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ToughButterCup

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  1. ToughButterCup
    Our neighbours talk of them in hushed tones. Our friends look puzzled, and then after a few moments get that thousand yard stare. It’s easy to bore people when you mention the humble newt. But people on buildhub.org.uk  searching for what to do about them in planning terms won’t be bored. So here is a summary of our experience in the hope that I can save you some time, money and worry.
     
    Quick Read: The great crested newt (GCN) is a protected species. It is unlawful to handle them (unless you are qualified) and illegal to -knowingly- injure or kill them. If you live near (250m) a pond, an initial survey must be done to see if they are present (as well as other species). If that initial survey finds evidence of them, a full survey must be done. That survey forms the basis of an application for a license to exclude GCNs from the construction area. The exclusion exercise must be properly run, and can take up to 80 days, during which time no other building work can be done inside the site boundaries.
     
    Imagine the rictus grin on our faces when we realised the consequences of our dear dear children’s favourite summer holiday pastime. Fetching buckets full of GCNs from the surrounding ponds and pools and putting them in ‘our’ ponds. We are, even as we speak, trying to reclaim the pocket money we gave them.
    Ah, such innocent times they were when it ‘were-all-green-fieulds-rouwnd-heer’ earlier last century.
     
    GCNs add at least a year to any building project; one bit of building-lore that we were told that seems to be proving to be true. We started planning our Outline Planning Permission application in January last year. GCNs are active when the outside air temperature is (roughly) +7C. And go to bed when it’s less than 7. So that makes their active time from about late April to early October. Right now (January) they are tucked up in bed in a foundation block near you, snoring gently. They are nocturnal beasts: so they are sneaky little things: you might spend all your life never knowing that a GCN is rat-like, never more that 10 meters from where you are. I overstate a little – mostly it matters not a tinkers cuss. But when you want to build, there’s no avoiding the issue.
     
    The full pre-planning application survey which must be done by qualified ecologists is, in essence, an educated guess at the population size. That survey (which will focus on other species too) forms the core of the application toNatural England (link last checked January 2015). I thought the survey we paid for was a definitive document. It isn’t. It’s an educated guess. The confidence levels in predicting population size on the basis of the ecologists’ survey is close to zero.
    Mustn’t grumble eh?
     
    We were given full planning permission to build in October 2015 and we've only just been give the EPS Licence (May 2016). A work schedule was agreed in October 2015, but not followed. I have expressed my disappointment in the appropriate places.
     
    There's a lesson then. Project management is important - the devil is in the detail. 
    Costs? I’ll do a separate article about that. About £1500 spent getting us this far, and a guess of another £1500 at least for the next phase.
  2. ToughButterCup
    'Forewarned is fore-armed' say some. Others 'do your due diligence'. Bottom line - do some background research. Here's mine. (With as many internet links links in as I can to help you with yours) If you can pick a hole I what I write, or see that I've missed something, I'd be so grateful if you could tell me.
    Method
    We already know that we have to pile. Does the SI report give a hint at which type of pile?
    Have a look at this Phase 2 SI Report: Concrete Design page 12, point 7.4:   (SI = Soil Investigation)
    Phase 2 S.I. Report - Bay Horse, Lancaster - G15002b.pdf
    '... therefore the most practicable foundation type would be a bored pile solution [...] on this basis, concrete in contact with the ground may be designed to ACEC Class DS-1 AC1s of BRE Special Digest 1 - Concrete in Aggressive Ground...'
    So now we know: they need to be concrete of a certain spec (Help!... no idea what the spec means)  and that the piles should be
    '... sleeved in the upper portion to allow for ongoing settlement of the fill...' (Point 7.3 page 11).
     
    What a difference a bit of research makes........ read on
     
    There's no substitute for a good SE: one who engages with the customer's needs rather than merely doing the job (PM for details if you like). One line in their email to me suggesting we use a form of piling that is a good deal cheaper than traditional piling (Surefoot). And, in one sentence the SE had potentially saved his fee. They cost about half or less than traditional steel piles. Initial conversations with the company lead me to go and have a look at an installation. 
    Here's what piles (if you can call them that) of that sort
    look like.
     
    So, after checking that there was no conflict of interest between the supplier and the SE,  we sent the detailed information to Surefoot. Disappointment. Our ground (see the SI report above) is too 'made-up' .
    Hmm, back to square minus-a-few. 
     
    Lesson learned? Keep looking. And that means hours on 'Tinternet. Hours of time apparently wasted. Hours of time which at the time that 'feel' wasted which could be spent doing a million other things . And then a post from  @Calvinmiddle  suggested I look at national piling contractors. And that lead me to Town and Country Vibro .
     
    Instantly another set of unknowns and another research blizzard. Blizzard? Yes, that's how I feel.... I can see a few millimeters in front of my face, I can just about read my compass, I know where I'm going but there might be a crevasse one step in front.
     
