gc100

Ah thanks. No I wasn't. We have approval to drain into a drainage ditch thats used by the surrounding fields. However the drainage ditches dry up at some point during the summer for a few weeks depending on the weather and it seems I could be caught foul of these rules. Who enforces/checks them?

Yes the whole way - we need to also lay a water pipe at the same time, and we need to leave inspect holes every 50m for the water board to sign off so I know think a mole plough would work. I did get some quotes but it was no cheaper than my man who does the digging.

Thanks Peter, We are doing ourselves.

Hi, We are now making a start to our build. First thing is getting 550m of cable laid across of fields and woods . The cable alone is 14K + VAT. Can we reclaim this sort of thing or is it only items that are in the actual construction/renovation of barn? Also do we have to notify the LPA of start date for this kind of work or in related to the VAT reclaim ? Any ideas? Thanks

Talking to Widget Ltd, the owner actually runs 3 other companies (joiners, M/E, Interiors), they use these companies for an sub-contract work on the build

No (but its arable land so not too worried) All my planning pre-conditions have been approved for sewage drainage - is there something more I'm not aware of via building control or something?

Thanks all for your thoughts. It's clear there are pros and cons with both: Widget - +ve: quick, less hands on, known price. -ve: less control, some decisions will be rushed or taken for me. Bill&Bob - +be: quality build, involved in all decisions and given more time to process. -ve: unknown cost and risk of run away, Slow build time, more stressful. Still not any closer to making a decision!!!

So crunch time has come. I've sold the house, money in the bank and now I need to decide ideally in the next couple of days who to build my house. I have narrowed it down to 2 options: Established local building company with a large team good reputation Fixed quote (subject to change of course). Lets call them Widget Ltd. 2 man band who 'are the best builders around' - recommended by a good friend (plasterer) who works with many many builders in the area. Pay as you go £230/day rate each. Lets call the Bill&Bob. Widget Ltd have good experience in lots of construction types and passive house builds. They are quoting a 6 month build. Bill&Bob have lots of experience in different builds - recently a couple of wood constructions which I went to visit and the owner couldn't speak more highly of them and their work, skill and ethic. They think it will take then 12 to 14 months to do the build. Both can start in the next couple of months. My gut is telling me they will end up costing around the same (Bill &Bob possibly more), though I'm still waiting for an independent QS report. However the approach will be much more different. With Bill &Bob I will be involved in every stage and will get time to consider my options, whereas Widget Ltd will move a lot quicker and I suspect take a lot of decisions on my behalf unless I specify them at the start. I have a full time company of my own and kids so my time is limited, however I need to have control on all the decisions that will effect everything I see and touch. There are many details I've not had time to think about what I really want (electrical layout, lighting, MVRH, external water/electrical, wall finishes, bathrooms, etc). I think I will be dragged into getting quotes much much more with Bill&Bob but there is the potential to save money. An example I know of is the sewage treatment plant (Widgets Ltd quoted £3700 in their cost analysis, and I know I can get it for £3100). However on raw materials I suspect their will not be a massive difference due to their buying power vs mine. Another example is they are quoting £27K for the zinc roof (in house team), which is about what I'm getting quoted from specialist companies, so ultimately there is not going to be massive difference I think. Widget Ltd day rate for anything outside of the contract is £200/day. I know if go with Bill&Bob I will ultimately get a quality build with the finish I want, but at a cost and a significant longer build time. I think I would still get a quality build with Widget Ltd, but not quite at the same standard perhaps - but would I actually notice? I'm paying £1050/m rent so the shorter the build the better and franky I just want to get on with it, and move in as its taken me nearly 4 years to get to this position (most of that was planning fight with LPA). So there is a side of me that wants to to take the 'easy' option and go with Widgets Ltd, versus the longer, slower, more involved process with Bill&Bob. Anyone been in a similar situation before they started??

Thanks all. Regarding site fencing - the site is located in a middle of a farm and the only access is behind a locked gate drive - is it still necessary? Is the sign-in book law/H/S obligatory? I will appoint one chap the principle contractor and it seems pretty straight forward in regard to CDM they are responsible for all HS no? I do not get involved. Everything else looks sensible :-) Thanks

Hi, I'm getting close to being able to make a start on my plot. I'm paying contractors directly and materials and basically doing time and money setup. One contractor will be project managing the build. I've been started to think about site security, and I'm presuming some for a insurance. I see in other threads mentioned of 'Welfare' units, toilets etc What are my legal obligations for the site? Any help of pointers much appreciated.

