Dave Schulz

Thank you all for your help. At least the cost of VAT is easily outweighed by the money saved by doing it myself.

I would get this sorted before you build, as if this comes up later it would likely cost you more. If you get a specialist Property Litigation Solicitor, it will likely cost you £300 +vat/hour. They will bill £30+vat for every 6 minutes!! However, they will likely see off any high street solicitor, providing of course you have a good case. Your solicitor will check your deeds and your neighbour's. They would also advise on adverse possession. Of course you'd likely pay for 2 or 3 hours work to obtain documents, review the case and write a letter. The conveyance's may indicate where the boundary specifically is, but could conflict. Wording in the documents are important. If it indicates that the land is "more particularly delineated on the plan attached", and the plan contains specific measurements, the plan will take precedent over any ambiguous phrases, such as "for indications only", in other documents. Land Registry clearly indicate that they are not in the business of defining boundaries. The registered plan is taken from a small scale OS map and the red lines are only indications of the extent of the land which is registered.

Hi everyone, I am a self builder and I am soft stripping a bungalow myself and considering demolishing by using a local excavator and operator on a daily rate. My PP is for "demolition of existing bungalow and the erection of 2 new dwellings". I am at the stage where I will soon need to be hiring skips to remove materials. Is skip hire zero rated under these conditions? Anv advice would be gratefully received. Thanks Dave

We will do!

That's what I'm fearful of. It's important to watch costs closely and do what you can yourself. Shouldn't be in a rush under these uncertain circumstances.

Burning anything other than garden waste is illegal and even that can cause a nuisance. I am going to avoid burning anything and will take trips to local tip where I can dump some things for free. I wish that certain neighbours would follow suit. With regards to costs of timber, I will revert to timber frame suppliers in a couple of months to checks prices again, before making a decision. I have plenty to be getting on with in the meantime. Thanks for the link. If the price of timber is on it's way down in the USA, it should follow here. I am comfortable using PPE, bagging asbestos myself. Local council tip will take 10 sheets or bags of bonded asbestos, at a cost, so will compare that with a small skip from an environmental services company. House will only come down when the JackDaw chicks have fledged and left the chimney. The blighters move a wire mesh cover and built a nest inside. They should be well gone by end of July followed by the chimney and roof! Thanks for all the responses

Thanks for the advice, I will certainly scan the forum thoroughly and consider doing as much of the demolition as I can myself. Tamar Valley AONB

Hi Everyone, I thought I should sign up to BuildHub as I'm about to embark on a new self-build project with my wife and we're going to need all the help we can get! We are recently retired and have since spent over a year or two looking for an ideal 'retirement' home. The search became very frustrating as we just couldn't find a house that was the right size and quality, and in the right place. We stumbled upon a 2 bed bungalow, with a detached garage, in an AONB, not far from where we live in Devon . The bungalow was situated on just less that 1/2 acre of land and had outline planning permission to demolish and to build 2 detached dormer dwellings. We bought the property in March 2020, without really knowing what we were letting our self into. Not averse to taking on a challenge, we decided to self build, so we employed an architect to draw up plans and to guide us through the Reserved Matters planning process. This turned out to be a nightmare, due to the outline planning conditions being challenging, delays due to COVID and the NEIGHBOURS, all of whom collaboratively objected. To cut a long story short, we got our planning permission earlier this month. I have contacted a number of demolition and groundworks contractors with the understanding that demolition of the bungalow should cost between £6000 - £10000. 'Should be about right', I thought, as the plot is fairly level and there are no issues with access. We had an Asbestos Survey and there is some asbestos as expected . I've received quotes from a number of contractors ranging from £11600 - £20000 way over our expectations. Because we are not in a hurry to demolish, I have decided to soft strip the bungalow myself, reclaiming what I can to build sheds etc. and taking what I can to the local tip in my trailer. Of course I will be recycling copper and other items and will be contacting the local scrap yard soon. We are still considering our options moving forward: Self demolish - hire an excavator, remove the asbestos and use an Environmental contractor to take it away. We intend to crush the concrete for use later. We were planning for timber frame and passive standard, but the price of timber is through the roof (excuse the pun). So we're still looking at Passive, but using traditional, ICF or even steel frame construction methods. This is going to be an exciting journey but realise that it's not going to be easy. I will be keeping a close eye on BuildHub pages on a daily basis.