stephen margerison

Take a walk down to your concrete supplier, in your scruffs, and speak to them, ask if they know any good reliable concrete lads. same with plumbers, brickies joiners ect works most times as they only recommend good lads ! keep going and think outside the box.

Don't want to put a spanner in the works, but does your council charge CIL ?? if so, STOP all work until you have filled in the CIL forms correctly, getting it wrong can be VERY painful. love your wall !

Once you have a square footage and design, its easy to send that drawing to a SIPS frame manufacturer, they can quote from that, should you decide to go forward, the SIPS people would do all the calculations and drawings, so no need for the architect to be "charging" for that service, the council also made me get a drainage expert in re SUDS, he drew all drainage plans in his report to the council, sewerage, and top water, also invert levels, so again no need for architect to do, as you are only paying twice ! regards, Stephen

Sorry but you have missed a massive possible problem, the planning dept ! don't waste money, ideas are good , but plot comes first. the planners altered my plans 14 times, I was so frustrated, I could easily said you design the so and so house ! regards, Stephen

Hi and good morning, do you get on with the architect? do you feel you can work with him, if not, now is the time to have it out with him. I had a problem with my architect, in that he kept the drawings / measurements to a minimum, and the bills include time to study , an aerial survey with a drone, (2 men ) totally bl dy usless ! it only served to "keep the bill up. moving your house should not be a big problem, but dealing with the planners can get costly if left to an Architect, I have to say I lost faith in mine !! when you get a drawing of roughly what you want, go and speak to the planners yourself. I also had problems with the architect "recommending " his friends, ie consultant, bat surveyor, contamination man, ect ect. I felt they were in a click !! together. can you find an architectural technician ? as you don't need an architects certificate, you can get insurance / building inspection from people like "build it" I used Meridien consulting in the midlands, they were brill ! regards, Stephen

If you are doing a complete refurb I would seriously look at insulating the walls, if you have no damp walls, you can fix the insulation directly to the wall, if its a bit damp use recycled plastic battons, so no damp transfer. underfloor heating is a very low heat, so you need to keep in all heat possible . without insulating the walls I believe you may well find you still have a cold house. sorry ! look up AA insulation Pontypridd they sell "seconds", I have bought from them, and only fault is a small crease down the insulation, so nothing !! get it with foil on both sides. regards, Stephen

Cant say I am sure about that, however if you rent it out, the barn is "in use", so you could win that one regards, Stephen

I am also concerned that one talks about "converting" a building to a garage or storage area, this would constitute making a material start and trigger CIL !! Stephen

yes that's correct, however my council want proof, which I cannot supply, as the "barn area" was used by a couple of doggy guys who were dismantling cars, and did not pay rates. so I cannot claim any allowance against existing buildings. regards, Stephen

Interesting, sounds like you have a site for more than 1 house, (like me) my council charges £85 per sq mtr for CIL times 1.85% for next years inflation. total for 4 houses is £94,000 my personal house is circa £30,000 cil . This I can get exempted. However the council have informed me that a "charge" will be put against the land until the whole of the outstanding CIL has been paid . Also ANY start on ANY part of the site means cil becomes liable, so I cannot start my own house, until I resolve the cil problem, ( I have put the other 3 plots up for sale as self build plots) This is a subject that is NOT to be ignored !! councils are trying every trick to catch builders out and make you PAY so be very careful !! ps if the council put a charge on the land, you cannot raise money, as a lender would have no collateral !! regards, Stephen

To claim CIL excemption on a building, my council want proof that it has been habitable,/ used, and that within the last 6 months rates have been paid !! be very careful with CIL, councils are using every trick in the book to charge you !! if your plot/building is part of one planning application, then you may find that ANY start ( water, drains roads demolition) on ANY part of the site would constitute you making a material start, and you would be charged CIL I have gone back to planning for an amendment, to split the application, in order to demolish a dangerous building on one part of the site. DO your homework BEFORE you fill in the CIL forms, or you could get BADLY caught out !! my council also put a charge on the whole site, until the cil has been paid, meaning you could be liable for someone elses CIL DO NOT START ANY WORK until you are fully aware of the CIL problem. regards, Stephen

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't trust your planning consultant, go online to your local council, /cil, ring your local council, get it in WRITING that no CIL is due !!!! even IF it is due, 1 self build would be excempt, however there are plenty of horror stories, re if you don't fill in the correct forms, at the correct TIME, you can be charged CIL CIL has been adopted by some authorities, but not by some. In my area, it is charged at £85 per sq meter, times 1.85% for NEXT years inflation rate. This equates to circa £25,000 in my case. I notice on line that in your area Persimmon homes had put an objection into the council, because they where being charged CIL for inhabitable rooms. (garages) I also have had the double garage included in my CIL liability. secondly, my council, if CIL is charged, the council take a charge on the land, !!! so you would have difficulty raising funds(mortgage), as a lender wants first charge. So, send a letter to your council, ask the question, get it in writing, before you make ANY start !!!!! its not worth the risk of getting it wrong. and for all readers, if you buy a plot for 2-3 houses, (1 for your self, they can and will charge you for the non self build plots) in my case, £94,000 !!!! for 4 houses, and I only wanted 1 GRRRRR good luck but DONT get it wrong, regards, Stephen

normally sand is put in foundations, so as to level off the "slab" then the damp proofing goes in, so ordinary building sand is normally used, as you don't want ANY perforations in the DPM if in doubt, ask your building inspector, they are usually very helpful.

why don't you go onto the local planning on line, and find out who the architect is, then contact them and ask the question, maybe they used a planning consultant, also check on their applicaton to see what conditions have been applied.

Good evening, I am also looking at battery storage, but find Tesla very expensive, there are others creeping in. My next door neighbour has bought a forklift battery pack, and had that installed, it does work fine. please keep in touch, stephen2margerison@gmail.com regards stephen