Dave Jones

keep digging until you find virgin ground or hit 3m in which case call in the pilers.

roofer is a failed brickie.

1100 is fire regs. can ignore for ground floor windows exiting onto a hallway to outside door. Everyhting else has to meet 1100 and have a 450 clear opening so a 500 sash.

no it is. for severn trent all ground is considered contaminated, hence using the ££££££ pipe, unless you prove otherwise.

if you have had a soil test done (70ish quid) to prove no contamination they allow you to use normal pipe.

Prices are relative, how many m2 of blockwork and what was the cost ?

guess your builders weren't to their taste.

no way a shed build is only 15% more than a normal build unless you were being robbed blind for blockwork.

So wasting all/only benefit of a mega expensive shed build. A normal build at around half the price can achieve the same with none of the risk and deliver a better product.

hard to tell from the photo but doesn't look like its bonded into the brickwork of the main house same as they adjoining wall they couldn't be bothered to gauge either. Also the coping stone isnt flashed (contrary to NHBC spec) which will be letting water down the back of that wall rotting it out slowly over time. How these big house builders get away with this crap is terrible. Get onto LABC or whoever your warranty is with.

Why bother with architects to do the build ? Much better off employing someone who knows how to build like a project manager / QS/ Builder. Get a detailed construction drawing pack from them, which will be full off errors like odd window/door sizes that don't work brick and add cost, then get it QS'd so you know ballpark what its going to cost. Depending on how hands off (costing you ££££££) you want to be tender and engage a builder, paid in arrears to a written contract. Pay a quantity surveyor to visit each month to determine what the builder is going to be paid against the contract QS schedule. The fees you save doing this method instead of buying the architect another BMW will sort at least a bathroom. This is the process the banks use for developers and it works. It protects the bank. This way the builder knows they cant leg you over and leaves you to organise the big ticket items, windows, kitchen, second fix items. 3 bits of paperwork you must have: Construction Drawings from Architect. Fully qs'd costings derived from these drawings and a contract for the builder to sign. find a good QS who will visit site to prepare you a monthly report so you will be told to the penny how much to pay the builder. For quality and monitoring a project manager could be worth employing, depends how good your builder is really.

interesting, was that for a normal build ?

thats what i said ?

your going to need a mega plant room for all the kit. multiple cylinders, mvhr etc etc

What is the manufacturers recommendation ? You dont appear to have a cill on those doors. How is water going to be shed from them outside the build envelope ? You can carefully lap a DPC tray but a load of hassle and puts you in the frame if it leaks. Get on the phone with the door/window supplier and ask for a drawing to follow so it it leaks you have comeback. What we did with our bifold was have a normal 150mm cill then tiled (porcelain) over the top of the cill to give a level threshold, put an aco linear drain under the cill to takeaway anything that found its way there. Never leaked once in 5 years and only had a 15mm lip to walk over.

hardie planks look really smart. zero maintenance https://www.jameshardie.co.uk/en/cladding/hardieplank

buildzone will be cheaper than LABC, at least when i got quotes they were. by a lot.

here is what i am using albeit with block and beam but its the same. the full guide is here https://www.marmox.co.uk/uploads/catalogue_gallery/33/datasheets/ThermoblockTechnical2019.pdf

mega risky in the current climate. are you set on a 8 week build ?

This. 150mm min is standard for off the shelf lintels. all depends on the design.

I didnt say private training courses don't exist I said a 'licence' doesn't exist. Which it doesn't. The big sites use CSCS type private training schemes because it suits them and their business model. If HSE visit they will ask for evidence of competence. This can be using a machine over many years, much like farmers do who also use telehandlers (yep see thousands of them queuing up every year to take telehandler tests lol). If you don't happen to have this experience you can certainly go on a course but it isn't mandatory and if you think a course makes you a safer driver than a farmer whos driven one for 20 years then your also mistaken. So back the original question, if the brickie has experience and says he is competent and YOU are happy he is competent then crack on. Buck stops with the main contractor which is you. https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/telescopic.htm#training

ask the BCO if they are happy with your engineered solution. Maybe easier to get the blockwork cut to the correct height.

Why ? If the scaff company have built a loading bay then it would probably be for loading materials ? If in doubt ask them.

build out of block and clad it ? Steel over the doors etc probably be cheaper. 4 hipped garages look soo much better I think then a couple a wacking gables. more work for sure.

i dont understand. You say it was all signed off. Then you say another inspector hasnt signed it off ? which ?