AliMcLeod

Always remember that these sorts of posts are more likely to get response from those that are proud of their lower-than-average cost per m2, so the results here might be skewed towards that direction. I've seen at least one thread in the past where a poster would not post their cost per m2 because they were verging on being embarrassed by what it ended up at. You'll also get mixed results with some including build only, excluding founds, others will include founds, other will include plot cost, others will include professional fees. So, you are rarely comparing like with like. Also, some of these builds could now be 5-6 years old, and costs could easily have gone up 15, 20, 25% in that time. Saying that, £1200 per m2 is doable, but I suspect it will be a challenge unless you're taking on a bit of work yourself. Personally, for a 200m2 build in central Scotland, with a decent finish quality, I'd be budgeting £1500 m2 + 20% contingency. You mention you have a 4 acre plot - have you validated that services are available to where you want the house? That can be a big cost sink.

Recommend a change of diet?

I doubt anyone will be able to tell you that without sight of the title deeds. Do you have access to them?

If you have a gmail email account, you can have multiple "different" email addresses all going to the same mailbox. So, create the account eg, myemailaddress@gmail.com and sign up with that. Then when it expires, use myemailaddress+1@gmail.com, and sign up with that. Then +2, +3 and so on. Of course, there's no guarantee that any specific site/app hasn't caught onto that and might treat them as the same account.

It doesn't even say its a PIR! What "options" did you "fiddle with"? Small turn-screws? Any close pics of them and any markers next to them?

Oh, so you'll also have a manual then? Does it say anything about a test mode or a "always on" feature? Or is it one of those imported products with a few pictures and very little else?

I've had PIR lights which had a toggle mode whereby if you flipped the power on/off/on/off/on quickly, the PIR is disabled and the light stays on. Doing the same again put it back to PIR mode. Can you get to the light to see the model number so we can check the manual (I think I know the answer to that)?

But planning was for a garden room, so the regs would have been assessed for it being a garden room. Just because it was then used as a bedroom, it does not mean that it would have passed the regs as a bedroom (if there as such a thing at the time, which is what I think you're now trying to find out). Are you now wanting to sell the flat as a 2 bedroom? If so, I'd first be checking the freehold agreement to see if the freeholder has a basis to block that. If not, you effectively have two choices: 1) Advertise it as a 2 bed and see what happens with the risk that if someone complains and you're forced to re-advertise as a 1 bedroom, you'll likely have to reduce the price or 2) Go to a lawyer and pay them to make an assessment on whether it can be sold as a 2 bedroom, and if not, at least you're in a position of knowledge of where to price it in the market. I guess there's a 3) too. Post all the details here and risk taking free advice from randomers on the internet, even if they are some of the smartest ransomers out there ?

@timn1423 I'd be checking the freehold agreement if I were you.

Perhaps not in Jeremy's case, but an increase it build time could also increase scaffolding rental costs.

Which is around £1550/m² at today's prices.

I'm wondering whether that would also be building regs at time of change of use, but whether there is grandfathering rights is the real question.

Family/Friends? But get it in writing and ensure repayment terms are clear - families have fallen out over money before.

Have you checked google street view (assuming the secondary access entrance is accessed from a road)?

Whats the total floor area? Take that and multiply it by £800 (basic fit out, doing lots of work yourself) and £2000 (higher spec, handing build over to a main contractor). The answer will likely be somewhere in the middle depending on how much you can do yourself, either in hands-on building work, project management, sourcing materials etc. A good starting point for a budget is £1500 per m2, assuming you don’t have any complicated foundations. EDIT: oops, I hadn’t noticed replies on next page so it looks like I just repeated everyone else ?

"The 100m² scheme is estimated to cost just £41,000." Call me a cynic, but what are the chances that a) It will be built b) It will be built for less than £50K c) The the website will revisit the build at a future date and report what it cost to build d) if b) does not happen but c) does, that Brexit will be blamed

I'm not sure what original thread you're referring to so its not clear if you currently have one or two applications in flight. If two, and your original application still live, do you want to keep it live and amend it? If so, I wonder if you're being told that you have to apply for two amendments, one for the original application and one of the new one. If you just have one application in flight, then surely you should only reference that?

If you are willing to share your budget, people here will be able to better advise what is achievable and where savings might be made.

Welcome to the forum. The first thing you need to decide is wherther you mean the officially accredited Passivhaus (which you pay for) or the lower-case passive house, which is not an official stamp, but where what you build has has much lower energy needs than building regulations require. In the latter case, the answer really does depend on where along the piece of string you want to stop. There are some quick wins (such as air tightness) that you should just do anyway, but other things will undoubtedly add cost if you choose to do them.

What if the planning consent lapses (3 years?)? Is the demolition allowed under permitted again?

Can you post a rough site layout with the wall marked? Does your drive open out onto a busy road? It could be that the visibility splays are there so that cars on the road can see cars coming out of the drive (and vice-versa).

You might want to read: http://www.pavingexpert.com/faqmembr.htm WIth a properly installed block drive, anything but the most destructive weeds (see details in post) do not grow up from below. Most weeds you see on block drives have seeded from above ground into the gaps between the blocks. We ruled out tarmac as we didn't like the look so much, and it was coming in around the same price as blocks. Our research concluded that block would last longer, back with our own (albeit anecdotal) experience when the tarmac would start degrading after 10 or so years. But you're right that blocks will require some maintenance to ensure weeds don't develop - keep on top of that it and it should not be too onerous. This can be mitigated against by applying a sealant (we've not decided whether to do this yet).

I've had a loose chippings driveway in the past. The main positive aspect I had was that you could always hear when anyone drove onto it. The biggest downside I found (other than having to top it up every few years) was that it was a pain if you had a heavy snowfall and had to clear it - you'd end up with piles of stones where you cleared the snow to and then had to move back later to the now almost-bald areas.

This is one for the mods - i believe some folders are locked down until people have a certain number of posts or have been registered for a period of time. The question is what does "completed build" mean? Or moreso, what does HMRC think it means. It was typically seen by self-builders as the date of the completion certificate, but it seems that HMRC have been looking at, for example, the date someone moved in (whether "legally" habitable or not) and stating the house was complete at that date so the reclaim must have been submitted within 3 months of that date. Let's see if the mods can get you access to that thread so you can read further.

I can't see why there would be an issue - you could even phrase things in generic terms. eg, connecting to services at a certain postcode. Or, you push the issue to the vendor - ask them to confirm whether services are available on the plot, and/or adjust your offer price to take the response into account. The issue here, of course, is that a plot with confirmed services may be worth more to the vendor than one without.