Ferdinand

Or she may want a hill... Welcome, @MarkA.

I talked to F2F eighteen months or so ago, and they were very personal from that side too. An investment is linked to a particular building or project and you know what it is. Catching up, they do make loans nationwide, and ... given that they offer investeors 5.5 or 6.5%, they seem to be getting their margin from fees. Ferdinand

I am interested in how the loan worked .. I thought they were all business. Did they accept the plot with pp as security?

Brilliant . It is all part of the process. You explore all the exciting things and then you end up knowing what you actually want. Would you show him the Grand Design with the huge top hinged glass door that opened upwards like Blofeld's lair to form an extended roof over the terrace? That is a very good phrase to describe a good relationship. F

@Grosey Thanks fur the details. I came a bit of a cropper price wise on my rads and boiler and did well on the electrics. With the Little Brown Bungalow I decided to put in a floor on top of the existing to give me extra insulation in addition to 100mm between the joists, and left voids to run all the services round the edges of the rooms under the floor. That has created slight complications with needing doors that can be trimmed more than the usual 15mm or so, but has made it easier for the electrician and gas man. The electrician was on a day rate, which worked out well; I had agreed a fixed price for the plumber (idiot me) ... who suggested running pipes across the middle of several rooms given the extra floor. Good idea and it saved pipes and time, but I was not the one who got the financial benefit, though I did get the benefit of the quicker fit out. Lesson learned for next time. I think the two together could potentially save several days and a fair amount of materials, which may justify the extra floor even without the heat savings. I think an extra storage area is a big potential benefit as you get to buy stuff early you see by chance. I went out and bought a shed for that purpose, and the bungalow is still cluttered. Good to see that the various suggestions on the Jack and Jill worked. Do you have a link to those hitech looking showers? Cheers Ferdinand

I think that a few lessons that i can pick up from this in achieving a lower build cost - but please correct me where I am wrong. 1 - I think you have targeted a spec at well-above-average, but not quite as ambitious as some here (ie Very good performance, but not 'the full passive'). I wonder how much is added by the "last mile"? Was there a big saving from going 2G not 3G? (Guessing - 25k) What was the spec of your walls / roof / floor? 2 - The build method is quite traditional - block and render / clad, and block and beam floors. Easier to find builders and quotes? 3 - There is an absence of specialist envro-hardware - eg solar panels. I think you seem to have just left out a whole lot of things of things that weren't strictly necessary. 4 - Careful use of relatively inexpensive materials that look very classy - the Howden's doors are brilliant, and aren't those tiles in the ensuites the Wickes 'slate' and 'grey mist' special offer ones I have been looking at all summer without needing any at present? I can only see one thing that you have obviously spent a lot of money on in addition to the kitchen, and that is the flooring. 5 - Do you have good contacts to get those labour rates for specialists? My labour for a 75-ish point rewire on a 65sqm bungalow came to about £1200. And we made it easy for him because everything was exposed with very little chasing. 6 - Very impressed with those Eurocell doors. I will remember that. The cladding also looks like quite a find that I for one was not properly aware of. Questions: What did you do with your Jack-and-Jill bathroom in the end? What is that driveside retaining wall made from? Looks interesting. I would be interested to know how close you could be to the fabled "build two, sell one, become mortgage free" ideal were you to pursue House 2.

Oak (eg Geneva "Cottage Oak" doors) and other Veneer Doors from £50, including FD30s (best offer may be pre-finished Jerez Walnut - claimed normal price is £384). Sale general link: https://www.todd-doors.co.uk/clearance (Update: checked and this really is end of line. There is one Jerez Walnut door left and just a few of the Cottage Oak.) Ferdinand

Very very good - you seem to have hit a sweet spot with nearly everything (more detailed comment tomorrow). I love the anti-gravity dog and beer (last 2 pics click-thru) .

I have never found these policies especially useful, as I usually expect to do the background work properly and buy from the best place first time round. I have always viewed them as only really useful if: 1 - I did not do my research properly, and discovered my mistake after the fact. 2 - It lets me leverage a benefit such as being able to inspect the purchase in a local store, or need it *now*. An example here would be Halfords who price match their website in their shops, and against other competing websites - at least for cycling products, or 3 - If there is some minor detail different that requires me to buy from a particular place. Having said that I have just had my first success at this game (in addition to Halfords), when my door supplier, who has a liberal price-match policy, has just price matched a 10% cheaper price offer from Travis-Perkins for a nearly similar door and also the free delivery, and refunded £80. Nice night at the theatre coming soon :-). Has anyone had any benefit from such policies? (Note: agree that negotiating on the basis of "that price over there" is akey tool pre-purchase expecially for big-ticket items). Ferdinand

Good :-). I thought it better to ask, just in case. Another night-owl person.

