Alan Ambrose

A couple more thoughts: + a lot of small businesses are not great at the client stuff. In some cases, you have to manage them. Maybe the quality of the work is so good that you’re prepared to do that - including negotiating their fees. + it may be that they don’t really want to do the next bit and this is their way of telling you ‘we’d rather not’. + 440m^2 is huge even if you’ve got 8 kids. Maybe you won't actually like to live in something that big. + we have a ‘two-barn’ design too - one with bedrooms and bathrooms, one with everything else. It’s occurred to me recently that it would be better to have two smaller plant rooms with the relevant plant in the right place - all DHW, for instance, in the bedroom barn. I also plan to use multiple CUs, hubs etc. + stage 4 is tech design? It’s worth probing what level of skill your architects have in this. Maybe go out for competitive quotes with other tech designers?

>>> Then it sounds like one part of the council is telling you to do something … without warning you that another part of the same legal entity is going to try to profit from it. Strong letter to head of council suggesting unethical behaviour to start with as such behaviour could be interpreted as a revenue scam. Well that’s a reason in itself. LPA’s may act in a fashion that’s not joined up - but that’s their problem, not yours. Lawyers can also find a couple of reasons that you probably never thought of. Even their engagement will make the conversation take a sensible turn. I think there are a couple of specialist CIL lawyers that have been mentioned on here - a general purpose solicitor may be learning on the job. There’s also a barrister direct access scheme and it may be best to go straight to the horse’s mouth.

You could also have a calm exploratory meeting with the architect to see what you can learn: + your original estimate was xxx. Was that finger in the air or based on a calculated estimate? How exactly did you arrive at that figure? + ditto the recent estimate. + how do they explain such a difference? Is the 2nd figure unreliable also? Are there features in the final design that vastly increased the cost? If so, why were these not communicated at the time? + etc etc etc In any event, it’s careless and bad client handling, which says a lot. I once had a medium experienced solicitor who suddenly wanted to double my bill, without any explanation, for some (already not cheap) conveyancing. I talked to her boss and we came to a compromise. But those solicitors are firmly crossed off my list now.

Suggest - finish getting the look and feel through planning. Close up the architect’s contract. Keep them sweet in case you need anything else from them later. Then engage an SE, and a technologist to draw the BC stuff and use one of the QS services to cost it up. You can ask the QS what info they need and work back from there if you want. Then go out for actual quotes. None of that will cost much and you’ll have a firm-ish idea of costs at that point.

There’s not so much love on ‘t ‘ub for oak frame. There are a bunch of oak frame companies in business so someone is clearly buying their products. But those buyers are not on here. Similarly Baufritz houses etc. I have a design with a structural oak frame ‘clad’ with larsen-truss style insulation. Makes a lot of sense to me. The self-build magazines have loads of oak frame builds. Some have brick skins, some clad in other materials including render, oak featheredge etc. SEs who understand oak frame are fairly rare, but some get it. I think it’s fairly common for the frame to support the roof directly, and the walls to be self supporting. The 4 big guys - Oakwrights, Carpenter, Welsh and Border have loads of experience with all sorts of configurations - so pick their brains. You can probably go through planning without making a final choice of ‘cladding material’ - just the look and feel (and constraints imposed by the oak frame). We live in a barn conversion currently and want to get the feel of raw oak (and other earthy materials) in the new build.

>>> That's US news Yeah, appreciate that, but what happens in California or Germany energy markets may eventually happen here. I appreciate there are some local differences, but the trends e.g. increasing solar and wind / general shift from fossil to renewables / greater electricity consumption / increasing number of big energy-sucking datacentres etc etc etc are similar.

You read the article this morning about the French AI wasping on about 'cows eggs'? Also this: 29 Hilariously Wrong Answers That Prove Google’s AI Overview Is A Joke | Bored Panda

>>> The problem with large panels on domestic properties is fitting, hoists and cranes may be needed because of HSE. Maybe this is also limited, in practice, by the size of the largest trays.

@sgt_woulds - thanks for your thoughts re panel sizes and suppliers. So, do you think we're trending to one panel size now, and, if so, what is it ?

Sounds like a silt chamber is a really useufl addition to RWH.

Ah here: https://apnews.com/article/power-electricity-amazon-microsoft-power-plants-data-centers-grid-f4763f73bc112425e18f30618dff0039 Interesting, so 2 markets for power: us (everyone else) and the direct attach datacentres who (a) will want a great deal for steady power use and (b) won't want to pay for the network. Yeah, Amazon again...

