saveasteading

There was once a thing called RIBA Fee Scales. It was banned as being anticompetitive. You can find plenty of examples online, for individual consultants. It is a handy indicator of the cost IF you know the build cost....but it has not been designed yet. Worth looking though. Is it sensible that the fee increases with the cost? No. So a fixed fee is needed. 8. Always good fun. Brief the Architect on what you want and whether they are encouraged to experiment and use flair, or not. Tell them your absolute budget to include all fees. it is common to only quote the build cost, ie excl fees. Ask what happens if their design cannot be done for the stated budget, which is a critical term of the contract (if it is). Is their fee forfeit, or do they rededign for no charge? Sounds over harsh but word it your own way. Then prepare for ashen face or some woffle about contractors and their pricing. One architect said to me " the client always finds more money". Beware. But there are plenty good ones, tho not cheap where you are.

Same in England. https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/resources-landing-page/riba-plan-of-work I would also say. 1. Make sure they have done buildings very like you want, with references. Because most Architects will take any work...a very self confident profession. 2. Within the scope of work, ask precisely what other professions will be needed and cost guidance. Because some will include ancillary design such as traffic acess, energy, working details and others will hive it off at your expense. 3. What happens if there is a planning issue? How do they deal with the time and costs? 4. There are contractors who will do turnkey including planning and design. Typically the same cost but they are taking much of the risk off you. 5 The most expensive iption is to stage 8, but also a turnkey contractor. Easy for the Architect. 6. There are lots out there. Speak to 4 or 5. If it doesn't click try 4 or 5 more. 7 cheaper does not mean worse...they might just bd very good at it...and vice versa. I could go on.

Nice work and price. But add waterproofing the walls and base, muck away, the stair, fire escape provision, and it is expensive for a wine and potato store.

If you had asked precisely for what you now know you prefer, then he might have charged the extra day anyway. Stay friends.

1. Their home page kind of confirms what I say above. Infrastructure, temporary buildings. 2. Basements are silly expensive. Have done one successfully, only because the original architect had designed it in ( as a car park that cars couldn't exit) and it became something else. So expensive, and such a lot of hassle. Built to keep water out, but it also kept it in, during construction. Does it rain in Ireland?

Trench fill. It depends how wide the footing needs to be. If very wide it can be a lot of concrete, so you might split the difference and start blockwork at about 1m down.

Me too. On a site next to one of ours, previously coastal marshland, they completely lost many piles. They had to put lots extra in and redesign the foundations. In case you are worried, we allowed for the very low ground strength and put in enormous pads. The building rises and falls with the tide. Back to the job in hand. There are many types of pile, and the site conditions are known. You should get a low risk quote. But piles here should bear at about 3m, and the top m then be broken back, so i still favour strips. My rule of thumb is to switch at about 2.5m trench depth, but here it is less. Stop press, mike2016 has PMd me a site plan with annotations. There are trees close to the building, so footings have to be deep near the trees. It doesn't change the solution too much. I don't think we knew about the trees before, but the SE had allowed. Whether the floor can be ground supported is debateable. I think it is unikely to be affected by the trees once encapsulated by the foundation. Others might want cordek or similar. I would prefer beam and block for simplicity and value.

I am saying that the last time I reearched this, they were being used for phone masts and such, which are big-time structures, but not buildings. The big advantage is in accessing remote locations with everything in kit form. Also for garden sheds and garages. I think they may be very useful for portakabins etc. Perhaps also for other modular buildings on poor ground. Not aware of them being economic for habitable, permanent buildings. Although they look substantial due to the screw, the central core is quite skinny. Decent strength in the vertical plane but not bending. I looked into using them very seriously some years ago. The reps were saying they were economical for buildings. But analysis showed that we would need enormous numbers of them, so we abandoned the idea. Very happy to hear otherwise. I was keen to try them at first but found that the reps were overselling, and not knowledgable. I think at the time they had obtained rights from Australian manufacturers and were overexcited.

..probably be all over you thereafter too, asking for proof of everything. You might even lose out using the hypothetical method if the virtual vat inspector decided on a high installation cost, then both charged and fined you.

