saveasteading

Meaning, the water went away. But on made ground it could cause settlement or erosion. On a slope especially, it could cause issues to you or elsewhere. The solution is probably to spread the water over a large area, and distant from the house. Doing the percolation test is a few hour's work with a spade, a bucket and a tape measure when at ground level, But your made ground may be an issue. Do you have a design intention for the foundations on that ground?

It doesn't have to be. They chose the wrong consultants or contractor. Or tried to do it themselves without the skillset. It's seldom the best way but can be if there are huge unknowns or a tremendous urgency. If you said to me as a contractor " I want a 5 bedroom house over there, and to move in in 12 months" then open book is the only way. It happens.

That's not like most projects on here. Thus the fees are justifiable for the certainty. Yes so you own the risk and must have allowances for unknowns. It's not the only way... preferred yes. There are circumstances where you are dealing with unknowns. Ground conditions for example.

The quote seems silly high, although it can cost thousands to get a road crossing licence and do traffic lights etc.... then the council will rightly want the highest highway standards for the reconstruction. Percolation tests are described in the Building Regulations Document H. Please read then return with questions.

This is a generic costing and very approximate. If I was doing these for £500 then the conditions would be several pages long, and the boq would include a lot of provisional sums ( a subject for another day). P detailed boq would take many days to prepare. I was involved with this stuff as a day job so please ask for anything more specific.

Great news. Do you mind telling us the cost? I didn't know about this stuff, radweld for houses. Cynical me suspects that the housing developers are already using this on the pre-agreed units for an air test. Does anyone know? They can then apply this to all similar units. ( I know this happens and only assumed that they improved the units that the bco wanted tested.) And as this covers faulty work, the general workmanship may be allowed to fall further. I wonder if it deteriorates with time. So if buying a new house, ask which ones were tested: what chance that info is not to hand?

That sounds right to me. Piling 9m from the shaft isn't that far and might disturb the ground there. A raft will spread the load wherever it needs to go. But do ask why beam and block. It will cost thousands without need. You can't sensibly just ignore the Architect's instruction/guidance so you need them to justify or remove that design. Or get the SE to over-rule it and somehow persuade the Architect to do as instructed. Good luck, and keep us informed please.

@Nick Laslett good thinking to do the @ thing. I am set up to see what about 8 members are discussing so can miss new posts. Yes I think you are right. The purpose of beam and block is to jump over poor ground to reach foundations on poorish ground. Or it can be to overcome a slope. To build a structural raft then build a completely extra floor seems wierd. @Saints1 I'd really like to know your Architect's logic for this. Firstly on the 1% chance that there is a good reason. Secondly to understand what he doesn't understand. I've never used a structural raft because of cost and have built on bogs, fill sites and even refuse pits. On marginally soft ground I can see that a raft may be optimum. A raft is expensive in itself. That should suffice. One more thing. I have many times changed a specification from driven piles to vibro improvement. In itself that showed that the original SE wasn't up to speed on the possibilities, perhaps thinking it was expensive. It would be worth asking them if it is a possibility. The ground is compacted by inserting gravel, and then the ground can take standard construction. Not always suitable though. What is the issue with your ground being weak?

One difference. If your feet stick out from the duvet it can be uncomfortable however high the tog. But if the attic insulation is improved over say 90%of the area, the benefit will be there. ie you don't need to get technical close to the eaves, just stop a bit short.

These days we try not to load sewage with rainwater as treatment capacity is not coping. Hence these recent scandals of sewage into rivers. If well planned they don't join up. I'm surprised the planners have not made conditions. But you do have to submit your proposal to the bco. They wilI prob send it to the drainage company. I suggest you do that pronto or at least discuss. Do you have space for soakaway or pond?

But water mains supply isn't very expensive . Is it about £2/m3? Against that count the maintenance and pumping. On the current project I am designing in about 8m3 of rainwater storage for gardening and other outdoor use. @MortarThePoint. The water company will want to charge you for sewage at the same volume as bought in water. You will have to explain it to them, which might be interesting with 2 addresses.

