eandg

Can I ask if you paid the product fee pre-order? They're asking for £1,099 (product fee of £799, application fee of £300) before progressing our application. We've been pre-approved but I was only prepared for the £300 hit if it doesn't go to plan!

I'm sure others will ask around orientation and the like but from a functional perspective it looks a well-thought out design with little wasted space and generous bedrooms. I'm not sure what benefit having two equally sized living areas are, rather than a larger, more formal/full family room and a snug though (albeit you might not be able to do that within the current footprint). From experience, I would personally prefer one large window rather than two in the master and bedrooms 3 and 4, which may also make furniture positioning a bit awkward.

Is there any benefit from having solar thermal and ASHP? I'd discounted it and only planned on installing PV but there's now 75% grant funding available for solar thermal so it could be back on the table should there be any good reason for combining. I can't find much after a (very quick) google on air source and solar thermal (there's some on GSHP and ST).

I've seen multiple streets full of this type of arrangement with absolutely not a thought for planning permission or building control approval. Unless (in a very unlikely event) a neighbour complains then I'd just get on with it and it'll be effectively adopted after a certain time period (six years, I think). Your arrangement looks very much like the one my dad built (except it's about 400mm lower) and that's still standing a decade on.

How have you detailed/insulated (or avoided having to) piercing the envelope of the kit - for ASHP, MVHR, outside lighting etc?

Anyone DIYed plumbing recently? @jamiehamyhow did you get on in the end, happy enough with the end result? Any particular pitfalls to avoid? Having read this thread and looking at cutting costs I'm contemplating it. My uncle is a retired plumber and can do all the design, and I *think* that given we're going ASHP through the Home Energy Scotland loan then the MCS certified installer of that can do all required certs for the Building Warrant (is that right?) so there might not be any need to engage a plumber. We've everything (kitchen (sink and dishwasher), shower room, family bathroom and 2 x ensuites (one to be plumbed in for later second fix when kids are older) on the same elevation, with the exception of our utility with sink and hot water tank so I'm thinking it should be fairly straightforward(ish).

Just finished watching it and I quite liked it and given the complex substructure, size, design, finish and apparent lack of physical graft put in then sub-500k build cost for (guessing) two houses at 280m2 and 70m2 in what (guessing, again) is an expensive part of the world isn't bad.

Looks some site, hope all your planning goes, well, to plan!

A very interested observer on this one.

Thanks. Will do some looking around and get quotes. I read the GSE system integrates with Fakro flashing which might be interesting.

Will have a search - cheers. Did you go direct or through a merchant?

Thanks, any particular reason for your choice?

Bumping this thread as looking at this as an option now. Will, did you go with them?

How do physical merchants (with/without trade pricing) compare to online for pricing? Looking at my budget spreadsheet I have Roofing Outlet and Insulation Superstore identified as cheapest for wall insulation and sound insulation, respectively, after a wee trawl of publicly available pricing. Are your merchants with their hidden/discounted costs likely to come in cheaper?

Thanks both.

Which companies are these quotes from? Thanks.

It was Turner Property Services (and actually £8.5k for an 8.5kW Ecodan system).

I'll dig out the quotes and let you know.

I *think* it included the tank (will need to check) but no radiators. Concrete pad by our contractors too. Bit fearful that the costs will spike with recent push and with the last year of RHI.

Glasgow.

I'm going to start the ball rolling on our Home Energy Scotland loan application next week. Looking through my costings spreadsheet the cheapest quote we had from one of the nearest 3/4 using the 'find an installer' tool was £8995 for a 9kW ASHP (from memory, for a Mitsubishi Ecodan). Anyone with recent experience know if this is likely to be bettered elsewhere and if so, could you recommend a contractor to get a quote from? Thanks.

A builder has recommended 'trunking' from the electrics coming in (approx 10m distance from our island) rather than coming through the slab again, though we will have UFH and I'm concerned about interfering with the runs. Have you looked at that option?

That makes sense, thanks.

We're currently redesigning bedrooms and looking to incorporate rooflights into vaulted ceilings. The most economical option is for large windows (1340x1140) which we are planning for, but almost everything I see on Pinterest has more smaller rooflights than fewer large ones. Is there any particular reason why that's the case? Bedrooms each have approximately 14m2 floorspace and 2.4m2 of windows (1200x2000). Thanks.

We've (more or less) fully costed our build and used that figure when submitting for our Building Warrant. The Building Standards officer is however saying the costs appear low (which we'd expect given self-managing, bit of DIY) and we should use BCIS rates to calculate the warrant fee. At this point we'd be happy to pay the extra to get it moving however the BCIS calculation looks like it costs at least £350 so we'd rather not do that. Are there any, cheaper alternatives?