flanagaj

Electric seems to be the consensus, and given you can get one for £530 they are considerable cheaper than a petrol one.

So I need to purchase a mixer, and was going to get a Belle Mini Mix 150. Site doesn't have power, and I need to put in a retaining wall before work commences. I have a portable 3kw generator that will power an electric mixer, but I was thinking that using a generator to drive an electric motor is probably not as efficient as having a petrol mixer? I could be worrying over nothing and the difference in efficiency is so negligible that is does not warrant a moments thought.

Ok, thanks. That is a good point and I hadn't considered that.

@ETC - I do like these, but the site plan is as follows. That is why the bedroom and entrance were to the left hand side. We didn't want the lounge looking out at the driveway and wanted to use the east end of the property for the kitchen / lounge. Our requirements are as follows. 1) Downstairs bedroom with a shower room nearby which can be used as the cloakroom for guests. 2) 3 bedrooms upstairs with a large master with dressing room and ensuite. No ensuite to other bathrooms and one main bathroom 3) Utility room I do like the designs you have done, especially, the exterior of the house, but given the internal width of the house is 6.2m, two bedrooms next to each other will be small < 10ft wide.

That is a possibility

I have manged to bring it down to just under 38 degrees.

I was trying to avoid a split staircase as I ideally want to have a nice open hallway as per our design below

So I have spent sometime redoing the original floor plans that out original architect produced. The house is 200m2 excluding the garage. The orange windows are ones that are tall ones

Aside from the treads hanging off the wall that design is exactly what I have planned. The large concrete GFRC panels will be bolted to the wall with stainless bolts. The panels are super easy to make, and I have made them before for our last house renovation. Cheap as chips too, as you just need sand + cement + super plasticiser + alkaline resistant fibres.. If you have a lot to make, you simply buy liquid rubber mould solution and make a mould from a master tile that you have cast using a melamine mold.

So I am currently designing floor plans, and we are planning on having a floating staircase. The ceiling height will be 2.4m and the expected height including the floor will be 2.7m. If I do the trig calculation 2.7m / tan(42) I get 3m for the stair run. This works well, but it's the maximum pitch. If I bring the pitch down to 35 degrees, I get a run of 3.9m. The house is only 6.2m internal width, and the 35 degree pitch will likely mean that given the upstairs layout, it would fall foul of the minimum head height of 2.1m when walking up the stairs. So cut a long story short, is 42 degrees ok, or do people feel that although it is fine from a building control point, it practically doesn't feel correct?

I might instead create some large GFRC concrete panels and bolt them to the wall will stainless bolts. Not the same look, but will give the industrial look that I am after. GFRC panels are easy to make (done them before), and aside from the time making them, they are super cheap too.

I want our house to have a cast concrete wall which runs from the ground floor right up through the second floor. It's simply a feature wall, but wondering whether anyone knows whether you can rent the formwork or whether it should be constructed on site. I am trying to achieve the look below. Will it require an SE to design the rebar system that will be required. Plan is to hang our floating stairs of it.

Including the technical drawings it was coming in at 23k

Thanks. This is the conclusion that I have come to now.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Brother in Law did a large 300M2 property recently, and to a nice high spec < £1200 m2. He employed most trades.

The firm I really like is this one - AR Design Studio | Contemporary Architects Winchester I am now thinking that it's like us going to a Ferrari garage, when we can only afford a cheap car. I suspect they will design us a cracking house, but it will come at a construction cost that exceeds our lean £1500/m2 budget.

I have a good idea what we want, but I am hoping that a very good modernist architect can add subtle details which I won’t have considered.

So we have received three fee proposals for our modernist planning submission. One of them is definitely our favourite as them have a fantastic contemporary portfolio, but they are coming in at 15K + vat for design and planning submission. The others are coming in at around half of that amount. I have gone back and explained that whilst we think their portfolio is our favourite, I don't have the budget and that the others have come in at around 7k. They have requested I send across the other fee proposals so they can take a look and compare what is being offered. I feel a little uncomfortable about doing this and am not sure how to proceed.

Looks very tidy

Yes. Very unfortunate. Moral of the story is don't believe the "It's your dream build, you must do as you see fit" statement from a vendor selling you a building plot.

That is very annoying. What actually changes in that short time frame.

I did ask the architect for the topographic yesterday, and she stated that she doesn't give out her CAD drawings. That confused me, but maybe she did the topographic survey herself. One other point I wanted to mention. I am getting quotes from new RIBA architect firms regarding the modernist design that we want to go for. The orientation of the new building will be the same and it will sit in a reduced footprint of what has been already granted + the detached double garage that was planned will be removed. The original chalet and detached double garage had an overall footprint of 193m2 and the new design will be 136m2 One firm told me that we will have to get all of the specialist consultants back to do new reports, eg tree survey, biodiversity ... Is that actually true, given that all we are doing is going for a two storey modernist house, where instead of the huge red clay tile roof that will be very visible, we instead will have a vertical timber clad upper. I think we can even achieve it, without increasing the ridge height? So far, I have been quoted £7.3k +VAT to do initial drawings and submit a new planning application.

I would, but they are no longer talking to us.

We didn’t pay, it was agreed as part of the purchase.

As part of the purchase agreement it was agreed that all of the documents associated with the planning permission would be available to us. We’ve subsequently parted company with the architect, and now I’m annoyed for not asking for the topographic and measured site survey. Is the architect obliged to hand these over?