Bozza

Sorry was getting OP & nod mixed up

Me neither a few folk think the same but in real life 3D it creates an impression of the end tiles curling up which I’m not keen on. A bit of a dilemma for me.

There you go Dave APP_2019_0862-APPROVED_-_TREE_PROTECTION_PLAN-8580459.pdf

Ok I’m in Scotland and just learned the other day here planning can be crap down south. If you post your problem someone here should be able to help you, but possibly not I. I know you’ll say Preston is not south but it is if you’re in Scotland ?

For those who contributed to this I spoke to my project manager re this today. So regarding the dormer flashing /lead work he said it’s not finished and will be flattened and squared, nothing to worry about. Re the clipped tiles he said it was purely a design thing and because I never asked for it No bother to change it back to unclipped tiles if I’d prefer. He said it takes quite a bit of time to clip them like that but ultimately I’m the client and if I want them replaced no bother at all. He reassured me that they weren’t cutting corners or anything, I replied that’s literally exactly what they were doing. I was chuffed with that gag and so was he. Luckily I have a good pm / building company.

ES-025-013.pdf It’s too late to change anything now ! I have some regrets about the design but was wondering what you lot think. Great view over hills to the South & north, nice garden to east. Country lane to north close to the house. What would you have changed?

Welcome. Have you had a chat with your local planning officer or are you in an area where that’s not possible (eg England it seems)

Thanks for all the replies. I did some research on the company. The guy I spoke to said to he was the vinyl installer but he’s also listed as a company director. Which doesn’t make him a subbie unless he’s subcontracting himself to his own company, even if that’s lawful it sounds a bit of a tax dodge. Or he does subbie the work out and didn’t want to tell me that. Which makes him a BSer. but regardless of my concerns he was trying to say I’d need to buy 20% more than my floor space due to wastage even though I was doing a simple planking layout throughout so that’s BS for sure having installed flooring before. But one thing I’m sure was he was pretty arrogant and obnoxious and oozed that slimy sales crap you sometimes get, so that’s good enough to take my £7-£10k business elsewhere. My house is in quite an affluent area so he probably thought ching ching I was loaded and naive and it would be an easy contract to win. If he’d be ok and honest about everything I’d have probably give him the business. I’d rather pay a bit more to a decent competitor.

What is the £ difference between the fixed price quote initially given and the price he’s now stating and the reason for the change what does the paperwork / contract / quote say is he someone with an excellent reputation / well know in the area etc how did you get him my initial response would be to pay him for the work he did then send him packing.

So a reputable and established VAT registered local home furnishings shop is doing a range of LVT at £65 per square meter Including VAT for supply, and fit including screed and adhesive. They give me a verbal quote for what I need which is £65 x my square m. I tell them it’s a new build so zero VAT rated and they verbally quote me deducting the 20% just off the cost of the LVT. I then highlight what I think is right which is it should be the 20% off the entire supply & fit, namely £13 off. They say no because they don’t charge VAT on fitting I try to understand that and they wont go into details. only thing I can think of other than they’re at it, is do they sub contract the installation to someone whose not VAT registered if so is that even allowed VAT regs etc.

you’ve just replied to a post from 12 months ago ? I had a DIY kitchen in 12 years ago it was excellent. I’m just sorting things right now for my next DIY kitchen and service has been superb again so far. I sent a query to them via their message system about something 7pm last Friday. Expecting a reply into this week they replied 14 mins later. I’m going for the LUCA handless doors this time round they are such good quality really thick like 22mm. Your delivery will take up LOADS of room probably twice the size of your finished kitchen so make sure you have load of room. There is a LOT of packaging. If sitting for a while try to leave as much protective packaging but inspect ASAP. If possible take photos or better still video as you unwrap packaging. Just so you can reassure them any damage is not due to you doing it when fitting etc and thus helps to expedite any replacements. I had zero damage to all my units and they came up to NE Scotland. Likewise my best mate who ordered for them after my recommendation. one tip I’d give is this. If your kitchen has lots of the same door eg 600 high line or whatever get a spare door or two. My 12 year old kitchen had damage to one door which they no longer carried. Had I been able to swap it my kitchen would have looked brand new. sorry if this is patronising advice if you are an experienced fitter or whatever. ...and no I don’t work for them. Just a big fan. I think they’ve had some issues through lockdown but that’s understandable.

that comment reminded me of this clip ?

Well done, looking forward to pictures. With all your gained knowledge & experience I hope you’ll remain part of this community.