I hope I am not talking out of turn here, but I wouldn't do 533+533, depending slightly on where the doors are. I have a pair of doors at that size ANAD (as near as ...) from my kitchen into the conservatory - installed by the previous owner; everytime I want to carry a tray or a big basket of shopping or eg a tile cutter or similar through I am reminded that they are exactly the wrong size, and I have to hold the thing by its end or do a tricky Ali-shuffle, or open both doors which is a PITA. If I am about right 1.066m is a bit wide for a conventional door unless it has tank-like mountings. The other way into my conservatory has a pair of 900mm DG upvc doors, which are wide and heavy enough that I am a little concerned for the longer term. They are fitted with *four* hinges each. Unless there is a good reason for 2 x 533mm doors (eg if it is a vista / occasional alternative 'processional way' for parties, or they are fitted with flippy-flappy Wild-West centre weighted saloon door hinges), perhaps consider an asymmetric pair of doors, or even a side panel? If my numbers are right a 610mm plus a 457mm pair, or a 685mm plus a 381mm would fit with your propsed door linings, and are standard sizes - although you are still committing to twice the budget. Personally I would be tempted by an 838mm door plus a (possibly hinged and top/bottom bolted) side panel, which might create an oppportunity for some shallow storage, run of bookshelves etc. Ferdinand

You need to be clear whether this is for Land Reg or Planning. The latter needs a full topi of your site to know where to build it. The former just to be able to identify your Land. Planning will believe your statements about the location of your boundaries, and leave it up to you and your neighbour if you are building in their garden.

Normal Land Registry boundaries are subject to a General Boundary Rule , which means "-ish", which is why they rely on boundary features. ish is plus or minus a couple of feet. So carefully drawn identifiable-if-someone-visits boundaries on paper are OK.

Actually I meant this week's one called Ugly House to Lovely House with that extension, which is a Chatlue Luxton George Clarke one. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/ugly-house-to-lovely-house-with-george-clarke Ooops. Lessons about budgets, and the sizes of some houses, and some budgets. The Colchester one has the architect who designed it in 196x revisiting now. This is a George Clark series, and talks about the compromises with a 150k budget faced with a architect 450k proposal that ends up at 250k after optimisation and trimming. Really good programme. Less .. imo .. pretentious at the edges than Grand Designs. We all helped @Visti cost engineering a George Clarke design here after the Quantity Surveyor produced a startling estimate. One of our best threads. Both series worth watching. My theory of architects is that you get the best from an architect by getting enough knowledge to be able to engage at as equal a level as possible. You keep their wonderful flights of imagination grounded. F

If it is not going to be closed for all that time but only for a day or two, could not some unknown party add a guerilla sign with details of possible access?

Welcome. I think that you could expect an Architect to give a greater conceptual and inspirational 'design' input due to a wider and deeper training / experience but that an Architectural Technologist may well do as competent an implementation of the process. The most important thing is to find someone who matches your requirements and working style, as there is a vast variety of both. Take care to broaden your horizons before you get into the nitty gritty. So going to visit previous work and talking to previous clients is important. On the studio decide whether it is an artist's studio music studio etc and visit lots of similar spaces e.g. Is it required to have many moods for inspiration? Can it be more of a pavilion? Can you use interesting glass or make it like a hobbit hole? In your project it should be possible to find umpteen similar schemes, which may give you sufficient inspiration - in which case you may want to self-design or just engage a pro for the initial stages. I would commend the programme from Best Laid Plans this week which had an unusual double height kitchen extension. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/best-laid-plans Ferdinand

I think I have some sympathy for the developer in this situation - the second application was perhaps a cheaper and quicker Plan B to Appealing the first, and may eg have allowed building to commence months earlier. Since it was a new application, the relevant people would have received another notice and seen the new post on lampposts etc, and if they chose not to follow it up then that is mainly their own responsibility. Unless I have not understood the precise process in these circumstances.

Can confirm that my new pre-owned Makita charger charges up a 5Ah Makita battery much quicker than an hour . But no USB charger F

I would argue for keeping it simple rather than using automated blinds etc if you can - eg overhang plus fixed lights, except perhaps one or two openers - since it will be a bit of a performance to be up there for maintenance, unless eg you half an easily walkable roof. Doesn't @Calvinmiddle have some of this?

