swisscheese

Thanks for getting back All. I have asked to see the previous application for works. This is a direct quote from the Tree Office to the Planner regarding our Tree Rebutal submission during our Planning Application process: Having digested the report of Dr Frank Hope dated 8 September 2015 in which he addresses the comments of "Tempoary Tree Officer", I am inclined to agree with his findings and conclusions. In summary it is reasonable to consider these trees to have a root protection area of 4.0m radius from the trunks and that regular pollarding (a management necessity) will mitigate nuisance. The Willows were a problem throughout application and have a cost implication on the foundation design by a local well respected SE. - Piles and ringbeam. Attaching a couple of photos of the overhang. The Privet hedge is ours and is about 2-3ft thick and the boundary fence is behind that. The Willows sit in small wet area; natural pond drain, though there is rarely any water in it, even in a wet winter like last year. Our site level is about a 1.5m above the level of the pond. It's not in my interest to damage the Willows as they provide some natural screening, though the leaf fall will be a pain. Well, I wanted to get them back a bit to make it easier for the piling rig, I really don't need to incur more costs for inconvenience and wanted to avoid any damage the rig may inadvertently cause.

I applied to the LAPD for consent to remove some very low (almost touching the ground) overhanging branches, predictably they have refused for the reason: "1. The description of works is non-specific and does not provide a specification for each tree and no reasons have been provided for the works." After re-reading my application and the guidance I don't see what I could have done differently so I have written to the Tree Officer for some advice. I wanted to get started on the groundworks on the build started so I wanted to take the low hanging stuff back to the boundary. Bearing in mind that these trees were properly polarded some 3 years ago, there must have been an application for that, and obviously since polarding the willows have severely bushed out and are massively now over hanging our property. So my question is simply can I just keep on applying as many times until I get permission to prune?

Just bumping this to see how it is going? I'm in a similar position, the SE has recommended piling based on the soil samples etc, but more tellingly because of the proximity of protected trees this leaves me with little or no alternative. (these are costing me a fortune) I have 39 piles on the drawings. After getting a number of quotes I'm also staring down the barrel of 20K for the piles and similar again for the ring beam....I think, I must admit it is often difficult to actually compare the quotes, what is and isn't included, any hidden extras. Any tips from experienced pilers welcome.

As a kind of addition to Joe90's post with regard to self build/main contractor routes, I'm sorry if this has been covered elsewhere but: I'm wondering What sort of ballpark % figure does a main contractor add on as their premium? In our locality it seems builders are picking and choosing. I'm weighing up what the cost benefit of pursuing this route maybe. Thanks

Thanks Chaps - I'll check out the link. The price seems high to me given that we may not even be able to use the resulting package. I may have to find some more ball park figures about how QS charge.

A main contractor interested in quoting for the 'whole' of our build, In our area as in most builders/trades are busy and this could have benefits of securing a timeline on a build, albeit with some additional costs involved. However he would like to use a QS for the tender. The stated reason being the some of the more 'unusual' elements to the build, you know the not particularly unusual stuff like cladding, UFH/ASHP, solar, ply finishes, partial green roof etc etc. The kicker is the price the QS will usually charge....1-2% of build cost, and at this stage we don't know if the final quote will even be within our budget, so we could in be in the hole for something like 5K with a QS package that we can't even use. The builder has good refs and has appears to have been involved in some good quality builds. Anybody used a QS service like this - can a good QS package make savings on the build in the long run. What are the pros and cons of this kind of thing?

Hi, Does anyone have any experience of the cost and effectiveness of a "Tin Hat" over the build during the Winter. I've heard they can be quite expensive, is there any real benefit in keeping the builders working, particularly if the contact is Fixed price and time is not really a major concern? What are the real benefits?

Thanks for getting back We had the Soil survey done, test bores to 12m, impact testing, loads, lab samples etc etc. All under the SE's direction - so I'm not getting why this particular Piling Co. say a 20M SI bore is required for BC, other quotes don't indicate this. I'll have to try and get hold of BC

Our build requires piled foundations and I'm getting a series of quotes in. We have previously had the Soil surveys done and the SE was happy with it and designed accordingly, however one of the Piling quotes indicates we would require a 20m Site Inspection Borehole to be done to satisfy Building Control. I must say I've not come across this, and before I 'try' and contact BC does anybody have any knowledge of this. Thanks

Thanks, checking out self-buildzone and certainly their quotes are competitive, I'm wondering if there are extra savings to be made if I include site insurance in the bundle?

It's a quick one. I have, on recommendation, received a quote from CRL for structural warranties, I would like to compare this to other quotes. Does anybody else have any recommendations for a warranty they felt they got a good deal through/good service. Thanks

Currently looking at CRL for the Warranty, though I have not received a quote back from them yet.

Good to see this post, as I'm just thinking about this very topic. The LABC (actually 3 LABC's working together) and a local Independent I am thinking of using seem pretty close in terms of price, and after a brief chat, the independent seems to have a good local knowledge as well. The Independent is also on a approved list of an Inspectors of the Warranty firm I have been recommended. The price on the Warranty may or may not be decisive when it comes down to it.

Good checklist. From my experience, once we had been thorough many of the points on the list, the single most important aspect to choosing the architect was thinking "Yes, he gets it, he understands us, and Yes I think in partnership, we can work together."

Thanks Jack, better user name too - "notnickclegg" was soooo yesterday ;)) I look forward to asking more silly questions and contributing where I can.

all those involved in getting this up and running. Swisscheese is back. Thanks