Thorfun

I think the latest version also uses his own passive house build as an example house doesn't it? for the £20 it costs it's a great starting point for any self-builder and well worth the money. plus I met him at a SB&R show a few years back and he seemed a really nice guy. happy to help out and answer questions.

Pick up a copy of the house builders bible. Should give you a good understanding of what’s required. (other books are available)

this surprises me. as I work through the lighting design we're using a few table lamps/floor lamps to add ambient lighting. I'm thinking about using 5A outlets wired back to our home automation system (looking like Loxone at the moment) so that they can be controlled automatically as we enter the room. I'm surprised you didn't go this route especially when you already have the Loxone system in place.

yeah, sorry. didn't mean extra checks, that was the wrong wording. I mean the same checks done twice! the AI recommended by our architects has ties with a warranty provider where he'll do the warranty and BCS checks for the same fee. it seems that other warranty providers seem to offer the same thing.

yeah, I get that. but if the warranty checks are no different or more comprehensive than standard BC checks then it's just a waste of money to pay for extra checks. I guess that's the benefit of using the same person for BCS and Warranty.

then it gives more credence to the following statement from @joe90 I completely agree with Joe here as well. struggling to justify the need for the warranty but it seems like I'll have to get one just in case we need to mortgage or sell. very frustrating and wasteful of funds that could be used elsewhere.

are the visits by the warranty building inspector more comprehensive then?

thanks for the tip! just checked my roof truss plans and the loft hatches have been accommodated, but I hadn't previously checked so is a great tip.

Great! Let’s us know how it goes. we got 9 quotes in total I think it was. And then whittled them down.

good luck. might be worth getting a solicitor involved sooner rather than later if it's definitely something you want to pursue. one upside to our frustration with the barn is that we found a better plot within 1 month of the barn falling through! and now we're almost finished the structural engineers plans and are hoping to break ground in a couple of months. ?

if you want a turnkey solution then Scandia and Oakwrights would probably suit, but if you want to project manage then they'd be incredibly expensive to get you to a watertight stage when compared to other companies as those other companies will do that much cheaper. ultimately, you want someone to build you a timber frame and put windows in and a roof on. by doing some of the project management yourself or just getting to watertight stage then you'll be losing the benefits of a turnkey company. that's just my 2 cents btw and you need to do what you're comfortable with.

@A_L what software is that? I've been using https://www.changeplan.co.uk/u_value_calculator.php which seems to work but the software you're using looks very interesting

welcome. I can't help with the builders quotes question sorry as we've decided to project manage our build ourselves and so will be getting subbies in to do the work. but, I just wanted to pass on our experience on a barn/plot we found that had confusion about access. to cut a long story short it cost us nearly 2 years of our lives and ended up with us having to walk away as the owners of the land that access was required over weren't playing ball and wanted stupid amounts of money for that access. (you can read the story in our blog on this site if you wish). so, my advice is make sure that all the access is in place before hand! and definitely before you even get close to spending lots and lots of money on other things. I wish you all the best with your journey.

but that doesn't mean the other manufacturers are any better of course! it's definitely food for thought as I was planning to use some PIR in our wall make up.

just briefly read up on this and it doesn't seem that PIR was at fault and I presume your statement comes from the fact that Celotex and Kingspan knew about the issues with the PE and so should be avoided as they obviously have no morales at all.? in that case, other PIR manufacturers are available, right?

I got a quote from them and they were very expensive. the most expensive of the 4 quotes I received by far. I'm sure they'd do a great job but at that price I couldn't justify it.

exactly, it keeps things flexible if we have those quotes upfront and we can decide how far to go with it. tempted to leave it at first fix stage though but we will see. maybe I'll win the lottery.

as yet undecided. thinking about just running some pipes just in case as the cost should be minimal if I can do it myself. then if we find we need heating it can be plumbed in. the same with the first floor. I'd rather lay it and not need it than not lay it and need it! but the basement will be the last thing we fit out and that may not occur for a few years until we can get the funds to do so. during that time we can see how we get on with the temperature down there. our plans are very fluid at the moment!

thanks for the great advice as usual @Bitpipe. our SE is TSD and they've designed the insulated slab using the Kore system. I'm not sure what the loads are but at some places they're so high that we've got to add Foamglas instead of the EPS to deal with those loads. As such I trust that they've done their calculations correct when specifying the EPS300. I'm not sure why the land drain is specified so high I just assumed it should be but you make a valid case and I will question this one and ask why it's not at the base of the slab level. I wonder if it's due to the basement having to tie in with the 'arms' of our building and so the land drain is dealing with the water from those insulated slabs as well? I will ask the question though thanks.

our SE plans show stone backfill... looks expensive but we really don't want it to settle so will bite the bullet and pay what it takes.

I have another question about using manifolds. does using them preclude the need for a hot return circuit or can you use an HRC with a manifold setup? and if the later, is it recommended to use the HRC with the manifold setup or not?

yeah I know. was just being facetious. sorry. it is definitely a possible consideration once I've weighed everything up.

errr....didn't you just say.... ?

I have considered it to be fair. buy myself a 12-ton digger and figure it all out as I go along. but then I'd end up building the house for myself as the wife would probably leave me coz the house will never get finished.

for me the ICF quotes were stupid money (had 2 from Nudura installers) for the basement. I'll be getting quotes from ground workers doing in-situ RC to compare and if those come in at the same price as the ICF then I'll be knocking the basement on the head as we wouldn't be able to afford it. I'm hoping the in-situ will be cheaper as I'd really love the basement! only time will tell....