shuff27

The roofing estimate is low - I paid c.£20k for 100sqm using Spanish slates. That did include a lot of leadwork & valleys (3 dormers & attached garage) but your figure of £3.5k seems optimistic unless you have a very cheap roofer!

About 3 months ago... Gigaclear cabled the road where my self build is nearing completion. Great, I thought, an easy solution for a fast broadband connection. The friendly crew (probably cos I let them use my site toilet) even asked me where they should install the POT (point of termination) box for easiest route to my preferred entry into the house. Now... I tried & failed to sign up as a Gigaclear customer! My address isn't on their online database, not much of a surprise as it's a new build, so I phoned their new customer team & explained the situation. They firstly insisted my property doesn't exist so it couldn't have a POT. So I emailed them a photo of the POT with a plan showing the house location. They now acknowledge it exists but won't connect me as it's not on their installation plan. When will it be added to their plan? In 2024 when it next get updated...then they'll be happy to connect me! So for now it'll be a 4G router with unlimited data plan as I refuse to pay for an antiquated copper wire phone line.

Hi @TheSalopian, I'm nearly at the end of my build, 205sqm GIA in Northants so not dissimilar to your project. Build cost is coming in at £400k (including attached single garage) once VAT reclaim is factored in, this is about £60k over the budget I set 18 months ago & the overspend is mostly due to the materials price increase (services also came in over budget due to Anglain Water's intransigence). Mine is TF with facing bricks & slate roof. Typical self build spec, i.e. 3G glazing, MVHR, ASHP & UFH. I've fully self managed all stages, employing individual trades. Not saying it's impossible but if you can achieve £1500psqm while using a contractor to get it to watertight stage you'll be doing well imho. Good luck!

The invoice will be in my name as it is the kitchen fitter's invoice to me. @saveasteading this is covered in section E on the reclaim form and no mention of needing the fitter's invoice from his supplier. Presumably HMRC could follow it up if they wish to with the fitter which is a limited company with proper accounting but that's not down to me.

Is he vat registered? If not, my understanding from reading the HMRC notes is that you can still reclaim it as he would have paid the vat on the materials. I have a similar situation with my kitchen fitter who buys the cabinets and doors with vat added but he is not vat registered. I will be reclaiming the vat even though it is not separated on his invoice to me.

Me too. I've had site electric since April from British Gas. Just had a first bill approx £65 of which £60 is standing charge.

I just received the zehnder I ordered in January but occasionally a cancelled order comes available.

Mine also over estimated as did the MCS certified heat loss calcs so a 11kW heat pump was proposed by my installer. I persuaded them to change it to a 8.5kW unit backed up by my own calcs from the Jeremy spreadsheet.

I'm currently paying £14 per sqm for boarding and skimming. They have excluded window and door openings from the calculations. It includes installation of acoustic insulation in stud walls (not everywhere, just bathrooms and bedrooms). The skim finish looks excellent and there are slopes where the bedroom walls go into the ceilings (dormer windows) which I assume is more difficult. They also tidy up as they go, scraping plaster snots off the floor and bagging board offcuts. So I'm happy to pay a decent rate for premium work.

My BM just told me that plasterboard price will be going up on 1st May. I'm around 2 months from needing it but thinking about ordering now to avoid the increase. So is there an easier method of estimating how much I'll need other than calculating each room wall area plus ceilings off the plans? And how much extra should I allow for wastage? P.S I will post a related query about how to finish the walls/ceilings when I've done some more research.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Mine will also be a Zehnder (Q450) so I'll check the auto boost function.

Currently doing 1st fix electrical. My MVHR unit will be located in the utility room. I've just noticed that it comes with a remote control facility via LAN and I'm unsure where to locate this - in the kitchen seems sensible so as to active boost setting while cooking. But that's right next to the utility. Would it make any sense to have the remote control somewhere upstairs?

Did anyone else read this article dated 12 March? Essentially, a couple moved into their not quite completed self build in 2015 & made a VAT reclaim within the usual 3 months of receiving their 1st council tax bill. The VAT was repaid. In 2019 they submitted a 2nd claim which included construction of internal walls, kitchen & bathrooms. Unsurprisingly HMRC refused this claim - as we all know, you're only allowed 1 claim. The couple appealed on the grounds that being allowed only 1 claim was unreasonable as many self builds take years to finish. The judge at the first-tier tax tribunal allowed their appeal & granted permission to make a 2nd claim once the house is complete. HMRC did not appeal but said it was an unique case - not something I would agree with! Anyway, it seems like some kind of precedent (just my opinion as I have no legal training).

