Haylingbilly

I had 10 tonnes to shift about 30meters distance but 5m incline. My structural engineer recommended a lightweight solution as was worried about the weight of gabions on the back of the house. Thank god he did, the lightweight solution nearly broke me! Do you even need a retaining wall there - looks like it is for landscaping and is the bank stable enough as it is? If you do a sleeper wall would be so much easier to move - probably 100kg of material to move per linear meter vs 3 tonnes! I really would test moving a tonne of stone before you commit to moving 300 odd tonnes. That is a massive undertaking, really is. I had the same view as you regarding an alternative to the Gym but my solution ended up being a tonne but it was still no laughing matter!

If the front of the Gabions aren't visible, why are you using gabions? Could you not use another solution? 150 bulk bags of material is a lot to move - I take it you can use machinery for it otherwise will be very time consuming to manhandle?

There is a great document on the TRADA website which states standards. I have used this on multiple occasions to insist on standards. Have just found this clause 4.13.2 Acceptance of General Arrangement Drawings and connection details Acceptance by the Employer means that: the principal levels, dimensions and typical details shown on the General Arrangement Drawings are a correct interpretation of the design intent the principles adopted for the connection detailing are compatible with the design intent. Acceptance does not relieve the Timber Contractor of the responsibility for accuracy of the calculations and detail dimensions on the drawings, or the fitting together of parts to be assembled on Site. The Project Engineer will not undertake detailed checks of General Arrangement Drawings, connection details or calcula- tions. On the basis my contract with the timber frame company is subject to the standard TRADA terms, they are going to struggle to argue we are liable for their mistakes by not spotting them them up!

So one issue I have is that I ordered Floor Joists at 400 centres and they have supplied at 600. Whilst they were clearly on the contract, they were on their final engineering drawings at 600, so their mistake. But can they reasonably claim it is my mistake for not spotting their mistake on the drawings? I only had 8 hours to review the drawings before it went into production.

Great call, thank you. I raised my concerns with my structural engineer and he has given me some questions to go back to them on and stated what they have said is normal, is far from normal. I will see if a formal report is necessary. But thanks, have overlooked involving my guy with all the other stuff going on.

Sorry to hear that too - best of luck with your build

I have reached the end of my patience with my timber frame supplier. They promised it would take 12 days and we are now going into the 10th week. They have made a catalogue of errors, forgot to order crane, ordered wrong size crane (twice), "let down by crane company" and no crane arrived (three times), sent goods on vehicle which is too large to get into site (lost count), delivery lorry failed MOT at 6 am on the day of delivery. You get the idea. So the frame was finally "completed" last Tuesday but with a number of items needed remediation (over 20). I gave them 7 days to do so but that has now passed and there is still a lot outstanding. One of the dormers was 21cm out, they came today to fix, now it is only 11cm out of alignment. (they were due to fix on Friday but contractors van broke down, then Saturday, then Monday (but "no materials" on site). So I think they are in breach of their contract as have failed to deliver to service to a reasonable standard. I don't want them back on site as I simply can't trust them, and need to get cracking on the build as have lost so much time. My follow on contractor is happy to fix but obviously I need to pay him. I have already funded £2000 of work of which they have promised to deduct half from my final invoice (£5,000), but I have had other costs such as scaffolding which I suspect will be a few thousands for an extra two months, a license agreement to use my neighbours land for access (£400 a week). I think there is another £2,000 - £3,000 of work to get it up to an acceptable standard. So guess, total costs incurred would be in the order of £10,000 vs a final bill "owing" of £5,000. Never mind the countless hours I have spent organising the shambolic bunch of jokers and the associated stress that goes with it. What are peoples views on where I stand contractually on this?

Very wise words - I did this, until the time where I subcontracted the timber frame erection. Ironically it was for this part of the build I could have really done with it!

Just seen on the huxshard website that the roof of the house is 400sqm and the roof of the garage is 108sqm

breathtaking

How many square meters do you think it is - I am thinking 350 max with maybe 150 for the garage. Still must be something like £5000 - £8,000 a sqm build cost. Also wonder if the £2.5m includes professional fees and landscaping....

