jamiehamy

Thank you. Think I've got my list ready, will probably make a start next weekend with the pipe runs. JTM have the HEP manifolds too. Now to practise my soldering before going live on the manifold part...!

It's funny - lots of people are asking all the questions I need answers to right now! I've only just started looking at this too.

But I don't see the value-ad @Tennentslager. Floor design - signed and certified off by SE. Walls - SE. Roof - SE+architect. Windows - relying on me making sure they are the right standard. Electrics - certified by Spark. Plumbing? Cylinder connected and approved by plumber. Drains test? Involves me doing it and the BCO standing watching for a few minutes until he gets fed up watching. Okay, so I'm getting my house approved in the end - but I feel it's a tick box exercise - everyone else did the work and checking. It's not £1500 worth imo. But you're right about MOT - tremendous value for money. As is road tax - £245 for access to tens of thousands of miles of road. I never grudge my RFL! But then - I love driving.

Twas I! I've not actually tried any PiR, just XPS will do tmrw if I get a chance! It does chop xps into flakes but think PiR would yield better results. In the end tho, I gave up and tossed it in a skip we needed any way.

My Corrado is in getting some tlc this week. I've barely had time to do anything on it since build started. Looking promising tho... And... What's it about the colour red?,!

I couldn't believe how much they charged. And whilst our BCO has been really helpful and supportive thus far, I've not idea where the fee goes,or why cost of build bears any relevance. I did 'negotiate' our fee and my argument was accepted but I still wanted lower. The argument was that whilst our labour was 'free', from a BC fee perspective a value had to be put against it.

Tsk Tsk! Can you get pyrolytic steam ovens? Other hard advises that with NEFF and Miele it seems to be one or other. Both gave advantages so we need to weigh up. I think the steam one wins as we cook a lot...

If we're talking the same thing, ours was £1400 negotiated down from £2200!

Can you message me the name of the company please? I'm interested in this!

Other half is tracking this, but we've not updated for a while. For us, I reckon about 70% with us doing most of the work. I'm try to keep hot on pricing as that is the main way to control costs for us.

Thanks @TerryE - I got the 'broken down' quote through and there is nothing in it to justify the cost so have advised we won't be going ahead. I've started my materials listing from various online suppliers - JTM thus far are the best. Based on what you and @JSHarris are saying, it sounds like online is probably going to be the most price competitive place? I do have two contacts who can connect and certify the UVC - they just don't have capacity to do the job as they are employees rather than self employed. I'll get all the runs done and the manifold which will let us sheet the walls, then worry about the soil pipe connections and wastes later - one step at a time I suppose! One quick question - you said about 90 elbows for some connections. All our supplies will be coming down the stud walls - I take it I can't really avoid the 90 bends in that case? Thanks, Jamie

I must confuse people with my battered old 250k mile Corrado sat outside when we work...I genuinely think people think I'm the labourer if they see me when they pass by. I don't have any intention of getting rid of it either @jackBuy it once, keep it forever. Depreciation becomes irrelevant after 10 years or so.

We extended our build insurance recently - when we took it out initially, I srt the rebuild value as your budget. When I came to extend it, I realised tht should the worst ever happen, there was no way I'd spend over two years of my life doing it again, so I upped it to the worst case BC valuation (nearly double our budget!) - which even then might be a bit low. I didn't bother about what the house might be worth but expect we'd probably break-even with a builder (just). Doing it ourselves almost entirely, we would most certainly make money if we ever sold - but - we got the land for a song (without PP).

Where have you been hiding?! Certain political party loves dragging it up like it actually happened yesterday! Dalgety Bay and Kinloss.

What is the build material? If this is measuring over 2 months it'll not be an accurate picture as the fabric on the house will be absorbing the heat even still. A friend built an ICF house i Essex and said it was really cold for the first 6 months but once the whole building heated up the energy useage dropped massively.

I've just fallen out with Jewson. I need 3 pallets of 50mm RWA45 Rock wool acoustic batts. Came back with price of £17.89+vat. Told him he was nowhere near, dropped it to £15.30+vat. Now buying from BSO for £13.30vat in delivery. I love working with the batts, so quick, neat and easy.

Also, some rooms have twin ducts for extract or supply depending on room size. Ours balances but not because of equal number or extracts and supplies. The two on the right going into the floor are the supply for the living room. The two going up the wall are single ducts to different rooms.

So it's not just me being tight then?!

Other chap never got back, despite telling me he was really keen for the work. The chap that quoted was recommended - I don't like wasting people's time if I'm not likely to actually use them, but if the price had been competitive I'd have gone for it right away. This has made me stop and probably do most myself (original idea but will take longer) . I suppose I could try get another price but don't know any others so would be pot luck. Gut is saying just do it myself along with input on this thread.

(or in short, 1 WC,, 2shower rooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen and utility)

Thanks! Will do. Got price back which has has taken me back slightly. It's not got a break down but is £8700 for First Fix, which I'm assuming includes the Megaflow (£1500), manifolds with stop valves, pipes, running the supply into the house and preparing the soil pipes. Second fix is £3375 with us buying all taps, valves etc. We have- Hot water - 10mm x 7 15mm x 5 Cold water 10mm x 7 15mm x 8 Shower waste - 3 Bathwaste - 1 Sink waste - 7 Toilet waste - 4 Mhrv condensate waste - 1 Seems on the high side on first glance - any thoughts? I don't have any breakdown at this stage. Thanks, J

Just a quick update - we've been working flat out to get ready for the spark - coming on Thursday to start. Plumber got in touch - issue with his phone - just waiting on a price for the works, however he is happy with a manifold system for distribution. I am happy to do it myself,but 18months in, I'm willing to pay a fair price to have it done in a quarter of the time and far more professionally - hopefully his price is reasonable. @Nickfromwales - can I check - does the cold water go through a manifold system to keep pressure to hot and cold roughly the same? And have you put a patent on your design as per the pic?

Hi all, We've just installed the heat recovery system - whilst doing so, a thought struck me. Should I put an extract in the plant room itself? There will be a 400L Megaflow hot water cylinder there along with the manifold system for the DHW supply. Given that there will be inevitable heat loss, is it worth capturing this in the heat recovery and redistributing it? I've got a couple of ports on the manifold left.

Good question - we've not put any in ours - all the windows look onto fields or are such that no-one outside the boundary can see in. Blinds can offer privacy if required, otherwise, light and views are all welcome!