Bozza

For any significant work especially a big extension or a new home I would never consider not having a written contract, or something in writing.

Really like your design. lovely. The annex behind garage is a nice touch, as is the curved wall for office. Lots of great stuff. These are not criticisms, just a few thoughts / things you may have ruled out already as not needed for you. More in case you sell it in future...even if stuff you don’t need yourself. external access to plant/utility/plant room. Perhaps a full height window door to side? Would consider putting in plumbing for sink & washing machine there to future proof if for example someone wanted to change your upstairs laundry room into a bedroom. swapping laundry/bed 4 around. for waste pipe runs downstairs & add bath into upstairs shower room stealing that space from Bed 4/laundry room. So you can have a full family bathroom. If you don’t need a bath in master en-suite you could then remove that to provide you a bigger en-suite, or a recess for bed 2 Wardrobe making that room squarer. Glazed door to dressing room in master. Hairdryers can be noisy.

That’s understood from your requirements. Have you spoken to them about single storey. Having single storey with vaulted ceiling could be quite nice space wise. I presume you’ve looked at Hebhomes but they seem quite expensive.

Also have a look at http://www.modeldhomes.com/

Welcome MiriPiri, I’m from and building in Aberdeenshire (AB32) though nearing the end of my build and it’s not quite as Eco as your project. Though I suspect others here can advise better on 100% eco houses, I’m happy to offer you any help I can. As your plot doesn’t have PP have you spoken to Aberdeenshire Council planning dept yet - they are very helpful.

Buildstore - great TBH no problems at all. Their arrangement fee was £395. Plus the Santander fees whatever they were. Like I say worthwhile as I had approached Santander myself but their staff were used to standard mortgage enquiries/arrangements. I presume Buildstore had a hotline to the relevant depts of the bank to access a product that met my needs. Ecology - great. Personal service/friendly/flexible.

So I used both. Build store to purchase a second property without PP, by taking a mortgage out on my current home, interest only, via Santander. Santander wouldn’t allow me to do that directly, I tried, somehow via Buildstore they were able to. then Ecology direct to get the self build mortgage. Build store were able to access products that I couldn’t myself, so it was worth it, even though as stated there were fees. If you can’t access product directly for some reason Buildstore May be able to. At a cost.

Just to add a bit more for you freshy, in addition to the other comments. I’m assuming you have a big budget because you’re looking at building such a big house. As a result you want to build something impressive. That’s understandable. But big is not always impressive, I once went into someone’s self build who clearly were wealthy and their living room was easily 8x8m. It had two sofas and a tv in it, plus a couple of bits of furniture. It looked like a looted furniture store it was so unwelcoming. Unless you specifically need something so huge with so many huge living rooms downstairs, I would think about the space a bit more. A house of that size demands an impressive master suite with walk in wardrobe/dressing area. You definitely need a large family bathroom. Upstairs has a feel of a Travelodge. You need more storage both downstairs and upstairs. Double height / vaulted hallway? If that design was done by a qualified architect as a blank page creative design, I’d be a little concerned unless he was specifically told to draw that layout. With that size of build you could easily build something stunning.

The kitchen is huge but with the majority of units facing walls, so person in there will mainly have back to windows/view outside/guests & family in dining area. The C shaped bit (garage wall) could be quite dark. Utility could feel like a never ending corridor and appears excessively big/long. If you moved the utility between kitchen & garage, you could create a panty and a smaller utility room (noting you intend to have a laundry room upstairs). Your kitchen therefore could consist of a bank of mainly higher units and a massive double depth seating island. Whoever cooks therefore would be mainly facing into a fantastic spacious dining kitchen with the windows / views. Probably would be cheaper to do as would need less kitchen units. very rough sketch attached just to provoke an alternative idea.

?

A few of us here did ours for free. Is it a big house. What’s it made of. Have you a couple of spare weeks etc.

If you look at my profile picture my new build replaced an old farm cottage. The field in front of the house - 4m way - is owned by a farmer. When planning my project he was the first person I spoke with, to make sure none of my plans would impact upon him or his work negatively. For years he used to stack his hay bales up at the stone wall in the picture. Now he stacks them elsewhere. I don’t even have to ask. The small tree in front of my window is on his land. Cut it down when you move in he says it’s blocks your views of my field. When working his land we always get a wave. I have no doubt if I had a need for his extensive machinery during my project I know he’d help me out. Or dig me out in a snow storm. We are good neighbours. I’m replacing my original cesspit with a waste treatment centre / soakaway anyway and had it been on his land I’d have happily done so. The costs to desludge, etc add up. Its not really about giving into pressure, it’s about getting on with your neighbours. Doing so may well end up with a positive relationship like I have with the landowners that literally surround me. Regardless of any legal rights re the tanks location. Like has been suggested you could say you hadn't budgeted for replacing It with a new one but would he be able to help with digging etc. He might be even able to get rid of the contents - which will save you £hundreds. No cost to him & he gets what he wants and you save on the costs involved for doing something you wanted to do anyway?

