Great_scot_selfbuild

@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.

No response needed, I just need to rant about an interaction with the council today. In my telephone call with the case officer assigned to discharging our planning conditions, she stated that she was just 'piggy in the middle', she didn't understand the tree officers' question and so had passed it on to the planning technician to answer as it wasn't for her to decide what was required to discharge the condition. WTAF? I thought that was *exactly* the role of the case officer - understand the information presented and decide whether the condition can be discharged or how to do it pragmatically. Background situation: One sub-bullet within a pre-commencement condition is for a pre-start briefing to be given to our principal contractor, on site, by our project Arboriculturalist. All other condition aspects are tidied away and our Arboriculturalist and the council tree officer know and respect each other (all good). I asked the tree officer to contact the case officer and support the principle that the condition could be considered discharged on the basis that the brief is given on the day we start work and a record of this is passed to the council (i.e. it's being given by someone he knows well and respects, and won't cut corners - which is why we chose him). I don't want to have to arrange and pay for (yet another) non-productive meeting on site, to then wait for 1-2weeks for the council to process an email acknowledging that the brief took place before we actually start. The tree officer declined my request for a phone call, asking for all communication to be via email (he then doesn't reply to emails, is only working for the council on Wed & Fri, hence why I asked for a call because otherwise the to/fro conversation takes ~2weeks). He deferred the question to the case officer to decide, who then deferred it to the planning technician (completely inappropriate and not their job) as the case officer sees her job as 'in the middle'! Deep breath. I don't know why I'm in any way surprised by this, from this council. I wish you all a better experience than mine.

I've had this mentioned to us, but seen very little evidence of anyone actually doing it - just wondered if there's any recent info or experience among this group? The main search hit result here only turns up a thread 8 years old...

@EdHat I thought that was exactly the purpose of building control - to ensure that the design (when they review the plans) and then the build (when they carry out inspections) meets the building regulation requirements. Ive found this thread really useful. I’d previously read all the government and HSE published documents but I’m going to re-visit them - I hadn’t spotted there being a distinct difference between CDM PD/PC and Building Control PD/PC. I’m concerned that the builders tendering may be working to different assumptions to me.

The nuts are fully recessed into the hole when fitted. It’s like they’re designed to be anti-tamper. Oh, wait… damn their design. I’ve ordered some cheap clamps to see if I can swap out the nut and/or bolt. Hoping the standard socket will still fit when recessed. (These clamps are far more secure than the cheap ones I’ve just purchased)

I looked at that, but the one I need has 3 equally spaced slots, whereas the one with a round cotter pin has the 2 square lugs closer together and filing the cotter pin to fit would loose too much metal in the sidewall of the pin.

@Dunc (& @Tuppers) funny you say that - that was the first proposed design (initial render attached - before the pantry was included also). Here was our thinking: The panoramic window is a centrepiece of the house's design and we want to enjoy it. Once we realised we didn't need a TV in this room, it allowed us to move the sofas away from the wall and swap with the dining table. Putting the dining table in the window centre might look 'show home picture perfect' (as we thought with earlier layout discussion), but feels like a waste of the best place to relax and enjoy the view (the additional 2 images I have edited using Procreate to overlay a photo of the view we'll have). In the evening, when the dining table would be most used, the curtains/blind will be closed, so the view wouldn't be seen anyway. Our current table has bench seating both sides and so it won't be much of a change for us. The benches will allow us some much needed hidden storage also.

@Benpointer They were done by a kitchen designer (https://www.chisholmdesign.co.uk) - not sure which software they use I'm afraid.

@twice round the block the anti-tamper is the same as the one I already have (wrong configuration). The normal end is just a socket (not a different type of anti-tamper).

@twice round the block Thanks but that's the one I already have (clamp on the right of photo), and seems to be the more common one. The one I'm struggling to find is a socket for the one on the left (different configuration of socket teeth - both width and location).

@Roz Hi - I'm just looking at some similar repairs to our unadopted lane. How did you get on? Would really appreciate any tips based on how it went/what you learned.

I'm looking at that too, though I'm not sure the socket will fit inside the recessed hole (the nut may just fit, but not with a socket over it). Unfortunately I think I left the clamps with plain nuts back at the site...

I have a mixture of different anti-tamper nuts on the fencing clamps I picked up in bulk from another self-builder. Can anyone help me find a socket that will work on the nut on the left in the photo? The person I bought it all off hadn’t needed to use these clamps, so hadn’t encountered the issue (they had bought it all second-hand from a large developer). Currently searching all the usual places (eBay etc).

Congratulations!! 🥂

@Havkey100 Just happened to read your original post - that could have been a copy and paste of my experience during our first application. Fingers crossed for you!

Just a note to say thanks for the contributions so far - I like hearing the challenges and different views in this forum as they tend to come across as constructive advice rather than the negative tone that so often fills FB forums. Keep the opinions coming, this discussion has given us some valuable input to challenge our thinking & ideas.