LSB

It looks like a lovely location by the water. You will get there, but somehow it seems that him upstairs seems to throw things at us all in one go. You will get there and be stronger for it, Where are you based?

Thanks everyone for your support, I'm quite disappointed at home much this still seems to be happening. I could understand it if it was something that maybe I couldn't do, but when I'm stood there with him and he still wants to talk to the 'man' then it's rather annoying. Anyway, time for a G&T me thinks.

My current job is the IT project management for a new 8,000 m2 factory for work, they have been really good and the PM is very happy to chat to me because I understand building and the processes. Even though the size is different the processes are just the same. I'm really glad that they are ahead of my self-build as I have found out lots. My last job was doing the same for a previous company and their PM was good. It was just this dickhead today, but I was so angry about it.

Good idea, I'll look at their website to see if there is an option available to leave feedback.

as an IT manager for 20 years I have met a lot of this, but I naively thought things had changed. What got me most was that he ignored my questions and then answered them on the phone. pity for them, they have just lost 30k of business.

When nanny was still at home we got quite a lot of equipment supplied for us as the OT said it was needed. This reduced the cost of converting he bathroom to a wet room. They provided all the grab rails (including the rest of the house), the shower seat and the heated towel rail.

This week I have been getting price estimates for everything I need, the list is getting very long and it's taking ages as I'm trying to get multiple quotes, I may give up on that idea. I am also submitting this to estimating companies / builders merchants, but want the control of also doing it myself. This morning the roofing company man rang me, asked some stupid questions and didn't listen to the answers as he talked over me. He then said, I'll be there at 11. At 12:45 when I'd finished with the horses I rang him, he said "I'm just coming down the road" No apologies for being late. I'd wanted HID to be there, but he had a problem at work. I'd tried ringing the roofing company to change the time, but no answer, left a voicemail, no response. The barn is about 100m from the house up a slight slope, the reptile didn't want to go and look, saying that without the plans there was no point. Anyway, eventually he did agree to look, but the whole time he kept making stupid statements like "So, it's a roof for the pigs", even though I had told him it was being converted to a dwelling. He spotted that the 'L' had an asbestos roof and declared that he wouldn't go any nearer than 50' because of the danger. Then my phone rang and it was HID. I duly handed over the phone and a complete personality and attitude change happened to the reptile. He spoke sensibly, answered the questions I'd already asked, explained the process, suggested that we went to their factory to see how it works. He also gave a very general ball park figure of 30 - 40k, which is what I actually wanted. All this because he was talking to a man. Once the phone call finished he handed me my phone and said, just email me the plans and we will get a proper estimate and walked off. This all seemed to be because I'm a woman, who knows a lot more than HID about this whole process and what we want. This is quite a disappointment for me as I will never agree to using this company even though they are our most local zinc roof supplier at only 25 miles away. He also said that metal is no cheaper than zinc, I'm sure that's wrong and despite me saying that our planning specifies a zinc roof he kept trying to sell me a rubber roof. His timing to install was, "about a month", really!!! When I mentioned solar panels he said, just put them in one of your fields. I feel quite strongly about using local suppliers where possible, but this has left a bad taste in my mouth and made me very wary of having people to the site when I'm on my own, if I'm not going to be taken seriously. On a better note, the last gas check was done this morning, by a lovely man who even asked about my grandson as he remembered that I'd said it was due. I would recommend this company to anyone, and thankfully they were local. Once I receive the report then I can discharge the condition, tell CIL and start pulling things down. Now, another week, more planning, I'm so looking forward to when I can do something, even thought ultimately the plans should make the process much more efficient in the long run.

Our design has 2 stoves, one in the family room and one in the snug, which will be a small one as it is not a huge room. I may even go for an artificial one if we won't need the heat. The family room is 65m2 so I will definitely have one there.

we will have mains power, but hope to get the majority from the PV. The RHI stops in March 21, too soon for me, so that won't affect my decision. My planning requires ASHP, but it also approves a boiler, I guess the LPA don't know anything about what is and isn't allowed. At the moment I live in a cold, draughty house so I can't imagine being so warm that I don't need backup.

we are planning on ASHP and PV, do you think we need to also consider a back up boiler. We are off grid here so it will have to be oil or biomass or possibly LPG

