LilttleVoice

A.K.A 'nip and tuck'! Our decision wasn't so much about limited funds, more about having a trained eye on managing costs with everything getting so volatile, and making sense of the huge differences in builders' tenders - everything from considerably less than expected, through comfortably affordable, to untenable.

We engaged a QS initially to help us cost our project realistically, get tenders in and ultimately find a builder, as well as draw up the contract, and generally guide us through what had become a pretty daunting situation. For us, completely inexperienced in the self build process, it has been the right decision, to the extent that we asked him to PM the build; to date it's working very well - costing us a shade more in fees of course, but worth every cent to keep us on schedule and budget while balancing our vision and wish list – 'value engineering'. Also, it's saving us a great deal of stress! LV

Thanks so much for your replies. @craig, really valuable insight as to difference in cost and maintenance considerations, thank you!

Hello all We've been researching windows for months, and now we're getting close to decision-making time, our heads are spinning. Up until now we've been set on speccing 3G alu-clad windows and doors, but are now wondering whether to consider 3G timber. I think we were swayed slightly by the promise of alu-clad being lower maintenance, and preferring the warmer wood frames inside. But why not good quality timber, if it's slightly less expensive? What's important to us is thermal performance, functionality/quality, and aesthetics – clean, contemporary lines. The question is, roughly what's the uplift in cost of alu-clad compared to timber? So far we've had a couple of quotes for alu-clad (including 4 sets of 3.7m sliding doors) coming in around 35-38k. We're actually taking out one of the sliders for practical reasons (replacing with a smaller picture window), and may also swap another for French doors, which will shave a fair bit off those quotes. Interested to hear any expert insight! Many thanks LV

Hello! First post here, although I've been poring over the forum for a while. We bought a small stone barn and outbuilding with full PP in place to convert/extend in 2020, just as Covid was taking hold; unsurprisingly it took a while to get things going, finding a good builder proved more difficult than expected with some pretty gobsmacking variations in quotes! While we're not building to passivhaus standards, we are wanting the finished article to be as energy efficient as possible - just seems sensible to do as much as we can in this area, while we have the opportunity. So we're hoping to spec 3G windows and sliders, MVHR, and as we're in a non-gas village, ASHP. Just starting to mull over the merits of solar panels too. A couple of months into the build, so far so good, no nasty shocks yet (although we were held up for several months by what turned out to be an unnecessary, overcomplicated piling system that would have made a catastrophic hole in our budget.) Now the appropriate (and affordable!) foundations are laid and we're getting out of the ground, I'm sure I'll be looking for lots of advice as we get to the sharp end of making all the right decisions. LV