oldkettle

Sounds good. Do they include u-values in the quote?

I'd add that I have seen a significant variation in u-values even for "timber framed, Ali-clad, triple (3G) glazing". 0.65 is not the same as 1.1. For 0.7-0.8 these prices look very good judging by several previous discussions here.

... and why is the new build market completely sellers market? Is it not because of the way land is sold? Thinking aloud, we don't see the inside of a car's engine when we buy a car, but somehow there's a reasonable good statistics showing the reliability of different cars. Does that mean the market works well for car quality? If so, would there be fewer problems with build quality should the land be sold to people and they then hired builders? As long as these builders are large enough there would be enough statistics to separate good from bad? Or are we in a situation where - unlike on a conveyer belt - all houses are so different that it is simply impossible to maintain a reasonable quality for a mass market? And unless a way is found to produce a house in a factory (including utilities) and then assemble it in place we are basically screwed?

This is quite surprising. My understanding is the hardware of EVs is much simpler. I found this article https://www.wardsauto.com/ideaxchange/evs-not-easier-build-will-cut-jobs which funnily claims the total number of parts is roughly the same but what is seems to ignore is the number of moving parts. Much fewer of those in EVs.

I can only second what @Ferdinand said about having a gym on a ground floor. I understand nobody is going to suffer the sound of a running mill in the garage but the load is quite substantial and working out in a gym when the floor is noticeably moving with any jump is not fun.

I absolutely don't mind her saying whatever she wants to say, this is why we are young and confident and of course clueless without realising it. What I do mind is the platform given and the so called Conservative Gove reacting the way he apparently did. And of course she is a Swedish teenager, not a British one which means none of the stuff you mentioned actually affected her. The young are seduced by Corbin and Co. no less than they are by consumerism. If parents are unwilling or incapable to explain what is right and what is wrong climate change is the least important problem these kids are going to face.

I will likely regret it but I have to agree with some of the statements made by @epsilonGreedy 1. Yes, people in massive numbers will rightly decline to subscribe to some of the sacrifices that are going to be requested from them. Just look at the BBC article on McDonald's replacing plastic straws with paper ones. I don't go to McDonald's but this whole straws business is... wrong and pointless - and this is just the beginning. At some point a party that will say "we will stop the madness" will probably give the bloody nose to the established ones the same way Farage did with Brexit. 2. I am certain I am not alone in finding self-righteous 16y.o. explaining the UK is not doing enough on climate change quite ridiculous. 3. There are good economists who rightly point out that instead of taking measures that will inevitably slow economic growth now we should wait and let China, India and other larger countries catch up as relatively prosperous five billion people can afford much more than one billion. At the same time there is a good chance much simpler and cheaper measures will be developed that will help deal with CO2 increase. 4. I cannot speak for others but I won't be surprised if the problem of over-consumption will resolve itself as people need/use less and less, making do with their mobiles or whatever comes to replace them. Fewer (autonomous) cars - seems almost inevitable, meat for masses coming out of labs (I have absolutely no doubt this will be an exercise for masses, not for the chosen). You have heard it before. As for Al Gore, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ice-caps-melt-gore-2014/. The next date of their predictions is 2020, something tells me that ice free Arctic sea will fail to materialise again.

Office 365 Home - £40. The main attraction for me personally is 1TB cloud storage for each of six accounts. Much cheaper than anything else available. Also stackable, so buying two gives two years (plus £5 discount voucher), 3 - £10 discount voucher. https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/microsoft-office-365-home-mcafee-6-device-1tb-cloud-storage-60-mins-skype-per-month-for-pc-mac-now-only-3999-argos-free-cc-3216072 I have just bought one last week using my home use program discount but I paid more ?

I can see on the Council website the neighbours' houses are marked for a review, although they haven't changed anything for well over five years. Ah, here it is https://www.gov.uk/guidance/council-tax-band-changes "A property that’s increased in size may move to a higher band when it’s next purchased." But I am not qualified to discuss the meaning of the word "may". ?

I hope somebody can confirm whether there is another potential pitfall: council tax. My understanding is whereas extension means the band stays the same until the house is sold, new build will cause immediate valuation and likely a higher band.

Wasn't sure you saw the first one ? Yes, should have checked the pictures in your original post where the mirror is clearly visible. My wife would hate a bath or a shower next to the window, but then she doesn't tolerate cold. I originally wanted to suggest moving the loo as well (under the window, than the sink in its place), than thought of the plumbing nightmare.

