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Thanks, I hadn't realised at all. £250 for old rope. That's another bit of the contingency chipped away!

Is this required (and should therefore be budgeted for)?

Hi About to start putting together costings for our lender and thinking that it would be useful to go through this systematically using a schedule of works which we do not currently have. I appreciate a schedule will be different for each site/build route but is there any free resources around as a starter for ten? Thanks

I am in a similar position - taking ownership of our plot soon and unlikely to be starting for another 3-6 months. I had planned on just getting public liability insurance to cover this period (and advised that a policy would be c.£150 for 12 months). Is there any reason why I shouldn't?

For me it'd depend on the age of the kids - I wouldn't want mines (2 and 4) on a separate floor but as they get older then that might well be advantageous. I'm of the view that you should build a lovely house that works for you and if you do that then there'll be plenty more who it'll also work for if and when you come to sell. And if the alternative is wee bedrooms then as a prospective buyer I'd be thinking it's no different to a Persimmon house.

Thanks - so it's all tight! I have the fear of the kit company coming out, ready to crane on and saying they can't do it. 5mm over 100m2 seems utterly trivial. You'd get a beermat for anything else!

Think I've read before that there's very little tolerance with SIPs kits but that may be the same as with timber kits too.

Will do. Have them and another 3 open on a tab to contact.

Thanks Conor. The first quote I've had works out at about £135/m2 but doesn't include hardcore, binding, DPM/tanking. The insualtion itself is being quoted at £65/m2 for 'passivehaus standard'. Give me a shout with any alternatives who travel, if you can!

Getting there then! Keep us up to speed. Do you foresee any difficulties in getting the founds and SIPs to line up as well?

Thanks all. I'll get supply and install costs from those suppliers noted and see if I can get any recommendations for install for those who do supply only. I've connections to two groundwork 'squads' but they are both used to doing boxes for volume builders or commercial projects so not sure they'd be up to it but they'd be a fair bit cheaper than the labour in the first quote!

Which companies do them? Is is straightforward enough to get ordinary groundworkers to put together if companies don't do supply and install (or are too expensive for labour)?

How are you getting on? This is looking like our most likely build route just now.

It's mostly because predicting who gets which share of tax revenues after a split is actually pretty difficult. BBC Scotland covered it fairly well recently.

Thanks. Not sure how helpful that is apart from to suggest that it's a minefield! I've noticed the higher (wall) u-value of the two SIPs companies do their own insulated plasterboard (up to 75mm insulation) which presumably reduces the value considerably.

Thanks again. Plan is for ASHP and MVHRs to be installed and as airtight and energy efficient as we can get. Just now it's looking like we'll be picking from one of the very few companies who've bothered to come back to us so we may have our hand forced on that!

Thanks very much. I was getting results for eco window companies in East kilbride!

Thanks all. Is there a measure of air tightness? Is ICF better for this than timber kit or SIPs? Ecology require a minimum SAP rating of 85 for any home they will lend on - would a walls u-value as low as 0.15 sit within that?

Thanks. I had a quick google for AT Eco and couldn't find anything - do they have a website?

Won't get a chance to read this until later in the week but land reform (capturing the uplift in land values through the planning system, and public-interest led development) is a relatively big issue in Scotland and the government here established the Scottish Land Commission to develop policy proposals in this area. The SLC, like Labour I'd imagine, realise you can't cut landowners and developers off at the knees and that reforms need to work for everyone - it's about sharing risk and reward rather than the one-way system we have now. A housing market needs the market.

I'm comparing different quotes/services from SIPs companies and one's best energy performing kit is 0.15 compared to 0.11 at another. What does that equate to in terms of SAP/EPC ratings and energy bills? And can the difference be overcome through additional measures elsewhere?

Do you have a link for this?

Thanks Alex. I have a QS who's going to send me over rates from some system or other that they use. I'd imagine in a lot of areas we could shave some cash off that (e.g. on electrics, it'd be the cost of cabling and fittings plus a much smaller amount for labour as my father in law is an electrical engineer and will be second man to his pal, a spark, who'll do it for a cash in hand rate) which if the plsn is tight, particularly to incorporate a 10% contingency, then I'd like to reflect somehow.

Thanks both, it's Ecology I spoke with today too. A lot of the finishing work (fitting kitchens, bathrooms, flooring and painting) we will do unless we're flush as we have experience and are competent there. Big tickets will be superstructure, windows and doors, roofing and cladding, stairs, plumbing, electrics, fees, kitchen, bathrooms and flooring? Do we need to cost built in wardrobes, plasterboard, screws etc or can that just get covered as sundry items?

Worth contacting one of the companies who do both for a recommendation (even if you need to suggest you're interested and looking for a SE to discuss your ideas)?