Stones

How long did it take your plasterer to do the upstairs Dave?

@ProDave, I am indeed. No gas up here so no benefit from duel fuel discounts. Shopping around helps only if to prevent you being put on a dreadful deal when your good deal ends. There is a difference over the whole UK (appreciate the following link is for business but illustrates the point) due to the varying cost of delivering electricity region by region. https://www.businessjuice.co.uk/energy-guides/energy-prices-by-region/

I remember our Divisional headquarters splashing out on new office furniture one year (replacing stuff that was 20 years old). The janitor, being a sensible and down to earth sort of chap, put a sign up asking people to take the old stuff away, which various people did. Everyone was happy and the pile of old stuff steadily shrunk in size until someone from the property department put a stop to it, saying the desks had to be formally disposed of because they were an 'asset'. I hadn't got in quick enough so ended up phoning said department asking how I could acquire one of the desks. 'We'll have to get them valued' was the response. Can I make you an offer I asked, 'No' was the answer. When will you get them valued I asked, 'Well, we probably won't because getting a valuation would cost us more than the desks are worth'. So what will you do with them I asked, 'Probably just dispose of them as waste'. When I pointed out that hiring in several skips to take the stuff away would cost them, and that by allowing staff to take them for personal use they were in fact saving money, there was no answer...

@ProDave Good to hear that your house seems to be on track to matching energy requirement predictions. Makes all that effort taping and sealing worthwhile. In just under 4 months I'll have a full years worth of data to compare against my own heat loss calculations. What's already evident is how big an impact wind speed, and in particular high gusting wind has on heat loss. Solar gain and overheating predictions over the summer were pretty accurate. I'm just hoping the same will be the case for my heating requirements.

+1 to @PeterW comments. Our 8.5kW ASHP and preplumbed 300L cylinder package cost just over £4K delivered. All the gubbins on the cylinder so it was simply a case of the plumber and electrician making simple and relatively quick connections. You can read more in my blog here: DHW is costing me 5p/kWh in energy (and we pay more for electricity on the north of Scotland than other parts of the country).

@NSS How much electricity does the auto control of the glass tinting use? Is it something that is easily quantifiable, or like an LED, a few Watts?

@Visti Looking through the QS costings, I would immediately question the following: Architects fees - I would question the value of them overseeing the build, you have the design you want, pay for it, move on and get a building control and warranty package, saving £20K? Below ground drainage, you are buying a service site, can't see this costing any more than £5K, saving £5K Service connections, again buying a serviced site, services should be on the plot, I would have thought £2.5K at most, saving £2.5K Stairs - £10K! - depends on the complexity of course, but I could have got a double winder all in oak, 7m of glass balustrades and oak handrails for just over £3K. Have a look at Stairbox or one of the other online stair suppliers and you can cost yourself. Saving £7K Windows - again, I think you will be able to get passive standard 3g for at least half that if you shop around, Saving £14K Frame seems very expensive, but until you get quotes... Kitchen appliances - budget at least £3K if you want branded appliances +£1K Electrics, as @ProDave has said, silly money. I would have thought closer to £7.5K, saving £12.5K Heating, you are not going to have to spend £14K on heating system for a well insulated new build. UFH pipes in the slab, plus an ASHP and UVC, or gas boiler and UVC, £5 - 6K depending on spec (UFH pipes may be included with your foundations depending on contractor you use), saving £8K Ventilation, no way you need to spend £8K, £2.5K and do it yourself, saving £5.5K Contingency, I would go for £15K - the biggest risk is getting out the ground. From then on its choices or changes you make. Saving £42K Totting those up of the original QS costings, £104K 'saved'. Then you can look at work you can do yourself - painting (save £5.5K), landscaping (pay someone to hard landscape slabs etc, but prepare the garden yourself with a rake, seed the grass rather than turf etc - save £2K). Those savings would take you down to £281K You then start to question the costings of various headings such as ceiling and flooring finishes - what's included and what's not, and squeeze savings by shopping round for materials. Perfectly possible to save several £K more doing this - I shaved £20K from the cost of our last build by going through the costings of such things, identifying costs the builder had budgeted and included, but were not required. Think carefully about what work you feel confident doing or want to do, and weigh up the time it will take against loss of wages or additional costs of rented accommodation. You may find that the saving of doing things yourself, isn't quite what you think as you incur costs when you lengthen the duration of the build.

Very similar to how fitted ours (following on from that very discussion). Timber cladding turns around the reveal and comes to rest against the alu cladding. The weatherseal, Soudal sealant in our case, is set back from the alu cladding to keep the drainage channel clear. We used the stop bead method as described by @ProDave for the rendered section of the house, again ensuring the drainage channel is kept clear.

@Crofter I've used Osmo Polyx on our Oak veneered MDF window cills and shelving without issue.

@Grosey Scroll down my blog entry for a picture

+1, Osmo Polyx, 20 -25 minutes per coat. Brush on, wipe off with lint free cloth. Great finish (far better IMHO than the pre-finished doors you get)

Have a look at the previous post that I wrote on this subject:

The Humidity sensor is in the MVHR unit itself, set inside the extract inlet.

@KaraB If you press the set button immediately followed by the up and down arrow buttons and continue holding all three for 5 seconds it should give you access to the commissioning menu, which let's you set low, normal and boost ventilation rates, timers, as well as the humidity control and filter reminder.

Agree, 3 months seems to me to be very optimistic. I would work on the basis of at least 6 months. Nothing to stop you marketing your house during the build, although you may prefer to wait until landscaped and tidy.

Why do sink manufacturers insist on supplying that grey pipework instead of something more robust?

Past its best before date ( which he makes clear in the description)

We have a 300 litre UVC fed by an ASHP. DHW stored at 48 - 49C in the cylinder, fortnightly legionella cycle via immersion. More than enough DHW for a family of four, can easily run 2 showers simultaneously, or run a bath and then a shower and there is still DHW to be had. Returning a CoP of 2.5, so DHW is costing me 5p /kWh. Forget the LPG, you don't need it, an added capital outlay for little real world gain IMHO.

Thanks for all the kind comments.

Good day today, just had my letter back from HMRC confirming my claim approved (no queries or delays) and refund to be paid in 20 days.

I remember the day our cat caught a mole and brought it into the garden (newly laid turf). Having rescues it from the cat, I only just managed to grab the mole by it's tail before it dug its way from sight. Released a good distance away from my house. Makes you wonder how many moles are set loose by warring neighbours...

@JanetE, delighted you're using the term dwangs instead of noggins. Plumbing looks good too!

Looks fantastic Peter. +1 for your lawn prep.

You don't need a Completion Certificate to reclaim VAT. Other forms of evidence such as proof of entry on Valuation Roll (for council tax) or a letter from a bank / building society confirming release of final stage payment secured against the building. Detailed in the guidance notes. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-refunds-for-diy-housebuilders-claim-form-and-notes-for-conversions-vat431c

We're on house no 4 with MVHR, so have learned (I like to think) from experience what works and what doesn't.