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Also, would this change if you reduced the centres from 600 to 400? Keeping the spec of joists the same? Hopefully this might negate the extra flex that seems inevitable with a less supported junction with the wall. I can also see the benefit of using a ledger in terms of ease of use and therefore cost saving.

Here is our costings from Estimators Online. It’s a rough outline and obviously specific to our build (plans on the forum somewhere) but might help get you started! good luck! P.s. welcome!

@gc100 that seems excellent value. Can I have his details? Might see if he would like to supply!

@PeterStarck if you don't mind me asking, how much was the asbestos removal? I've allocated £3k, but havent got prices yet, so it's a bit of a guess.

@dpmiller We're using lightweight building materials; icf (pumped concrete from road alongside site, pozi joists etc and can use a telehandler to get 'heavy' materials on to site. Getting things on to site is easier (downhill) then getting them offsite (uphill). Going to be using a conveyor for getting spoil up the slope and into waiting skips/grab trucks. Tricky but doable.

@Mako you should read this....

Only 80sqm timber bungalow.V limited ability to get plant on/off site. Still working out how to do it, otherwise will have to be done by hand. Gulp! Or just a large bonfire might happen by accident! Guessing most self builders go for a slightly higher than average spec. Think we will do something similar.

Ok so thanks for your replies so far. A surprisingly large spread: 47%55%, 60% 64%. For us could mean anything from £141k to £192k. We have planned 15k for demolition 20k for groundworks (insulated raft) 45k for structural walls (ICF inc. rebar, concrete etc) 12k for floors/stairs 28k for roof and tiling 24k for windows Comes to £144k. + contingency = £158,400 Guess I'm on the right track! Thanks!

Thanks @Conor!

@Mr Punter Thanks. We're going down the ICF route (no space on site for timber frame erection). Services on site already due to existing building. Just have to have them moved and reconnected at the end (he says - its that easy!).

If its your forever home then I would consider that you may be wanting to make changes over time (e.g. making sure there is an area for a lift) so if it were me I'd spend a bit more on the structure, insulation, footprint, design, etc etc - things you can't easily change in the future. Then if the budget comes in tight to the end and you run out of contingency you can always fit a less expensive kitchen or bathrooms to save a number of 10s of thousands of pounds. Then revisit in 5-10 years and put in something all singing all dancing that you wanted in the first place. It's relatively easy to upgrade these things, but much harder to fit underfloor heating or more insulation or similar to some designs at a later date. Hope that makes sense. p.s. if they say their project start at £3500 then they're likely to be much much more then this! Any decent architect should be able to design something along the lines of what you're looking for. Create a Pinterest board and send that to a few to see how excited they get! p.p.s. yes, main contractor is usually the more expensive route, investigate things like fixed price contracts to mitigate your budget risk further. More expensive, but likely to take the stress out of the build a bit for you. p.p.p.s. sounds like an exciting project - good luck!

Hi All, I know this is a bit of a how long is a piece of sting question, but out of your actual building cost (so excluding plot purchase and professional fees) how much did you spend getting to weather proof? i.e. superstructure, roof, windows/doors fitted? To try and standardise it a bit I thought as a % of total build cost would give an idea. Thanks!

Had one as a kid. Loved cooking on it and coming in from the rain and basically hugging it to keep warm. I’m expensive to run too, and we’re getting one with a handy new invention called an off switch. Specifically designed for the 3 weeks a year the uk has a heatwave!

We can borrow £600k with ecology. paying £350k for the plot. building 225sqm for £300k (might have to stretch to £350k) [£1300-1600/sqm] at a good spec but doing as much work ourselves as possible. think your £/sqm are high depending on your build route. Are you planning on using a turnkey style build, main contractor or subies etc? These have a huge impact on cost independently from spec. You can probably achieve anything you want with that budget depending on what you can do yourself. even just doing admin for the builder or shopping around for materials has already allowed us to spend saved money on nice things like ASHP and my wife’s ‘required’ aga!

@Russell griffiths just parted company with old SE. Was the worlds worst at getting back to me and I haven’t got time for people I’m giving a large wedge of £ to who don’t reply to calls, emails or texts for 2 weeks. New SE needed! @NickK sent them plans and they said they’d get a quote to me this week. Nothing yet. Think we’re probably looking at a woodcrete option anyway, but that might change if it’s a significant difference!

Ok so, looking into this more and I still cant get a definitive answer (Im not sure there even is one to be honest). I guess that even if I don't qualify for the full VAT rebate, it'd still qualify as a conversion and therefore only be a 5% VAT rate? Is this the case? So basically my risk if I just bludgeon on though is 5%? TIA!

So not worth it then! Particularly if you're planning on doing all the low skill laborious tasks of chasing/laying cables etc yourselves?

Ok, I’ll look into that, thanks @joe90! what’s the deal with thermal mass? Guess it’s a marmite situation?

How much do things cost relatively to a traditional system? Obv a saving on installation time but how much quicker (and by extrapolation cheeper) is it and does that offset the higher unit price? X

@joe90 I like biscuits but can’t see how they’d help with sound deadening. Except when I’m eating them I’m generally not walking around! yes to UFH. Wold this go between the joists or in screed above as mentioned by @dpmiller?

We wanted it to feel solid and not echo as you walked on it. Also the sound transfer between floors (upside down house with kitchen living dinning above bedrooms) is relatively important, but if I beams and pozi joists can achieve this then I'm all for it

Think I may change the design to pozi joists...

There is lots of amazing info on this forum about every aspect of building. Some of it is quite complicated, so let's try something simple.... Which ICF systems did you choose and why? Could be as straightforward as you got on well with the salesperson or a specific cold bridging solution, but I'd like to know positives please! I would start but we haven't decided yet...

@CC45 But we are having a insulated slab (no voids I hope!) and a beam and block first floor. My understanding if that these don't have voids?

Hello all, Just thinking about our build and how we’d best to install the MVHR. I’ll be doing this myself to bc save costs so trying to get as much knowledge as possible! I get running the ducts in voids in walls/floors however... We are building in ICF, virtually all of the walls are going to be load bearing and therefore in more ICF or block and planning on a beam and block floor. Therefore no voids. Hmmm. I might run into difficulty with electrics and plumbing too, but seeing as the MVHR pipes are biggest then if that problem is solved the others should be easy!! MVHR likely to be in loft so top floor will be easy. Getting to lower floor is the challenge! Thanks!