Ferdinand

@Jude1234 , to add,that is a specific term. "Firm price" means unchangeable. "Fixed price" mean can be changed in certain circumstances. So clearly the "firm price" transfers risk to the supplier, who will therefore add an appropriate premium for the extra risk you are asking them to take. @JSHarris summarised it well on another thread: The full thread is here: Ferdinand

I take it this is a holiday let, since something like that as a family let would be unlikely to be economic, and not a room by room HMO since you would be likely to be responsible for the bill, or subdividing and enforcing it. You need a heat model of your build to your spec, and work out energy requirements for the heating and what the impact of the PV will be, particularly if Electric. As it is PV you need to work out the timings as PV generates in summer and heating is required in winter. In IT terms, you start by documenting your requirement. If you are a holiday let, then ASHP, underfloor and a log burner may be the way. And perhaps an overnight tariff and a Sunamp or similar for your water. F

Just before you cut that, check that it is the worktop that is wonky not the room that is not square, or you may be passed that by now ! You then need to decide whether to have a not-right-angle and compensate in the run of cupboards, or cover the gap at the back. I really meant to comment on upstanding at the rear. If you want something really simple, then you can use skirting board .. wood, plastic or mdf. Or you could even use wooden or plastic quadrant. Not as elegant, but easy to do to last a few years. Ferdinand

Or a Hiab. My former neighbour brought in a 40 footer by using 2 Hiabs to position it, one at each end ?. I think you can also add driveway surfacing materials to your bricks and blocks, depending on level of detail. Also sewerage plant. Roof tiles, again depending if you intend to distinguish with eg porcelain floor tiles. Insulation if on pallets? Think they are 400-500kg for cellulose and come in a curtain-sider. Internal doors If on a large pallet. My last were and it was approx 250kg for 6-7. Mature or semi-mature trees? Pallets of plaster. Excellent idea for a thread. The next thing is to position the events in the build process, and the trade off between a HGV and carrying the pallets of smalls by handoff via a transfer at the boundary. F

That is a new way of dealing with planners. Remember the Ack-Ack and the Ghillie suit, though.

Welcome. I think it looks good. Now is the time to think (organisational, financial) about how to facilitate an efficient build. At this stage I would take a tour through the VAT reclaim regulations and see if you can add anything to the plan (eg landscaping detail, up and over electric garage door rather than the side hinged Morris Motor House manual type, offset the garage door so you storage is at one side) which would permit that to be included in your VAT reclaim at the end of the project. One thing that determines what you can zero-rate is what is explicitly included in your PP; if you have just submitted then you can add things in with a letter or email. Also remember the detailed regs regarding CIL-exemption. That needs to be in place before you start developing, if applicable, or you can get nobbled with the liability. If I have this right you have a lot of soil shifting to do, and will need your sunny sitting area at the bottom of the back garden. It might be worth thinking through how your back "garden room" will work - like me you seem to have the sun at the front. @newhome has just posted what is a fairly comprehensive thread on this. I would think about including an option of making that sunscreen solid over the front door so you do not get rained on while looking for your key, or your visitors whilst waiting for you to answer. Also I would have some permeability to eg see a hint of the back garden from the front - that could be a slightly moved front door or a tall narrow window to the right with the current stairs. I think some detail could be improved in some respects (eg shower downstairs to clean the "dog-under", bigger shower upstairs), but most of that can come later in the conversation. That is an exercise in exposing yourself to different suggestions and choosing the best options; no one here will be offended and we will all say different things. There is also a mass of liveable details you will want to think about - eg where is the discreet parcel drop off, and where will your garden tools be kept. Best of luck, but looks good. Ferdinand

It all depends ... probably best to refer to the Interactive House on the Planning Portal, or a similar source in Scotland or NI. Ferdinand

One alternative is to use the cheapest (or secondhand) artificial grass. That can probably come in at about £2 to £5 per metre run, depending on the height of your fence. Buy in 2 or 4m width and cut lengthways. A little more expensive but £50 or so on the cost of a build is not very much. You could probably use it to screen off or floor a romping / kids' catastrophe area in the garden when you have completed your build in a year or so. eg This basic stuff (selected as high in Google) is £4.49 per sqm in 2m or 4m width, which for a 1m fence is £2.25 per metre: https://www.grass-direct.co.uk/lawn-budget-artificial-grass.html or clearance of remnants is a little cheaper at about £1.50 if t is the right shape. https://www.grass-direct.co.uk/clearance I had a few days in Istanbul last year, and it was used on many city centre building sites very effectively. Looks attractive and would keep your neighbours happy. The only issue I can see is it potentially catching the wind. You could probably attach it to Heras or other using tie wraps. Or sew it by hand if you want to discover your Zen :-0 . Ferdinand

P^^ssed? Poor Performance Prevented by Passed-Out Protagonist.