    What in heaven's name is a stone column? Can it really be as strong as a pile? Why the Heck does the SE specify a safety factor of 2.5(ish)
    What is 'ground improvement'?
    How much?
    Why all the sales guff full of well-know management waffle? What does it actually mean? I really wish there was a Course in every Management Department in every British University which had a compulsory course called Cut_The_Shite_Out _Of_Sales_Speak.  It just gets in the way.
     
    So, it's hours of YT videos.... bottom feed (my favourite) top feed (mehhhh) vibro (hmmmm) Gordon Bennett is it that quick?
    A few phone calls later and I'm standing on a building site somewhere in deepest east Lancs with Dan. For reassurance you understand. And a chat with the  rig driver. Which lead to a quote. (Cheaper than Surefoot) Which lead to a site meeting at our place, which was well handled: there was a proper check list - whereas up to now a site meeting went something like this...
    "Well mate y'll need 5 meter piles and we'll do the calcs for ya, 'kin SE's they're a waste of time and money"  A swift, polite Bye Bye.
    Or (and this takes some believing)
    "Your plot's the same as all the others round here: you'll need four meter piles , and I reckon the jobs going to cost you £20K" He had neither asked for nor seen any SI information - it was offered but he said "No need to bother son". It was the epithet 'son' which really got me. On arrival on site, he got out of the best kept top-line Mercedes I have seen for a long while.
    I was almost rude in showing the contractor the door. Almost.
     
    Piling design: TCV did that, and sent to our SE (Tanners) and that's where we are now.
     
    Stone columns (ground improvement) is the method.
     
    We need a piling mat: and that's another story.
     
     
     
     
  3. ToughButterCup
    Making a sensible guess at what it might cost
    We already know from the previous Blog Post that , at the moment, Stone Columns is the preferred method. So, it's straight to SPONS for a look-see.
     Here's a link to the book, it's expensive, but it's saved me more money than I care to count - and here's the twist - it's increased my level of confidence no end. Because I know what a reasonable price is likely to be. Here's the link to a post I made about it recently - goes into more detail than I do here (I don't want to repeat myself, people get bored so I'm told). This blog post will illustrate how useful the book can be: or how useful it is to me.
    SPONS  - the hardback book has a few pages on piling (Chapter 7 p.238 et seq), and when you buy it you also get the licence for an online version - and that allows you to search for 'piling' across the whole book. Suddenly you are aware of all sorts of things to do with piling, as well as the charges directly attributable to piling. So, for example I find that a CFA team consists of 3 blokes (sorry 'people'), their rates  of pay and so on. Very absorbing.
     
    And that's useful because it begins to redress the 'expert' , 'customer' imbalance. Fuller information promotes partnership and engagement. I accept that some may not want that, but I do.
     
    Many piling methods need a piling mat. Some don't (Surefoot for example) See also my previous blog post
    So the key for me at the moment is how to sort out the piling mat.
     
    The Basics
    There are two elements to piling: the piles themselves and the piling and the area which needs to be prepared for the rig. It's called a ' Piling Mat'
     
    A piling mat is simple: its a level area about 2 meters wider than the plot so that the piling rig can strut its stuff. (I'll post the exact specification later)
    So in our case that's about 14 meters by 14 meters. That needs to be costed.
     
    Here goes: area affected -  (10 by 10 plus two meters each side for wriggle room , that makes 14 by 14), say 200 sq m, lets keep it easy for those of us who only just passed maths O Level.
    The SI report makes it clear that we have at least 2m of made ground everywhere.
     
    What's the spec for a Piling Mat? Well, if you pay £45:00 you can find out.  BRE (2004) Working Platforms for Tracked Plant: good practice guide to the design, (etc.)
     
    For costing purposes we can have a look at SPONS now (page 163)  '...excavate to form piling mat; supply and lay imported hardcore – recycled brick and similar to form piling mat...'
    Spon's Architect's and Builders' Price Book 2016. CRC Press
     
    Assuming the site needs to be dug over to a depth of 1 m and then compacted, I need a price for 200m cubed . That translates to a price of £1600 to £2000.
     
    First quote £11,000. Yeah, right.
     
