Tamino

Thank you very much for your response and advice. Just to answer some of your questions: >why are you building? Then, where, roughly? Next, what would you like this house to do for you? The new build house would be for my own young family. Having been living here in a village in Surrey for some time now we think it's a good place to settle and live here for minimum several years, especially as it'd provide enough space for my family for many years to come, yes, it's kind of a dream home, rather than just a project. >First thing to decide is the thermal performance you want from this house. As a new build we're required to reduce the energy efficiency by at least 20% while having a tight budget in order for this project to be economically viable considering all sorts of uncertainties in life ahead. Therefore, any U value that meets the government's or council's requirements for the energy efficiency would do as long as the total build cost falls within the budget.

Hi, I'm a first-time self builder and I have a planning permission granted for a project which is about demolishing an existing single storey bungalow and build a new 2-storey house. I'm thinking to hire a main contractor to do the job minimising my involvement. I'm wondering if SIP walling is a good option compared to the more traditional masonry building, especially in terms of the total cost and time of project completion as I have a quite limited budget, especially for this project to be economically viable. Any advice would be much appreciated.