puntloos

1000 is fine given the full cost of my build (ouch). My only concern like you said is if the tank somehow collapses under loads. Not planning to drive anything significant across it but I would prefer to have it seated deep - 1m of soil above it? - and safe (reinforced somehow?) rather than shallow and have my kid puncture it when he plays with his tonka truck. One important question for me is that it 'feels' like having a big tank under the ground might impede the growth and flourishing of things like my lawn etc. Is that an issue at all? I might give rainwaterharvesting.co.uk a call.

Not a bad idea but I really don't have space for anything in my back yard. I'm looking for under the house, or under my back yard. Or is that a hugely different proposition? I'm somewhat considering using the space below my ASHP (in the garden) since that will already have a concrete foundation?

But, slightly more seriously, am I wrong to assume that a somewhat trustworthy builder (held in check by a contract admin and QS to deliver value) would make fairly good choices anyway even if told "do what you would do if you wanted to sell the house in the general market"? What type of compromise would a completely left-to-own-devices builder make that I might dislike?

Reviving this discussion for.. obvious reasons. (hi, 40C!) My thoughts (given I'm doing a fully new build) - Getting the digger to build me a major hole (next to? under?) my new foundations to fit some large plastic tank in seems pretty cheap. - Trying to flush toilets etc with this seems very risky (mould, maintenance, complicated plumbing) Id only collect rainwater for the garden, and in case of emergency, I would treat the water in my tank as "dangerous, be sure to use heavy duty 'tropical camping trip' style filters" if I ever resorted to use it for household purposes. My questions: - How much would it cost to dig a sizeable hole, rainwater tank, a little pump to send it round the garden, few surface pipes for said garden-spreading? - How deep does such a tank usually sit? 1m of dirt on top of it? 1.5? Can my kid dig down to it when he's bored? - How safe is this tank - can it collapse if we get fat aunt bertie running around with the kids or what if some future me forgets to tell the driver of a 1.5T digger to not drive on top? Trees poking their roots in? Is this a reason to put the tank below the house rather than below the garden/grass?

Heh well, OK. But seriously, most building companies who want to build a house they can sell for as much monies as possible will have some idea of what people want. They won't just paint the walls hot pink because 'that is what they would do'.. aiming for a certain optimal market value seems like a decent target. If anything I'm hoping it won't be worse than if I were to just buy some off-the-shelf house that comes on the market from a major construction company. Or how could I instruct them with some general rules? I got that reference.

(hey, caught your attention, eh?) These are strange times, and yeah, aliens are at the complete bottom of my list of worries, but people do get into personal trouble during a build, and many of self build discussions say that you have to be closely involved in your build (I plan to be, currently all good!). It feels negligent for me to not at least consider some bad situations and their solutions before we get into them. What if things happen, like: - Major medical issues of you or your loved ones that we have to focus on 100% - Getting fired or other increased work pressures - Covid quarantine and we're stuck in some foreign country for 2 months What if we completely have to ignore the house build except for the most critical (financial?) points. What happens? Can I trust a contractor to do a 'decent' job with instructions such as "please just do what you would do if it were your house - pick any reasonably priced carpet/doorknob/freezer/insulation material"? Or should I hire some independent advisor in that case (and how much would such a person charge to 'be me'?)

You'd think but both the video I attached above, as well as the numbers I list here don't seem to bear this out.

Just some randomish research: https://www.appliancecity.co.uk/refrigeration/fridges/integrated-fridges/liebherr-irbb4170-122cm-integrated-biofresh-larder-fridge/ - most efficient full height(ish) integrated fridge - 72kwh/annum - 191L https://www.appliancecity.co.uk/refrigeration/freezers/integrated-freezers/liebherr-sifnd4155-122cm-integrated-in-column-frost-free-freezer/ - most efficient full height(ish) integrated freezer - 166kwh/annum - 129L So total - 238kwh/annum for 320L https://www.appliancecity.co.uk/refrigeration/american-style-fridge-freezers/lg-gsxv90bsae-door-in-door-instaview-american-fridge-freezer-stainless-steel/ - most efficient american fridge freezer - 348kwh/annum - 635L So "per liter" the american E-rated beast is actually much more efficient 0.54kwh/L than having two A/D rated devices paired up (0.74kwh/L)

Heh yep. But the video actually touched on many items including the in-door icecube makers. I will have to do some soul searching on how important it is to my life. As you can imagine in the current week of 27+C temps expected, being able to get a glass of chilled+iced water without opening the fridge and rummaging around with the ice tray is .. nice. But then again, an ice compartment with a small but easily accessible scoop might be not much worse, and much more energy efficient....