In all seriousness you could end up on one of those crappy neighbours from hell tv show. You are currently on the high ground. Chillax. Now he knows what people think of him,

Just wind them up with some story about wanting to keep the wall low as you need a line of site for a massive amateur radio installation, a view for the occupants of the tents youre erecting to house asylum seekers, and to disperse the noise from your garden of a bagpipe playing Scottish relative who is coming to stay with you. Also it will oppress the rights and discriminate against the local nudist societies over 80s group who will be holding their meetings in your garden.

hahahahaahahahahha

I wonder if this website has had an uptake of visitors since COVID, whereby more people want to do the move into the country & self build thing. If it has maybes there should be a main banner entitled “thinking about self building ? Click here”. To allow people to gain an overall view from us who’ve lost our cherry. General steer as opposed to specific technical advice. I’d vote for Ferdinand's paragraph 6 above to be the first post. Wise words indeed. Our motivation to self build, on turnkey basis, was the same realisation that life is too short, after my wife was unexpectedly diagnosed with a massive brain tumour (thankfully she’s fully recovered).

Martin, when it does come to designing your house also don’t forget about multifunctionality. Take my house in earlier reply. The triple upstairs window on the main larch elevation has the best view in the house. My ten year old is getting that as when she has friends around & when she’s a teenager she’ll be in her Bedroom during daylight hours more than me and Mrs. We have a separate TV room downstairs at the back of the house. When my daughter eventually leaves home the TV room will become a bedroom (it’s next to a downstairs cloakroom with a future shower). And her bedroom, with a view, becomes an upstairs snug or whatever for us to enjoy. We've configured our house with three decent bedrooms upstairs - one a spare. But if we did sell, the downstairs TV room & study, both off a small hallway at back of house, become bedrooms. So we’ve built a big 3 bedroom house for our needs but a 5 bedroom one if we ever do sell it. box clever mate.

If you haven’t found a plot yet I wouldn’t spend to much on your design/layout beyond just messing about. That was my mistake. When I found a suitable plot (with house on it to be demo’d) I had real difficulties doing my design. I then realised because I’d spent so long thinking about my perfect design it had influenced my creative juices. I had to teach myself to forget my old designs and start afresh. My plot was funny shaped and had great views which my design needed to take advantage of. Also the style you would love to build may not be acceptable by planners in certain areas. You’re better off having a wish list accommodation wise and assembling a portfolio of house styles You do like (Pinterest etc) for when you find your plot. Then the fun starts !

Sure understood. Re kitchens you’ll read a lot here about a company called DIY Kitchens. Have a read of the posts. I swear by them. Yes they come rigid fit with metalwork & doors attracted. Easy peasy, worktops are harder get someone to do them for you. If you take your time & have the right tools kitchens Can be installed by the Self builder very easily. Plenty of YouTube videos. The one advantage of self building is you can ensure your layout means simple installation of kitchen eg no weird angles etc. Doing a run of tall units plus an island as commonly seen is a doddle.

Ok so you have to give some thought to the fact that if you are doing a lot of the work yourself and you,’re not a tradesman the build will take longer and the family will be living in a building site / caravan for some time. You might therefore want to think about renting but by the time you add that in you might be worth going more towards a more turnkey service. Your proposed house is huge and it won’t be long before you and wife are living in a very large house when the kids are away. Less of an issue if you intend to sell when the kids leave home. An option for you could be to build a smaller house with less personal involvement. So you all get to move in quicker, perhaps you could do the kitchen something like that, perhaps provide help to the trades. And that’s you in a nice house in the country. Then move to phase 2, with your increased knowledge, and build a big double garage with accommodation above. Something you can do yourself more hands on. So you have the smallest commute between home in country and your project. I was like you wanted to get hands on and save money but wife persuaded us to go turnkey but I’m doing the kitchen. Then landscaping and the most luxurious manshed known to, well, man. House is big enough for us as a family, small enough that when daughter leaves home we won’t need to sell because it’s too big. you’ll have seen those self build TV shows where the fella ends up working 16 hours a day for 3 years and misses his family growing up. But it’s broadcast in a 55min show. Also think god forbid if you got injured or ill mid build.

Hello Martin & welcome. My turnkey house is costing circa £1200-£1300 sqm. 214 sqm. NE Scotland. Medium-high spec. Family of 3 with a 10 year old. Also recently retired. Is the idea of doing the work yourself motivated by budget or by wanting to keep busy/project. And also can I ask age of kids/ is spouse retired. All relevant to advice I can offer from my own experience. Bozza

Sounds perfect solution why can you not do that for your groundworks ?

Most builders merchants offer self build cash accounts and the likes of Jewson opened mine within 24 hours. Materials go on your account and you claim the VAT back, obviously though this means you have to fund the VAT until you claim it back.

Ta Makie, you are like the Obi Wan Kenobi of roofing knowledge. The force is strong with you.