150mm? Jeez. >>> If I remember correctly it was the way the two materials behaved after they get very wet and how they dry out. It could have been propaganda from either side. Very hard to find honest brokers in materials science. Yeah, I'll write up my research on this one day. Both sides, particularly the EPS guys, are quoting 'research' that is misleading. I gave the casting vote to Glatthaar Keller, who use XPS.

>>> If it's an in roof install then I guess its the detail of how the mounting trays are fixed on the edge of the roof?? Ah good point.

>>> Many BCOs won’t sign off a woodburner install FYI my install was one on an existing dwelling rather than a new build and with LA BC. I sent in some drawings, highlighting the safe distances, materials, suppliers etc. Installed the stove. Sent a doc with narrative & photos, testing etc. BC guy visited, asked me about the CO detector, and signed it off. I do agree though that BCOs are moving to the stage where they don't check or sign off much at all. They just check that someone else has signed it off.

I have seen one supplier that does a 100% panel roof - no tiles at all. Looks great. But … does this not generally fall foul of the general installer guidelines? That is, are you expecting to have ‘tiles around the edges’?

It would be v interesting to have a sketch of the nee design. I’m looking at a similar problem.

You probably need to be specific about what is included - architect? planning? SE? BC? SI? Foundations? Utilities? Finishes? Kitchens & Bathrooms? Drainage? SUDS? PTP? Loxone and other geekery?

Apologies, good point - and I think you’re right. I once had a dispute with one of the UK clearing banks where they bounced a big cheque twice … even after I notified them the first time. A ‘SAR’ got me reams (pretty much an entire ream of paper) or really badly formatted info. However, in there was a couple of nuggets of info which helped get the result we wanted.

Congrats, you must feel that’s a major step forward. Thanks for posting the images and the ‘what not to do’ hints. Any chance of an anonymised drawing? I’m interested in the position of dpcs, barriers etc. I think xps a much better choice than, say, Kore. Mind if I ask how you got the drains and ducts (a) in the right place and (b) held in the right place during the pour?

I think those plans you posted are estate agent’s plans no? Take them as ‘artist’s impressions’ rather than anything serious. Call in a good quality builder or an engineer? You can do the tapping thing with your knuckles or drill a tiny hole. An empty ‘cavity’ and a hollow sound almost certainly mean non- load bearing stud wall. Red or grey brick or block dust might mean either. Ask your neighbours if they know? - a structural support will usually run from the bottom of the whole structure to the top. p.s. you often need the freeholder’s permission to monkey with walls, so you might like to sound them out, and it’s possible they have useful info also.

My question was as written. ‘How common?’ i.e. about understanding the context of the planning world we inhabit. It wasn’t code for ‘do I think it’s happening on anything I’m involved in?’ Re: the ‘bribe claim’, I see the Slough Observer and The Observer are another source: https://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/24878224.slough-bribery-claims-developers-asked-pay-500-000/

MCS and heat pumps next? Wouldn’t it be better if .gov just stopped trying to micro-manage? It’s obviously crap at it.

If you don’t have passivehouse levels of air tightness, I think you’ll have ample air supply as it is. If you want, have a blower test done - maybe with and without the trickle vents open. We have a barn conversion done 7 year’s ago (not by me) with double glazing, trickle vents and (I assume) minimum BC standard insulation and air tightness. I put in a woodburner as I wanted it done right (I didn’t like the look of the standard flue hangers and had a custom SS plate bent up to fit). (BTW DIY is fine with BC involvement.) No external air supply - I leave one trickle vent open near the stove and that’s it. We have a nest combined smoke & CO alarm and, as I have asthma, I have a Davis particulate detector as a check. We use the stove a lot and everything is good. Yeah in the new place we’ll be passivehouse-like insulation and air tightness … and therefore have external air supply for it.

Look up the EPC from the government website and report back so we have an idea of the level of insulation in your barn. EPCs are a hopeless system, but they do give you a very rough idea. Maybe a screenshot of the bit that lists the floor/wall/roof insulation. Similarly, when you had your heat pump installed, you should have been provided with the calcs. Is there any kind of control system for the individual rooms? What was the heat output of the oil boiler you had taken out?

No, in fact the CDM regulations insist you have facilities for site workers. As Mike says, these are temporary facilities for the building process. You can also try to have your PD restrictions removed at a later date. I removed ours, at appeal, about 7 years after planning was originally granted. Let me know when the time comes.