puntloos

Excellent thread so far. Some useful stuff to learn I might be able to avoid.. thanks.. One thing I always struggle with is .. well.. clouds.. meaning: on a cloudy day, during spring and autumn, a good patch of sun can meaningfully heat the place, whilst a batch of clouds can make the place a touch chilly and perhaps manual heating would be good. Does anyone have a system that tries to react to external brightness? Is it a good idea? I could imagine having windows blinds up and down and up might be a bit noisy.. and of course once you heat the place, you can't "roll it back"...

"99" sounds quite optimistic. No idea what is a fair point but as someone who loves light and can't get enough in winter, I worry having venetians would block a noticeable amount.

Just as a general thought, currently I have: - Google Home stuff (home mini, JBL screen) - Nest hello, nest thermostat - Samsung Smartthings driving ikea tradfri - ewelink (sonoff) wifi power sockets Most of these still work or at least have basic functionality, even if internet is down. And most of these also support physical buttons

Just starting to think this through, but some thoughts: - Would love to find a good source for built-in hardware. Many of these things have to be 'stapled onto' your wall whereas in a new build I'd love to have 'in ceiling' devices like a motion, temp, humid sensor that I can hard-wire into some central control device. Alternatively something that uses one of the bigger brands - e.g @JSHarris is right to point out that some random company might be gone in 5 years, but "Samsung Smartthings" is probably here to stay. - Would love to link temperature sensors and possibly underfloor heating controllers to something like Nest, or at least 'IFTTT' so perhaps a high detected temperature in a room can roll down the blinds or turn on the ventilation. - Rain sensor rolling back the awnings would be great, but I don't think "smart wifi awnings" exist yet, so instead I'd love some hardware switching box that can connect to RS232 (and other) wired control systems. This guy seems to have manually rigged it up with an Arduino or two.. would prefer something more off-the-shelf-y.. Anyone have solutions for some/all of the above?

I'd note that depending on how long you intend to stick around, grass is one of the weirdest, arguably stupidest crops in the world, keeping it watered and maintained will, over time, certainly outpace your carbon footprint of some sturdy fake grass...

Wildly in general it would be great to have such a set of resources once they are a little 'community approved'

Good tip, I might have to get a subscription I suppose. Also many modern manufacturers now bring out a new model of a 'thing' pretty much every year, with a different model number, and only minor improvements to the internals, so a year-old review of the previous model is probably going to be helpful if perhaps slightly too negative (since the new model might've had some snags improved..)

Just in general I'm shocked how hard it is to find reviews for "house devices" - fridges, washers etc etc I was looking for a liebherr fridge, found just a random hit on the googles: https://www.appliancecity.co.uk/refrigeration/fridge-freezers/freestanding-matching-sets/liebherr-sbsef7242-121cm-side-by-side-fridge-freezer/ - so "SBSEF7242 review.." .. nope, nothing Weird.

Actually it seems like it might be this one with a different label: Culina ICONDD70

Yeah not a massive amount of confidence around this hob.. but hey if it works it works

That's the hard part, many of these hobs have poor review coverage (I can't find a review for this innocenti one, for example.. ) Yep very fair point, I kinda see the 'extraction hob' as a backup alternative, should I not be able to manage other extraction. I indeed plan to have MVHR so perhaps all I need is some grease filter mounted in the ceiling? (does grease even go up into the ceiling?) Not yet the time to make these decisions for me yet, and indeed I'm intrigued by these "everything is a cooking zone" type hobs but as the main cook in our family, indeed I cook way too often to skimp. How did you manage trying cooking on several? Some demo rooms? And what did you cook as a 'benchmark'? Thanks for your thoughts, appreciated

Given the topic title: Let me note that "On Paper" this hob seems like a great deal: Innocenti ART29141 599GBP And Bora's are "2500ish"? (sigh, why are people coy with prices.. ) I'd be interested in why Bora is better, and if that difference is worth it. For example: - Bora has a total power of 7.6kw - not enough power to have everything on at full blast. Innocenti sits at 8.3kw, so it can output more heat at the same time - Bora extracts 647m3 air per hour. Innocenti sits at 504, so there the Bora wins Everything else is fairly similar (very very handwavey) So far it's "kinda a draw". I suspect that the Bora might be better designed and therefore (for example) better able to handle spilling large amounts of liquids down it, or easier to clean .. but ..

Does anyone know of bifolds that: 1/ Have two built-in screens: one for insects, another for blackout (cinema room!) - Or alternatively the blackout screen built in for near-complete blackout and a second screen for bugs? Open to suggestions? - Centor has bifold-and-screen, but the quote they gave me (for 6m, at Grand Designs trade show) works out to about 2800GBP per meter. Surely there are cheaper ones? 2/ Not ultra-thick frame if possible 3/ Ideally Top-hanging - this will roll lightly and smoothly much longer than resting. 4/ Ideally fairy insulated, prefer not to lose heat And obviously what is the Cost? I suspect the Centor ones were very high-end.. or is 2800/m a common price?

Great points, thanks Russell. I would note though that while someone can clearly not be there 'all the time' (at least- not without being very expensive!), I would say that if a builder is actually 'poor' somehow, they will trip up multiple times, and will fail "in front of my guy" sooner or later. More a 'spot check' approach than a micromanagement one.

Clearly I only want to spend on things that are 'worth it', no interest in wasting money so whatever we agree on, the person needs to convince me they are worth the $, either by being able to cost less than the savings they can help achieve, or somehow give me value-for-money in the peace of mind, or quality of results area. And with this of course comes another challenge: how would you word a contract in a helpful way. How can you 'test' if the person has delivered on what was promised here.