    The piling itself: The SE will tell the piling company what they need to support, and the SE needs the Soil Investigation and the Topographical survey
     
    To Be Continued
  4. ToughButterCup
    Here it is: as accurate as I can get it. No pretense of getting it done cheaper than anyone else. Just the raw numbers and a few words to explain context if necessary (why did I buy a chain-hoist for example). Yes, you'll probably get it cheaper. That's excellent. The point is openness and telling it like it is.
    March 2014
    Home Building and Renovation Show NEC: £100, including fuel and tickets
    Phone calls about £15:00 extra, and about £70:00 fuel.
    July 2014
    Land: already owned
    Planner: £1050, plus £70 initial consultation fee, (in cash).
    LPA Outline Planning Application fee £770
    Phone calls: about £15:00 extra, and about £50:00 fuel.
    August 2014
    Ecologist: £1390.15 (works out at about £1 per Great Crested Newt – a further £2000 budgeted for. But see below June 2016)
    November 2014
    Topographical Survey: £540
    January 2015
    Trips to Timber frame companies and various local suppliers : £50 fuel
    Subscriptions to various magazines: £70(ish)
    February 2015
    Architect: £4000 (design plus all other matters up to and including submission for Full PP application)
    QS: £630 – feasibility study
    Legal: £360; altering title
    LPA fees: £385
    Structural Engineer: £1782; foundations calculations
    Land registry Fee: £40
    Contamination Desk Study and Geophysics : £1260 (plus possible indeterminate decontamination costs)
    Phone calls: about £20:00 extra, and very little fuel.
    March 2015
    Discharge of Conditions Fee £97.00
    Health and Safety Services are being handled for free by a colleague: I’m coding his website in exchange.
    Notice: no site insurance yet……. :huh: I’m just too mean. Projected cost £568.65 (May 2015)
    August 2015
    Architects fees £2000; from award of Outline PP to Full PP (6th of August) and
    £40 for bottle of champagne to thank our him: his judgement in relation to what would pass was exactly right. Read paragraph 9 of the Delegated Report (here)
    Trip to Swindon to visit the NSBRC
    Fuel £36, overnight stay £85
    Strimmer: Polycut head, and set of knives for strimmer
    £46.60. (No lawn for Salamander Cottage: at last, no mowing…… bliss)
    September 2015
    Legal Fees; alteration to title status £232
    October
    Purchase a four wheel trailer (new) £2500
    Purchase a Mutts Nuts (Nick’s term, not mine) Bosch Laser Level £250
    First Aid Course (ref. H+S policy) £80
    Chainsaw Course £130
    December
    Off mains drainage legal agreement
    Legal fees and £1000 for access to the land to discharge to stream (wayleave?): £1862
    (£300 over budget)
    Cladding
    Preparation for processing the wood;
    Serious Stihl saw (660) and ancillary equipment £2000
    (resale value £1000)
    Trips to open passivhauses 
    £50 +
    Off – road parking (ground matz)
    £2800 (resale value £2500)
    January 2016
    SPONS Architects and Builders’ Price Guide 2016. Can’t do without it. And there’s an App that goes with it. £150
    Small shipping container (for tools) £300 (resale value £400)
    Base for container: 4 tons of 20 mm to dust from my mate: £35, yep £35
    New wheelbarrow £97 (French made Hammerlin: two flat tyres (in 2 weeks) and a stupidly forward C of G so the damn thing tips forward ON ITS OWN... sodding thing)
    Local Oak trees (for the shakes and cladding) £1200  (1 square meter of oak shakes retails for £100!) T.K Knipe Allithwaite. £100s of pounds worth of free advice.
    1  Sweet Chestnut tree (high tannin content) £140
    5 local oak trees £100 (they were going to be cut up for fire wood - I kid you not)
    Another container (you can't have too many): £1000 (resale value £1000)
    February 2016
    Small hand tools and boys toys £1500
    May 2016
    2.5 tonne Mini Digger = £14,000 (PV Dobsons, Levens)
    EPS Licence £1200  (I still haven't paid the bill - because of some really unprofessional behaviour.)
    Red Diesel £15
    120 meters of Temporary Amphibian Fencing (TAF), 80 stakes (37 by 37 by 700) £267.37
    Lifting gear: a 2 tonne chain block and tackle 2 shackles, and two beam clamps £181.03 (to run on the RSJs below)
    2 RSJs, (6 meters long to span between the two containers) £230 +VAT
    Filing frame to assist sharpening my chainsaw chains £97
    Site signage (ebay) £10 for several (more needed)
    Plastic Barrier Fencing Safety Mesh Fence Netting Net With Metal Pins £50.95 (for the edge of the car park and pedestrian walkway)
    Three stillage cages to store material on the site (one cage fitted inside the container) £50
    Another two stillage cages today. £25
    And £80 worth of 2 inch wire mesh so I can weld it to the stillage cages: slows light fingers down
    Two (full-on-big-boys) deck brooms £24
    A grease gun for my digger and two cartridges of grease £22
    Another High Security Digital padlock and hardened, sheathed, hardened chain to secure the buckets (that aren't hooked up)  for my digger £55
    A 2 Tonne x 1.5 meter Leverhoist     £79.95
    2 off 2 tonne Beam Clamps   £25.98 
    4 off 2 Ton Alloy Bow Shackles, with Safety Pins   £11.96
    The above is initially for lifting trees and heavy objects safely off the trailer (on my own) Later the hoist and clamps will do the same job, but in a small purpose-built workshop.
    100 meters of 16 amp electricity cable. £71.89
    Building Control Fees £600
    Red Diesel £18.21
    June 2016
    Two more stillage cages £25
    A Douglas Fir tree and a Larch tree. £40 (Fir tree £10) Will produce stock worth about double that (conservative estimate)
    20 8" coach screws £4.
    4 sheets of reinforcing mesh £20 (16 by 8 foot for welding to the stillage cages to slow down thieves ) 
    Structural Engineer £1774. And worth every penny (so far)
    First Aid Kit (10 person HSE Approved) £7.57 (tried getting one locally, couldn't get one for love nor money)
    Security marker pens £1.99 (a requirement of the Site Insurance: all scaffolding poles must be security marked - not the digger or the saws!) "Curiouser and curiouser"
    Wood for lining my container £81
    HERAS panels, feet, clips, struts, pins for the struts £200
    Some steel stock to practise welding £12 (making a small tool table for my SuperJaws clamp: cost on the open market  £30) 
    Four Point Lifting Chains ('shorten-able') £139. Fed up of worrying about the webbing strops - they are quite worn already
    Site H+S sign. £24 ( and I begrudge every penny: it's expensive wallpaper... why do I say that - read on - last but one point)
    2 tins of Hammerite for the rust spots on the container. £28
     
