davejura

Hi folks. Been off this site for a while as we put our plans back by a year. Not sure who people are using for their mortgage, but Ecology don't need a warranty and I'm waiting to hear back from the Hanley about a PCC from ABC+ warranty. Our quote for where we are for a 10 year warranty was nearly £4k!

Quote was around £1700, and only really want it for mortgage purposes so a bit better than the 10 year warranty prices.

https://www.architectscertificate.co.uk/about-us/ Doing my research and came across this company. Searched on here but couldn't find anything. Have filled in their online form for a quote, so I'll see what they come back with.

Thanks folks. I didn't think about needing a warranty for a remortgage! Was hoping to avoid the extra £4k cost for a piece of paper, when due to our location they would probably only visit a couple of times.

We are thinking of going with Ecology. We have a good LTV (plot owned and enough money to get drains, founds and under build done). Any advice? Do you only pay interest on the money you draw down from the time you get it? Do you just need the SAP calculation at 85 plus (ours is 86) or do they want evidence of more energy efficient measures? What sort of build cost estimate do they need? Do you still not need a warranty if you go with them? So many questions! Thanks.

And thanks ScottishJohn for the same suggestion!

Interesting Conor, as our engineer has just got back to me suggesting ICF. Which company did you go with? Thanks

Interesting! We need approx 3m at the front, so not sure if these pillars would work? I was thinking more of sitting on a steel frame on steel supports. Just wondering how that would compare with my under build estimate.

Aye, something like that, possibly more using steel. We are cladding the whole building with Cedral.

Not sure about piles as such. Was thinking more steel pillars sitting on foundations, The guy along the road built his that way, but I fell out with him not long after we bought the plot Would be nice to use the space for storage at some point, but not essential. The whole project is hanging in the balance a bit at the moment, partly due to me under estimating the engineers specification. We have heavy clay soil by the way.

We finally have our engineers drawings for our sloping site in the West of Scotland. The under build is coming in a fair bit more than I was expecting. A fair chunk of it is 3 x wide 140mm dense blocks up to 3m height at the front. I'm estimating a total of 4000 blocks needed. We have no artic access, so the blocks are looking expensive (local merchant quoted £1.70 each plus VAT). I'm estimating the total cost of the under build to be £16-£18K. I was wondering if it is worth looking in to building on stilts and if anyone thinks this may be more cost effective? Or does anyone have any other ideas? I don't want to run it by the architect and engineer just yet, they''l probably both have a fit unless I come up with something concrete (pardon the pun!) Thanks.

"engineers spec to cover their backs not your wallet. " Totally right there Russell, as we are finding out! Founds are double block anyway as we have a lot of under build, with a dwarf wall in the middle giving a span of about 3.8m for the beams. House is upside down, so bedrooms will be downstairs where the beam and block is. Thanks for your advice folks, onto beam and block companies tomorrow. Any recommendations? We are West Coast of Scotland.

We wanted to put a gas system in our new build, but was told if we did we would then need solar PV panels to pass the SAP calcs. So ASHP it is as the gas / PV combo would be more expensive.

Makes total sense Russell, thanks for your input! Yes it is the engineer who has come up with the specification, but very vague. I think he is trying to steer me towards Comfloor 51, which i know nothing about. I think I will go back to them and ask if it can be manufacturer designed and that stated on the warrant drawings, same as the roof trusses. If they won't budge, is it easy to make an amendment with building control as long as I can show a satisfactory design from the manufacturer?

Hi folks. Hope you don't mind me jumping in here. My engineers drawings are specifying 389mm centres for the beams, using 18kg blocks. He is basically saying we need to cut down standard 440mm blocks, all 1100 or so of them! Not only will this be very time consuming, there will be a lot of waste. Does anyone have any ideas? What size would the blocks need to be at 389mm centres? We have substantial under build, so a slab is not an option. What I thought was a simple, cost effective solution is turning out to be far from it! Thanks.

We are approx 150 sq M and I put in £150,000 as build cost. Planning on doing a lot of the work myself. They are basing their estimate on £1800 sq m!

Hi folks. We have our warrant application in and BC have got back to us to say that our build cost estimate is too low. We half expected this as I have heard this is usual for them, but not adding an extra £115k on as their estimate! Basically that will cost us over £500 more for the warrant. Has anyone had any success negotiating the fee with BC? Or will they refund a proportion if you can prove that the build cost was a lot less than their estimate? I know our council are cash strapped, but this seems to be taking the proverbial!!

We were looking into all the options including rendered block and rendered cement board. We have now decided to go with Cedral cement render cladding, as putting a decent coloured render system onto either of the other options was going to be expensive. As my engineer friend keeps telling me, the strength is in the kit. Block work is just a skin!

Is Cedral smooth not gloss?

This is our new calculation for predicted CO2 figures using an ASHP . Target Carbon Dioxide Emission Rate (TER) 23.15 kg/m² Dwelling Carbon Dioxide Emission Rate (DER) 21.19 kg/m² Pass This was the one using a gas boiler and radiators Target Carbon Dioxide Emission Rate (TER) 11.91 kg/m² Dwelling Carbon Dioxide Emission Rate (DER) 17.98 kg/m² Fail Just doesn't make any sense to me at all I'm afraid and am totally stumped as to what to do now. The SAP man is suggesting keeping the gas system and putting in a solar PV. Just can't see the benefit of that over on ASHP in the West of Scotland, beside ticking boxes!

Well we decided to go with an ASHP. The SAP calc man did his stuff, and our predicted energy efficiency has now dropped from 84 (band B) to 76 (band C) , and our CO2 emissions have increased! But apparently it's a pass!! ? Totally baffled now!! Anyone shed any light on to this?

Dave, can you give me a ballpark figure please per square metre for that sort of render system? K - rend on block I've been told to expect £45-£50 over here, which seems a lot. Hence why I'm looking at Cedral cladding! JS I hear what you are saying. Decisions to be made! I've just discovered that Ecology BS don't need a warranty certificate, which might be a game changer!

Yes but do the mortgage companies and warranty companies accept it? ECAP could go straight on the kit, but my architect isn't happy as any potential water ingress would cause rot. Was that brought up in your case? I'd also be interested to know a ballpark figure per metre for the rendering. I presume it is a K rend type system you used?

ProDave, it's called ECAP and is imported by a local company. Basically has the first coat and mesh embedded, so it can be rendered straight on to it without a base coat. The problem is that my architect (and she says building control) wont accept an unventilated cavity with the ECAP on ply, so the insulation in the board is worthless. The only way round this is to have a layer of cement board below the ECAP, which pushes the price up. I know someone building using this system, but he doesn't need a mortgage or warranty, so can pretty much do what he wants! I'm currently pricing up Cedral Click as an option.

That's what I am looking at now. We have a gas engineer / plumber in the family which would save us a lot if we went for a gas system, but I could probably do a lot of the UFH pipework myself. The Nu-Heat Clippaplate system looks interesting for upstairs, and maybe radiators in the bedrooms downstairs? U values wise, we are still working on it! The house will be timber frame and am looking at the Cedral cladding system instead of block. Our original plan using an insulated render board on the outside has hit a snag, so having to rethink.