1. There are very formal methods so that nobody can argue about clarity. That could be hundreds of pages and thousands of items. A QS puts that together for the client, from the drawings provided, at great expense. 2. Anyone can do their own system Build house as drawing Quantity 1. Rate. £300,000 Total £300,000. Flippant, sorry. But that's the principle. From a drawing a builder will work out materials, labour and plant schedules and price it their own way, or get an Estimator or QS to do the graft. They can present it how they choose. Eg Clear site Build foundation Walls Etc Allow for overheads Allow for profit Total In your case, this is what to expect. If you engage multiple contractors, then you must expect interface costs which neither allows for.

1. The question. I dont think the bco cares about the ownership. 2. Re private supply: For the steading we had to provide a water quality test. The water is sourced at a spring about 1km uphill, then rigorously treated.

Exactly so. Using double-beaded flexible mastic tape, and self-tap screws through it. This is how steel clad roofs (1mm thick) are sealed, and no other material has to go over it. Red for hot pipes, black for others. The corrugations allow for the slope. I must have 100 of these out in the world. It needs skill to fit on a steep slope, then they work without issues.

What do you mean by 'right'? It is a list of work with quantities. That should be reasonably accurate. If you expect them to forecast the build cost then that is rather different. 4,5, or 6 builders could prepare estimates using the identical boq and present dramatically different quotations. Which one is right?

It's fun to think of ideas, but there is a more fundamental issue. If you put all that load on one half of the bottom flange, it puts a rotation into the beam. A beam out of plumb becomes very much weaker. So this is likely to be 'knocked back'.

No. About 25%. BG and Knauf can charge more because they can provide test certificates. And often they will be a client requirement because of this certainty. The competition don't need to pay for laboratories and boffins They just bend metal. But not double the cost. Try a different supplier. Unless you have to get bco approval.

The big other name is knauf. Then there is another uk manufacture who's name I can't remember. Based Midlands. BUT I suggest you contact a specialist merchant such as CCF. They will not be tied to one supplier. You will need their sales person, not the counter server. They will have access to all suppliers and may have own-brand for what you want. Do not ever mention a maker's name or a product name. Use generic terms such as wall stud or ceiling channel. It isn't cheap: much the same price as in timber is a guide.

Apologies, I was anwering an imaginary question. "Why a telehandler as well as big crane?" The one forklift, but a telescopic one. And I was just simplifing the vocabulary over-casually. I shall endeavour to be more precise. For clarity, no telescopes or televisions were handled.

Tiles? I’d expect a caravan to have a thin steel sheet with some polystyrene under it, and then ply for some strength. But I see your photo, so perhaps otherwise. I'm guessing, but that would need care. You have to consider if a hot flue could cause a fire. An insulated flue would be essential as a minimum. There are special flashings for flues to metal roofing or any other product, so it is doable.... with great care.

I thought it was OTT at first too but it's an agreed price for the work so can't argue. They've clad another smaller roof too ( 15 x 12) and I suspect the crane had gone and the handler was used for that. Plus the garage roof had to be stripped first and there's other steel to do too. I'm on hols so missing this fun: my favourite bit of any steel job. Overall that's impressive in 4 days of wet weather on a steep roof. We can now take away the buckets that were under the holed garage roof. note the string line for fixings precision, and the ridge filled with foam.... nice.

As I've often said on here. I prefer tanalised pine with a stain. Neutral stain locks in the colour. A fraction of the cost and can be repaired/ replaced / adapted at any time. That's just me and my experience on commercial work. The family projects use cedar which goes grey, because I'm not in charge.

That's going to be OK. There is no bending stress at the end of a simply supported ( not built in) joist. But be sure to cut neatly and not extend the horizontal cut. There's another option though: to counterbarten under the joists, or add another layer of plasterboard.

This pic makes the scale clearer.