Andehh

This is a very good post! Sums it up well.

Thanks guys! I'll raise it with them next week. Both builder & architect have been very professional & by the book to date, so will see what they say.

Thanks for the comments guys, I'll raise it with the architect & builder (both very experienced in doing new builds) but seeing as it's all on site, kicked off & we're moved out etc... we're committed now. That being said, with it all being carried out within a continuous 8 month period, same builder, mountain of paperwork (planning, building control stating new build & demolition etc), staged payments, continuous project plan, non-occupancy throughout, I'd suggest HMRC would struggle to evidence this was anything other then that it is... A total/full knock, excavation & new build as planned/documented. Edit to add, as existing property is a 1960s timber frame & we are going over the top with block & beam, large Mono pitch etc.... There is very little we could reuse even if we wanted to.

Thanks, I figured there would be something like that that.... 6 month occupancy would be tight to cover! Was just a brainwave at 4am for me

With experienced builder & experienced architect firm I'm just following them tbh, builder is on site already. 8 months from now the existing bungalow will have been 100% demolished & replaced with a 100% new one, with all the documentation submitted to boot! Whether we do it right to left, or left to right it's still a full knock down & rebuild? Where would HMRC have an issue?

Thanks all! Our project was originally a full refurb & large extension. We got the planning permission for this. At the last minute builder advised he could do a full knock down & rebuild for the same money. We are now going down to the this route. We have just submitted a new planning application for a full rebuild... And the builder will spend the next few months starting the extension and LEAVING the bungalow until planning is in. The new build will be very similar orientation to the existing bungalow, plant room in an identical area. With the submission for RHI, what stops me installing ASHP into the existing bungalow.... Commissioning it... Getting RHI then decommissioning knock down, rebuild, reconnect... Crack on? ASHP location doesn't change, plant room doesn't change just connecting & disconnecting it from the existing bungalow? Existing bungalow, 1960s timber frame, is EPC B, 85 (epc done last year) is there anything in the RHI application that would block this?

Anyone heard anything about the grant being available for self builds? I'm still struggling to find any thing definitive!

Can anyone link to the T&cs of this please? How does this impact us self builders building a self build having already removed the gas boiler having knocked it all down? What will be the criteria to claim? I will miss RHI for a few months, was hoping this £5k would soften the blow!

Has anyone been following this? It doesn't look to be as generous as the RHI, but it is up front vs over several years! I am struggling to find details on how to claim it, what criteria though? https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/homeowners-set-offered-5000-grants-25231186

Considered calor/equiv gas? With a big tank & careful buying it could be an option.

Thanks, my original hope was a way of installing the pipework & electrics for a split system... Then getting someone to simply connect it up at each end when we can afford to install it.... Is that possible?

Surely a local labourer or two (farm hand or equiv?) for a few days would be cheaper & less stress? I get the principle of the machine, but using one inside a room, I imagine 50% of the time effort will be not reversing it into/through a wall as you try to position it. £200/day for a couple of guys & barrows would be my first direction I think.

We have been spec'ed metal stud plasterboard internal walls. Architect suggests they should be fine & are more substantial then the metal stud & plasterboard walls we used to have in a 2005 Bovis 'new build', but these were so cheap & flimsy it wouldn't be hard to better...cardboard would have!! I am trying to find a more substantial internal wall, without going mad. Obviously block walls would be the best, but it needs to be cost effective! Double up CLS studs & double up plasterboard? Single plasterboard but 15mm instead of 12.5mm etc? Combination of it all? Can anyone comment on what they went with & successes/failures? Thanks,

Yes, likewise! We will suffer from solar gain due to large windows overlooking our south facing garden. Can't not do it....but will need to look at AirCon (active air & UFH passive) to reduce the impact my gut tells me.

Interesting experience Marvin, thanks for commenting!