Ferdinand

It is a good question, and we have often discussed it on BH. I would be perfectly happy with the approach taken to the stonework at our previous address since they knew exactly what they were doing , and the work was of a superb quality and completely in keeping - but perhaps one to discuss at another time on a different thread. I stand by my opinion and my comment above (which was not intended to refer to wildlife), so I have edited out the conditional on that one.

My parents took one of these on when me & sis were just under 10. That was 5000 sqft+, Grade II Listed and they were still doing bits of fabric 25 years later. The roof was done in sections over 2 decades. At the end our all-electric energy bills could run at £5k a year easily was the whole house in use. Looks like a great project, and I hope you have a decent amount of land too. My immediate comments to try and add to your thinking. Is this a blitz project of less than 2-3 years, or a long-term one of more like 8 or 10 years? ? 1 - There may be something to be said for doing one area first and moving in to that (like a small apartment). If you are doing serious work, you perhaps want to be onsite since it is in the middle of nowhere. 2 - Pay very careful attention to the stuff you will only do once, as you will be living with any cockups or underinvestments for a loooooooong time. Particularly applies to restoration of fabric. eg insulate and ventilate properly - what will the lifecycle costs of poorer insulation look like after 15 years? If you are off grid or electric only, then energy use is important. Do you have a planned strategy for energy yet? I might argue that putting in skirt insulation should be one of your first things to do, if you do not plan to dig out the internal floors. 3 - Is it worth you seeking to become competent in some sort of trade area - one that you will need always whilst you are there? That can be fun and save significant cash. Looking at the pics, tree maintenance, woodwork (sash windows / furniture) or stone walling might be interesting and useful. 4 - Perhaps find yourself a multi-skilled handyman type locally, who is good at lots of different things - and plan to use him for the next decade if it works out. You will get good advice as to other trades man, and hopefully somebody less expensive that Competent Persons who you can use without the same worry. Also, that type may be more available for short term and minor jobs whilst Tradesmen have to do a lot of their main thing to stay certified and have a less chopped up schedule. I'm currently trying to draft a piece arguing that having a good generalist around is beneficial for self-builders - currently mine has been helping a forum member from 2nd-Fit on, and has done dozens of very different things that would potentially require several different recruits if no generalist was around. 5 - Pay attention to your tax strategy as well as legal and construction strategies, eg (and speculating) I think a lot of the structural stuff can be offset against CGT when you sell it, so is there a chance for one of you to buy it now, then sell it to the other when you roll over the renovation mortgage. I think that some things eg windows can be treated as capital or maintenance depending on how you play it (and the words you use). No idea whether any of this would be worthwhile - but have a look. 6 - It may be an idea to build a good double garage quickly, for secure storage, or two for a roofed central section to be added later. Requires no PP. 7 - If it as isolated as stated and a Private Sale, then consider whether there are any 'facts on the ground' that you need to create before any authorities come to visit eg a lake. They always get far more enervated about stuff that isn't there yet, so if you need it or it is something that they will flap about, perhaps put it there first (judiciously). Our listed building was not visited for more than 30 years, and was in the middle of a large clump of trees. "Repairs" can cover a multitude of sins, and if eg you "repair" your whole roof you maybe able to puts loads of inroof solar on it without anyone noticing. My parents repaired entire outside walls without telling anyone as dad was an architect - by traditional stonemasons and with all blocks numbered and restored exactly, but to an extent that the top floor and roof were structurally stood on acros for months. Regulations are tighter now, I think. 8. Consider carefully what to buy and what to hire. I would eg buy scaffolding. Ferdinand

Get some fibres from Wickes, for one thing to do. eg https://www.wickes.co.uk/Sika-No-Crack-Concrete-Fibre+Powder-Admixture---90g/p/154064 F

At this time of year hampers can be good ... of interesting food that people would not normally buy. Then if they do not like it they can give away to family and friends. I usually get my tenants a bottle of something like a non-alcoholic ginger or rum & raisin traditional tipple with the card, and usually something else. F

Well, it beats Marx.

Some things are irresistable. This prescient 1903 painting by C. M. Coolidge shows Planning Consultants meeting the Council, even though it is supposedly called "A Friend in Need". With apologies to any highbrow art people on the forum ... this is very much the 1890s version of the Jack Vettriano niche.

