SuperJohnG

Welcome @NickK. I am basically you but at the end of that 3 years period. In good news...I've just completed purchase of my 4 acre plot and should break ground late this year and your wife come round..mine is now very excited and cant see how we would ever do anything but build. Good luck...keep at it and it will eventually happen.

If it is a raft I would definitely be considering an insualted raft. It removes so many labour steps associated with all other foundation types to achieve the same U value. If you are planning on UFH you'll need to achieve U value of 1.0 or less (thereabouts..I cant remeber the right figure off the top of my head) to comply with building regs from memory. Someone will be along shortly with the correct figure.

@LA3222 looks great thanks for sharing. Been patiently waiting to see your progress over the last few weeks as tou know im I'm aiming to do the same as you with SIPS and insualted raft. Looks like it's going great! Amazing how big it looks now with the kit up! Are those L shaped skylights? I've a stack of them at the rear of mine.. interesting to see how the manufacturer has built them out. Well done so far back congrats!

@Russell griffiths makes sense. If it were me I'd hire one to get it done quicker for less hassle. Looking forward to seeing pics @LA3222 of the progress.

@Carrerahill did you ever post anything on this or pictures? Very interested to see as I'm just looking at very early stages of planning lighting design for my vaulted kitchen/open plan area

Look up Econekt in Glasgow. I have not used them, but have talked to them and they do ICF with the Izodom system.

It is a hotly debated topic on what is and is not included in the magic /m^2 price. Unfortunately you will not find a reasonable resolution to it., some people include plot, services etc. when others don't My advice is to read read read on here and you will find some answers and get a better feeling for it. However to give you an idea, I have excluded plot costs, utilities and all professional fees, architect etc. My budgeted build costs projection is basically to go from bare plot to a fully finished house ready to move in (building only , not including landscaping or acess). I'm south of Glasgow, aiming at 1200/m^2. I will be a mid-high quality standard build. Supply and erect from a kit company and then project manage myself with local subcontractors and do a good portion of some work myself such as all the plumbing, help with first fix electrics (possibly do my own insulted raft). That's my budget plus I have 10% contingency allowed on top. If i don't build for that then something has went wrong. Complexity (house shape) and finish standard and build route play a large part. If you can do lots of work yourself, then cost comes down. The housebuilders bible is a good book to read, (edition 13 out now). One thing to note that everything is linked to the 'triangle' TIME / QUALITY / COST. You can have any two of the three but not all. E.g I can be cheap and high quality, but its going to take a long time. or It can be High quality and done quick its going to be expensive. If you are in Scotland I would say the figure sin the homebuilding and renovating self build cost calculator work well for a starting point (Google it). But you can be anywhere from 1000/m^2 (Lots of your own time and effort) up to 2200/m^2 (main contractor full build). Enjoy learning.

Welcome @James HS lots of good information to be found here. I'd agree with Dave. 4 months is unlikely, and even if it does happen it's likely to be a very rushed purchase where you have not had time to do the background work and due diligence on the plot and full coatings. Take.you time and do your homework early at this stage especially if you are ona tight budget, mistakes can be costly and hard to come back from. I recently completed purchase of 4 acres south of Glasgow, from initial discussion to completion was 6 months. Also just to give you an idea I was 18k for power and I need a borehole for water ata cost of anywhere from 12-25k. Both of these things I did my homework on before completing purchase and knowingly entered into the purchase which was fine however if you buy a plot and find that out later it will hurt. Aim to move up, in the 4 months, and rent locally before purchasing that way it will give you time to adjust and ensure you like the area. The rental market should be fairly low up that region in the next 4 months due to oil and gas prices so you may get a deal! Good luck

Very strange. As a guess it is most likely form the ball valve.. possibly the half of the 'ball' part that creates the seal in the ball valve. My guess is it has split in two and come away. I would have normally thought it was metal though.

It's a bit of a silly rule. Most common houses have single car driveways where thats not possible. It's like Aberdeen, you have to reverse park in all offshore sector car parks otherwise you get your knuckles wrapped by the QHSE guys...someone made the rule up and suggests its safer and everyone has agreed without question. But in reality it's the same risk in my opinion

@ProDaveWell I'll rephrase... I dont the know exact cost per kWh and standing charge, off the top of my head. However when I switch every year I do a detailed analysis and ensure I'm getting a decent deal. Plus I have a smart meter so I track daily usage and also I monitor the direct debit. Hopefully that makes it clearer. So no it has put me in control and feeds me all the information I need.

@SteamyTea @ProDave you've made an assumption which is wrong there. I look at the bill every single day in the smart meter to track usage. I also know I have the best deal I can get through uswitch. Still not getting the reason for assuming its negative.

My 2p..... I held off for a SMETS2. Very happy I dont do meter readings anymore...no idea of the tariff but uswitch said it was great. Dont be too paranoid about things we don't know about. I've never read anything negative about smart meters really (apart from SMETS1 not being able to change suppliers) until I read this thread. As far as I was aware...it in a bid for is to reduce energy usage and stop paying estimated Bill's..

With an insulated foundation you are completely isolated from the ground as the insulation sits on the sand blinding then is filled with concrete to completely eliminate any cold bridges. Then will then form your floor which you can then fit your flooring to. The further added benefit is that you can install the UFH in the insualted raft and avoid the multiple steps required with a standard type raft foundation. With the standard raft you have mentioned you will fit insulation on top but the walls will still be cold bridging to the ground.

@LA3222 recently completed his insulated raft foundation. Took him 6 weeks to complete, though he reckons it could have been done in 3 had he done some things differently with the benefit of hindsight and if the weather was better. Do a search of his posts to learn more. I'd also recommend, as others have, you go the extra step and make it an insulated foundation.

I would have said Ideal were very good. I have an old ideal combi in our flat and it has worked very well since we have had it (13 years) it might be 20 odd years old. Plus all the new ideal logic boilers come with 10 year warranty.

I had met the guys from ADM at a seminar day I went to. Nice and helpful but well of on the price when compared with BPC That's it!

I dont know if thata a good link, its on an insurance companies website. This is a point I have been looking at lately. I dont really have the answer yet but PI insurance will be in place even of the company goes bust for a certain time period.

BPC ventilation would be up there as a trusted and very competitively priced supplier. There is another but for the life if me I cant remeber right now...something like CVS or something like that...

As @AnonymousBosch says. Quick search will get you what you need. But to set you in the right direction...wunda seem to be the go to for wet UFH with good experiences from number of users. As @wozza says...check what boiler you need and then decide what YOU want. It might be the same as your plumber says. I research things to do death before making a purchase...so knowing I'm always getting thr best for my money.

My dad fancied that years ago. But just seemed a little mental to me. I had planned to put in wells for mats.

@Russdl that's great info, very helpful.

@nod any reason you wouldn't have hard flooring throughout? We have a second lounge which we might consider a carpet for but a big rug might just be fine.

Thanks @Russdl. Good to know I'm going the right direction figuring it out just now. One thing I was concerned about was how low I can get thresholds from the door suppliers, some only seem to go to 15mm from floor level,which wouldn't be ideal with amtico as there would still be a step. Did you have to set your thresholds into the raft? Is that even possible?

@Temp that's interesting thanks. We had assumed it would just not last the distance and I didnt fancy treating it or refinishing it every few years. @nodThanks I think that's the reason the LVT is giving me concern is being unable to change in case we didnt like it. I have ordered some samples and planning in doing my current porch and WC in LVT and living with it for 6 months to ensure we like it.