Indy

The lower end of the pricing scale is for DIY systems generally. Definitely doable but you need to know what you’re getting in to and it’s not that difficult for a new build when the walls and floors are open. A lot harder when you’re working around existing plumbing and cables for a retrofit.

Similar size and similar price for us from HSL. I can’t remember the exact amount but it was around £7.5k for the design, materials and commissioning. We did get the larger 90mm ducts as part of the package.

No idea. I’d only ever heard of Harvey before this, never actually had one. Plumber and main contractor both have had experience with the Monarch - good enough for me!

No actual hands one experience but we're due to get the Monarch Master HE installed in ours. Recommendation from the plumber and the usual checks online and with ChatGPT seem to indicate that it's a good product that will stand up the daily demands of a high water usage household.

Yes and I would have, had they not balked at the audacity of our main contractor of asking them to provide one, and sent a WhatsApp message on the morning of the job - effectively backing out.

I've heard this concept from a lot of people on here and discussed at length with our builder and architect/designer. In the end, went with UFH on both floors as I hate rads and would not have them. In the bathrooms, gone for electric towel rads with a shelly relay wired in. The thing that swung it for me was a question from the builder - would you buy a property that did not have a heating source on the 1st floor where you and your family sleep? You may trust the solution where heat from downstairs keeps the whole house warm but a subsequent buyer will not be able to wrap his head around the concept and simply look at it as something that needs to be fixed/money that needs to be spent to clean up the mess.

My personal experience on the matter of RAMS.. The build is being managed by a main contractor, who runs a very professional site and has taken on all the responsibilities. Keeps all documentation up to date and everything that HSE might need to so - no complaints. Any subbies that come onsite through him are known to him and he makes sure they are properly inducted, checks their insurance, gets a copy of the RAMS etc. All good - but the one thing I've noticed is that his subbies for different things are a little on the dearer side. Not surprising but we get a very smoothly managed end to end process with no headaches. The one or two occasions where I've tried to get alternative quotes or bring my own team to come and do things cheaply - all went well until the point where they were supposed to start on site. Asked for their insurance and to fill out the relevant RAMS forms and they quickly decided that there wasn't enough meat on the bone to warrant the headache, so walked away from the job. To be fair, I had negotiated hard (about 10-15% lower than the quote from the main contractor's subbies) - but in the end, went with the known quantity to avoid the hassle.

I can see the merit in what you're trying to propose but I can't see the Amazon concept scaling to things like housebuilding. I imagine what you're offering is a marketplace where vendors will advertise their designs, and then buyers will come along and choose one that seems to get good reviews, they can see pics, talk to people etc before taking the plunge. And your platform takes a cut for connecting buyers and sellers together. The things to keep in mind are that self builds and the trades associated with them tend to be generally hyperlocal, the whole process is also intensely personalised. The people undertaking self builds are doing so because they don't like the identikit designs offered by volume developers, or they don't like the quality - so they're prepared to put up with the cost, hassle, time, effort, blood, sweat, tears and everything else that comes with the process. There is merit in making that process easier but a large part of that pain comes from the regulatory environment which you'd have no control over. The free market generally sorts out everything outside of that.

https://www.electrical2go.co.uk/13a-2g-dp-switched-socket-with-dual-usb-c-65w-dual-fastcharge-antique-brass.html I’ve gone for these in select locations as they put out enough power to charge a laptop and phone at the same time.

There’s a material difference between something like a landscape visual assessment and structural engineering calcs. The former is a nonsensical piece of paper that needs to be produced to check a box on the planning application. Money down the drain. The latter is integral to the safety of the house and its inhabitants, and something I would gladly pay for an expert to do.

It's great to hear the good luck you had. But luck is not a mass market solution and your unique set of circumstances clearly cannot be scaled - which is kinda the point.

Painfully true. When I started this process 5 years ago - there was still a sliver of a chance that we would come a little bit ahead - i.e. about 10% profit if we decided to sell at the end. It was never intended to be a flip for profit, but doing the math at least keeps you sane when sinking your life savings, blood, sweat and tears into something. A whole host of things since then have happened which means there is no chance I would make the money back if I was to sell it now. The market turned, materials went up, labour went up, we up-specced the material choices (🤨), mansion tax coming and general taxation levels going through the roof. I could easily have bought something of a similar size in decent nick for cheaper than it's been to do the work myself. But, it would have still needed a lot of work to get it up to the right standard and not been exactly what I wanted - so here we are. Will definitely need to live here for at least 10-15 years to stand a chance of the markets recovering and us being able to recover our funds. Luckily, that's the plan anyway 😄

Town and Country planning act of 1947. Fix that and all the other dominos will fall.

Try here - Osmo Polyx Oil

BTW - we did use Heat Space and Light as well, for the whole package and quite pleased overall (apart from the cost!)