Yep exactly, and I can certainly understand the 'ice hole' being a problem for efficiency I imagine it wouldn't be that bad...

In a bored moment I was browsing fridge freezers and I noticed that my favorites all had an energy rating of F which clearly isn't great. Their amazeballs linear inverter, it does nothing?? - https://www.lg.com/uk/fridge-freezers/lg-gsi960pzvv# Now one feature I tend to look for in freezers is an ice maker with external ice dispenser, which punches a meaningful hole through the insulation, but I was assuming that it would be mitigated in a good amount by that nozzle effectively pointing downward which means the cold really sits at the bottom of the freezer and doesn't really have a great path. This video below explains it pretty nicely. What gives? Is perhaps the energy efficiency rating comparing the entire box no matter if it's a single box or a huge multi-door device with much more space to cool? As far as I can tell the energy rating stupidly (imho?) seems to just look at the raw power draw of the device, not power-draw-per-liter-volume? Or does anyone know a "A/B rated" double door american style fridge freezer?

Fair points, both, like I said I don't want to penalize people for things they have no control over, so indeed brick shortages - assuming the builder showed a bit of "due diligence" are sad-but-fine pretty much indefinitely in my book. So in that case what about excluding any supply problems, assuming that the order itself can be shown to be made "correctly" at some "reasonable" point in time? Again I'm okay with delays that are not their fault, but I would like to make sure the builder doesn't run off and does something 'more profitable' and keeps me waiting. Or is that an unlikely scenario?

One thing that's hard to search for ("search terms "time" or "missed" or "deadline" don't work well in this context): What provisions are there in a JCT or any type of contract that can deal with missing deadlines? Sometimes there is 'hand of god' stuff happening (covid is a good example) and I guess it's not unreasonable that certain dates are misssed, but in general, how can we agree on a timeline for an entire build and make sure builders have reasons - probably financial penalties - to adhere to these? I often hear stories of builders just switching to doing something else for whatever reasons that are logical for them but not in my interest as a client. Are there some ways to put in a contract sentences like: "If first fix isn't started by Jan 1st, then the contractor will pay xyz per week delay (unless reason abc)" where xyz of course is something reasonable that will make them think twice to delay and abc are things that no builder could legitimately foresee?

Yup dramatically cheaper then. And given that indeed our situation is ... reasonably stable (2 IT professionals, 1 kid, no further debts) it seems the self-serve approach might work out.. thanks!

Can I ask what ballpark amount you were asking them for though? I'm sure fees differ greatly if you ask 50, 250 or 500,000..

So I reached out to ecology, and I passed their initial checks, will have a proper call soon. My question, I suppose stays roughly the same: - What is the benefit of a mortgage advisor specialist vs self serve. Is there simply no reason to have a specialist help, they just take your money and they add no huge benefit? Or are there situations in which case you'll be super glad you did shell out their fees? @matthyde83 what's your take on this? What did your guy do beyond 'reach out to lenders and ask them a rate, then collect a fee on top'? My understanding is that some lenders don't want to talk direct to consumer but ecology seems fairlly competitive at a glance

I called buildstore and they seemed to want me to finish my deal with the current broker before they would talk to me. I didn't leave my name so I'm not sure if they would find out but is there some ethical concern with shopping around? Or why would they ask this.. Of course I suppose that if they reach out to the same lender this lender might put 2 and 2 together, but would that be a problem for me?

