Great_scot_selfbuild

The title says it all really. We're doing a timber frame house, it will have a decking and we are going for a composite (vertical) cladding. Has anyone used Trespass Pura NFC? Thanks

@phatboy what did you go for in the end? We're at the stage of investigating cladding options. It'll be composite (for both the vertical cladding and decking). We have considered the Millboard for various reasons, but the cost is off the charts, so may struggle to make the budget work. Interested in what you did if you'd be happy to share?

This is the first choice, but I’d quite like to do this myself too.

Any recommendations for a free or cheap/reasonable price CAD software. I only need it for about a month to produce a small 2D & 3D design for some spiral stairs. TIA!

Not done it yet but we’re planning on using Alex Pelling at Arcadian Architectural Services - they did the SAP input for us at planning stage and were very good to deal with and came in at a fair price compared to the others we approached.

@Nickfromwales no we haven’t considered EPS. Thanks for the response.

Hi All, Our SE has proposed using ecobrix for our double garage walls, 2 sides of which will be designed as retaining walls and have tanking etc. The Ecobrix proposal sounds great, I spoke to the company and the integral insulation (in the non-retaining walls) sounds really positive, but then my contractor who has priced it up has the ecobrix coming in at c.£7k and he asked whether I’ve considered other options such as standard hollow concrete blocks (c.£2k). The difference in cost has given me pause for thought, but then I will be trading some of the saving for increased labour time (we’re not doing this bit ourselves), plus there will presumable need to be some additional layer for insulation / protection against condensation? I don’t know what the overall cost saving may be, and whether there are other benefits for ecobrix (thermal?, acoustic?). For ecobrix, will we have to line the inside face of the wall? We’re thinking ply/osb as it’s just the garage but I’ll be wanting to fix mounts and brackets to the wall, including bike hooks. Grateful for your thoughts/experience especially if you’ve used it. Many thanks!

We have approval for our wastewater drainage field (percolated pipe etc.) to be installed using air spading of a trench through our RPZs. We're excavating the trench with air spading, protecting the roots with damp hessian while exposed and laying pipe and aggregate etc underneath before then back-filling. This may be an option for you to achieve both.

We have no TPOs and are not in a conservation area. Part of our planning application involved approval for the removal of 2 low grade trees. After our application was approved, my arboriculturalist informed us that all remaining trees are automatically protected as they are within the red line boundary and identified on the application. That said, I couldn't find this documented anywhere. I offer this information to help you weigh up your options.

We did exactly this. We were really nervous about doing so, but when we found that we could get the same building regs and construction drawings and Principal Designer role covered for 25% of the architect's %-based RIBA fee, that really focussed my mind. I have maintained ok relations with the architect, and explained that it was a financially-driven decision. I've had to make some similarly tough decisions with other contractors and their first response is to come back with some offer to review the scope and fees to see how they could make it work. Personally I prepare myself for this and I don't make those decisions to drive a deal - if I've made my mind up, then I've done all the analysis beforehand, and won't be swayed. As for the estimated build cost, we have then had the same experience in finding a builder - some of them talk more about the price per sqm than the challenges and specifics of the build. For me that's a red flag, and I weeded them out early. I'm of mixed views on QS - we paid £1k(! - and that was only 50% of some quotes), yet when it came back, the estimates for some of the entries were WAY out from contracts I had already set up, such as glazing. The utility of it was to give me a really comprehensive breakdown of items and takeoff (area required for each item), but as for the cost, I've really taken it with a great big pinch of salt. I can also relate to the issue of asking for a design based on a budget of £x and then finding that the average per sqm costs (even based on when we started) would never have been achievable for our budget. It really did frustrate me. This was another reason why I lost no sleep on my decision to go elsewhere for the build phase. For what it's worth, I went with 'Houseplansdirect' for my tech drawings (they're not local to me but have been very good and I don't regret my decision at all). There are plenty of architectural design firms around - standard rule applies, always tender for more than one supplier. I'm happy to share blank templates (I only logged on to start working out how best to do a blog on here, but I could relate to this post). Good luck.

Done. Good luck.

My good god. I'm not sure what to say to that... 😶

Whoa! £/sqm! is that an owner/client or developer?

I've literally only just bought it - we're a couple of weeks away from starting on site. As for what they use for charging, I've two views: 1. They should have their own solution to ensure they can work on site all day with their tools - either have enough batteries or have their own portable charging solution. On a new-build (bare plot site) they can't expect charging power supply. 2. In reality, by the time they are using battery tools on site, we'll have a temporary mains power and water on site, so we can have an area for charging stations.

We've just purchased one last week! In my dull little world this was a very exciting sense of progress. PSA photos of my 'ugly caravan' as I refer to it. To answer your question, the power supply is only suited to low output supply for mobile phone or running a laptop. I purchased from a company that manages and hires these out - they were selling off some old stock they've just replaced, and so I managed to speak with the mechanic who maintained them all - he advised that issues they often get from people who rent them are when the builders try to charge all their tool batteries from them, hence they stressed that they're not designed for that sort of loading/use as the plugs are running off the 12v battery, which the generator then charges up (rather than the generator powering the sockets directly). As for buying one, I found a fair few people selling them, but many screamed out 'scam' - basically my approach was that any offering free delivery (typically 200mile radius), stood out as one that would take my money and then find an excuse to delay and then block my number (I'm paraphrasing some examples of other people posting stories about how they were scammed). The firm I found had a full business and I was able to visit, view and then pay on collection. FYSA: Here was the advert: https://secondhand-trailers.co.uk/listing/96368/5x-12ft-groundhog-towable-welfare-units-essex This was the company: https://www.simplyhireltd.co.uk/welfare-cabins Good luck with your build.