Odd, we ordered Monday and was delivered Tuesday

Most of the time there is just 2 of us needing daily showers. But, we have 4 kids plus partners and grandchildren, so when they visit the requirement is much higher, but this is not that often.

gosh, this is all starting to go above my head, more studying needed. The only thing I thought was that an ASHP struggled to provide enough hot water, which is why I thought I also needed PV.

and yet, it was this months HomeBuilding & Renovating Magazine that said Mar 2021. I would have expected better from an 'expert'

right, well that's really good news and worth knowing as realistically, as we are DIYer's, we won't need it until 22 so sounds like I'm best to wait. Thanks

I have someone doing a quote for me, I will ask them first.

as the wall which we planned to put the ASHP on won't be built by Mar can we build a small wall and the boundary and attach the ASHP to that, without connecting to the house.

that's interesting, I didn't realise you could self install.

I want to use an ASHP, but I've just read today that the RHI stops at the end of March next year and I won't be ready for it by then. Can I go ahead and order one and still get the incentive? Otherwise, I think it's back to an oil boiler (no gas)as not cost effective without RHI Anyone else hit this.

thanks, it's ex hire I think, 4 came from the same place.

where did you get yours? How old is it? Is it still reliable. I don't actually have any idea how old it is, the auction had 5 for sale, tiny, 1 ton crank start, 2 ton (ours), 3 ton, 6 ton & 9 ton, huge beast. We buy quite a lot from auction, including our house, 20 years ago. Scary, but great fun. Just watch out for the commission charges.

This week I have been going through each room of the build and looking at what it needs, not furniture, but sockets, lights, floors and painting amongst the list. I have never in the past appreciated just how much is involved in creating rooms from scratch, despite doing multiple renovations & extensions. Before I can send off for estimates I still have the family room to complete, I've been avoiding that one as with the kitchen, multiple doors and outside access it will be quite detailed to list. Then I have to decide where to get estimates from. Having realised that we will have about 5,000 blocks to put up we are having to rethink our plans. HID was going to do this part, but at 10m2 per day and only 3 days per week to do it this is just not sensible. We will be long retired before even the walls are finished. The walls are going to be clad in some areas and rendered in others so they don't have to be visitor perfect,. Today, I have sunshine and thunder storms making me wonder how much weather is also going to affect the build. Being DIY self builders is exciting and something we have wanted to do for 25+ years, largely because of budget, but also because we wanted to build our forever home brick by brick. I have spent so many hours looking at layouts, thinking about how we live and what we need. We have 4 children, and as of today, 1 grandchild, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Harith I don't even know his weight yet as my daughter is still in labour in a hospital in London, not allowed any visitors, including her husband, due to Covid. But, with a big family we want a biggish house to allow for visitors although a lot of the time many of the rooms will be unused. I need to motivate myself to kick on with the supplies, at least I am warm, dry and comfortable with a couple of the animals keeping me company. On Monday this week we bought a dumper truck from a local farm auction. The plan is to use it for all the outside stuff and then sell once the structure is done to fund other things inside. It's definitely old (very), but we tried it out and it seems to work well and with 240m2 of floor to dig out to start with and then trenches etc I think we will get very friendly. This is to be my mode of transport when HID is on the digger. The farmer next door collected it, now I just have to drive it back from there, about 1/2 mile, so I will have to choose a very quite time, mid afternoon is a good time. We also bought a new harrow for the fields and I need to take the tractor to collect that. This one has a key start, there was one with a crank handle, but we felt that we just wouldn't be able to do that when it is cold. The only trouble is that the barn we are converting is fast filling up with machinery to keep it dry. Anyway, back to the plans. Keep Building

Thanks, that sounds really sensible. Like lots we are really budget constrained. Right now I'm still at the estimation stage so until I get all the costs I won't know the real situation and how far our savings will go. We are also considering ICF as a quicker solution, but I need to understand more about it and the costs there.

I have been doing my calculations and as we are doing a 240m2 single story barn conversion where we have to build the 2nd skin for a cavity and replace some of the existing walls it turns out to be just short of 5,000 blocks. When I told hubby he said, now much will it cost. I will have to work out the m2 of the walls to try and get a price. We were planning on getting all the materials as hubby was going to do it himself, but has now realised that it will take a very long time. how many m2 tends to be done per day.