Can something be done with an intumescent strip? eg apply a heat-expanding one (eg firedoor stuff) then play a blowtorch?

Presumably, @Coops85, you could also simply ignore an unenforcible condition on the basis that they will never be able to enforce it. Your move ... Check, Bet, Fold, Call, Raise , Bluff or Showdown? "The Planning Consultant" (below)

You don't appear to have much confidence in them staying up ! (Or are you due to do Hercules in amdram?)

I think your solution sounds about the best, assuming the widths work. Have to watch the design at the corner of your drive, or it could be a potential alloy-killer.

Since you are a straightforward gentleman with a vintage Landy (I think), surely the solution is obvious and in your hands. Adopt the Buccaneering Attitude required post-Brexit, get yourself a couple of Minis and your Landy, and go get 'em. But then I thought this version was more Buildhub-y - vehicles, materials, self-do style - everything.

OTOH take care not to build stairs for Lilliputions. I spent last week helping someone move stuff around their house and my size 11 clown-shoes made me as if I would topple downstairs.

This has been discussed extensively before. My view is that the stair angle is one of the best ways of making your house feel more luxurious than usual, and really helps more frail or elderly people. I reckon it gave my mum 5 extra years in the family house. I say make it about 33-35 degrees unless there is a really good reason to make it steeper. This is one thread, with my comments copied below: If I am correct, I think you are a doing a Prime Contractor build on a dreamy site outside London? It deserves a sumptuous staircase. ? Ferdinand ------------------------------------- A staircase with a shallow slope is one of the great hidden luxuries that makes a house feel sumptuous imo, even at the cost of an extra square metre of space (or two). It is like getting the orientation right - people who instinctively like the house may have trouble noticing why. And it makes a significant difference to whether people can keep going upstairs easily when old; we reckoned our parents found it convenient for an extra 5 years+. And far better for the fat people we are all becoming. I lived with the one below for several decades. It is a magnificent bruiser of a thing - Jacobean oak and pine with a gallery but sooooo comfortable. The shallow angle allowed my parents to keep going upstairs comfortably for a few extra years. Originally it had about 28 layers of paint from the Victorians onwards and we had two slaves architectural students who spent a whole summer restoring it. There were 18 steps between floors, which were a little shallower than usual and I think the angle was under 35 degrees. Suggest go for roughly that. And a generous half landing with a window seat, or space for a resting chair, is good :-). But that is more difficult in a modern setting. My other favourite is generously shallow and wide open well circular staircases. Suspect also that when falling down shallow staircases less damage is done as you go down less height for a given length of horizontal travel, as do half landings and curves (you stop quicker hitting the wall or floor less hard). That is just me guesstimating but feels about right. Looking at Jack's numbers, I think I might try for something like 165-70 rising and his 270 going if the house could take it.

If that is Cornwellia, it is the west NOT the south. Bah humbug !

I happened to be in my local Howdens branch yesterday in search of light coloured Quick-Step Uniclic Laminate Floor. This is the full range (I was told), but not all branches stock all of them. Prices in my Howdens without underlay are around £18 per sqm inc VAT, but the VAT may not be reclaimable. Obviously colour reproduction from poor light to dodgy phone pic to colour autobalance to your screen to different lighting means that a physical sample of the one you are thinking about is important, and it won't look like that anyway in your new house ?.

Be inspired to take all the time you need. Perhaps consider making it one of your bespoke elements, and ask a local craftsman to come up with ideas in keeping with the design. Why not have a stained glass panel of canal life in it? A fantastic way to root the design in its locality. In the meantime some weasel words: "A suitable front door, modern in design but in tone with the context and location, will be fitted. The exact design will be chosen as the build proceeds, due to expected changes in the ranges offered by door manufacturers. We hope to consider using a local artist and/or craftsperson to contribute to the design." (ie: 'Please bugger off with your pre-emptive micromanagement; we will not be deciding yet because it is impossible to decide yet, and it is our decision not yours, and you are not William Morris, Edwin Lutyens, or Kevin McLoud').