    The ecologist had the good grace to halve his bill given the less than prompt approach to fulfilling his contract. £900
     
    July
    Builder's Merchant bill: £704 - bits and bobs, sand 25mm water pipe and stuff like that
     
    August
    Builder's Merchant bill:  < £100 all sorts of tiny things
     
    September
    Builder's Merchants bill £1379.24,  Ply wood for the stillage and to make some internal storage in the container, a DeWalt nailer (luxury beyond compare)
     
    It starts to get serious now........... Piling will be about £6000, Groundwork price yet to come in, site clearance - I've hired a lumberjack who's coming from Canada - muscles coming out of his ears - off mains drainage and site drainage....
     
    Off to Harrogate next week. (4th of November)
     
     
  5. ToughButterCup
    Why Piles? Because we are on a spoil heap.
    Our house will be built on the spoil heap of what was a clay and sandstone quarry.  We are here The ridge of trees 50m to the south stand on the top of what was the old quarry face. We had a soil survey done (have a look at it here) The bore hole location map is on page 47 and the profiles are detailed on the next pages. Here's how much it cost to get this done. (Feb 2015; desk study and geophysics).
    Our house will stand on the site of the old chicken shack. Debbie (SWMBO and @MrsRA), bless her heart, had the foresight to buy this piece of land in 1985. And I had to mow it. Win some, lose some. Sold the mower the other day - paid for the survey. Won that one.
    The desk study and and ground investigation report were supported by a proper site survey (see page 47 here - the bore holes are the green smudges) The full site survey is an A1 sheet which I've had printed and attached to the wall of the kitchen for reference. There'll also be a copy in the container office. It is a key bit of paper (vinyl).
    Our Structural Engineers are simply brilliant (PM me for details if you like). They took the details above and turned them into a plan for our piling. They needed all the above details - cost of all the above about £3500 if you take everything into account. Result of that expenditure is reasonable confidence that we aren't making a significant error in design.
    Here's a copy of the piling design, together with a table of the loads for each pile
    PilingCalculationsInsulatedFoundation.pdf
    I prepared a simple zipped briefing pack for each piling contractor: contents: Soil Survey, SE's Piling design and plan, Architects Plans, Photos of the site, Site surveyor's report, United Utilities Underground Services report, Screen Grab from Google maps, overhead and Street View.
    I googled 'Screw Piling' site: .uk, and contacted the first three or four attaching the site briefing pack. I also googled ' piling Lancashire '  and rang up a few local companies.
    "What, you've 'ad a site survey done, mate? What,  how moooch did that costcha? ....'OW MOOCH?  Hmmm, we'd a dun that fo ya fer nowt maaate"
    "Thanks, I'll be in touch". Pity that. I'd love to spend the money locally.
    Next problem. How to compare like with like when -if- the quotes come in? How can anyone compare quotes fairly? It isn't easy. Hence this blog.
    So, I've decided to expose the process as fully as is sensible (protecting suppliers' confidentiality, and removing all names and contact details) 
    Come along with me - pick the process to bits for yourself, and maybe make the process easier for yourself.
     
