redtop

makes perfect sense, cheers

how long was the run from the meter to the consumer unit? i know some sparky's get nervous if its more than a couple of metres but the rules seem a little vague

some of these costs seem high to me. our prof fees have been circa 8k including ground survey. roof has been quoted at 10k for 180m sq flat roof. plumbing we havnt sorted yet but had last (5 bed detached house) completly re-plumbed, every water pipe, heating pipes, new radiators and new (very posh viessman) boiler for 6k + radiators which we bought, and doing that for a new build would be cheaper and quicker. also services are at the bottom end, 3k for water, elec and mains sewer conection. Dont get me wrong that cost includes me digging my own service ditches, desinged my wall build up for SE to confirm, buying timber at source, etc. i am going on a GRP flat roofing course so will fit that myself and as a sparky (quals expired but know folk in the trade) can speak the trade lingo

that suprises me TBH, but then my architect massivly over estimates costs so i dont trust em to have more than a small digit grounded in reality lol. He forecast 30K for double car port that has cost me 5K to buy the timber and put it up myself. But then if you had gone min spec all the way, and dropped all the co stuff i bet you could have built for less and the end value would have been the same for re-sale. I agree self-building to make money at the end is a very difficult task.

i would say you are ignoring something here though. Buyers dont really care about EPC ratings, if they did house builders would do more to get better results. But it does matter if you are living in it. Just building for profit its min spec all the way. Building for 'for ever' house is a different matter

House is 162metre squared. plot is a 1 1/2 acre wood, all with a TPO, VERY steep slope across the site and access road is just over 6ft wide. And pile foundations specified (with posts on top). So straight away you get scary costs just for the foundations. But working closly with the structural engineer, who visited the site, he has designed a system of 46 piles; loads. But each is very small and the steels that will go on top will be small. We have had one quote back for the foundations and its 9.7K plus VAT. Electric was 900 quid for a temp supply, water will be 2K (ish). CLearing site, opening up turning head, removing a 3M high retaining wall and digging out area for double car port and turning head was 3k. Timber costs will be around £15K to £20K and we will hire a chippy to build the frame over the winter (or might do it myself) and erect next spring (we will provide a temp workshop, hire barn from local farmer). I have sparky mates, standard gas boiler, UFH downstairs only (and i have a plumber mate), flat green roof (we are getting the sedum seed and growing ourselves in trays on the site). Kitchen will be an ikea special. MVHR will be self installed. Be around 160K i reckon, and thats with specifying C24 47x150mm treated timber frame (stronger than the usual C16 CLS stuff). Oh, insulation will be between 10 and 15K, that could creep to 20k but they provide free training for fitting so will be doing that.

dont forget when people say 2K per sq m that is a million miles away from a standard spec house of the same size. If you want to build to min building regs with standard everything its miles cheaper. Nearly everyone, myself included, is far exceeding building regs for U values, air tightness, quality of components, etc. So better kit = more money. But then saving labour costs plus saving profit a building coy makes = saving money. Only buying stuff for one house not 150 = more money per house. So its swings and roundabouts but like i said earlier i think its entirely possibkle to get a great quality house for 1k per sq metre provided you dont go overboard on fancy designs, designer kitchens and watch the money you spend on fancy pants eco stuff; particularly anything with the passive label which seems to get a premium price added to it. some of it makes sense but a lot seems to appeal to people who have more moeny than sense; aka many of the grand designs houses lol

we have had enough money to buy plot with pp, get all prof work done inc structural engineer, building regs, services to site and site cleared and foundations done. Oh and buy sofa and bed! go figure lol. All that will be done by end of the summer and then its month by month pay as we go ? In no rush though, renting a place round the corner so can take 3 years if needed but we will have a brand new house with no mortgage or debts so well happy. Fortunatly we have quite a bit of spare cash each month but reckon we will come in under 1000 per sq metre. I think once you get past foundations the next area where unexpected costs crop us is expensive kitchens, fixtures and fittings. More relaxed about doing it ourselves rather than getting a builder in and sweating they arnt doing a good job. And northern so tight

i am going down the self build stick route. Going to build it panel by panel (I have dry storage) and when all done get some hired help to get it up during a dry spell. I have a structural engineer on board and have read up on all the relevant regs (TRADA timber frame construction is a good detailed guide). Depending on the detail i get from the SE i may reach out to rob cullen but given i have plenty of time and limited money i can spread the build out as long as i want. I am convinced i can build to a better standard than the typical of the shelf frames, and i will be able to add in the UFH, etc at the right time rather than after frame is up. Also the larry haun, how to build a house book and associated videos are great. If you join TRADA they also have a load of detailed publications. Personally i will find the process of actually 'self building', taking my time and getting it right much less stressfull than having to check and correct builders. I could of course get some real quality frames / builders but that costs a lot! We will see how i get on lol, if it looks like being too hard then its a TF company route, but it doesnt look that hard to my eyes ?

well i looked for ages when getting my SAP done and couldnt find that document, very detailed!

