Andrew

Here's the after photo. I've spent most of the day pumping water out. I feel like King Canute but I keep telling myself it all helps. Just need to make sure the piling contractors are happy to keep going next week so we can get the remaining 30 piles done before Christmas.

The joys of doing foundations in December, I have an unwanted swimming pool.

Piling contractor arrived first thing and spent all morning waiting for Travis Perkins to deliver the stone required for the bottom of the piles (they forgot to order it yesterday). It finally turned up about midday. After an agonising wait the first pile was driven and reached set at 5m. The next 4 went in pretty easily and all set at about the same level. Pretty happy so far, especially when the guy piling told me they had to go to 32m on their last job ?

Has anyone ever had a low voltage electricity pole removed and if so can you recall what plant was used to remove it? The pole itself is very similar to a BT pole in size and height. The DNO are going to be routing a low voltage cable underground on our plot and removing a pole. I want to make sure there is still sufficient access for whatever they may use as the foundations / piling is cracking along. Thanks.

Not exactly sure but at least a couple of years. Didn’t price a raft as our structural engineer was really against it. Spoke to another couple of engineers recommended by the timber frame company about a raft and they both also were very negative. I can’t remember the exact details but differential movement came up a lot. I’m sure these opinions were purely based on their lack of experience but by then I’d been scared off. Too late now anyway the first pile goes in shortly.

It's a bit overdue but this is the first post of our build. The start was a long time coming, the idea to do a self-build struck in May 2017 when I spotted a plot on Rightmove which happened to be exactly equidistant between my family and my wife's family. With a young child and ageing grandparents the idea of relocating to be nearer to family appealed, as did the idea of building a house. Purchasing the plot was not without challenges and the legal side took about 9 months. Most of this was down to the useless solicitor we had instructed but we got there in the end. That took us to early 2018. The plot had detailed planning permission (won on appeal) for a 5 bed very traditional looking house. We knew it wasn't what we wanted but thought we could get by with a few amendments to the planning permission. We spoke the architect the vendor of the plot had used for the original planning application but he was very old school and liked to do a lot more talking than listening. Instinctively we knew he wasn't for us. After a search on the internet and telephone calls with a few other architects and architectural technicians found the practice that seemed right for us. They listened to our ideas and seemed on our wavelength. They convinced us that a new scheme, taking into account our needs and wants was the way forward so we worked with them through early 2018 to put a design together. This was submitted to planning in June 2018 and took until December 2018 to get approval. The council did ask for a couple of amendments to the design which we largely complied with and extra ecological reports which were supplied. There were a number of pre-commencement conditions attached to the approval. So in January 2019 we engaged a structural engineer, energy assessors and noise surveyors to do the work required to discharge the conditions and get in position to start on site. We also started the work of selecting a timber frame supplier. After speaking to half a dozen and getting quotes, a localish timber frame company came out on top. Their quote was competitive but more than anything they were on the right wavelength and seemed very open to listening to our concerns and questions. We hoped to get started on site in the spring / summer but unfortunately our planning condition for surface water drainage (SUDS) resulted in the council asking for a land drainage consent. This particular piece of bureaucracy was relevant as we want to discharge surface water and treated foul water into a brook adjacent to the plot. In addition to a further ecological report regarding voles and otters which I commissioned, they also needed design details of the headwalls we were using and discharge calcs for the roof run off. Reluctant to spend any more money on consultants I used the building regs info to do the calcs myself and submitted. Deafening silence followed for 8 weeks until I reminded them of their statutory obligation to respond within 8 weeks. Soon after this reminder the approved consents arrived. Discharge of the planning conditions followed shortly and we were free to get started. Unfortunately by the time this happened in early September our groundworkers were on another job and didn't become free again until early November. We did look around but couldn't find anyone who could start sooner that didn't want significantly more money for the job. So they started on site on 20th November 2019, two and half years after I spotted the plot on Rightmove. Since starting they've cleared and levelled the site, although there's still some spoil to be taken away. We have difficult ground conditions with clay / sand soil and a low bearing capacity. Due to this the SE has specified piled foundations, a ground beam to link them all together and suspended block and beam floor. I've had a piling contractor lined up since the spring and they visited site for the first time after it had been cleared and levelled and proclaimed there's no way that dug trenches would suffice and that the ground beam would need to be shuttered (another £4k). That means the ground workers needed to excavate to underneath ground beam level which they've done and also have provided the piling contractor with a bed of stone as a rudimentary piling mat. This was completed last week and the nice man with the total station has been out and precisely marked the position of each of the 50 piles. The piling contractor was due on site yesterday. However they have been delayed by a couple of days and are meant to be starting tomorrow. It'll be a big day as they have quoted to pile down to 4m, after which it's £30 / pile / metre - fingers crossed we don't have to go down too deep.

