ToughButterCup

It's perfectly normal for customers to request samples from producers for consideration by planners. I have never been charged for any, and would be amazed if you were. It's a well-understood process.

@nod, call yerself a Northerner? Living south of J33 . Phhhhhhhh. Southern Softie(s) I say

Zer iz nussing vrong viz ze Bosch. Ja!

Notice the canny Planning Permission Free house on wheels..... Nice one

Just one sentence each (from @PeterW and @Calvinmiddle) plus a casual remark from our SE saved £13,500.

Amen to that. The trouble is (well it is for me) the assumption that due diligence is enough to filter contractors with a poor record. In my case, it did. But it couldn't filter for poor management of staff during the build. Couple that with the pressure we all feel to get the job done (code for reduce-the-stress-of-the-build-process) and you have a significant brake on that reinstatement process. Where do you draw the line? 2mm out of plumb? 6mm over 3 vertical meters? C25 not 35? How does a domestic client know the difference? Who out of all of us has done a slump test on delivery BEFORE pouring? Bird's mouth beautifully seated on the wall plate, or one which would accept a 50p piece? Well, not to worry, it'll settle. @nod knows his stuff. I don't. And every trades person knows he knows his stuff. (But, he tells me that occasionally they still try it on - quite a relief that , in a masochistic sort of way) And they know I don't know my stuff. Buildhub is the mainstay for me in bridging the gap between complete naivety and a fighting chance of getting work done to a reasonable standard.

Look at @Construction Channel 's in his videos. He could hold a party in his, and have space enough left over for his drone to fly over the party goers.

Focus on minute detail. Be flexible. Be determined. What you have above is a serving suggestion. At this stage there's all sorts of hidden crap in those figures. At every level people take the p1ss out of self builders. That added to huge (often self imposed) pressure to ' finish ' makes price inelastic. Until you tell people to their face that their price is unacceptable. And in the current building boom...... Aim for £1500 per square meter as a fair price. All you can do is network like mad. It eats time like nothing else I know and is stressful, and draining.

Scaffold poles, scaffold planks, left over ply.

It'll start gently. I won't notice it. Then, she'll then plant an idea of how the storage area (notice it'll have changed from work room to storage room) might be used - that will be reflected back to her as my idea about two weeks later. Then, provided she doesn't ask me to organise the storage myself, she'll just ' drop some stuff off ' And BAM, that's it. She doesn't need to try hard. She just tries smart. It's a real art.

Boys, the 11mm is what I have most of, concrete spats all over the place, 12 mm holes where the threaded bar went through. Need to get the corners sorted (tomorrows job: shutter and pour) and then board out the roof on Friday. Felt and batten on Saturday. Tea and medals Sunday.

Click. A's a temporary measure, cover the lot with some 11mm OSB. Just so I can get in-out-of-the-rain, batten some polythene sheeting over it. That gives me a work room. Build / buy / steal two temporary doors. Fit them and put a whacking great padlock on each. Somehow keep Debbie from booking too much space: Any ideas how to keep a partner out of your workshed? Legal, decent ways? Heaven.

Oh God, how right you are. Five 'chippies' talked to so far. Not one NOT ONE has ever done a birds mouth. They think a vaulted ceiling is a truss mounted on a wallplate. Never done a traditional ceiling. There's a real skills shortage. And the more I network, the more I ask, the more I become convinced that self building is mainly about finding people with the right skills; or being prepared to make your own mistakes rather than pay others to make them for you. (Thank @nod for that little phrase)

SPONS does not refer to Norn Iron anywhere. Must be a policy issue,

@Dee I use SPONS a good deal to research prices... and as a reality check. It's also very illuminating on a whole host of other issues. They use a price constant and calculate regional prices from that. I think I'm right in saying they use Outer London as the base measure and apply various multipliers according to local ( whatever that means) variation. Hence Lancaster is 0.92, Devon 0.95. There will be higher variations in your (or any other) locality. The local estate agent will be of more help Outer London (Spon’s 2016) 1.00 Inner London 1.06 South East 1.04 South West 0.95 East of England 0.95 East Midlands 0.90 West Midlands 0.88 Northern 0.94 North West 0.92 Yorkshire and Humberside 0.91 Wales 0.95 Scotland SPONS 2016. Building Costs Indices, Tender Price Indices and Location Factors. (p.39) licensed online access 02/11/2017

BH helps me think. And if that process is exposed, then it is helpful to others... Reduces the need for overthinking. Experts like you often don't know how much they know, and if they do, they cant explain it well. Hence this

You are right to ask. It's a marginal call. I am still smarting from having to buy £300 worth of stock to make good the shockingly poor work done by one person. I have a portable table saw, the wood is sitting there on the stillage. All the wood in the photo on the replacement roof is recycled. And I know that as soon as I cut up a chunk of my recycled stock , I'll have 6 other jobs for it. But I will feel like I have 'got one back' on the little sod . Yes, I can be petty when the occasion arises. Does me good sometimes.

But, but , I thought I wasn't allowed to .... I thought they chopped fingers off if you use it..... Verboten in fact.

This piggery is not subject to B Regs..... It's my learning zone. And some sharp lessons learned recently.; like making sure wall ties are fastened to the wall plate from the top first

Hadn't thought as far ahead as waltzing around on the battens in order to lay them.... but the question was What do I need to do to treat (preserve) the battens. Will simple fence post stuff do, or do I need something stronger? I wish Creosote was still legal. I love(d) the smell

I'd like to make the battens for this roof. I have lots (60 linear meters ) of 4 by 3 and a load of 4 by 2. Most of it is reasonably straight. It's treated. I have a circular saw. You can see where this is going can't you? I'm doing my very best to reduce the additional costs of having to shutter my Durisol blocks during the last two pours by re-using the stock that was needed to build the shuttering. What should I treat the newly cut battens with?

I made this bit of roof out of bits of timber that were lying around on site - the ridge was in an old shed we had to knock down to make way for the house...so it's at least 30 years old. Wall straps put in yesterday Pleased I thought to make a space for a soffit so that I can disguise the banana shaped front wall So, it's a few hours on YT -again- so I can work out the batten positions. I think I have enough spare discarded 4 by 2 to cut up and make my own battens. Anyone got a link to decent online roofing (as in DIY your own roof)? Ian

Hmm... Shouldn't be too hard, the roof is a small, simple one - for the piggery. Pics to follow.

Well @Barney12, You have inspired me. I'll have a go at mine then... Did you do your own calculations for the batten positions?

Broadly similar list of jobs / volunteering for me. Plus everyone thinks they have a right to wear a few hundred miles off the clutch on my Land Rover anytime someone breaks down, or gets stuck on a field. Mind you I wish that a ... and that they might bring me tea and cakes and jam and slices of delicious ham and chocolate with pink inside (Apologies to Belloc) But then again, maybe not.