Buzz

Check locally for company offering PCC , whilst not the same as a warranty they are accepted by most lenders and considerably cheaper. Ours was under 2K , building control will have the final say on what they are happy to sign off against anyway.

I suppose I will depend on whether you want to keep your architect close to you throughout your build, im sure there are company's out there who will just do a building regs submission package . Once we started I only contacted our architect once for technical assistance and that was for a cad drawing of a pair of 30 degree lintels to send to the lintel supplier so they could manufacture them, other than that he would call to see how we were getting on and I called him a few times to ask for trade recommendations ,who would he use for air tests etc .

Looks a bit pricey compared to ours, we paid £2.5k for a basic package but looking at what is included in yours I can't see much over and above what we received. Can only think they have factored in designing your (zinc ?) roof ?

Get them to make it 150mm and then full fill with 32 wool batts , your brickies will be used to this method and is very difficult not to get it right. This will give you the same uvalue as pir. Cost wise, pir is around £40 m2 woolbatts £17 m2 , but as always shop around for deals .

Hi @Caroline how wide has the cavity been drawn at ? And what u value. I agree with the comments above, if you don't need to use pir then I would look for another solution

Congratulations, at least you have something worth more today than it was yesterday. Now onto the next steps.

If you have had the rest done and have a recommendation why do you feel you need an SE to design the foundations? BC will be on site when you dig the first trench and advise is they are happy or not once they see what's below.

Hi @Drellingore Like you I find it difficult to understand why when you gave your architect a budget they didn't throw up any red flags to the escalating costs before now , they must have known where the final cost was likely to be very early on in the process but carried on regardless, always easy to spend someone else's money. So what does that tell us about them as a company? Either they are incompetent and have no idea when designing a home as to the cost of what they are drawing as they go along or they don't care about the costs as that's your problem, neither are a good look .

Welcome along At a guess I would say your not too far from our build, we are in fenland but very close to the west Norfolk border. Good decision to demolish and rebuild not only do you get the VAT back but your services should be relatively straightforward as well something we had issues causing big delays with. Good luck

The thought had crossed my mind

You must have the patience of a saint , three and a half years to try a resolve a boundary issue regarding a fence built on your land ! I can only echo the opinions above, if its your land then you are entitled to remove the fence (or anything else )whenever you want and you do not need to inform anyone what and when you intend to do it .

Thankfully no CIL in fenland , but definitely something not to forget if your in an area that does impose it.

You have 6 months for the date of issue of the Certificate to claim your VAT back . There are still a few items I want to buy before I claim, gravel extra paving and any thing else that I might want at a 20% discount.

Our certificate was emailed over today , feels like another milestone on the build, despite the fact this will be our second Xmas in the house officially we have(now) completed .

Have a large one and enjoy it . Fair play for posting this issue on the forum, it will serve as a reminder for those who follow as to the seriousness of CIL and how much of a financial benefit it is to us self builders ( if we reminder to fill out the forms 😀)