Definitely a good decision to stop at this point and reassess. I would suggest using an architectural technician rather than an architect - they are typically 1/3 the price. On our last build we built a basement out of ICF and the additional costs depend on quite a number of things such as ground conditions space around the build for battering back, rather than temporary supports - space also enables you to tank externally rather than internally if you have anywhere to dispose of the material you dig out how much natural light you want to get down there how rectangular the design is and whether you want large open plan spaces If we could have built the same footprint above ground rather than 75sqm of it being basement we would have saved around £60k - ie rather than being £380k for a total of 190sqm it would have been £320k. If you are going to build a basement, then I am not sure there is a more cost effective way than doing it in ICF.

where is your bathroom furniture from? I am looking for something similar!

Ours was rejected as the flood risk assessment was 3 years old. We have a stream at the bottom of the garden which dries unless there has been a lot of rainfall, and in which case is only 2 feet wide 6 inches deep max. We are building 10m in elevation above the stream so if we were to be flooded so would 99.99999999% of the country. The "old" report was highlighted when the planning officer sent his recommendation to his manager which was months after the due date. *&^king planners

The council told me that a S73 on a pre CIL consent, still triggers a CIL liability so I would be careful with this one

Order Services first - can never do too early Windows and external doors - as soon as you can - start now to get all the quotes done with rough sizes, then place firm order as soon as sizes confirmed Roof tiles and bricks asap - can order and put them on hold Kitchen - start designing - takes for ever to finalise Concrete and screed 1-2 weeks before you need it. Any timber - as soon as you know quantities Then as Dave says, everything else last minute

If they grant it retrospectively you will be up for the full CIL liability! Depends how on the ball they are and what the amendments are.

I had planning enforcement out re our skylights as a neighbour complained - we had to do a non material amendment, though initially they said we had to do a section 73 application - which would have had a CIL implication. In days of old I think there was much more flexibility, but now if you have to apply for retrospective permission you will have to pay CIL, for the whole building footprint.

Fair comment, but if it gets damaged you can always repaint it. That said, best to get it right first time and my approach is only a fall back option...

funnily enough we have just gone through exactly this decision. Bespoke colours add 20% to the price so we are going standard and if we don't like it when it is installed, we will paint it - will save £1000 by not going bespoke, doubt it would cost any more to pay someone to paint it!

I have found the CIL officer at our local council incredibly helpful so would ask them the questions. Mine put the responses in writing without being asked which was great.

on the plan the purple hatched area relates to a no dig drive - can you find a route for the water that will not disturb any routes that their tree office will accept? looks like there are some route options that you could explore and if you do need to touch a root protection zone make sure it is a c category tree...

Timber frame gives me more options re choice of builders and it was the need for retaining wall which prompted me to go ICF as would need either piling, or a reinforced concrete wall anyway. With the new site I don't have this need and can also get a thinner wall thickness with TF...

Hi There I have been avidly reading the forum for 6 months or so now and am finding it incredibly helpful, so thanks for all of your help to date. I am on my second self build now - the first was a three story ICF build with the rear of the house 5m below ground level - I finished this two years ago. Now onto my next one which is on a level plot, but have to dig down 1m due to overlooking issues and have a nightmare access to boot. Am building this one in timber frame and is a conventional 2 story house, 240sqm, part rendered part tile hung. Both builds in farnham Look forward to continuing to engage with the forum:-)

I used Nudura and whilst I liked the system, I had a couple of issues. I gave my plans to the supplier to quote and they provided me with an estimate, which unfortunately had a number of errors and purchased a load of stuff I didn't need (my mistake for not checking the estimate more carefully). The person doing the estimate is no longer with the supplier and they worked hard to correct the mistake. But the material is very fragile before it is built and a load of incorrectly supplied blocks got damaged (ever so slightly) so were not as new so the supplier wouldn't take them back. Basically I had to sell them for scrap. I had originally gone down a woodcrete block route but struggled to find someone experienced to build it for me, so switched to Nudura as there were more installers familiar with the system. I had to get the engineering calculations part redone which cost approx an extra £2-3k( it was a complicated build with substantial retaining walls). I would recommend closing carefully as switching later is difficult, check your material estimate very carefully and make sure you have somewhere safe to store the product.