Helen Vowls

Just had a quote back from a firm (via our architect) to provide detailed design drawings (structural engineering, below ground and water surface drainage design and design management, whatever that is). The quote is extortionate. I’ve a feeling our timber frame company can do this so have asked them for a quote. Do we actually need to be spending 20k+ on this?

Has anyone heard of them or used them? Based in East Sussex? Just had a call with them and was impressed - any views?

Hi Heather WE are just buying a piece of land in East Sussex (Kent side) with PP. My advice, well this is how we found ours, was making friends with local estate agents. We were tipped off by a local owner rather than a big chain. hope that helps

Thank you! out of interest, did you use one of their designs or your own? Would love to see any pics if you have them!

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. They are the obvious ones to use - are 30 mins from where the land is, really like the chap there as he’s not salesly (Darren) and lots of other reasons. I’m just trying to work out if there are significantly more expensive than others. If, for instance, the difference pays for an amazing kitchen then we will need to take a view but if it isn’t significant then we’d use them as i agree - we feel safe with them and they’d pretty much look after everything for us! great to hear a success story though, thank you!

This is the problem - quotes seem very vague and trying to get clarity is like digging for gold! thanks for the advice - all fair points

Hi, A bit of advice please. We are just sat comparing two quotes, one from Fleming and one from Scandia Hus. The plan is to get the timber frame supplied, erected and to watertight. SH do first fix but Flemings don’t so if I take the first fix price off SH quote there is still a significant different in price. Is anyone aware of a difference in the quality of their frame / workmanship? thanks Helen

Hi, we are in Kent currently although we've found a plot in east sussex (just!). Were made aware of it through an estate agent so they are definitely worth befriending. Good luck

Thanks Jilly. I think we are going to have to resubmit which is fine as this will be our long term home. But will see!

Hi - we have planning approved on a 1 acre plot for a house! Super exciting but having never done this before we’d love any help we can get to achieve the right design. It’s a plot in a village, we are a family of 4 plus dog! I’ve attached our designs. The unmarked ones are the ones that have planning approved but we want to change for the following reasons: - the majority of the garden (south facing) is in front of where the current lounge is situated. We don’t use a lounge much - only really in winter and in the evenings so want the focus to be on the kitchen diner area, which is where we spend the majority of our time - the lounge jutting out into the garden and taking away from the patio doens't make sense to us. - haven’t tried to reconfigure upstairs yet - but want to maintain 5 beds, 3 of which will be en-suite and my husband likes that our room is separate to the kids rooms. would love any critique / ideas TIA Woodland House Plot North and East Elevations OL.P06.pdf Woodland House Plot Site Plan OL.P01.pdf Woodland House Plot Ground Floor Plan OL.P02 4.pdf Woodland House Plot First Floor Plan OL.P03.pdf Woodland_House_Plot_Ground_Floor__Plan_OL.P02_2.pdf

I’ve attached our designs. The unmarked ones are the ones that have planning approved but we want to change for the following reasons: - the majority of the garden (south facing) is in front of where the current lounge is situated. We don’t use a lounge much - only really in winter and in the evenings so want the focus to be on the kitchen diner area, which is where we spend the majority of our time - the lounge jutting out into the garden and taking away from the patio doens't make sense to us. - haven’t tried to reconfigure upstairs yet - but want to maintain 5 beds, 3 of which will be en-suite and my husband likes that our room is separate to the kids rooms. would love any critique / ideas TIA Woodland House Plot Ground Floor Plan OL.P02 4.pdf Woodland House Plot First Floor Plan OL.P03.pdf Woodland House Plot Site Plan OL.P01.pdf Woodland House Plot North and East Elevations OL.P06.pdf Woodland_House_Plot_Ground_Floor__Plan_OL.P02_2.pdf

Hi, we are absolute newbies and have purchased a plot of land with planning approved for a 300sqm + house in an acre. We’ve taken a quote from Scandia hus as they are local and also another couple of firms. What I’m currently confused about is the following: - we want to tweak the plans. Scandia have an in-house design service who can do this but their overall prices is £££££££££. We are going to go back to the original architect but I’m beyond doing the plans, getting further approval and sorting building regs, do we need them in the process? Also, reading about a quantity surveyor for a lot of people - where do they come in?!?! sorry if silly questions but just need clarity so we aren’t doubling up on resources, or not having enough! thanks

Thank you. I’ve actually spoken to the two you mentioned this afternoon so quotes are underway!. Be really interesting to see how they stack up.

Thank you everyone for your comments. My husband is keen to go with SH as they have been the best in terms of comms so far but you're right, we need more quotes. We have oakwrights but to be honest whilst we want a traditional house (we are in a conservation area), we don't want it packed with beams. Now going to spend my afternoon reaching out to other firms! Also, SH have an inhouse architecture service which we would use. We have planning agreed however want to tweak, although not significantly, so will also reach out to architects as well! Thanks again for the support , I feel like an utter novice!

Hi, We are just in the process of buying an acre plot of land in Sussex. We are utter newbies and one minute I think we know what we are doing and the other i realise we’ve no clue! We are talking to Scandia Hus and have been really impressed with them - not salesy and for novices like us they are able to really guide us through a process. We are thinking of getting them to take us to watertight and then we will take over and either employ a project manager we know or co-ordinate it ourselves. Are we looking at this way too simplistically?! Scandia to us seem a great option as they are local. Would love advice!