Totally depends on the state of the title. If the land is already registered with its own title, £500 - £1000 should do it. Ours was a purchase of a part of a larger piece of land with a complex title (title needed to be traced back to early 1800s), and the conveyancing cost us £2k. Solicitor said it was actually £4k of work on her part but as she had quoted us £1k, capped her fees at £2k. Not too sure I believed that line.

The piling contractor has spoken to their engineer who will do it for £250 inc VAT. It's a third of the cost of our structural engineer's subcontractor, so we've asked the piling contractor's engineer to go-ahead. Thanks for the replies.

Our piling contractor has asked for a bar bending schedule for the reinforcement in our ground beam. The structural engineer, we engaged directly, is saying this isn't in the scope of his works and it's additional cost. Okay, fine, however he says he doesn't have capacity to do it and wants to sub it out. Seeing as it would be subbed out, has anyone had a BBS produced and is there anyone they could recommend for it. The quote I've had via the SE is a fairly substantial unexpected cost and I'm looking to at least benchmark this. Thanks.

I managed to download it for 99p and have skim read it. Brief review is that I didn't find much in there that was of use / help to me. Very high level, wishy washy concepts (you need a 'superstar project manager') but not that much around practical techniques, detailing etc. It does read a bit like an advert for why you should have an 'independent energy assessor' involved in every single aspect of the project. The mesh energy hierarch is an inverted pyramid of where you should focus attention / budget. Location (orientation), fabric, airtightness, renewables, appliances, usage in a nutshell (the first being the greatest). I couldn't fathom how this was a mesh, but knowing it's the name of the author's company, it now makes sense.

The Sonos IKEA stuff is good value and (imho) looks pretty smart - https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/symfonisk-by-sonos-and-ikea

We received the attached from United Utilities. Might be worth asking SW Water if they have a similar document. A2 Temp to perm Wall Mounted (Normal).pdf

That looks like an old photo of Hopwood Park before it was upgraded to 16 bays?

Yeah, good point, thanks. I've double checked the technical info and they are pretty much identically. Suitable for 35 degrees to 90 degrees pitches, so fine for our roof. Looks like we'll go for the Marley and save some money.

Our planning application specifies a particular Redland plain concrete tile. We're soliciting roofing quotes at the moment and one of the roofers has suggested using a Marley tile instead as it saves about £1500 on the quote. We've got samples of both tiles and aesthetically they are very similar - they are exactly the same size and really close on colour and texture. So much so, I'm willing to take a punt on the planning side as I don't think anyone would ever notice the difference. However it has left me wondering why the Marley tile is so much cheaper. To my untrained eye both samples just look like plain concrete tiles, but are there any other less obvious differences to be aware of that could cause issues later? Is the Redland tile much more durable for example? Would be very interested to hear any insight into the difference. Thanks.

I've had a quote from IC recently (within the last 3 weeks) but it took a lot of prodding. I think they've just done a couple of big shows and probably have a backlog of quotes to get through. Pretty short-sighted response tbh but I'm not surprised to see who sent it.

