K78

I disagree £200k is tight for a 4 bed house. Unless that includes land cost.

Caution is definitely required. The block suppliers won’t put that you can go to 2.4m in writing. If I go this route the corners will be heavily braced. My site is sheltered so wind isn’t a huge concern. I wouldn’t attempt it on a site as exposed as yours. I’ll also be building in July. Im currently deciding between concrete block and isotex/durisol. I haven’t really looked at the eps ICF systems in detail.

These blocks do require simple plywood bracing at the corners. The main selling point is speed. You can build to 2.4m high between pours. You dont pour 2.4m in one go. The idea is to keep to pump moving so you gradually build the height of the concrete up across the footprint of the house. If you just dumped to a 2.4 height in one go you would get a burst.

As mentioned above a insulated raft will be cheaper. You won’t need to worry about it not being accurate either. Se is included in the price.

Great result. That’s pretty much it. I want a bit more colour variation.

All the sip and timberframe companies I spoke to offered this. What type of foundation are you using?

100% as I found out. In the end I found a local guy who spoke sense with very reasonable rates. If your house design and build method are conventional I wouldn’t worry about it. If you are using ICF, sips or timber-frame they will have their own SE.

Be careful with engineers. I’ve spent money on designs that were so over engineered they cost 10 times more than the final solution I went with.

Has anyone else noticed prices have jumped up a bit? Just scouring eBay. I had a local seller at under £1 a block. He no longer advertises on there. Whats the best price at the moment? Thanks

Your ICF supplier should be able to help. Most have in-house SE.

They have to be advertised weekly and final 14 day notice advert when a offer is accepted. It is simple to work around.

I’m 100% sure. Rules are bent and broken all the time. Fake offers, viewing etc. As long as the property is advertised with a 28 day notice of the final price. The agent is covered.

The last thing a mortgage company wants is to repossess a house, especially a part built house. The cost to them is huge. The insurance on a empty house with a £300k loan attached to it is not cheap and they ask the selling agent to value at a price that will sell in current market conditions. Most agents go in ridiculously low and sell to a investor who gives them a fat envelope. As long as you keep up your repayments and have a clear schedule of works you should be ok imo.

If you were to be repossessed the house could be un mortgageable, hence the value would be massively reduced.

If you give them a clear date works will be finished, have a bco overseeing the work and don’t need additional funding I think you will be ok. If you need additional funding, or if the work will take months. It could be a big issue. I would get the work finished ASAP.

Went with a free app and was pleasantly surprised.

At least this will stop the scam companies. As soon as something like FIT is announced the price goes up by 300% and they employ double glazing salesmen. Look at the weather today. Doesn’t really make me wish I had a roof of PV panels. Pointless in NW England.

On the insulhub course they had a purple paint that guarantees air tightness.

Can anyone recommend a decent app for floor plan changes? There seems to be a few but I never trust App Store reviews and some aren’t cheap.

I started looking at cameras for my site over the weekend. My initial thought was GoPro but they have really short battery life. Any recommendations? Thanks

What size ASHP would be required for a 150m2 2 storey, ICF house on a insulated raft? I’ve started scouring eBay for ASHP and MVHR units.

I’ve seen 4 full surveys on the same house come back with completely different values and reports. The mortgage survey most people rely on is beyond basic. They just say check damp and timbers to cover themselves.

My budget is nowhere near what some have on here. Redundancy ruined my mortgage. Keeping skilled labour to a minimum and doing a lot yourself helps keep costs down. DIY ICF or having it built from concrete block seem the cheapest options. Most builders put a substantial mark up on materials they supply, so source your own. Quotes of upto £50k for a retaining wall nearly ruined my build. SE’s have also been a pain. Charge a fortune and ridiculously over engineer everything due to cheap insurance.

991 is nice. Porsche prices have gone crazy over the last few years. Out of my price range now unfortunately. Model X makes the most sense of all the Tesla’s imo.

Wouldn’t surprise me if apple buy Tesla. Imagine the queues for a i-car.