Here's a quote I received. Rounding numbers a bit and comparing with a similar sized mortgage, in 2019 - 500K Loan - 2022 3.89% builder mortgage with a fixed rate for the lender, but still dependent on the BAE - so really variable IMO - 2019 1.99% standard mortgage fixed for 5 years Build, variable Standard,fixed Lender fee £6,000.00 £1,500.00 Valuation £2,100.00 £750.00 Reinspection £2,700.00 Redemption £75.00 £75.00 Release Deed £50.00 £50.00 Booking Fee £300.00 Brokers Fee £5,000.00 Difference £16,300.00 £2,370.00 £13,900.00 I'm aware I'm comparing apples and oranges.. pre covid post covid too.. but Is 14,000 fair given the complexity and unusualness of the mortgage? A bunch of fees that come up, and an additional broker fee of 5000 (The broker gets about 2500 from the lender as finders fee already, so total fee 7500!) And why are there suddenly two valuations that are 2-3x the price of the valuation for the standard mortgage? (especially given the valuation surely should take into account they are really just valuating a plot of land? Seems easier?) Is this quite out there or is this simply the cost of building? Can someone talk me through if the above is somewhat reasonable or if I'm being ripped off? Separate question - since this quote is from one mortgage broker, is it acceptable to shop around (ask other mortgage brokers) or do brokers demand that you either go with them or cancel the work and start over? Im certainly tempted to e.g. chat to @matthyde83's guy, or buildstore, but I don't want to unfairly play people off against eachother.

Both of us employed well, fulltime, at a reasonable income (we should easily be able to afford a mortgage) Yes, the current place's value - "on zoopla" is worth much more than we expect the build to cost, but of course that is plot+house, and the idea is to knock that house down which doesn't tend to please lenders. But we really only need perhaps half of the build cost as a loan for comfort reasons..

I'd certainly bother to read it.. how can we put this together? And Why not? And When can we have it done? How can I help? (see.. I'm learning.. ) Seriously though, indeed I'm at the stage where indeed those right questions matter, and I certainly want to not try somehow to be "one of the builder boys in spirit" in such a fake way that it's offputting. I do think I work from a general sense of respect and appreciation for the work, but I don't think that is something you can teach (meaning: I might be bad at it but I don't think a few words on a forum will help me change that ) Still would certainly like to hear what sorts of questions show the right type of interest, I usually go the way of 'how can I make your life easier, how do you want me to work with you, what drives you, makes you happy (eg efficiency, quality, performing a service, working with good people..). Ha perhaps also avoid asking about Brexit

Which is fair enough. Also fair point I guess, but it's also in their interest once they start working together with e.g. an electrical team. If they have evidence they did something right then there's no discussion on a dispute? How much storage would be reasonable? A garage's worth? Well, I do live close (within a mile) but do still have a dayjob. Plan for the week is certainly reasonable, and I would walk by the site pretty much every other day. Agreed, I hope I do come across that way. Absolutely fair, thanks for your response. I do think that you are a very hands-on style person where I am going to have to be a bit further removed, hence I'm trying to build a trusting relationship. It wouldn't be quite as good as being 100% there every day but hopefully a proper builder with pride in their work would not just screw around because the 'boss' isn't there every single second. Also hoping some legwork from e.g. building control would help against the greatest screwups..

So as I understand it I'm in a fairly unique situation: 1/ Wanting to build my own house (welcome to the specials.. ghost town..) 2/ Owning a crappy old house + plot outright (no mortgage left) As I understand from a financial advisor, 99% of self build mortgages are basically some concept of transferring over your current mortgage, or only doing an extension, and while they have found a mortgage with 4% fixed rate for the lender's part (but still variable on the bae and/or sonia side) there are a lot of fees that do drive up the final price substantially. At the end of the day the proposed fees on top of the mortgage amount to another 3.5% of the full amount. (but these are one-off fees such as valuation, broker fee, to be clear) How come builder loans are so expensive? Or am I looking in the wrong place?

One thing I'm missing in this discussion is 'what to do about it'. - Get single-team builders, so they won't have to prioritize (and you occasionally lose out)? - Demand builders take pictures of any piece of work before they move on? - Buy stuff way ahead of time? Essentially- assuming some... laziness/malice/incompetence at builders, what can we do to minimize the damage? ..

FWIW my QS recons that the finalfinal tender quotes will come in today (Jun 2022) somewhere between 10 and 20% more compared to Jan 2021. I guess we should've tendered back then rather than now..

This is a great point. While I don't have sensitive feet (or perhaps I should say 'I don't care if my feet are somewhat cold') I can certainly appreciate the point that for average comfort you need to turn up the heat too much. An important point to consider.