Bozza

Welcome!

Very nice. Glad your building something for you not the mass market and has individuality. In my opinion your upper corridor, 4ft wide, will be long, thin and dark as is, and could compromise your grand design / spacious house somewhat. The size of your building will definitely accommodate more circulation space and you may wish to think about that here. Moving the internal walls of bedroom 1 and 2 down to expose the top of the left side staircase won’t big a big difference to those already large bedrooms, and should open up more light from the left hand side staircase. Obviously this will widen the upper hallway. Even though you only need 3 beds I think you are right to make it four bed for future resale. I’m assuming you’re a family of 2-3 maximum, but if only 2, I think you’re mental building such a massive house but it’s you’re money We ended up with one more living room than we actually needed but it’s quite handy TBH to have a clean fancy living room for visitors and a normal messy TV room for actually living in. My tip for your multiple living areas would be from an interior design perspective have them decorated and looking/feeling quite different to each other and ensuring each has a specific use. Eg watching telly, or after dinner seating, or reading or whatever. Having multiples of the same use room would be weird. If all those rooms looked similar your house might look and feel a bit weird / Groundhog Day. Our livingroom has a lux / gold / quality feeling about it but our tv room is more relaxed practical Scandi design about it so both rooms feel and look quite different and have different uses. Practically have loads of sockets in the communal areas to plug in your hoover as the cables won’t stretch that far. Or plenty of spare batteries if cordless.

That’s a great result. You’ll get your £2k back in lower monthly payment soon enough. If I recall HSBC are one of the few lenders who don’t accept PCC. There’s a list somewhere on the tinternet.

Bit confused here. The only time an architect wouldn’t have been able to visit a site during pandemic was in first half of 2021 when residential building sites were closed in Scotland. We were also affected as had to stop our build for a few months I recall. So how did you manage to progress your build through those key stages that required architects inspection, I can only assume you were living on site in a caravan or whatever and literally doing all the work yourself? In which case surely you discussed this at the time the architect, what did he/she say?

If a stone dyke look suits you this is what I am currently building/ nearly finished. Luckily I had loads of stones on site so no material cost.. Though probably overkill I did put in perforated pipe too within chuckies and covered in landscaping fabric. Needs some tidying up and soil backfill but you get the jist.

You may well be 100% correct, I’m merely repeating what my decorator told me. Relating to my 2 year old new build timber frame, that has no decorative cracks, when I expected there would be, and surprised when there wasn’t. I remember asking him why pops but no cracks when he was snagging after a year, he said because he uses acrylic caulk. May not relate to every decorative scenario of course.

Thinking back to when I had to deal with my services I’m pretty sure Openreach are limited to set charges based upon agreed schedule by Ofcom, to prevent overcharging. set by law in telecoms act I think. I think this might be it. https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/pricing/loadProductPriceDetails.do?data=z75T9D0yfFKL0UorCMMA7OVMbA8c5ofXzFv23yZvBj9Z6rNZujnCs99NbIKJZPD9hXYmiijxH6wrCQm97GZMyQ%3D%3D

My painter told me only to ever use acrylic caulk, to prevent cracking. I tend to listen to pros advice.

@Moonshinein two weeks I am refurbishing my parents bathroom to replace their bath with a (heavy) low profile shower tray. Their floor is chipboard. I’ve been researching this very question, as though I can do plumbing etc I’m not a trained plumber or anything. The instructions I’m reading and what I’ve learned, are for a timber floor the mortar bed needs to do onto min of 18mm ply. As I’m going to have to hack up their floor anyway I’ll be using caberboard or similar apart from the footprint of the tray. Though not needed I think I’ll seal the ply with PVA before putting the mortar bed down. my understanding in your situation is that you should put the tray on the chipboard, template around it, then replace that section with min 18mm ply.

Rationel windows are extremely heavy, so make sure you get them secured properly so yes to the straps. My builder had to get load of blokes to get them installed. Great product though you’ll not regret them, Our external doors were also Rationel. One of them developed a paint problem, started peeling after a year. One quick form with photos, no quibble complete replacement under warranty. This was not your question but just some reassurance regarding your chosen product.

Thanks for that @Gone West i can get similar colour from local B&Q. Difficulty is these are a deep red I think and I’m looking more for a brighter poppy red colour like in the pic . Unless these items are actually brighter red and the online images are darker……

I’m going to be building a wee timber bin store and like the idea of introducing a pop of colour - bright red on the roof. Like in the photo. I know I can buy bright red steel sheets but can’t source them locally, carriage too expensive for a small quantity ordered online. so looking at pvc or bitumen sheet from B&Q, then using a quality specialist paint to paint bright red. I’ve had great success with Zinesser paints, painting a plastic cover for a waste treatment centre plant compressor. Anyone had success or failure painting pvc or bitumen roof sheets? Or other suggestions for cost effective solutions to get a bright red roof? cheers Bozza.

Yeah if you look at my house on my profile page. The timber clad section with the lower roof on the left. That was done like that because we felt if it was all one height / same material it would look too long and bland. Also balances the timber with the prominent elevation to the right.