  6. ToughButterCup
    Ah, heart-in-mouth stuff this. The phone goes - new number - no half second when you can adjust to the person you know is on the other end because the name flashes up on the screen.
    Starting a phone conversation with a technical  expert, but hoping for an emotionally literate, customer-focused, technically easy to understand response is not a pleasant feeling. Add to that a mobile phone with a hiccup and a slightly distracting tomcat (Sid) who fastens himself to my leg in mid-sentence, a recipe for miscommunication.
    Semi-Undaunted because I've done a bit of homework. I prepared a Briefing Pack for the Piling Contractors. They've got all the information I have got in front of them and I've asked for an initial chat. Important this: first impressions and all that.
    Imagine then my delight when I hear a man's voice says, you don't need [This Company X]  because .............. and it would be better for you to use a different piling system because............ Customer Focus. Yippee! (PM me for the details of who and which company). And he proceeds to give me the low down on why screw piles are likely not the best system. Our Soil Investigation makes it clear that our land is not suitable for piling with screw piles.
    He's just saved me a lot of money. A lot. And I'm grateful. And they do MVHR and this and that and the other for new-builds. 
    Who am I going to contact and ask for a quote for MVHR, this that and the other? Right. No brainer.
     Interesting then that another company [ Company Y] has already submitted a quote '... based on the information [ I ]  have provided...' (which was exactly the same as to the former company)   amounting to £23,000.
    Company Y  manufacture the piles and licence an installer to do the work for them. In this case I would need to be really sure who takes appropriate professional responsibility for using screw piles - and be able to explain why they were not using another system instead. And in dealing with one quote which involves two companies, I'm asking myself where's the potential for conflict of interest?
     This sentence in their quote set my teeth on edge...
    '...As you are no doubt aware, some piling schemes are installed to a ‘set’.  This means that the actual works and final costs can invariably increase on the day of installation...' 
    'Can' and 'invariably increase' written next to one another. The best I can say is that the sentence wasn't drafted with care.
    The Plot Thickens
    One contractor (PM for details) rings up and says.
    " Your piling requirement is for about 200Kn, so it can't be done with a mini piling system. So for the spec you have it'll need CFA (Continuous Flight Auger) piles - or some other system.  Mind if we pop round to have a look at the site? I've had a look at the briefing pack you sent us, looked at Street View on Google Earth and I'm a bit concerned about access to your site. I just need to have a quick look. Will Wednesday morning be OK?"
    Customer focus writ large. Before the guy arrives (this is written on Tuesday, the day before he comes) I am well disposed to his company approach. He's told me that the two quotes I already have need to be re-read in the light of the access issue - and that one of them - the company that wants to use mini piles - probably hasn't read my briefing pack well enough. So that's why I changed the title of this post to [...], not so clueless of Lancaster
    So now I'm wondering whether the TAF (Temporary Amphibian Fence) forced on us by our  blessed newts (I love them really) have screwed up access to the site. And in any case, this exercise has taught me that access needs to be considered for every large delivery. That is bigger than a 7.5 tonner.
    Hmm, how to do that efficiently? Ideas on a postcard please..... (06:00)
    Tuesday 08:10: See this comment by CalvinMiddle, and his further reference to this document...... (here). Bottom line; do your basic research. Interesting day ahead. Oh dear  another over-long day ahead. Fun this retirement lark!
     
  7. ToughButterCup
    The chant "Yer wanna get a digger mate!" started in 2014, and I finally got one two years later. The chanters were right. But what I didn't hear was what they were chanting (sniggering) under their breath. "You're gonna get covered in grease".
    Let's start at the beginning. How much does a digger cost to hire? £70 per day. How much does it cost to transport it to and from your house / plot? £25. All plus VAT. Bang goes £300 / £350 per week. And it rains, or there's a delay, and it sits there leering at you like some hideous demented mechanical giraffe  whispering softly in your ear Use Me Use Me If You dare. But you can't because it's hissing down. And suddenly it's Friday, a couple of hundred pounds has flown out of the window, and two of the jobs you had planned haven't been done.
    And soon you're driving around noting every single digger sitting there idle in a field or on the roadside and NOBODY'S USING IT. It shouldn't be allowed. Diggers are expensive; they should not be left idle. Or rather those ones that are idle should be loaned to you the second the owner decides to have a day off. It's OK, you'll come and fetch it and bring it back when the owner needs it. Anything but let a digger be idle when you haven't got one.
    And then you do a bit of maths: how many jobs around the site do we need a digger for? And the list gets longer by the week. The children start muttering about dad being on about a digger for Christmas and birthday present all wrapped into one. And then you start noticing things like zero-swing diggers, and that's a 22 tonner, and is that a 2.6 tonne or 2.5 tonne digger? Soon, you know how to tell. The next thing is: JCB or Kubota? Or maybe Volvo? Hmmm. Well Kubota have reliable engines (other companies fit Kubota engines) JCB - well, a bit sloppy round the edges.
    Looking on Tinternet for prices and maybe the odd trip out -just to look, no more you understand. A budget number bubbles up in your spreadsheet against the Heading Plant and Equipment. Suddenly there's 10K more than planned. But, you can re-sell it at the end of the build.  So nett off the cost against the hire cost (minus VAT) and you're in profit (Ha!).
    The digger duly arrives. And suddenly a whole world opens up. Move that Cherry tree, no problem (that wasn't on the list), shove those steels through your son's windows (after he takes them out) no problem; move two tonnes of stone quickly from one place to then other - well not quite no problem, but you aren't sweating. See a problem, turn the key. Dig your SuDS drainage in less time than you thought. Move that newt hibernacular three meters to the right: done. The dozer blade is awesome (I hate that word: but here it's the right word).
    And then there's the maintenance schedule. A Kubota has more nipples than a prize sow. And God can they suck grease. And I'm not the best at changing grease cartridges - when I'd finished I knew what the phrase Grease Monkey meant.
    I will not want to sell it. How on earth am I going to get that past Debbie?
     
