Saints1

I contacted the utilities company some months back to get a drainage plan from them. Unfortunately they hold no plans until around 4 doors down. I know that the main drainage route/pipe goes through the back of the gardens until 4 doors down and then kicks out to a big inspection chamber at the back in a farmers field. (This is were the utilities have their plans from) The utilities company said that this will be because the pipe is on private land that they’ll hold no record. My only current issue I have is the utilities company won’t discharge my final pre-commence by condition until they seen my full drainage plan. Which is fine but they are adamant I have to explore all avenues in soaking away the rain water, despite having trial holes dug for soil sampling which states the ground is unsuitable for a buried soak away.

Hello, I wondered if somebody could help or offer some advice. we are just digging out for our self build plot. The foundation is a raft design and as we have dug close to the neighbouring boundary (their drive way) we have located a 110mm pipe with a blanking cap on the end coming on to our land by about 1 meter. Now I know the neighbouring property was built in 2020 and at the time the guy who built it was also hoping to build on the land that we are now developing but he was refused planning. I am wondering if he was future proofing it at the time in the hope he would get planning. There is an inspection chamber on the neighbouring properties driveway approximately 3 meters from where I have discovered the pipe on my land. My question are; 1. Am I able to connect on to it? 2. Do I need to notify the utilities company? just for context the whole road is on a combined system, unfortunately the ground isn’t suitable for a soakaway to be installed (SUDS) as it’s got clay all over the land. 3. Am I able to send/direct both foul and rainwater to this pipe? any help or assistance is greatly appreciated?

I haven’t but I’ll certainly look at it, thank you

It will be an MCS install i am having three-phase electricity supply if that makes any difference. I am very new to all this so please allow for my lack of knowledge. Don’t have any power cuts whatsoever.

Good evening all, I wondered if anybody could help. just trying to do some calculations in regard to our self build and solar panels. So within my plan I have added 16 integrated 410wp Marley solar tiles to be fitted on the roof. Although this has been calculated, one thing that hasn’t is what size inverter and battery for storage. I just wondered if there is anyone out there that has some good knowledge in this field? To give some perspective on the build it is a fair sized 4 bedroom detached house (approx 300square meters) that will have 2 electric vehicle charging ports and an ASHP. There will be two adults and a teenager living in the house. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you to all of you, especially those who have been in similar situations and it’s useful to see that others have had similar dilemmas in regard to multiple utilities sharing the same trench. Also really useful knowing what others have been charged and it shows there’s no real continuity between prices, in essence each utility throughout the country just charge what they want. It appears that my quotes so far seem to be around the ball park figure of many others that have had similar work so it has offered some reassurance but I’d rather have many £1000’s in my pocket than lining the pockets of these companies. thank you once again all of you.

I did query this with United utilities in regard to linking in with the gas supplier and utilising just one dig. The case manager practically laughed at me and just said “no we don’t do that” Im just amazed that local authorities don’t insist on this happening when confronted with similar scenarios. Surely they don’t want the road lifting twice……. Having said that, it’s probably more money for the council having to get two permits for road closure management.

So if I find a local approved company and ask them to provide a quote solely on the pipe laying what are the chances of it being substantially lower? I mean if we are talking near £1k saving it’s 100% worth it. I will look to shop around but I have a feeling I’ll have to bite the bullet, sometimes I feel the utility companies have you over a barrel. Thank you again though for taking your time to help me.

Many thanks for your reply… They have provided a breakdown (water) so to speak of contestable work and none contestable but I can’t tell from the breakdown what’s what… I’ll add it to here and see what people think and if you can deceiver it a bit better (or a lot better) than I can.

Hi all, I wondered if anybody could shed some light on some of the quotes I am getting back from utility companies with regard to new connections. Whether they think they are reasonable or not? United utilities have quoted £7k for a water connection. Now the mains water is on the other side of the road so this cost includes them digging the road up and bringing it to my boundary (approx 7 meters from mains to my boundary) I will be doing all the trench work on my own property and leaving them enough pipe work for them to connect on to. Scottish power have quoted £4k to install 3 phase to my self build. Luckily the mains electric is on my side of the road so it’s a 1 meter dig of the public footpath to connect on to. Again I’ll be digging the trench on my land and placing the relevant ducting in. The gas company have not provided a quote yet as they state that there is no point until there is a gas box built in to the property for them to connect to as it will probably be past April next year when this will be completed and by then there charges will have increased. I do know that the main gas pipe is again on the opposite side of the road with the water main. So this will be again another digging and trenching across the road scenario…. so…. Water- £7k electricity - (3-phase) £4k gas - Unkown 1) Do the above quotations sound reasonable? 2) Does anybody have any previous knowledge or similar situation in regard to gas being located on the opposite side of the road and could provide details of how much they were quoted?

Thank you all for your advice, I spoke to the architect today and he has agreed that block and beam isn’t required. To be fair to him, he hadn’t finalised all the drawings as there have been some too’ing and throwing between him and SE and he did state it required a re-design. If I hadn’t of come on here and sort advice I’d of probably let it go. Maybe the architect may have changed it regardless but at least I was forearmed. thank you all again. i am sure i will have many more questions to come considering i am very early in to the project 🙂

Hello and thank you for your quick response. so there is a mine shaft on the site situated about 9 meters from the property however this has been capped at rockhead. The survey completed on the ground came back with good ground albeit made ground over the shaft entrance which is to be expected but the build is over 9 meters away from that. this was the originally reason for piling however structural engineer has stated rafters now which is fine. there has been no subsidence in the area ever recorded either. I just felt it was a little strange to put a raft then a block and beam flooring in.

Hi all, I feel like recently I am constantly on here asking questions and nagging everyone but I value everyone’s advice. I am just getting my plans back from the structural engineer to submit to the BCO and they have gone from piling to a raft foundation which is fine. My architect has now stated that on top of the raft I will need a block and beam floor. I just wanted to query is this normal practice? I understand that I will need to insulate above the raft but I was hoping that I could insulate and then 75mm screed on top with UFH? I am no way a builder or in the building trade so could be way off with my theory but any help or assistance is greatly received.

No nothing agreed… in essence I don’t think the neighbours knew where there pipes ran and probably didn’t concern themselves too much as long as their sh*t didn’t flow back they wasn’t that bothered lol

Yes the neighbours property was built in 2000 whereby they knocked down the previous house and rebuilt on that plot so I’m assuming the sewer lines belong to the utility company with what you are saying pre 2011 but they just don’t hold the mapping for it?