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Yes - we have a quote from them - a bit more than the others but they had got the wrong openings on a lot of the windows so I need to go back to them for a revised quote so I can compare like for like. The trouble with them however is that I can't see the product anywhere local - it's a 10 hour round trip to go see them!

Hi guys, I finally have a date for the erection of my kit - w/c 17th! I now need to have a think about windows and doors! I have looked at most of the usual suspects around where I stay: Rationel Velfac Viking Windows AS Norwood Nordan To be honest they are all pretty keen on the business and prices are coming in pretty close to each other. The issue I have is that I like the windows from Rationel/Velfac/Nordan (they are all pretty similar I felt in quality but the Nordan guarantee let it down at only 2 years for the ironmongery) but for the sliding doors the Viking lift and slide doors felt substantial / well made and a pleasure to use and the Nordan one not as good (Rationel/Velfac can't do the sliding doors in the openings we need). The Viking windows didn't feel as good to be honest but that might be down to them situated in a building merchants and not cared for as opposed to the others where they were in fancy show rooms. So back to my question - I can't be the first to have come across this - has anyone here mixed and matched windows and sliding doors and if so any regrets? I understand the profiles will be slightly different but the RAL colours should match? p.s. we are looking at aluclad timber windows/doors.

It's Stevenson and Kelly that are the best posi quote I have - they haven't come back to me on a final price and I suspect that they might not having perhaps already given me the best they can offer. I will have to wait and see and when it's time to order one or the other I might call them to see if they can do anything and if not just go with the JJI's.

Thanks guys - I have emailed the local posi supplier (who had the best quote) to see if there was any movement on the price. It's good to know that if I go with the JJI's the MVHR will still work but perhaps I will need to strengthen in a few bits.

It is (spanning over load bearing wall). I have specced the deflection at 8mm or better on the JJIs at 400 crs (joists require to be doubled on some of the longer spans). Not got to that discussions with the posi guys yet but if I go with them I will be making sure that its specced for decent deflection rates i.e. 8mm or better. We have 600 crs where i am just now and the bounce is more than noticeable so will definitely try to avoid that. I have tried just about all the suppliers in Scotland - MiTek and Wolf system manufacturers but they have all come in at a decent bit over the JJI equivalent - unless my builder is getting really good rates for the JJI's (he has got that quote and I can substitute it with my own joists and pay the difference - he will allow that) I don't know why I am finding there to be a bigger cost difference than you guys!

The JJI's are coming in at £5,416.50 without any brackets or fixings - this is for 245mm height at 400crs. The max spans are around 5.4m's. With the posi's the prices I have been quoted is £6,298.19 for the posi-joists and £568.02 for the solid joists making it £6,866.21 but these are 304mm deep (so losing a bit of height) but at 600crs. I was told by the manufacturer that the posi's at 400crs would be 20% more so that takes it to about 3k more - my mistake on saying 4k - I only sat down to do the proper arithmetic now! The way they have designed the floors are using the posi's is longer spans - some up to 10m in length! The builder is really pushing the JJI's and I am conflicted. If the MVHR is not going to be an issue running the 2 runs of ducting to each room I am minded to save the money but honestly in the grand scheme of things is not a lot extra to push for the posi's!

Hi all, I am in the process of finalising the joists for our build. I have looked at the cost between i-joists and posi joists with the difference being circa £4k. Wanting to save where I can those who have gone with a MVHR do you regret not getting posi joists or was it not much of an issue with the i-joists? The house is over 3 floors - ground, first and second. The MVHR unit will be on the second and BPC design shows that most of the rooms will require 2 runs of ducting to them.

This is what we are hoping to do. A 300l uvc with a buffer tank for the ufh. We will be using gas as our primary source but will have a circa 4kw pv array so plan would be to divert that to uvc and buffer tank (if you can - I haven't seen any that have an immerser but not looked that hard).

We have settled on a manifold for GF on GF and a manifold for FF and SF on the SF. Currently we have spec'ed aluminium trays from below on the FF and SF but I have read on here about a biscuit mix - I know the advantages with the thermal mass of such a system but I often see the cost of it cited as an advantage over alu trays but taking aside the advantages of the thermal mass to one side wouldn't the labour for the install of the battens between the joists and then laying the pipe and then the pug add to more than the spreader plates?

Yeah. The price seems good. I think I'm going to go with the local guy but have a few points to clarify with him before I commit. I'm trying to get him to include the cost of the MVHR (running of ductwork at least) within the quote. With jji joists I am sure he will have his work cut out (trying to avoid posi joists if I can due to budget!).

I have not done an apples to apple comparison between the MBC twin frame system and a regular build but my house is 356m² over ground, first and second floors. MBC's quote for the twin wall was £162,000 supplied and erected (just the kit - not including the foundations). Doing it with the local guy is working less than £100,000 (around £95,000 but depends on some of the materials which I haven't costed yet) but that includes supply and fit of kitchen/windows/staircase/doors (internal and external). Even if I was to 'upspec' the build I wouldn't get anywhere near MBC's quote which doesn't include, second fix / finishing / installation of windows and doors (although i will need to check on the last point). Their costs for the foundations were a lot higher than i can get locally at 0.11 u value for the floor. MBC's kit comes with posi joists - my one is spec'ed with JJI - thats a £2k difference so like i said not apples to apples but MBC was far enough away for it not to be in contention as soon as the quote came through. There is no doubt that the product is spot on with MBC and a 0.6 ach air tightness and u values they guarantee are hard to beat - I just couldn't justify it with the cost and not only justifying it but being able to afford it (which I can't!).

