ToughButterCup

This checklist is intended as a starting point for your own thinking. It isn't definitive, it is intended as a guide. There's a downloadable pdf (a link at the bottom of this list) version which I'll update in the light of comment. Comment and discussion make this list more useful: please add to it, and make suggestions or offer constructive criticism. Is an architect appropriate at this stage of your project? Will a Planning Consultant do? Do you have to brief an architect? Will an Architectural Technician do? Consider doing some of the designing yourself or perhaps a CAD Technician Is an architect working for a house manufacturer appropriate for your build? Research suitable architects: websites, relevant journals Make a long-list of possible companies Check each architects credentials here Is the architect bankrupt? Check the architects Indemnity Insurance Make initial contact; listen Ask for examples of existing work; visit / drive by Company brochure Work up a brief. Consider budget and don’t forget VAT Will the architect of choice actually do the work? Does ecology come into the mix somewhere? Time scales. Refine your brief, and write up. One side of A5. Send it to the architect in advance of your meeting List the questions you want to ask, and refer to the list during the meeting Meeting: has the architect read the brief? Does the architect listen? Is the architect merely an “Educated Artist”? What does the architect think of as the scope of his / her work? Clarity about Extras and Incidentals Does the chemistry work? Ask for references. Visit / ring/ talk to them Decide Checklist Briefing an Architect.pdf

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.

Finally, 'click'. I might now be able to explain this issue to someone else now.... a proper test of understanding. I'll start with my architect : a 'thermal mass' sinner.

Life saver Ed........... thanks . Ian I found a set of links to timber sizes and two listed their prices, so I add them below with no thought to their order. I do so because our local timber yards are too lazy to put their prices online. They just want you to turn up. Which is a polite way of saying waste-your-time http://www.woodyalan.co.uk/timberpriceseb.htm http://www.wickes.co.uk/Shop/Timber/icat/timber

Thank you, very much indeed. I was going round and round this particular desert without getting anywhere. You've saved me from wasting even more time. PS, the link to the document above is dead, so here is the correct link ( correct as at May 2016)

I've seen German living rooms with a massive flat-screen TV showing a roaring fire on a continuous loop. Talk about naff.

Thanks for this. I will link to this from my own blog. People choose the wrong terminology all the time. And sometimes it causes confusion. But mostly, it doesn't, especially when -as most of us do- we go for a 'percentage' of what someone means. I think when people use the mis-applied term thermal mass , they might mean - it-keeps-its-warmth. If you wanted to tell someone that your house holds on to its warmth well (or conversely stays warm for ages when it's freezing outside) which term would you use?

Fond memories of Skye. Frostbite, mist, midges, sunburn, fell-running, blisters and earth-shatteringly beautiful views. Wind tight, now that'll be something up there......

Hello again. It's thanks to you and your efforts that I'm tracking my expenditure.... you sent me that really detailed spreadsheet a year or more ago, didn't you? I'm really very grateful for that kindness. It's a big help. Ok, so I've adapted it, made a good few mistakes, ruined a few formulae, but hey, you've taught me a good bit about Excel After all that, it'd better have come from you......

I do so wish there were a more elegant way of doing this task. In theory, we should be able to suck it up straight into a database and.... and.... but.

Excellent. Looking forward to it.

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