Excellent points @Temp, but I think that I have done as much as I can on this occasion. There are no other objections - the only other dwellings adjacent are being converted or belong to the applicant. I think the proposal is so fundamentally flawed that it is not addressable by minor amendments: 1 - The main 3 fundamental points are: a) That the proposal requires to remove all the amenity space and parking from another house the applicant is currently building under a previous PP; the Officer was clear that that was a very basic issue. b) Even if the houses were reduced from 4 to 2 bedrooms there is still not enough amenity pace (private garden); and c) there are too few off street parking spaces. b and c are clear violations of basic policy, and our Council does not often ignore those without a detailed planning case being made - here that has not been done. Point a seems just to be a weird thing to propose - perhaps they forgot. I think I will still put my objection in as planned to be sure. Though the consultation end date was some time ago (25/10/2017), comments up until determination are taken into account, and that date is after 20/11/2017. 2 - Then there are various more subjective things as discussed up thread, such as loss of amenity due to a 30ft high 30ft wide blank gable 1.6m from my fence. I do have a Plan B in that the current proposal essentially cuts off my Easement for new services (negotiated with the developer when I brought the house last year). The Easement allows me to insert new services and ancillary equipment to support them at will if buildings do not exist on the easement corridor, and is broadly drawn; at present it is just a plot with no PP. I have already served notice that I intend to put services into the easement in the next weeks, and I will make sure they go to the extent of the Easement corridor. I can take everything about 2.5-3m away from my boundary. I was glad my solicitor is very experienced and supplied the wording and drew the hatched area on the deeds - protecting me more than I realised at the time. Brief legal advice indicates that if necessary I can protect that at law. So I am probably about as sure as I can be, given the vagueness of the planning system. I think this is a better option than eg getting it called into committee. Cheers

I have won this one by the sound of it. I went to see the Council yesterday, with a view to framing an objection, and the Planner stopped me first and said that they were advising the Applicant to withdraw the proposal, and that if it was not done the App would be refused due to overdevelopment and other issues. Then he showed me the reasons, which were essentially all the same things that I mentioned in a phone call to them 5-6 weeks ago following this rgread - that which are in the first few posts here and the responses. Thanks for all the advice. I will post a few reflections later, then ask for the thread to be hidden tomorrow - but I will take the relevant non-identifiable bits into a blog post. I have not needed formally to object, so I will not have an overly antagonistic relationship with the developer.The learning point seems to be that the Council generally do not look at a Planning Application in detail until the end of the comments period, so there is mileage in a strategy of 1) doing homework early and giving formal or informal input before the Council reaches a view but 2) still being willing to go in all guns blazing latish in the daybut before a recommendation is fixed. So now I need to make sure that the next round has a Planning App for something acceptable to me. Ferdinand

I thought they would have a list on the website, but they seem to want to price in the context of each project.

Unable to obtain a price from Durisol UK, so this price list from Hungary quotes a price of 800 Forints for a D250 non-insulated block which is called a 25/16 unit. At today's exchange rate that is £2.27 per block or £20 per sqm, or £50 per metre run on blocks for a 2.4m high wall. So we have based on a cost for Durisol D250 blocks at about £20 per sqm, £10 per sqm labour, and £5 per sqm concrete. Rules of thumb suggest Durisol 250mm garden wall 2.4m high (400mm below ground) with 50% concrete content at £100 pcm concrete should therefore be around £100-110 per meter run plus bits and pieces. Bet UK made Durisol blocks are not £2.27 each for a D250 . Ferdinand

Can you tell me an approx factory gate or delivered price of the Durisol blocks without insulation eg the D250 or D170 options for a pack or 10 packs of 50 or 60 (resp.)? Aside to anyone: basic Durisol blocks are 250mm x 500mm x varying thicknesses so the coverage is 8 blocks per sqm. eg D250 is 250mm thick. Getting a price out of Durisol UK is like gaining enthusiastic consent from Esther Ransome to have her teeth pulled with a doorhandle. Ferdinand

The prices for having the work done I would expect - very much guestimates since my last garden wall was a barter deal. 9 inch brick garden wall 2m high = 2.4m high incl. 2.4m foundations incl materials. £400-500 per metre run. In stone would be perhaps £600-700 per metre run. Rendered breeze block In block I would guestimate £10 per sqm for blocks to be laid, £12 per sqm for materials, and £25 per sqm for render materials and labour. That is £40-45 per sqm or £150 per metre run with founds at £30 per metre. Please shoot this down as I am not familiar with the costs in detail. Coping would be on top of that. By comparison stout concrete 100mm post / gravel board / vertilap (i.e. Way beyond diy shed quality) panel fence would be about £50 per metre run. Of that about 30 per metre is materials. Was after alternatives that make garden walls realistic for me to have built, as I like them. I really want a cost of £200-250 per metre run for a 2m 9" wall built by somebody I employ, all in. Ferdinand