oldcoop

Yes - exactly that

Thanks. Good tip. Interesting about Scotland being different. We are in England

Good call. Can’t quite decide if u want them closed or not. We do have a five year old so probably safer to have. But I am keen to keep them as clean looking as possible so I guess acrylic or glass would best achieve that

That would help wouldn’t it! Need to delete some stuff of my phone so I can take pictures... tonights’s job sorted!

I wondered about this too. not sure if there are rules on this - like would it have to be toughened glass or something instead of acrylic - does anyone know?

Hello! Our staircase is nearly in... I was so focus on head height and tread depth etc that I missed the building regs bit on max 100mm gap, which is an issue as we have open risers, which of course are about twice that. the stairs are powder coated metal frame with oak treads and side-fixed glass balustrades (toughened and laminated). So quite minimalist. I have seen a couple of possible solutions - sort of half risers attached to the underside of the tread, or a metal bar across the middle. Has anyone seen seen any other creative fixes? I’m keen to keep as much light as possible coming through as the stairs are right by a window. Thanks!

Probably a daft question... but any tips on what building inspectors look out for on their last visit? We had full plans approval at the start so previous visits have been quite low key. They advised on fire escape windows (windows in the two existing bedrooms are low to be ground so Regs simultaneously want low opening for escape and high opening to prevent falls...) But now we are nearing the end I guess there will be things that were not on the plans, like staircase, fire escape windows and balustrades (we have a sort of mezzanine landing upstairs). Any tips would be great so I can try to keep issues to a minimum! Really want to get back in ASAP and stop paying rent!

Yep. That’s what we used to have. But dust sits on top of the skirting, which I hate with a passion!

Tru. Luckily we have allow no doors!

Ohh. That’s a good idea. Thanks

Long shot... but is it possible to retrofit flush skirting?? I am not worried about a shadow gap but just don’t want skirting sticking out proud from the wall. We originally specified flush skirting but had some issues which meant that much of the House is now using insulated plasterboard (ie celotex bonded onto plasterboatd). So builder did not stop plaster at skirting level or use trims to achieve a shadow gap, since it wasn’t possible. My plan was to score the plasterboard and remove from the insulation behind and then attach skirting so it is flush. But builder is dead against. i guess my options are: - cut plasterboard as planned and get him to plaster and work out how to attach skirting to insulation later - let him carry on and plaster down to the bottom of the wall and later work out how to cut plastered plasterboard off and retrofit skirting - give up and maybe fit an aluminium skirting or similar so it is as low profile as possible. Also, is a trim necessary if I am not worried about a shadow gap? Very grateful for any views!

We took the plung and mentioned to buildloan - they were not phased and agreed to add an extra stage payment to give us half of the withheld 10% - really great result that keeps us in the Black! Their admin is pretty ropey so we’ll have to keep on top of them but the gamble paid off!! Thanks for all your comments. The 0% credit card is continuing to come in useful for kitchen and several other bits.

Yes - exactly what we have been thinking. Have got a card that is 0% for 30 months, which will be great to allow me to split the cost of the kitchen over 30 months. But sadly the builder won't take a card, which is annoying!

Does anyone have a self-build mortgage via BuildLoan/Buildstore? I'm wondering what our chances are of getting them to release funds early (so not borrowing more money but just changing the timing). Our mortgage is with Chorley Building Society via BuildLoan. They release funds in several stages, and the issue is that they withhold the final 10% until completion (ie building regs sign-off). We've had our early funds released and the next stage is the pemultimate one: "water tight". We should be there by the end of this week (wohoo!)... However, there have been some unexpected costs (we found a well under the new foundations...boo). This takes us over our contingency. We can afford this in the long term (ie once the last 10% of mortgage funds have been released), but the phasing means that in the short term we'll go £15k into the red for a few weeks, which would mean having to beg/borrow from relatives to tide us over. Ideally I'd like to drawn down more funds to avoid that. Does anyone know my chances of getting the to release more in the next (penultimate) stage? I am worried that if they always insist on withholding 10% then it isn't worth mentioning it to BuildLoan (who do the admin on the stage releases) because it might just freak them out. If, on the other hand, there is a chance they may be helpful, then I want to bring it up. Dilemmas...

We have found our preferred builder and he has given us a huge list of former clients to speak to for references... would love some ideas on what to ask. Guess it is good to know strengths/weaknesses etc so we can keep an eye out and head off any issues before they arise. Any tried and tested questions or things that you have found useful? Thanks!

Thanks @jamiehamy

Thanks @PeterW

Thanks @MrsB - will check them out

I'm looking for any suggestions on insurers who can provide site insurance... can anyone help? My mortgage provider requires me to have site insurance during my build. I got rather shafted by Buildstore and have had various issues with them so it would massively pain me to give them any more money! Can anyone suggest someone who other that Buildstore that provides this insurance at a reasonable price? Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Yes - BuildLoan/store are exhorbitant and totally useless! Licence to print money!! Would definitely avoid if we live to tell the tale and ever do this again. Hindsight is wonderful...

Yes, I wondered that. But unless they have changed something thenwe're up to the ltv limit - they gave us £5k less than we originally asked for so I think we're low on options there sadly. Can borrow from famil, who have been helpful, but would like to avoid that if poss! Just annoying if lender does want it all finished as we're relaxed on finishing over a longer period (after all, we've lived in a building site for the past 5 years!)

Thanks @ragg987 - really helpful. Suspected this might be the case but handy to hear it!

Wondering if anyone has any words of experience/wisdom on release of mortgage funds and whether lenders are ever flexible... We agreed our mortgage with Chorley Building Society via BuildLoan last summer. Unfortunately because of a few delays our builder fell through and we'd had to find a new one. With exchange rate fluctuations etc, material costs have gone up, and the project is now looking like it'll eat up our £25k contingency before we start... not an encouraging position. I'd like to be a bit flexible and delay some of the non-essentials if needed (e.g. Some of the plastering and internal stuff). But our mortgage funds are released in chunks on completion of certain stages, withholding 10% until the end of the project, and it looks like they require plastering to be done and essentially for everything except floor coverings to be completed. Does anyone have experience of a similar problem? I'm wondering how they inspect, how rigorously they apply their payment stage criteria and whether there is likely to be room for manoeuvre. Didn't want to steam in and ask them for fear of scaring the horses!

Hi all. We're doing a renovation at the moment down the road in Buckinghamshire... but have our names down for a Grave Hill plot. Confirmed with them recently that we want to stay on the list. We won't be looking for a while yet, as need to finish this project (start and finish!!) and will be tied into current mortgage for a couple of years. But still keen in principle after that. Very interested to stay in touch with others also looking at Graven Hill. One of the things that appeals to us is that there will be like-minded people there.

Hello all. I was gutted when I realised that the old ebuild forum had gone... but delighted to find you here! I'm hoping to start work on my place in the next few weeks. We bought the place 5 years ago. It's a former shop, built around 1900 and added to later, which became purely residential about 15 years ago. It has a very odd design and layout, essentially a two storey original shop with a second two storey storage building attached later with a single storey linking corridor. So somewhat quirky! Additional issues created because the building is the property boundary on two sides. We're demolishing the middle section and rebuilding to create a single building. It'll be open plan downstairs, with a full height void in the central area. It has taken us a frustratingly long time to get to this stage, having had issues with our engineer and the mortgage broker. We're now poised to start... but the recent inflation in materials prices has hit us and we're having to renegotiate with the builder. Here's to getting started with the build! (I do not work in glazing and may not have a huge amount to offer by way of experience! But no doubt the experience is about to begin...)