structural engineer is on board and is well through his task, ground survey done, building regs drawings about ready for submission. Its on piles which will be raised of the ground due to trees / slope, fortunatly bedrock is 1.8M down so nothing too demanding. Its 2 story, 162M2 clad in western red ceder and flat green roof

cornwall, not so much of a problem in getting the mortgage but cant face the legal fees and having to get a charge on the deeds, not doing it ? We can take 2 or 3 years, and then i can get my hands on my private pension so wont take more than 3 years even paying for it as we go

right, completly fed up with mortgage process so decided to self build. We will rent a workshop to build the timber frame in smalls ections, and then ready take to site and put up. Any recomendations on best books / guides so i can read up on the details of how you construct the frame elements? cheers all

slightly old post but we have just realised we will either have to have a sprinkler system or dry riser. ABsolutly no way a fire engine could get close and in any event as its a timber frame, on raised piles in the middle of a wood i dont mind fitting a sprinkler. One thing i did check was the appliances the local fire station had, and they have a toyota hilux and a small 4x4 quad bike with trailer for the many narrow roads in Looe.

so we are about to finalise, from the inside out:- fermacell service void SMARTPLY PROPASIV (OSB with integrated VPL) 140mm frame with pavaflex pavatherm plus external cladding vent cavity and wood cladding This gives us the u-value we want, the insulation is great at shifting moisture and has a high decrement delay, no need for plastic layers that can get damaged over time, fewer overall layers (and every layer takes time) and the fermacell (which is glued together) provides an additional strong layer that is fire resitant and can hang anything from it. Also the pavatherm plus is solid, maybe not OSB strong but it will make the overall structure very strong when coupled with the internal OSB. For the flat roof we are using cureit (a GRP system), this is more expensive material wise than traditional felt but i can do a days trg and then fit it myself very easily. Seems to me like the perfect system; what have i got wrong lol. I know it wont be the cheapest but i would rather spend money on the fabric and fit fancy kitchens when my wallet has recovered.

just asked my better half, who has run a powder coating coy for 30 years. It used to be the case that they used marine grade paint for stuff going near the sea. More recently paint has got better and they tend to use architectural grade for everything (industrial grade is cheap and rubbish). They supply to mcdonalds, airports, glazing for boats, etc. Apparantly it all comes down to the pre-treatment; they use a chemical wash while some only use a water wash which produces a much less robust finish. All that probably doesnt help one bit ?

we are just about to finalise SAP prediction (prior to starting the build). We need to hit 85B. I can get there with a high efficeincy combi boiler (good en from worcester) with a posh heat recovery flue. Keeping everything the same and swap boiler for ASHP and SAP drops to 74. mechanical ventilation, great. MVHR drops SAP by a few points. Have assumed air proof thingy of 4, maybe if that was lower then the MVHR / ASHP would have a positive effect. go figure

just at a similar stage on our new build in Looe. also an electrician by trade but quals long since expired. Oh and site is in a 1 acre steeply sloping wood so have to build on piles. And access road is very (cornish) steep and just over 6ft wide. Bought land with planning for cash and have enough for prof fees then onto mortgage. gonna be a breeze lol. just getting SAP calcs finalised and looking like 85B. Bizarly using ASHP, etc drops it by a mile....

just been quoted 2K for a 3phase supply, 1.2K for single. This is with us digging the trench. The 3 phase may be required as we will be using ASHP, plus hot tub and electric cooking, plus its on a 1 acre site so lots of outside lighting. We dont intend to actually power anything from 3phase although maybe we should look at it. Anyhow, given the low price difference any recomendations on what we should go for?

Sorry if this isnt in the right area of the forum ? Anyhowdy, starting build later in the year, will want temp water and elec and then gas / sewer connections later. As a quick heads up do most people use the water / elec / gas coys or one of the many independant companies offering to do the connections? And anyone who has had these done in the Cornwall area (Looe) and would recomend anyone please shout. I should add that digging our own trench / pipe laying / etc is well within our capabilities, anything to save a few quid is my approach!

will probably be an on site stick build, possibly frame if they can sort out site access issues. got a price now for the vapur shield OSB and wasnt as bad as i thought!

Its a minefield thats for sure! I could go for the 'traditional' vapur proof membrane, insulation between frame, insulation on outside and then timber clad (has to be timber clad). But also like the look of woodfibre insulation which tends to naturally draw the moisture out of the frame, and has a larger thermal mass so reduces summer cooking ? And this is usually used with an internal OSB with a vapour proof coating, which makes for a simpler build. However trying to get prices for the 'special OSB', and none listed... Which means its got to be pricey. All we are trying to achieve is better than building regs but not passive, we will end up with windows open anyway but i am more worried about making sure the building lasts a long time without damp and also protecting against fire as we are in the middle of a wood and the house is on stilts with a timber ground floor! And all of this against a tight budget. I just cant seem to work out the ideal approach! I alsoc ant figure out how you stop the vapour membrane from puncturing when you fasten the battens and how you stop it being damaged in the future when some silly bugger uses a wall screw thats too long (gonna happen at some point). argghhh ? oh, pic of the design below 05_E_Sections_And_Perspectives-1988101.pdf

Hia all. Planning in place for a 3 bed timber frame with flat greeen roof. Researching timber wall / insulation options considering we need to do as much of the work as possible ourselves. The building is in Looe, cornwall and is only 500M or so from the sea so we can expect it to be a wet / damp (mizzle ? ) area. Any views re this sort of build up for the walls? Note we are trying to achive EPC B'ish, no point in going much more as we are seriel window openers lol

sorry for the delay, thanks for all the responses!

trying to make sense of the coordinates used by our architect so can roughly mark on the site where stuff is going. there are a couple of coordinates with E, N and L and then loads of single ones such as 50.880. Now i can see how they work, increasing from left to right; but when on the site how do i know i am standing in the exact right spot?