I think you’re meaning that you are unsure how a long building would look with the lean to, if you have the roof line the same all away long. As in it would be “too long” as it’s a low building. Your drawings make reference to cladding and stone. with long building it’s easy to break them up by changing the roof height slightly and a change of material. Like in the picture attached. Well placed planting can do that too, break up a long building. apologies if I’ve misunderstood your query.

Pic shows where my cladded gable meets a rendered elevation. Obviously you’d have the stonework & quoins, not render. Doing this on your house is going to be a problem due to roof overhand plus the chimney stack. You might have to build out the roof out further to take another row of tiles. there are silicone based render systems designed to go over existing rough render, that might be a better option athletically. If you are insistent on timber cladding even the likes of PowerPoint can be used to cut and paste material palettes over photos. I share 100% opinions of others that cladding not the best option, but it’s your house and money. Planners might not approve it if it is not in keeping etc.

Assuming you have failed via plot finder type websites then only other options I can suggest are: the various churches sell properties via their websites, and I’ve seen plots being sold occasionally or as you say many find the demo of rubbish buildings the way forward, whether residential or commercial, Or buy a house with a huge garden, build a new house then split the plot and sell the original house. Expensive options though. The one advantage of replacing an existing house is that the costs for services connections etc are usually significantly cheaper than running’s them to an unserviced plot. Less profit will usually be made be replacing an existing house but I sense that’s not your real priority. I trust you have an appropriate budget for your requirements.

My parents replaced a standard ceiling light in their small dark kitchen with one of these. It’s superb and as you can see low profile. https://www.costco.co.uk/Furniture-Mattresses/Lighting/Artika-Skylight-LED-Panel/p/294094

As you are housebound, does that not surely work to your significant advantage as it doesn’t restrict to a particular (expensive) area of England? Where good plots are expensive and hard to find as you know. Why not go further afield. This will allow you to increase your build budget as you plot budget will be less. Means you can get rural plots with amazing views, plenty of space for a one storey build, and you can perhaps upgrade ventilation systems that could improve your health. Increases chances of you being able to get everything you need from your build wish list. sorry to hear about your health challenges.

What do you decide to do @KTB?

In my opinion ETCs suggestion gives you significantly better useable space/storage. Especially if kids in house. Added benefit being if outside you can access the WC without trampling through house. Your kitchen will have more storage & uninterrupted worktop run. You only really need to access utility room directly if you have limited kitchen storage, which you don’t. the seating bench done with some contemporary joinery will be a really nice lux feature at minimum cost.

yes if you get the build watertight via a MC you can then PM the things that generally won’t result in the house falling down if you make mistakes that is a good hybrid option. Don’t forget though things will take longer rather than via a MC so you need to factor in rental costs etc etc in addition to having to stand the VAT.

Don’t quite understand second half of your question but can you claim kitchen units that are fitted into your separate utility room. Yes of course. Totally normal thing to claim. And worktops, sink, etc etc etc. As long as it’s consistent with your plans.

I was not working when we did our self build and pretty competent and knowledgable about some elements of building a house. I could have easily project managed our build but didn’t, and went turn key. As you know the closer you are to turn key/main contractor the more expensive it is. But if something goes wrong it’s generally not your problem , it’s theirs. Expensive mistakes can be made by those who don’t know what they’re doing. what you could do is main contractor / turn key for the house but other element eg landscaping, out buildings, driveway things that are not critical to the house falling down yips could pm that yourself. don’t forget if project managing it yourself you have to have financial resources, normally loans, to buy materials including vat. Getting that vat back takes a while. If you are using a MC etc that’s not a problem. With interest rates being so high you are lending the VAT amount for a few years before you claim it back, but you can’t claim the interest rates back. I would advise in your circumstance if you have a set budget build a bit smaller but with a MC or turnkey. Not building to passive standard doesn’t mean building something bad.

I feel terrible for you. Personally I would stand my ground, if your contract is water tight. Yes there is a risk you won’t get the windows and potentially lose what you’ve paid if the fitter goes under. Giving them the remaining 40% is high risk in my opinion. You are in a Mexican stand off. If you don’t back down that’s going to be a problem between the “trusted” fitter and their supplier that not bring your problem. If you do lose the money, what percentage is that v your ultimate profit made through your self build. See it like that, if that helps in any way. during my project i stood my ground on the cost of putting right a mistake my builder made. I reverted back to nice guy thereafter.

An interesting post. I think the HMRC officials, in addition to the guidelines, will probably be considering the level of confidence they have that if they reject something unclear or potentially arguable, and the claimant appeals, whether their decision is likely to be vindicated, or overturned in a hearing. The further along the iffy scale, to the point where it tips to “taking the complete piss” the more confidence they will have in saying nope, in language other than “because you’re taking piss”. Perhap put yourself in the shoes of the tax official whose job is to ensure that correct & legitimate refunds are authorised, whilst protecting the interest of the tax payer. For your scenario, if for example you were deaf and you doorbell was connected to flashing lights in each room to alert you, and that was their only purpose, I’m pretty sure that would be entirely ok to claim for the flashing light, as it’s an integral part of the doorbell system. If however the doorbell was connected a laser light show and a podium that raises for dancing girls in a party room, probably not. Here’s another one….you can claim for towel rails. The list doesn’t mention a fixed pole for pole dancing, but could I claim?….