Perhaps but is that my problem? Meaning, if the mistake was the builder's, and "we" spotted it, they still need to handle it out of their pocket? (don't get me wrong I'm not suggesting a 'hostile' environment between us and the builder) Very useful rule of thumb, thank you. In a way it's insurance, isn't it. Clearly if everybody is amazing you don't require any oversight (?) but in reality, having that second set of expert eyes whose only goal is to look out for my interest is worth something. Problem there is that this builder has a strong incentive to stay within that budget, and therefore - depending on their ethics - could start cutting corners to compensate for their mistakes.. Interesting question indeed, while I don't yet know if I want a main contractor or purely subs, my idea was to hire the QSPM to also handle for example the selection of the subs Good to know, how many hours then? Makes sense. As said before I effectively I would love to have someone who cares about all the things I care about, but has massive experience across the entire spectrum. This would fall under that umbrella, surely. What would you call this then? Frankly I still struggle with separating all the skills that are needed to deliver a good house. We need somebody to cover costs, we need someone to understand scheduling, we need someone who can sniff out people who don't have an attention to detail, we need.... Eh, as I said elsewhere I'm thinking about this mostly as 'insurance' that things don't go too badly, which means that if everything goes smoothly, then either I wasted my money, OR the person was worth their weight in gold. But as you noted there's also specific skills that could be useful to pay them directly for - things like costing, sub selection, material management..

Agreed, but I'm not thinking he'll be "QSing" all that time. Instead, it's more a helpful skill that he can bring to the table when judging if a builder is doing reasonable things at a reasonable price. The main job will still be project management. Ah I'll clarify my original post but I fully agree this is not a fulltime job, just enough time to spot issues before they are too irreversible. Maybe 1-2 site visits a week, 2 hours a pop? I honestly have no idea what amount of time is enough to have a good idea of what is going on on the building site.

Employing a main builder and an architect is not a surprising thing when selfbuilding, but even assuming good faith, the builder has a conflict of interest between delivering quickly and cheaply, and doing everything with minute attention to detail. Similarly, an architect is responsible for a good design, but might not care as much if it's executed well. I'd like to have someone who has a ton of this experience and who exclusively cares if my interests are being met. So.. how do I fill that gap? My current idea is to look for a person who is both a certified Quantity Surveyor and a Project manager. This person should be able to keep a close eye on cost, as well as keep an eye on if the builder is following the plan etc. Is my thinking on the right track? In particular: 1/ Is a QS-PM a good idea? Why(not)? 2/ How much time should be needed of this person? Clearly fulltime is overkill, but perhaps 1-2 two-hour site visit per week? 3/ How much should this cost? 4/ Anything else that we're missing? What skills that I myself wouldn't have, would be great to get on board on my behalf?

Indeed I wouldn't overstate legionella either, it's just true that they are able to multiply in 20C. Perhaps a certain maintenance cycle (e.g. emptying the tank at least once every week, and leaving it dry for half a day) could work. But obviously it would require some type of bypass setup, unless you can hold it But even that might just be overkill. I think indeed a smallish tank would suffice, having a single flush worth in the top tank. Yes you might have to use some tap water if there's two flushes needed.. @JSHarris: Do you have any idea of the additional cost of such a rainwater setup for say underground tank embedded in concrete, cleverly roof design to collect, top floor tank, 3 toilets and the garden hose over 'everything from mains'?

Dropping in since I've been mulling this over, JSHarris's post sounds exactly what i hoped would be possible - awesome =) Except: is there a worry about Legionella? They start multiplying at 20C (although they typically are more of a problem at 40C), and if you're infested, flushing your toilet will aerosolize the legionella.. which is... less than ideal... Assuming legionella can be headed off (filtering? chlorine? testing?), to buy: - A loft tank - A basement/groundfloor tank, embedded in concrete as discussed - Collection and filtering (leaves?) off the roof - Clever valve/float switch setup piping water to toilets and garden How much would this be? Anyone tried it at this point, or done the math? And would your normal plumber (during the housebuild) be able to rig this up properly or would you need either experts, or good DIY skills yourself? -M

Ha, thanks Ferdinand, I fully agree that 'fabric' as you say is more important than nice touches. But, with some things the end calculation is actually a tough one. For one, 350 bottles is pretty wasteful with all the transport etc. Fun anecdote: at my work there's a lot of fun discussion on removing water bottles vs taps and it's interesting that for some people, taps promote healthful behavior (if its *really* easy to get water, you drink more, which as a rule is healthful).. but for other people they actually reduce their health because they will pick sugary sodas if a water bottle is not available. For me, I think there will actually be a positive health benefit to having a tap with insta-chilled water, but I wouldn't care too much if it's built into my fridge or in a tap..

Me too =) But indeed, especially in places where I'll be using something daily for yearsandyears I'm willing to pay for quality/comfort.. Actually planning to visit Grand Designs Live this week, probably will be checking out the tap manufacturers there.. but indeed my main worry is longevity

Yep, chilled is my drink of choice too.. but I'm totally fine with chilled tap water, no need for even filters, let alone bottles. My wife actually did point out perhaps the fridge can double as the water chiller. We had a fridge like this once, but you had to manually fill the reservoir which was a bit of a chore. Why do you not like the water/ice fridges? In the end, I guess an amazeballs all-in-one tap is the easiest and swankiest but at some point it's not worth the $$$..

Did find this one: https://www.watercoolersdirect.com/cosmetal-pro-stream-boiling-chilled-sparkling 1918GBP but it does 'all the things' it seems..

Hmm quooker does seem much better value for money than most, especially the filter replacement: "one every 3-5 years, costs GBP 30" as opposed to some of them (gbp 49 every six months) Sadly quooker doesn't do sparkling...