  8. ToughButterCup
    Hesitantly, I offer this checklist because the subject matter is often deeply sensitive: there's so much at stake during the meeting and the build up to it may well have been fraught. Indeed, this blog entry is a pen-portrait of a recent Planning Committee Meeting in my area
    All the more need for a rational, carefully structured checklist, therefore.
    This list appeared originally on the ill-fated ebuild site. Each comment was referenced to multiple threads, thus adding greatly to its validity. This list is offered as a help to those who are considering going to Committee to make their case. I am almost sure that -since many of the ebuilders are now here at buildhub- that any questions you may have about this checklist will be answered promptly.
     
    List the facts, assemble the evidence. (Basic procedure for problem solving) Councillors may ask for applications to be called   The process in a nutshell  Scottish Regulations differ to those in England  Dig out the NPPF read it, which paragraphs refer to your case? The value of an accurate drawing  Conservation Area?  Other local decisions  Scale model  Size matters, (footprint) but you need evidence  Micro-politics: architects - planners - county councillors - parish councillors - neighbours; strategy for dealing with each  Is needing to Appeal so bad?  Going to Committe or Going to Appeal  Manage your Planning Consultant  Check the fees situation in relation withdrawn applications  What is a withdrawal?  You may withdraw DURING a meeting Manage your emotions: don't show people how upset you are  What to say and how to say it  If you're worried about that, employ a professional to present for you. Going to Appeal needn't be as bad as it may sound 
  9. ToughButterCup
    I'm sometimes accused of overthinking stuff. And I'm a little weary of it. Here's why.
    Expert status in many areas is thought to develop after about 50,000 hours of practice. And one of the common characteristics of expert status is the reduced need to think about the hard-learned craft or subject. It (irrespective of subject matter) becomes hard wired. 
    Take my digger. Just bought it a few weeks ago and while using it in the first couple of hours I was like a cat on a hot tin roof. My shoulders ached, my jaw was locked, my concentration fierce.
    And then I remembered my flying lessons. 'Think it, and it'll happen, lad' growled the instructor. And when the fear had dropped a bit, I allowed myself to relax and reduce the control inputs. Suddenly I wasn't dancing all over the sky like the proverbial in a pot. On the digger, I reduced the control input and slowly the swing was not so large, not so jerky. Then Ed (Construction Channel) said it would take about 4 hours to get a basic understanding. He was right.
    That was a fortnight or so ago. Now, I couldn't tell you what I do to hook a self-hitch bucket, Now I get annoyed at myself for 'clangy' bucket movements.
    Slowly I have stopped thinking about it. I just feel it. The next step is over-confidence (pilots call it the Death Zone -about 200 hours into their training). Now, I don't think I'm going to die while using a digger, but I'm going to be extra vigilant in a month or two.
    After many hours of practice, experts (it's a well-documented phenomenon) simply don't remember that they had to learn stuff. And sometimes are just a little puzzled by someone who asks apparently naive questions. And then -with kindness and reassurance at the root of their response- reply that the questioner is over-thinking it.
    No, all the questioner is doing is sharing their worry, their lack of expertise, their lack of practice. 
  10. ToughButterCup
    Let me take you with me on my first steps on the road to cynicism in the building sector.
    For some reason (sewage smells?) many people appear to delay attention to the soft and smelly until it’s either too late or until they’ve backed themselves into the smallest room in the house; and then, trousers round their ankles, they allow someone to lock the door from the outside.
    Evidence? Use the search terms refusal and percolation on our LPA website. ‘Refused pending percolation test results’ is all too common.
    Imagine then my incredulity when, on the recommendation of a colleague, a company turns up to do a ‘PERK test (mate)’ for a drainage field on our land.
    Just a bit of context…. we live in sight of what was a clay quarry, within cricket ball throwing distance in fact So, there might just be a bit of clay around 
    “Yeah, that looks fine (mate) you’ll get a drainage field on here no bother” he says without so much as lifting a shovel.
    “Tickety boo ” I say. “Gonna do the percolation test then?”
    “Aye… I’ll get ‘t shovel from ‘t van”
    “Where’s your machine then?” I ask. “No need for one (mate)”
    “I’ll get the tea on then” . Tea duly made…. yer man’s gone
    A square foot of the turf has been gently disturbed in one spot, and carefully replaced.
    An alarm bell sounds in the dim, dark recesses of my brain. And instantly switches off. Time for the pub.
    Friday is International Party Night in our place.
    Monday – Here are verbatim copy and past unedited (anonymised) passages from the written report;
    …I can confrm [sic!] that we have carried out a porosity test to determine the suitability of the sub soil. The percolation results indicate that an excavation area of 23m2 for the sub surface irrigation system is required….
    …Condition of soil: Loam soil to the base of the excavation….
    …Number of excavations: No.3 trail [sic!] pits to a depth of 550mm….
    …Percolation values: Pit 1 – 16 secs/mm.
    Pit 2 – 20 secs/mm.
    Pit 3 – 19 secs/mm.
    Average percolation value: 19 secs/mm….
    (Condition of soil: Loam soil to the base of the excavation.)
    The briefest look at H2 Drainage Fields and drainage mounds page 31 to 33 shows the requirement for hole to be dug to 300mm below the intended invert (para 1.33 page 32). In our case that would be a two meter deep hole at least.