Sorry for repeating myself but Can you move the whb under the window and set the bath along the left hand side from the door? From the plans it seems there is enough space.

In case anyone is still considering 3D printer, Aldi have reduced Balco to £249.99 https://www.aldi.co.uk/balco-3d-printer/p/086887240233900

I drew this in SweetHome3D, I hope these are better. Ground floor: First floor: TA

Are you planning to move the whb under the window and set the bath along the left hand side from the door?

Thank you, Peter. Does it mean that the real ceiling height is usually lower than quoted, i.e. 2400mm (quoted) -15mm of engineering wood or similar?

@PeterW, this total of 230mm, does it include any floor finish? Sounds like plasterboard plus joists plus chipboard?

Here is a draft plan of the right side of the ground floor I came up with (living / sitting room on the left are left our for simplicity). I know the picture is not great :-) but I really had to use Sketchup: without it I'd have missed issues related to mismatches between the ground and first floor plans. The main question I am trying to answer right now is whether the bathroom and the utility / plant room are large enough. I think I could move the left wall of the bathroom to the left by another 400mm if required: not sure whether 1800mm+ hall is that important all the way to the kitchen, but it probably looks better, more uniform this way. The utility will need to house a washing mashine, tumble drier (probably under the stairs all the way to the right) and ideally a large sink (probably, behind the shower). Plants - UFH manifold, may be the consumer unit and network equipment. I'm probably going to keep MVHR in the attic as I am hoping to have permanent stairs there. Gas boiler and HW tank (if required) would likely go in the attic as well. I think there will be enough space for Sunamp in this plant room should we decide to have it. Looking at the pictures in TerryE's post, the space under the stairs, close to 2.5 linear metres, should suffice but have I missed something big? Does anybody see a better configuration for these rooms in the space between the kitchen and the bedroom? The position of the stairs is not completely fixed but there is not much I could do with them as I need the landing upstairs in the same place where the downstairs one is to provide the entrance to the home office (it will be right on top of the bedroom downstairs in the bottom right corner. Can't move the stairs all the way to the kitchen either as it would affect the bedroom upstairs. Overall this option allows me to easily fit 300mm going/180mm rise / 950mm wide staircase which would be great to have.

Thank you, @Randomiser, not sure why I've not seen you reply straight away I've realised there is a nice gotcha potentially awaiting us: even though demolishing a chimney would be insufficient to count as a commencement, an unfriendly LPA may easily construe that it was done before the commencement notice for the purposes of CIL exemption! Another ugly problem to deal with - and the PM I hoped to talk to decided he was not interested on the day of the scheduled meeting!

We were made to include the first two in our planning application.

Another set of Aldi DIY offers. https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/specialbuys/dates/2019-03-14?sort=popular&q=%3Apopular%3AtransactionalStatus%3Atransactional%3AtransactionalStatus%3Anontransactional%3AEvent%3ADIY&page=0 Breaker and mitre saw stand look interesting. Vibrating plate compactor - not sure whether I would get enough use of it for the money.

Yes, I am planning a thermal upgrade. I want to either start this work before the main build or leave it until after the shell is finished. If it is impossible, we may have a problem, although there is enough space both in front and in the back garden for a container.

20%??? That's scary. Is it not a bit low? On the other hand the lowest quote I had for a basic 140mm wall was indeed below 50K IIRC. Regardless, does the installed TF not give us the shell suitable for a limited habitation? Again, all services are already in place?

Local builders... this is highly unlikely. I am not going for passive house but I do want to get as close as we can, I don't believe local builders will be able to deliver it. Exactly the reason why I am looking for TF provider to undertake the bulk of work up to the water tight stage. And their quotes for the first floor only are not unreasonable.

Thank you. Yes, it is in the region of 200m2 and I guess VAT needs to be added to your numbers. My only hope was that since most of the ground floor walls stay up and so do the existing bathroom and WC we could take off the roof, make good and add the first floor in a usual for TF short time (i.e. weeks). Than move back into a single room and start work on the first fix. When there is a working bathroom upstairs we could then complete the changes to the old bathroom. Separately, I will try to find out whether any part of the ground floor extension can be done first thing, before the roof is off - that would help immensely. It's clear I am missing something - what is it?