Anyone I have tried locally to quote on an i beam wouldn't as they have never done such a build. I am sure I could have it designed and they can build it but even knowing the cost differential between 145mm and an I beam would help. I just couldn't find one!

Thats useful Christine - thanks. From looking at my guys quote the 3rd fix is included within the 2nd fix as he has all those items listed. Yes - sticking with a standard 145mm kit I am afraid - I got quotes for 190mm kits and MBC twin frame and honestly it was crazy costs compared to the 145mm we had spec'ed. It really wasn't worth it for us to look at anything past 145mm with the budget we have. Currently the make up of the wall is as follows: 9 mm OSB sheathing /w membrane. 140 mm mineral wool insulation 50 mm PIR foil faced insulation board inside walls. Airtight vapour control layer and joint tape inside walls Service void Plasterboard All in that order. Are you saying if we replace the airtight vapour control layer membrane with the glued propassive osb we should get a better airtight layer (all other things being equal)?

Thanks. I will add gutters to the list! Didn't even occur to me about those! As far as air tightness is concerned if 3 is too easy a target for the air test what would be something that is achievable without any (or at least not much) extra cost?

Good evening all, Groundworks started on my new build here in Hamilton this week - it's all started to move pretty quickly now and feeling quite real for a change! I am kind of project managing myself but with the bigger items being delegated. Foundations are in but need to be changes slightly to accommodate the floor - (thermabeam with 0.11 u value) and I am just awaiting load calcs ok before ordering as we had some really high line lods on some of the racking walls owing to the open plan nature of the house. Provided everything goes well the floor should be here in a few weeks and is supplied and fitted. I have a friendly electrician and plumber who are going to take care of the plumbing/UFH and electrics. The main outstanding matter at this time is that of the supply and erection of the kit - i have 2 quotes - one from a local kit guy and one slightly further away but which is a bigger operation. The one further away is a bit cheaper all things considered but I feel there are perhaps advantages with the local guy as well him and his team are local so any issues etc can be resolved quicker and if not I can go chap his door! He seems a bit more flexible too as he's a smaller operation than the one thats an hour and a half up the road. If I was to go with the local guy he has included in his quote 1st fix, 2nd fix and ironmongery but not listed exactly whats covered by this. Is there anything else I should be negotiating to make sure is part of his quote. The installation of the stairs, windows and kitchen (all supplied by me) have all been costed already and we have agreed a guarantee on the air tightness (tested to better than 3 ach). I know not as good as a lot of the build on here but when i looked at passive standard builds the cost was almost doubling! So I there anything else i should be raising with him to make sure its included as part of his work or anything that can be open to interpretation as what is 1st or 2nd fix?

I have ufh on both first and second floors in my current house. This was built 12 years ago to not the latest/best standards and even now I don't use the ufh much on the second floor - other than the cold days in winter. That being said i dont want to go back to radiators so have made the decision to go with ufh on all floors as the cost is pretty minimal.

Hi, looking to see if anyone has managed to install their ufh manifold in their attic? My build is going to be over 3 floors - ground, first and second (attic). I have a 'plant' room in the attic which is going to house the MVHR, DHW tank, buffer tank for UFH. I am thinking that if I can get the manifolds there for the UFH it will make things a bit easier downstairs. If its not advisable for the manifold to be 2 floors away maybe I could get away with a manifold in the ground floor and then in the attic for the first and second floors? In all honesty I dont think the UFH will be required much at all for the first and second floor but I'd rather have it installed just in case.

Thanks guys. I'm glad there is a consensus here! I'll get started on the transfer of the land then!

Hi all, I have a silly question on VAT. Hopefully the answer is straight forward. My brother owns an area of land. I have applied for planning permission and it looks like its about to be granted. If I now transfer his plot to me would I be able to claim the VAT in the normal way at the end of the build? I.e. it doesn't have any bearing that he owned the land when the planning was submitted?

Would the centres still be 600mm with the I-beams? Better decrement delay does have its appeal but I don't want to go looking down this road unless the costs are somewhat comparable. Can anyone chine in on that front? It looks like the frametherm is cheaper that PIR so there is savings there I think?

I dont have the spec to hand but yes there is mention of vapour barrier / everything being taped down. The trouble with going for 300mm i beam studs is that the foundations are already in - presumably we would lose space internally to account for thicker frame? And then there is the cost which I presume will be more?

Ahh ok - so I didn't understand - but do now - thanks!

Hi guys, Thanks for all the replies - I understand the differences of i-stud for walls / i-joist for the flooring (I actually have i-joists in my current house as we could get longer runs with it in the larger rooms)! My architect has specified 145x45 studs with 600 crs with 140mm of Pir/Kingspan with 32.5mm insulated plasterboard on top. With this depth of wall would I see much advantage going with i-studs? What kind of extra cost are we looking it? As far as the PIR is concerned I am looking at blown cellulose as an alternative but can't find anyone up here to quote on it.

Hi all, I am in the process of getting quotes for my self build timber kit. I have managed to get a lot of good advice on this forum so far! One thing I am not sure of is the advantages of an i-stud as opposed to regular timber? I can see the advantages of webbed i-joists as it will make the running or services/mvhr so much easier (amongst other benefits) but whats better with i-studs?