    So, trying to be fair, I suggest to the company that I pay for a properly constituted percolation test.
    Here’s part of the emailed response from the company
    . ..However [our report] would be based on the procedure we carried out [reported in the quotation above] to confirm the first report which we have done 100’s of times and never been questioned by Building Control/Planners once.
    Talking to a different company rep about the matter and he grins disarmingly.  And tells the story of a completely built house without access to either off mains drainage or a sewer. Off-mains drainage can be a show-stopper, not a lot of people know that.
    If like me you aren’t a builder, there’s no substitute for reading and reading and reading.
  11. ToughButterCup
    This article is interesting enough to read in full, but we’ve not got the time….so here’s a copy of it’s own summary (unedited and in its original format)
    How do workers, their material, equipment and workplace relate to construction accidents?
    · Problems arising from workers or the work team, especially worker actions or behaviour
    and worker capabilities, were judged to have contributed to over two thirds (70%) of the
    accidents. This points to inadequate supervision, education and training.
    · Poor communication within work teams contributed to some accidents, due to the physical
    distance between work colleagues or high levels of background noise.
    · In many cases, the accident occurred when those involved were not actually performing a
    construction task, but moving around site, for example.
    · Workplace factors, most notably poor housekeeping and problems with the site layout and
    space availability, were considered to have contributed in half (49%) of the accident studies.
    Standards of housekeeping and workplace layout with respect to safety are low in
    construction when compared with other industrial sectors.
    Despite poor weather often being cited as one of the reasons for construction having a poor safety record, this research found little evidence in support of this.
    · Shortcomings with equipment, including PPE, were identified in over half (56%) of the incidents. Poor equipment design and inappropriate use of equipment for the task were prominent aspects of this.
    Designers, suppliers and purchasers of equipment appear to give insufficient attention to the safety of users.
    · Deficiencies with the suitability and condition of materials, including packaging, featured in more than a quarter (27%) of incidents. The operation of the supply/purchase chain at present appears to act as a barrier to innovation as far as safety is concerned.
    · Originating influences, especially inadequacies with risk management, were considered to have been present in almost all (94%) of the accidents.
    · Frequently, no risk assessment had been undertaken covering the circumstances involved in the accident. Where a risk assessment had been carried out, it was often found to be superficial and unlikely to have prevented the accident.
    · It appears that PPE is relied upon habitually as a substitute for risk elimination or reduction at source.
    · It was judged that up to half of the 100 accidents could have been mitigated through a design change and it was found that, despite CDM, many designers are still failing to address the safety implications of their designs and specifications.
    Reference
    Loughborough University and UMIST (2003) Research Report 156 : Causal factors in construction accidents cited in Recent Construction Specific Research (2015) http://www.hse.gov.u…es/research.htm(downloaded February 2015)
  12. ToughButterCup
    We were awarded Full Planning Permission in October 2015. The point of this blog entry is to describe the process of obtaining that permission in some detail. Bits of the process were painful. I describe the lessons I think I learned.
    We were awarded Outline Planning Permission some time ago. (October 2014). And that was the moment I bumbled into (the now sadly defunct) ebuild.co.uk. That was a key event.
    We live in what is a variously described as a ‘…charming hamlet…’ or ‘… a beautiful little corner of Lancashire…’ dating back to the 1600s at least. The road past our door was once the principal route up and down the west coast of the Pennines (so I’m told; I have no evidence to substantiate that). The A6 runs past our house 100 meters away and the M6 is a further 200 meters East of us
    All the cottages in our row look exactly like one another: chocolate box stuff. Why there are even Great Crested Newts in the ponds. 
    In our research into the processes of house design, we thought little beyond reproducing what we already could see. Pretty little houses.  But then, we bumped into the idea of passivhaus. What was this passivhaus (passive house) stuff? How much could we save by designing properly? What… that much? Getting online and networking with a group of people who had done it all before (many of them) or were going through the process themselves was an essential element in providing the much needed support. And then, as I continued to lurk in the network of online self builders, I realsised that  self-build groups were allowing me to think, more than that… helping me think
    Some would argue that a poor bank balance is a problem. A poor pension something worse. But when harnessed to a bit of drive and ambition, lack of money is a useful filter. It makes us (Debbie and I) more determined.
    Next step; appoint an architect. Here we needed a bit of luck: but I put in the hours and found one. A keen young man – reminiscent of a young doctor, able to listen, understand my wife (essential) , and sharp as a tack. Passivhaus? Bring it on. Cost? Hmm well, lets suck it and see.
    Wart Number 1.
    We didn’t explain our evolving taste in house design with the hamlet well enough. We tried, but you can natter to folk, or neighbours all you like. They don’t listen mostly.  We talked and talked about passivhaus. Mostly, we bored people.