Quite like the look of those . Have just been helping a family member recarpet their house, and it involved dismantling and remantling a former flat-pack wardrobe with two full size mirrored doors. Weighed a bleedin' ton. Carpet fitter walked in and said "I'm not doing that" despite it being in the contract; at that point no one has anywhere to sleep so you cannot exactly walk away. I like the multiple sliding doors and zero wardrobe floor that can just be treated as another area to do with floor-covering. Occam says "separate wardrobe floor not needed". Win. The only reason I can see not to have one is that if it is not built-in pro-developers would not have to pay for it. Ferdinand

Or sticky nipples from Amazon at 10p each :-). (Admittedly more suitable for where doors open and hit another unit). https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F5XXCWH/

So to pursue that you need an alternative solution that meets his needs as well as his (the engineer’s) idea does, assuming that he has got his understanding of policy correct and it has not changed, and that meets your needs better than his current conditioned solution. Is that perhaps the start of a conversation, rather than the face of a brick wall? F

Small developer equals niche, so I think you need to define your idea of Buyer, especially if we are in eg Watford, Guildford or St Albans. They want walkable facilities, and their current perceived needs met, plus perhaps a few obvious future needs. Flexibility for the future that does not impinge on current needs-meeting. Things that matter are Perhaps kitchen, bathroom, master ensuites, integrated external space, some things better than expected to give the wow / warm fuzzies on viewing, maybe ability to choose some things, maybe storage are some other things. There was a very interesting 100k Home episode on last night with a couple Building a 130sqm bungalow in Torquay. Lots of good ideas. Ferdinand

I think that Standard Size savings are more likely on doors or perhaps high end 3G, or products used by big players in the larger project market eg housing associations, rather than self-build. Might it be worth talking to someone in that market say Eurocell rather than the likes of Rationel etc. Another option used by a couple on here have been dark coloured upvc and/or the 2G units that are now able to get to around 1.0 as a u-value. For uPVC I think that the processes are now so tuned for volume that there may not be too much fat left to cut. The last house I did ... put te full quote on the forum somewhere ... came in at about £170 per sqm for 2G with 2 doors and a set of French windows in the quote. I think the custom turnaround was only slightly over a month. The variations just on quotes are at least half or double, so there is much to be gained by sweating it. Two threads very worth reading, including an amazing chart by @Visti comparing umpteen quotes for the same job. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/6509-how-much-of-a-difference-does-3g-make-over-2g/ https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/1639-cost-for-good-quality-triple-glazing/ Ferdinand

If you end up with normal worktop I would suggest looking at the kind of wood type finish used by @zoothorn in his kitchen recently. Think it was cheap etc. Do you have any Multipanel offcuts? They would do it, depending on finished edges required etc. Ferdinand

That is like early Top Gear ... “I went on the Internet and I found ... “. I might self-divert with Kitlers (“I Can Haz Poland”) or Karma Sooty of amusing memory. F

A family member went on a mushroom identification course some years ago,and enjoyed it.Then came up with mushrooms for some time. There are also blogs around that can be a good source.

Welcome to the forum. Good lists above, and there are hundreds of items where you can spend or save money, and a lot of things you do not need at all, or where alternatives available. My advice to spend your time generously before you start. As this is probably a one-off unless you plan to build several houses, you will not get the opportunity to learn from mistakes ... so you need to avoid the mistakes. Another side of that is that you have high financial and other disk, My comments given budget constraints and that you are probably doing some stuff yourself. Here are my 7. 1 Put the infrastructure in place to get good value automatically ... eg Trade Accounts, habit of thrift. 2 When to hire and when to buy then sell ... eg diggers, scaffolding. 3 Build a fairly detailed cost model in advance, and use this as a tool in learning about / managing your build. In taking on the PM yourself if you are, you are taking on from scratch a task that a pro would treat as varying between 1-2 days a week. 4 Decide not to eg embarrassed when asking ‘stupid’ questions. 5 Identify the basics eg insulation and finishes eg stairs that you want to send money on, and save the money for that. 6 Have a large contingency eg 15-20%. 7 Do not change things after you have committed to them without a damned good reason, but be aware it might be needed. 8. Remember that original estimates will not stick, especially given timescales and thinking later. Another reason to spend more time thinking in advance. 9. Get a mentor / sounding board from somewhere. Ferdinand