Hi, Thanks for the answers. Another question : For the receipts/invoices - must it have your surname on the invoice ? thanks

Hi, I'm probably going down the road of doing my build by paying for labour/time spentsome and paying directly for materials. Will I still be able to claim back the vat in materials? I presume the merchants will want to put 20% on up front? Thanks

Did you go down this route due to cost? We have about 240m2 to do. I don't have the time to DiY

Hi, we had specified a timber rainscreen roof with a EPDM membrane , however I'm concerned about how it will weather and I'm not really a fan of the silver/b;ack/green that timber can go. So I'm seriously now considering changing the design and going back to planning with a material change to a zinc roof. We really want hidden gutters and minimal flashing over the edges. The cost of zinc m2 doesn't seem to bad at the moment, however the installation etc is another matter. For those who have done it what did it work out per m2 in the end?? Many thanks

Hi, I'm in a sticky situation whereby the DNO is only wanting to give me a connection to my barn conversion by putting a transformer outside with 11Kv to that. They are quoting £55K+VAT !! I'm wanting them to put a kiosk by the nearest pole mounted transformer and then run 500meters across our fields to the barn. This will be somewhat cheaper (still £35K!). However the DNO contact is basically saying that he does't think an air source unit would comply with P28, which from my reading is about equipment not drawing too much peak load to drop the voltage at the transformer. Talking to the ASHP suppliers they are full of confidence that max load for the unit we need would be 28A and it has soft start etc. Talking to the electrician company who would be connecting from kiosk to the barn see no reason why an ASHP would cause any issue as the "the DNO is supplying a normal house connection" However I imagine I will get caught in the middle if we end up fitting an ASHP and then get flickering lights or cause the neighbour on the same pole flickering lights. The DNO will argue that my setup does not conform to P28 etc. So my question is has anyone had any issue with voltage drops at startup?? You can see even equipment with soft start still draw way more power at startup than they claim (Figure 2) : https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=6985842 Here is a case study about it: http://www.networkrevolution.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CLNR-Heat-Pump-Case-Study-V1.0-CDT.pdf Any thoughts?

What kind of draw (16A/32A) for the EV car is needed?

Yes I agreed. Its totally unacceptable the current status.

Not to get into a discussion about saving the planet, but the reason we are in such a mess is because doing the right thing for the planet has never makes economic sense!! It we all tried more, even with a negative economic element it would make a difference.

Thanks thats very interesting. I'll look into this more. Much appreciated.

For use not not all about financial sense - in fact our whole build does'nt really make sense from a financial point of view ! For us the motivation for PV would be climate impact reduction and lower yearly bills (paid upfront by PV install), and just that smug feeling of generating our own power ? .

Hi @JSHarris, where could I get more information about your hot water /PV setup - I'd like to get my head into the details to see if its still worth the effort of us without the FIT. Looking at that link you shared with a 6K systems we would generate 4010K a year (attached) Many thanks

So, I just got another quote at 4.5K for a 16 panel 305W system which seems pretty good. However I expect they are expecting a normal roof and not a wooden one so not sure how thats gonna work. This is their calculation attached.

Its a domestic install. The roof is treated timber so probably cheaper than solar I would think

I think the 20 panels is a 6K from the call on the phone before. I've emailed for clarification

So with the end of the feed in tarif we are trying to decide wether to both with PV on our new build/conversion. We realise its probably cheaper in the next 10 years to not bother, but we both work from home and we like the idea of just paying upfront for the electricity as part of the build and possible climate benefits. Also given the VAT raise, realistically are best opportunty in the coming years is during this build to get 5% rather than 20% down the line. So I contacted a local company and got this back: Now I think his calculates are very very optimistic so say the least. Does anyone know the actual calculation used for https://www.pvfitcalculator.energysavingtrust.org.uk/ which seems to take into account the fact PV get less efficient over time? Its annoying as that calculator only support up to 4K system. Any idea's how I can make a realistic calculation?