI, my consultant has told me that Arun (local LA) dont have CIL in place yet so still on S106 agreements….

@Temp Thanks for your input. I am actually confused by this, is is any related to S106? As far as I know, I have had no knowledge of CIL on my planning app!

Thanks guys for the replies :-) My thoughts exactly. What I propose is essentially tidying up and removing all the vegetation from the site. I dont see my neighbours complaning about either, they keep on asking me when I will start Cant think of anybody bothering on xmas period! Ferdinand, I missed the bit re CiL, care to explain

Hello all, Really frustrated at the moment as I missed out on one little thing that is now delaying start of groundworks! There is one condition on my planning application that states: "Development shall not commence until full details of the proposed surface water drainage scheme have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority." I enquired with my case officer regarding this (about 12-14 days ago I did apply to discharge this condition), however due to workload, my case officer has stated that he will only be able to write the report and decision in January!!! So I asked him again what is the actual definition of "development", and if I could somehow seek permission to at least start clearing the site (clearing brambles, levelling, etc). not foundation work or trenches. He says he is not able to answer this and that I should seek advice of a planning consultant in this particular query. Can anybody give me some feedback of what exactly "Development" means from their point of view, and if if I am allowed to do anything or should I just wait? Thanks again everyone!

Can anybody provide some average m2 prices for tegula paving? Im down south

Thank you all for the feedback!

Hi All, I am quoting at the moment for block paving to my front area. As I understand, VAT Notice 708: buildings and construction allows for new work to be zero rated. If contractor is supplying materials such as paving blocks, would the zero-rating apply only to works or materials as well? Or should I propose buying materials (and get VAT back afterwards) or would contractor be able to get materials zero rated? Thanks in advance

FYI, got a quote back from Premier, 2.3k, 180m2 house, really thought it would be a bit cheaper!

Congratz!!! really makes me look forward to my foundations coming in a couple of weeks time

Thanks, will keep this thread updated

Hi Dave, I got a reply from my Case officer. His words " I have no in principle objections to the amended garage but we need to consult the Town Council and local residents and I cannot provide any guarantee that permission will be granted.". So as long as he gets the application allocated to him, I should have no issues (plot is quite big so it wont feel overdeveloped at all). I think I can do what you suggest, get in touch with the Timber frame company and somehow get it ordered without delay and perhaps change if I get no approval :-)

Hi Peter, thanks for your feedback. I was afraid it would be classed as a "full" application, I have just asked my case officer for the same info, but I already know what I will hear :-) Hi Ferdinand, I want the bigger garage, Im using the cycle store requirement only to support the approval of it, Had I known that it would take longer, I would have applied for a bigger garage initially. So my mistake. My concern with how long it may take is only due to having to order the garage as a package with my timber frame company, as they need to order the whole package together, if I have to wait for LA to decide on approving the bigger one, it will delay my delivery date for sure (holiday period , etc)

Hi All, Does anybody ever had a situation similar to mine? Here is the story: I originally obtained planning permission (April of this year) that included a 6x6 garage. Part of the conditions listed were: (2) - The development hereby approved shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans: ..... (7) - No part of the development shall be first occupied until covered and secure cycle parking spaces have been provided in accordance with plans and details submitted to and approved by the Local Planning Authority. So I thought, In order to accommodate the cycle store requirement, I decided to go for a bigger garage (6x8) that would have the cycle store annexed to garage. I consulted with my Case officer and he advised me to just apply to vary the conditions (stated above) only in respect of the changes to the garage and could proceed with the other elements of my approved planning whilst the application was being resolved. I have made the application to vary the conditions and now waiting (application name worded as "Application for variation of conditions No. 2 & 7 of previously approved XX/XX/XX/XX". Any idea how long a variation of a condition app usually takes compared to a regular "full" planning application? As I want to place the order for the garage right away, I'm very anxious as to how long this may take. Thanks again everyone

I did go to NHBC website, seems there is no product for self-builds anymore What if we were to sell it AFTER 10 years? I mean, would you have any issues with buyers and lenders, if the original warranty will inspect all work from foundations on?

Thanks for your feedback, I will add Premier to my list

Gary, really appreciate man, lets keep in touch, we are on the same page :-) So your house is way bigger than mine, maybe this would lower the cost significantly. 500 for site insurance is quite cheap, lowest I got was 1250, but then I am building 2 properties, so the final reinstate value is a bit higher than most. Did you go with protek for site insurance? Keep me updated regarding warranty, I will try to chase it down