    Design duly submitted to the LPA: good feedback from the Planner bit of fiddling here, some nudges there, done, dusted.
    Waiting for the decision was a nasty experience, especially in relation to what happened while we waited. Read on.
    Wart Number 2
    The Parish Meeting to discuss our Planning Application wasn’t very nice at all.
    There was some shockingly rude behaviour, some way off-limits commentary, and an obvious lack of preparation on the part of many contributors. Summarising;
    we should build our house on the edge of the single lane road – like the rest
    we should not encourage more traffic on our little lane (despite outline permission to build)
    one person was rude enough to say she didn't believe we  were  planning two bedrooms because there was space for five cars to park
    we should not build in wood: it should be stone – like all the rest
    the wood cladding we proposed wouldn’t weather in exactly the same way as all the other wooden structures round here
    we should make the house look like all the others
    we shouldn’t build because of the newts
    we would overload the local off-mains drainage; “Ah’m not ‘appy wi ‘it”
    why did we plan for a dining room with eight table settings but have only two bedrooms?
    “Yer mekin’ this application ter ‘mek munney, ‘ats top ‘n bottum on it”
    the house would spoil one person’s walk down our lane
    I’ve written about the delay in communicating the decision to us. And that issue still needs to be dealt with. It seems to me that this is wart three.
    Wart Number three
    In a publicly accountable body, it is indefensible to set a decision deadline and then, without explanation, fail to keep it
    It brings the system into disrepute and de-professionalises the Planning process. Many of us in this discussion group would be severely criticised in our professional lives were we to behave in the same apparently unaccountable way.
    By way of counterbalance the Delegated report comprehensively unpicked each of the points put forward (read paragraph 9)
    Wart Number Four
    Should have read More.
    And that’s, for someone with my background, is really annoying.
  13. ToughButterCup
    We met under a hundred pinpricks of light, and two snarling lions rampant. It seemed to me that we were going to need the shield against which they were leaning.  The beasts looked angry, angry at the nervous jollity, the back-slapping, the power dresses and forced open-neck shirt paired with mohair suit. When one Councillor cracked a joke the lions retained their severity. And so they should, because this committee is a money factory. Fortunes are made and lost here. Dreams come true, dreams are shattered right here in this room.
    So many tight jaws, so much emotion, so much riding on what was to be decided.
    Tap-dancing on the head of a pin ‘What does Sustainability mean?’
    Well, it used to be this and now it’s that, and that’s not fair, that’s not relevant, yes it is, no it isn’t.
    School playground experience is vital here. Only difference? Money. The squabbling’s serious stuff now, salaries, livelihoods, dreams, effort, emotional attachment, sales, income. And the playground is where those wheedling skills are first learned, and then honed.
    ‘….Aware of the problem, but not aware of the depth of feeling in the community…’  says the applicant. Titters. Another tap on the head of the pin. And the weasel agent, playground ex-offender, seen it all before, watching, sniffing, weighing it all up. The reactions, votes, smiles of the Councillors noted, saved, filed away for the next time the money factory is in session. Embarrassingly inarticulate Councillors, silent Councillors, somnolent Councillors, chirpy, pushy Councillors all clear that a Planning Premium is in the wind.
    More money, more emotion, more tap dancing on a pin head.

    (image used with the permission of the artist: you can find more of his work here)
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