That’s a shame. Not sure then, but sadly don’t think it will be that easy. Good luck however.

Can you increase the lending on your current home to cover the cost of the land? If so this will probably be the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to do it. I remember having a similar conversation with the Melton when trying to purchase our plot. In the end we got a home owner loan secured on our house at the time from our current lender, which we used to purchase the land. Later on we sold that house, paid off the mortgage + the homeowner loan, and are using the rest of the equity + savings to get started. We moved into rented which is roughly the same monthly cost as the old mortgage and I worried we may have trouble getting a self build mortgage as we would be paying the rent + towards the end almost of the build the full mortgage (so the 2 mortgage scenario). As it happens the Ecology were absolutely fine with it and we have just secured the self build mortgage we need.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of your blog, very enlightening. Your house looks fantastic and the setting is breathtaking. Hope we can get our larch cladding as nicely detailed.

Excellent, thanks for the replies, it actually makes things easier. I'm pretty much ready to press the button on the window order but want to get the timing right. I am keen to get the house wind and water proof as possible. I should have phrased the question to that has been answered - what's the earliest point in a TF build that the windows and doors can be installed?!

Just looking for confirmation / reassurance (or otherwise). I'm expecting to install windows and doors in our timber frame build after the roof is on and any brick skin areas are complete (we have two elevations with a brick outer skin, the rest is timber clad) but before external timber cladding (fixed via battens to the frame) is installed. It would also be before internal PIR insulation / VCL / service void battens are installed. Is that right?

I popped into Grand Designs Live this afternoon. Show was very poor, not a single exhibitor caught my eye enough to bother talking to. I was surprised by how many completely unrelated charity stands there were, with quite aggressive ‘chuggers’ trying to attract my attention as I walked by. I guess the economics must stack up for them, although the price to ‘exhibit’ is probably eye-watering. It must be a lot busier at the weekend. I won’t be going next year.

Are battery storage systems zero rated if supply and fit on a new build? Can't find a straight answer.

Our groundworks are (hopefully) starting really soon and I need to specify the trenches required and what goes in each. By way of background in addition to the main house we have a detached double garage with a 40m2 studio / office space in the roof. This contains a small bathroom with shower. Fortunately the garage is only about 3m away from the ground floor plant room (in the house) at the nearest point, so the plan is to use a single ASHP to run UFH and DHW for the house and garage with an unvented hw cylinder in the plant room (in the house) - mainly to save duplication and keep things simple. All of the drainage for foul water + surface water runs are already specified separately. Current thinking is :- Garage <-> House (plant room) Cold Water Insulated DHW feed Electricity (substantial as incoming mains will be terminated in garage and then run to house - also PV generation on house and garage + possible battery storage in garage) Cat 6 x 12 (ethernet, 4K video, probably more + redundancy) Insulated UFH flow and return UFH control cable (from thermostat - timer / controller will be in house plant room) Gate Pillars <-> House (plant room) Electricity (for electric gates, lighting + intercom) Cat 6 x 4 (one is required for intercom rest for redundancy) Garage -> Packaged Treatment Plant Electricity (for pump) General I also need to think about things like - Sky Dish External Lighting Alarm sounder box External CCTV cameras is it worth trying to bring these out through the foundations or is it best to make penetrations for these at the appropriate places and seal the airtight layer really well then? Is there anything obvious I've forgotten? (more than likely will be) What are the rules for combining service in trenches. I'm pretty sure we can't just dig one big trench between the house and garage and stick everything in!! Any and all thoughts / contributions very gratefully received.

I’m in a similar situation. Our UFH requires twelve loops in the main house. I’d like this to be a single zone but the Wunda documentation says that their thermostats can only control a maximum of 4 actuators. Which is why I guess they have split it into 3 zones on our quote. I have no idea if that’s a real limitation or if any other thermostats can control more than four actuators.