Up to you. I don't expect any errors in the calculations. It's more about understanding the whole scenario. Anything from your consultants should anonymise who they are. I was thinking about quality. Having worked on major structural concrete projects, then come across the typical groundworker, they are not remotely the same. With my own money I use the normal groundworker but have to supervise. I have seen them variuosly leave drink tins on the bottom about to be concreted in, add masses of water to concrete, stamp mesh down to the bottom, not lap the mesh, bodge drains with silicon, refill overdug excavations...... Some of them don't take instruction willingly. I am seeing on BH why an SE might overdesign a bit....knowing it is likely to be badly built

Yes but too much work. If it was in Central London then the muckaway would be expensive. Likewise if it was contaminated. If I had to make a decision now, it would be for trenches. Simply based on experience as designer and contractor.

I would pay the extra for galvanised.

Yes, best to avoid trade names, and there are more...quinntherm xtratherm, recticel.... Asking for pir allows suppliers to offer whatever is the best value.

Be careful everyone, as these are serious accusations. For example it might have been prudent to sell the vehicles internally, to release cash for operational purchases. Also there is probably no "right" time to appoint an administrator. If every company struggling for orders was to refuse new business in case it all went wrong, then that would be the end of most. I'm not supporting anybody here as I don't know. Just saying to try to make points general rather than specific and avoid accusations.

Assuming this slab is designed as structural, ie self supporting, then the reinforcement must be positioned precisely as instructed, ie distance off the bottom. Then concrete quality and compaction. This is not stuff that most groundworkers do, or even know about. And one layer of bottom mesh is unusual in a structural slab. I'd expect some top as well. It all seems strange and I feel this is not the whole story. Drawings?

Quite big. But the concrete should be totally stable now, and you are using the mat, so i think you can risk omitting movement joints....not nice in a room.

I use these rods in the garden for bean stakes, as they are cheaper than reinforcing rods, yet are galvanised.

So diy or change. In case an explanation of basics helps.. There will be a load coming down your structural walls, measured in kN/m. Say it was 50kN/m and the ground capacity is 100kN/m2, then you make the concrete foooting 0.5m wide. But if the capacity is 50kn/m2, then you need a base of 1m width. The floor is separate and can sit on much weaker ground. If your project is several stories high, with very big rooms, then the wall loadings will be very high, and it would become technical and expensive. Are you sure the se wants to dig out the whole area.? What woild go back in? Plesse be aware that we don't know your circumstances and haven't seen your se report or drawings. Btw, piles will push through the soft clay very easily.

and the room size?

If there are contraction joints in the floor then mirror them. Otherwise, why would you expect the floor to move?

That was me. 2mm hump in a 900 x 150 porcelain tile. It needed a levelling system but the first timers are getting on great with it, and using the levellers on smaller tiles now too, for speed. I am guessing that a big square tile may have a hump in the middle, but the perimeter would all be level. Perhaps a heavy weight in the middle will sort it, but a 2mm flow won't really matter. Handling? Well you wouldn't want to drop or scratch them so find a helper (doesn't need to be a friend) and buy a suction lifter?

Not according to that NHBC sketch. To me it is ending up as an overdesigned floor over an expensive substitute for slab eps, (which would not require a vented space), but entirely due to circumstances.

' screw piles are not common in Ireland,' If you mean the metal ones that are screwed into the ground and left in place, then I am not a fan. They are ideal for garden sheds, and telephone masts. I discussed these at industry shows some years ago and the reps were giving amazing promises, which turned out to be nonsense. The trouble with conventional piles that are 2.4m long to refusal, is that you then chop the top 900m off. Very wasteful. UK planning allows anything significant to constitute a start of the works, including forming an entrance. You might chat to a planner about your predicament and see if they allow such a thing, or alternatively what danger of not getting renewal. In UK there would have to be a significant change in the local policy to prevent renewal...and I'm sure you could present it , but the Architect should only charge for a couple of hours.

I don't know the detail of course, but I think the design is cautious. 100kN/m2 is perfectly normal and takes standard footings. 70kN/m2 is not great but should be ok. Making footings wider spreads the load and is preferable to taking the whole area out. So I would be proposing standard trench footings at 1.3m. 70kN/m2 is also fine for a floor slab...nobody will fall through, otherwise it wouldn't be safe to walk in the garden. Therefore the ground between footings can stay in place. Yes have a chat with the BCO. What would be necessary is close inspection of the excavation as it proceeds, perhaps tending higher or lower as the ground is exposed. Perhaps the SE is avoiding the uncertainty, which some clients would prefer.

At least insect mesh. I think I would fix it inside for security and outside too, to keep the vents empty of creatures. When the beads are glued together is it a mass, or are there gaps?