Thedreamer

I couldn't decide whether to go for 2g timber or 3g timber. As this is our forever home, I decided to go for 3g. As we went for 3g then it made sense to put in alum clad as well. Windows arrived on Friday and went in today, really happy with them.

That's fee is eye-watering. My professional fees for planning, building warrant, SAP assessment and structural engineers plans came to below £3,000. Project management inspections at various stages of the build by a RICS quantity surveyor will be around £1,800.

Very nice, looking forward to seeing these on my roof next month. : ) Would you mind telling me what price you paid per pallet and are the 400mm x 250mm?

I like the look of the cast iron effect as well, perhaps there are many out there, but Brett Martin is one manufacturer that I've come across to date

Thanks, its great once the structure goes up, it gives you an idea of how the building fits in the surroundings. Are you still on course with your build? I'm looking at slates, next what did you go for? I think I will get the Cupa 3 heavy slates.

Nothing more then what you would usually get in the Highlands. I've never seen any of our trademens wearing midge hoods, but they are all Skye folk so perhaps they are immune to Midges ?

Looks very tidy. UFH fitter has done a great job there.

Thanks. The middle section will be partly vaulted between the two bedrooms . We have a few scaffold boards so can now walk (carefully) upstairs.

With the fabricated trusses already fitted on site. The next job was to create the middle section of the roof, this part was cut on site and it was quite satisfying helping to fit the rafters into place. We had some good weather for this job and I was pleased once these were all in place. The next task after this was creating the bridles for the Velux windows, fitting the smaller lean to rafters and then the gable ladders. After this, we were ready for sarking boards. The next job was the roof paper and fitting the velux windows. The next job will be the ground floors windows, these are due to arrive on Friday.

Keep fighting away, it stressful but might get results. Maybe even consider dropping your MSP an email and then cc them into the next complaint.

Further to @JSHarris comment regarding beams being bolted together. Here is a picture of my three 6 meter lengths of Kerto S beam spiked together a few minutes before installation. My structural engineer specified this.

Few points here: How did they erect the timber frame that far our? Do you have any pictures of before and after? What is the Glulam beam for, who has calculated the replacement numbers on the planks, what type of timber are the planks? Who is responsible for materials? A few bashes probably are expected on OSB and waterproof membrane. If this has come to light today I would try and wait till the morning before speaking/emailing your builders.

Must be a great feeling if it is less than expected. I'm hopeful that we can do some work later in the job, prehaps fixing the guttering, painting etc.

Build costs to get to the stage below has cost approximately £32,500 (materials and labour). I hope we get to £75,000 for windows, slates and exterior skin (blockwork and larch cladding). Hopefully, this leaves £75,000 for the insides. If you add in all costs to our self build: preliminary fees, professional fees, utilities and access it has cost approximately £50,000 in total. Glad that I now have at least a skeleton of a house, rather than just some blocks and concrete.

Labour and materials. Costs from day one of breaking ground for foundations.

Interested to hear what your half way point is or was for your total build cost budget? I hope for us, this will be when the slates are on the roof, windows in and exterior skin has been added. Does this seem reasonable?

Agree with this comment. Once you have made all the necessary arrangements (perhaps confirm the day or two before). Don't over think what could happen, I would devote your energy to a later stage of the project.

Great news well done : )

This was one of the days that I was most excited about, the raising of the roof trusses. Our joiners used our trusses as a template for constructing the gable end panels. The trusses then just went in one by one. 3 lengths of Kerto were spiked together to form our central ridge beam. The middle section of the 1st floor is being hand cut on site by our joiners. Our children will have a room on each gable. The middle section on one side will consist of a cupboard and WC. The other side will be partly vaulted above the living room and this required a steel beam which was fitted by our joiners.

@Cambs it's a great feeling to get some certainty over the foundations. I remember it was pouring when ours were done.

Just out of interest what height is below your joists, are you able to crawl? With my suspended timber floor I can just about lie flat.

Thank you. It took a fair bit of work for the creation of the access. We had a lot of trees to fell but we have enough firewood for quite a number of years for our stove. : ) We have planted quite a few oak trees which are growing well.

The attic trusses arrived today after making a three hour journey from Inverness to Skye. Offloading took place at our site entrance. Our joiner did a great job weaving between odd trees on our access. Trusses unloaded and ready to start being fitted over the next few days. Had a sneak peak on the top of the scaffolding to get a view from where the treble velux windows will be fitted.

Thanks for the helpful comments chaps. If we were to install the treatment plant it would be similar to @joe90 setup. I think I'll have a call with SEPA tomorrow and do some research on the various options. I like the idea of the non-electrical ones.

Good morning, We have in our building warrant and SEPA approval for a soakaway from a septic tank. Is the 'end product' that is discharged from a treatment plant better for the environment than a soakway? Would this be seen as positive upgrade by SEPA/Building Control? My limited understanding of treatment plants would suggest you have two different options, one with a electrical feed and other that don't. Could anybody point me in the direction of a treatment plant that would be suitable for a family of four? Thanks Kerry