DeanS

Sorry, to be clear - the piling companies we spoke to didn't offer cover by default or even as an "extra". Some could arrange it for specific jobs or if pushed but it was no cheaper than getting it ourselves.

South West London.

Alas, the piling companies we spoke to didn't offer said cover.

We looked at so many options for PL/EL only cover. In the end, it was easier to take our own Site insurance for the entire works.

Hello, We have started a new build and are soon to start laying services. The house is a PassivHaus and the floor structure is a concrete slab sitting on 300mm of insulation. Most of the services (water, electrics and telecoms) are coming into the house through ducts (blue, black, orange respectively) which then need to be made airtight (a headache as I understand). Using duct is great because we never liked the idea of services being set beneath the slab never to see the light of day again and impossible to do anything with if they leak / fail or if we need to upgrade etc. And, duct is relatively cheap and futureproof and with grommets, tapes, care can be made airtight. All great. But, we are struggling a little with the gas supply. The meter will be in a half-buried box at the front of the house and the boiler is some 8m away in a utility room. The current proposal by the plumber is to run copper pipe from the meter to the boiler below the slab + insulation. We trust the plumber and he is corgi qualified, but the idea of copper pipes with joints sat in the ground below 0.5m of concrete, steel and insulation doesn't sit particularly well. Does anybody know of any alternatives? Options we have discussed with the contractor are: Run the pipe on the external elevation and enter the building close to the boiler (but, there is limited space down the side of the house where the pipe would run). And, its a bit of an ugly and seems mad to run pipes around a new build house. Run the gas pipe in the french drain that runs around the house, perhaps in perforated duct, and then up through the building close to the boiler (again, as above, space is limited). But, aesthetically much better than option 1. Run the gas pipe in a duct under the floor, perhaps using TracPipe or similar. But, we understand this needs to be vented which may cause issues with airtightness. If the duct is non-perforated and we seal the duct to the airtightness later in the floor then cap externally, this could work. Otherwise, can we cap internally and vent externally? Move the meter inside into a meter cabinet and run the pipe in duct internally (as both ends of the duct are internal, airtightness is less of an issue). This would put the meter in a ground floor bedroom, which is not ideal. Move the boiler closer to the meter (but, current house layouts do not permit this). Of these options, number 3 would be ideal, then perhaps option 2. But, I wonder if there are other options we should discuss with the contractor? We would really appreciate peoples view on our preferred options or any other options that are robust (i.e. flexible / futureproof and pipe not set under a slab) and that comply with regs. Thank you in advance. DS

Hello, We asked the piling company, they said Non-negligence cover is not normally provided but can be added on a per project basis if needed (we will seek costs). We also need to confirm if they are proposing driven piles, or auger / driven or if screw piles could be used. The latter two I guess introduce less vibration. The works are about 5 to 8 meters from the nearest neighbours. The site has an existing bungalow on it and we are building on the same footprint and using the existing foundations for 80% of the footings. There is a small section at the back that is deeper, this is where we need the piles and the piles are 8m from the neighbours. We asked a party wall surveyor if we need a PWA and they confirmed we don't. No utilities that we know of in this area of the building.

Anybody? We are getting quotes for £2k premium, and our Engineer thinks the risk of non-negligent damage is low (i.e. vibration, subsidence, heave etc). He thinks this because we are demolishing a bungalow (mostly be hand) and building a new house on the same spot. There is some mini-piling, but this is only because of a protected beech tree on the site. Anybody have any experience / advice re JCT21.2.1 insurance they can share? Currently I guess the choice is take a £2k premium or take a risk.

Hello, Did you ever find a solution for your JCT21.2.1? We are looking at this too and it is very confusing. We are in a slightly different situation, we are replacing a bungalow with a house and using the same foundations for a bag part of the build, and there is only one house which is 5m away. All brokers / insurance companies 'recommend' we take JCT21.2.1 insurance. But, I guess they would. Our Engineer suggests risk to the neighbours house is low. Its a tricky one. How did you decide to proceed? Thank in advance.

I am in the same boat. Main Contractor 70% of build, 20% for specialist we appoint (windows, kitchen, solar, etc), 10% of client costs (fixtures / fittings) If employing contractors / specialists separately I thought you needed Employee Liability cover (is this not a legal requirement)? Those specialists would have insurance for their kit / services. I am not concerned about the client costs and would consider winging it. But as the site owner I thought we needed Public Liability and as an employer I thought we also needed Employee Liability cover? Did you ever find a solution that provides PL/EL and just cover for the specialist / client costs? It does seem crazy to be doubling up on the insurance for 70% of the build value.