Tony L

Thanks for the responses. I haven't sought other quotes. I'm very short on time at the moment & I was hoping I'd receive a few positive or neutral comments here, & that would be enough for me to decide to go ahead with this quote. I will make more time when I come to consider who will do the work for the next stages. I am particularly keen to go with this ground worker because I know of his very good reputation as he mostly works for a local developer who is good friends with my brother in law. Originally (ie 4 years ago, before the project was put on hold), I was planning to pay him a day rate & pay for everything he needed, but things have moved on; he was unwell for a while, & he brought a general builder he sometimes works with to our recent meeting. The quote has come from the builder, so I'd be paying the builder, who will be doing the work together with the ground worker I'm keen to work with. @Mr Punter, no, I haven't considered doing anything special under the beam & block floor. Ideally, I'd have my B&B a little higher above ground level, but the planning department have been very insistent on a low ridge height, so I have no room to play with. I have received permission to put all the rain water from the roof into the drain that's taking the waste water (that's what happens with the rain water from the bungalow that will be demolished), because a soakaway is not feasible.

Hi everybody This is my first post. I’m going to demolish my approx. 100 year old bungalow & build a detached house (13.5 x 8.8M footprint) + detached double garage. I have PP. I’m in Surrey, & my plot has a very high water table. Due to the water table problem, if I don’t get everything in place now, so that the foundations can be dug in September, it would make sense to wait until next September, so really, I need to make some quick decisions. I’ve received this quote (below) & I’m keen to know whether it seems reasonable. I will make sure setting out is included, if I accept this quote. The ply that’s mentioned is for the shuttering that we’ll need to use to stop the foundations caving in (due to the water that will seep in within a few hours of the trenches being dug). I bought a job lot of reclaimed plywood boards for this purpose some time ago. I’ve attached a drawing to show the substructure plan. This was drawn by an SE about 4 years ago, before the project was put on hold. I realise the regs have changed, so I’ll be getting a new drawing showing a 150mm or perhaps 200mm cavity, but this gives you an idea of what’s involved. There’s around 60 linear metres of trench here. BCO have told me I’ll need 1M trenches, 60cm wide, with 60cm concrete. The site plan shows the new house & garage. I’ve drawn the drains in, in red & the circles indicate the access chambers that are included in the quote. & here’ the quote. It’s a shame they didn’t break it down, with a price for each line. The existing garage is a large single, made from very flimsy wood, so that will not take too much effort to demolish, although it has a corrugated concrete asbestos roof, so care will need to be taken with this. I reckon the demolition is £5K max. It’s an almost level site now, as the garage area was dug out some time ago, so there’s already about 3 loads of muck away to go (£1,000?) & the quote covers this too. Please see below comprehensive list of works to be completed and quotation for this work. Demolition of existing bungalow and garage Dig out and remove existing foundations Removal of hardcore and waste material from site Dig foundations (an allowance of 1m depth by 600mm wide trenches) Form shuttering (ply supplied by customer) Concrete foundations (depth to be advised by building control) Lay in ducting for gas, water, electric and NTL to receive services by others Lay all foul and rainwater drainage including manholes Build up block and brick footings to receive block and beam flooring Allowance for three courses of bricks in Staffordshire blues Lay block and beam floor Allowance of 1.5m of hard standing around new property plus a hard stand area to the front of the cabin for storage of materials No allowance Clay master Sheets of plywood (to be supplied by customer) Base for new garage - awaiting designs/spec Total: £59,584.00 (Net) I’m sure this would have cost a lot less if the project hadn’t been put on hold four years ago. Do you think this seem reasonable at today’s rates? cropped GFP with foundations.pdf