I demo’d my cottage by hand including roof. Left with stone shell. Got in a bloke with JCB who pushed it down. you can save lots of £ if you DIY. you can make money by selling things you get rid off. if your local authority require a demolition method statement I did my own & can send you a copy if you need one. Just a statement in common sense really that you’ve done a risk assessment.

Just make sure you exercise due diligence and actually seek out references / previous customers a good builder will be more than happy for you to speak to their previous customers. Ensure you have a contract and document any issues or promises by email. Thus protects both you and your contractor. Pay them promptly at relevant stage or whatever. Sorry saying this - just in case it’s your first big build project Etc. I once had some building work done by a great bloke a friend of family. We had a bit of friction over whether the quote included him installing a new window cill on an existing window to match In with a new window / window cill he had installed. Found an older email referring this, he’d genuinely forgotten. Friction over problem solved.

Right enough, they haven’t checked it, so mvincentd won’t be able to answer my question yet. I won’t be defending or debating HMRC further though, out of his respect for his/her request as OP.

Going up shouldn’t be double the cost of a single extension, as you only need one set of foundations. But a single storey flat roof extension might not need full scaffolding, whereas a double storey one will. General rule is going up is cost effective. Its incredibly difficult to give you an idea of cost here you’ll really have to get as many quotes as you can for your area etc and depends on spec etc. It won’t be £10k & it shouldn’t be £100k. My 6x3 m single storey Flat roof extension 12 years ago was £20k-£25. Something like that. being 10x 3 sounds like you are extending along one side of your house 3m deep.. if so, especially if you’re in a semi, don’t forget about natural light in the old bit of the house. Our 3m deep extension really impacted on natural light. Side windows, glass walls, roof lights etc are a must in your budget. But also if south facing if fully glazed can cause to overheat. Apologies if that’s already in hand just put that out there in case it isn’t.

You are quite right your post was a helpful factual update on the current VAT reclaim process and some of us have then debated/agreed/disagreed the HMRC decision. ? In terms of your recent claim was there anything allowed/not allowed that you didn’t expect was the case? Or anything they queried you didn’t expect. For those of us yet to claim. ta

Welcome. Take time to read through all the older posts. You’ll learn so much. And if you have specific questions not already answered someone here will know the answer or have a good stab at it. If you ask for opinions you’ll get differing ones though !

I do accept that some literal self builders whom have paid VAT on all their materials throughout their build may well be relying on their VAT refund to perhaps reduce mortgage loans etc pay off credit cards etc etc. So that’s why they’ve release 70% ASAP in contravention of their own normal rules. They didn’t have to do that. The way I see it is the prudent way to organise the finances of a self build is not to reply on a future VAT refund for anything other than a “cash back” bonus that you can use for luxuries eg new furniture, a deserved holiday, or to perhaps reduce the loan. I saw a Grand Designs show recently where a bloke was so ambitious with his massive project that he had ran out of money and was relying on his VAT refund to complete the house. I think a sensible approach is to budget a build on a basis as can you afford to finance a build to completion, including the upfront VAT cost. The bonus the being you the get 20% back at the end. Yes perhaps we are past the worst of the pandemic disease wise at the moment, but we still in the midst of the economic affects. The pandemic is not behind us. Yes they could have paid out 100% of the pending claims and claim back overpayments. But that would have meant them putting additional resources (at taxpayers cost) to do that in addition to the checks they need to do anyway. Also not a problem if everyone reads the rules & entitlements and put in accurate & legit claims, but it seems that is not the case whether accidentally or not. They have a duty to all taxpayers, not just to us. I should add that because I’m in Scotland my build stopped because of Covid. It has cost me financially. My VAT refund will be later than expected. I’m lucky in comparison to many. Including those key workers ( inc HMRC staff) who’ve had to go into their work and thus taken a higher risk to infection than me.

Hang on a sec. We’re in the middle of a national emergency / pandemic and the HMRC redeployed their people to administer the priorities of the numerous emergency tax schemes - Furlough, emergency business loans, etc etc etc. I’m sure they assessed that the Self Build VAT Reclaim Scheme might not be a priority over the small matter of saving the economy, jobs, businesses and ensuring millions of people who couldn’t work could feed their families and pay their mortgages/ rent. Or are we suggesting that those of us who are privileged enough to have built our own homes and awaiting some money back should have been the priority ? And so due to there being an inevitable backlog they’ve decided to change their rules to release 70% of claim ASAP, while they clear the backlog and can fully check the claims. What exactly should they have done? ”Dear Mr Smith, please find enclosed your VAT refund. Because we have prioritised the VAT refunds for self builders over other emergency Covid 19 schemes, I’m sorry to say the economy has now completely crashed and your lovely new home is now worth about the same as your VAT refund. Yours, HMRC”

Very fair imho

I used https://www.asbestos-sampling.com/ and was happy with service but was £50.

Ta. Literally just had my PM messaging me that they’re going to take care of anything. Good company.

I’ve sent you PMs

Even if someone here can give you a steer as you’re querying whether asbestos I’d phone Evercrete’s UK office. Perhaps send them a photo too. In case the person here makes a mistake in their response.