I can second that - ordered my clay tiles in November & latest estimate for delivery is end of May. I've had the roofer put on a temp cover but will have to keep the scaffolding up at least 2 months longer than expected = extra cost.

I'm going through this process atm, timber frame with brick outer skin. Internal walls - no blocks in door openings as liquid screed wants to flow throughout the GF. External walls - brickie ran the blockwork across the door openings but we did have a debate about it - we both thought it would be better not to have doors stting on blockwork as presumably that would make a cold bridge. Better to have doors sitting on 150mm insulation plus screed in principle but I'm waiting to see what my chosen screed/UFH contractor advises. If neccessary we'll knock out the offending blocks. On the flip side, having external blocks all round the perimeter did make it easier for the timber frame joiners to install the timber sole plate.

I'm not sure about the bathroom positioned between beds 2 & 3. If the occupants of bed 3 use the shower early or late the occupants of bed 2 are going to know about it. I never see the point of having both shower & separate bath & you have both in 2 bathrooms, plus another en suite. Why not either a shower or a bath with shower head at one end? The dreesing room looks too large in relation to the master bed size. Too much glazing on the south elevation? Those GF rooms may overheat. Like @Gus Potter suggests I'd also remove both GF cupboards to make the hall wider. I believe that having a really good sized entrance hall makes a great impression & is something (one of many things!) that distinguishes a well designed self build from a typical 'executive' developers house. Similarly, the FF landing looks rather cramped considering the number of doors opening off it.

@SarahG why is a bat survey required, is it for an exisiting building on the site? I bought a plot with PP which included demolition of an exisiting garage. The plot owner was required to have a bat survey on the garage even though he knew after living there for 30 years that there had never been any bats inside. By the time I was ready to demolish the garage the survey (valid 2 years) had expired & under the PP conditions I was meant to have it renewed which would have cost me £800. I emailed some pics to the Council to show there were still no bats & asked if I could include 2 bat boxes on a gable end of the new house (just in case some fancied moving in!) instead of a new survey. To my surprise they agreed so I quickly demolished the garage before they changed their minds.

Conclusion - all now approved. In the end I submitted just one deemed consent notice (for the window profile & colour) along the lines suggested by @WWilts as a kind of test which seemed to spur the PO into action to deal with the others.

I'll be getting my 3-phase elec supply connection by Western Power in April. I'm now looking for an energy supplier to install a 3-phase meter as my current supplier (So Energy) doesn't install 3-phase smart meters & charges £500 for standard 3-phase meters. So far I can only find eon & edf offering free meter installations - just wondering if anyone has experienced either of these (or any other supplier)?

I find this a tricky one to be helpful without seeming unkind. In a way I'm rather envious that @Indy has the chance to commission a design from scratch. I bought my plot with full planning, a design done with several compromises to satisfy the planners, resulting in a design that is pleasant but unexceptional. I decided not to spend the time and money trying to come up with something more individual and special,which in a way is a matter of regret. I don't like the design indys architect has produced. But is it up to me to suggest that it shouldn't go ahead if indy is happy with it?

I agree, surprisingly cheap compared to the other costs involved.

I misread that as a portal, presumably to a parallel world where all the houses look like this design.

Quick update - bricks & roof tiles approved yesterday, just as well as I ordered the bricks a month ago & the roof tiles in November. I called the roofing supplier to get the latest on delivery - tiles still not expected till May so even if that happens it's a 6 month lead time; if I'd waited till approval before ordering that amount of delay would have caused a massive problem with the build schedule - as it is I'm looking at about 10 weeks between felt/battening the roof & tiling it.

I went private (local office of national chain) as dealing with the useless council's planning office put me off using its building control. £800 plus VAT. So far they're keen to do remote inspections (i.e. photos or videos) as much as possible, short staffed due to covid absences & all wfh.

As someone who has recently paid for concrete foundations I would dispute that cost of concrete hasn't gone up much lately. I found the percentage increase greater than that of my timber frame.