If you do not have a written contract that makes it more difficult to enforce specifics because there aren’t any. Which makes it easier for you to change things should you need ?. In practice some sort of custom and practise will have developed within your relationship. But you can change that and assert yourself. I think you first of all need to spend some time .. perhaps up to 20 or 25 hours for starters ..working out exactly where you are, what you have spent, how that relates to what you thought you were spending, what you have left, and how you want to deploy it. You need then to find out how you will bridge any gaps .. whether putting more in, or finding ways to make the needed amounts smaller, or delaying expenditure. If you look at the thread I linked there were dramatic reductions in a number of areas, and there are various things that iirc were simply excluded. Several people have posted their similar exercises or costing spreadsheets if you did around on the forum. Ideally I think you want to stop work, or at least not start new work elements, whilst you do this .. to create a static starting point and to mark a watershed in your methods. Ferdinand

Sorry to hear that. At this point you need to find out where you are (ie evidence as to whether your fear is in reality justified, and to what degree are you howling at the moon on the basis of things you do not really know), and you need to identify potential savings amongst costs which are not sunk (sunk costs are things you cannot affect as they are already committed, though sometimes you can agree eg to a contract variation once and only once you know what you need to do). Sunk costs are spilt milk. Bit you need to work on a detailed level. If you are at second fix stage, then there is a lot you can still do - as finishes and furniture are where we spend a lot of our cash. And there are a lot of things for which you can get less expensive alternatives with a plan to replace in a few years or a decade eg laminate worktop not granite, 1.2k range cooker or £250 5 burner hob, not 5k range cooker etc. There will also be some things you *can* do eg painting the first coats or gardening, sweeping up or humping (metaphorically) bricks. Find them. This thread by @Visti is a fairly thorough 'reducing the budget' exercise, in search of something like iirc a 30% reduction. There are a huge number of good ideas. I think you also need to address this with the other half - you will both need a prop to lean on if you are making serious changes or hard decisions. What did Churchill say? "Action this Day", and then built his own brickwork. Best of luck, Ferdinand

I have recently been developing some theories about sinks, but I will save those Ferdian-slips for another time.

Did you see a big ice cream cone sticking out of the ground at a funny angle? Next time I am up there I will take a piccie of my new car in the Buildhub Services. They do very good coffee. (Bah humbug ... beaten to the draw by @PeterW again)

I might be inclined to paint the plasterboard with something moisture-resistant if I can just because a bit of water spray or dribble can damage it. I would not worry too much about what I used. But this is probably a ferdian-fandango that is not normally done. Though I did used t think that that applied to tiling under cupboards, and it turns out half the BH community agrees.

Excellent thread. I sort of agree with @epsilonGreedy but it is not a dichotomy. A number of the things on the list can be treated as overheads by developers or architectural practices, whilst the self-builder will have to hore another expensive ologist from scratch. eg even in a small architectural practice there will be relative specialists in eg planning policies of council X, layout of parking, and perhaps use of phpp. In this case the skills are available at much smaller cost and risk, an become part of fixed costs rather than options. The self-builder has to select what to use from a list of far mroe than 15, what to self-do (and take the time to become sufficietly competent), what to hire in, and what to ignore. Of course, there are people around who want (and can afford) to go in with all guns blazing and appoint a main contractor and take the hit of not having (or not wanting to) spend time optimising everything. It is all about risk vs cost vs time vs quality, as ever. Ferdinand

@JSHarris, I thought that had a stinking Annual Fee attached ... of the order of £500 ... to be a Registered Competent Person, My BiL did the qualifications at night school with a view to doing electrics, then found just how much he would need to be doing to be worthwhile, and that it would be difficult to justify in the interim while building up a possible business. Eg

Yes. We get condensation all the time on the outside of our 2G fairly new conservatory.

What would I seal that with? Low expansion foam?

Feeling a bit poorer today, as I have had the roofers in this week for several jobs. Anyhoo, he has found a wasps’ nest. In the most awkward place I can imagine. Here is a pic or two. The entry point is under the flashing right at the back of the rhs small gutter of the dormer, where it meets the hipped roof. The distance from head height standing on the neighbour side of the fence is 5.5m. We have no access from the inside without cutting holes in the bathroom. Suggestions welcome.

Solar panels are usually surfaced with a glass type surface, which is reflective. As for trees, a bit of modelling on the appropriate website will give you some indication of which times of year there will be reflection, which could inform your need for deciduous or evergreen trees, or what variety of deciduous. Personally I would be thinking in terms of something like birches or white beam or aspen if you need deciduous, as they are not over large, are relatively unobtrusive, and have leaves which shimmer in the sun and may help dilute the reflection. And I like them. Ferdinand

Welcome. Nice trailer ?.

Could you explain the "fuss"? If there was planning and a pre-existing right to access, what was there to fuss about? The only thing would be the door overswinging the boundary, but a roller door and a blipper would fix that. Ferdinand

I am imagining them lulling themselves to sleep with a dream of counting farmers jumping through bureaucratic hoops.

If he needs an alternative to oil which will also (hopefully) not involve a rapid phase-change, as is not concerned by fire risk, I see that TNT has a higher volumetric heat capacity.

OTOH, the EPC figere is a regulated number from a regulated process, so is harder to question casually. And GIAs may still be comparable wrt you and next door - if for example your Gross Area including walls is less than their GIA that is proof of difference plus a margin of 5-10%.