CalvinHobbes

The builder has a portaloo in his van and says it can be the site office. Can it? I was thinking of using a caravan. Is that acceptable?

Thanks twice, I shall heed your advice. At the moment just stripping the old cottages and removing roof tiles. Presently doing day rate but after demo will get a set price agreed for stage 1 and 2 as you described. A relative who is a qs is sitting us down for a talk on Thurs. I don't know if you can call a day rate builder a principal contractor?

Thank you, this really is a self build for our family. A relative is building for herself next door at the same time so we will be sharing the builder so to speak. Hoping to get economies of scale especially for plant hire etc.

Sorry I wasn't clear. It was the builders merchants who said it was normal practice for self builders to lodge 10k with them then give the builder permission to get things using this money. A deposit account I think he said? A bit concerned our money would be protected if they went bust. I guess maybe I will keep it to 5k with regular top ups.

Thanks, getting it in plain english is brilliant.

Thanks ProDave, I would like to give it a go. Maybe if I worked out a list in advance of bigger items and phoned round and got his favourite merchants to at least price match my price? TBH I suspect the biggest items is the zinc for the roof but that won't be needed just yet. Is there anything else in particular that tends to be costly/big variations?

Thanks. The builders merchants he told me he wants to use said I could pay in money and he can get what he needs and they will send me invoices each time. Does that sound fair?

Thank you. So if the builder buys things like for example a lintel from the builders merchants out of his own account, will they charge him VAT? If so he will pass the cost to me and how can I claim it?

Sorry for the dumb questions, I am reading this https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buildings-and-construction-vat-notice-708#section17 too so do I have to issue a certificate to my builder to get it zero vat rated?

Hello I was just trying to set up an account with the builders merchants but was asked which address? Should I use the build address with my name or do I use the rented correspondance address while we tumble and rebuild? Also the builder asked could he use a particular supplier because he gets a lot of discount with them. Is that ok? He said he would get more discount.

With the world being so crazy and we don't have unlimited funds. We planned on getting someone to do it in stages. So demo/clearance and doing the founds/trenches would be stage 1. We figured on using a builder who is just coming back to work f/t after a health issue. His reputation is second to none, I have been asking past clients. Everyone said civil, honest and does a good job. He is happy to do it and has had a digger man out already checking it out. I recall reading somewhere here you have to be careful of not becoming a developer tax wise yourself for tax. I can't find it though and frankly I need it explained in plain english. Can anyone give me an idea of a basic contract I could use or is it necessary?

Oh that fair put me off. Thanks for the reality check. So what if we put in a pipe through the blocks during the build (and suitably encase it with insulation so that in future years if the metering because too pricey, we could add it in without compromising the thermal envelope? TBH would prefer to put the money towards better windows and a better metal roof.

Been looking at the Graf rainwater system - maybe the 3000l platin? So 4 bedrooms, would like it for flushing and washing machine. Was wondering has anyone any advice? Obviously trying to keep the costs as low as poss. Also when do we put the tank in, is it when the digger is there doing the foundations?

Yikes we weren't going to get one since we intend to stay there forever! If we dig a trench for the tcu or demolish in December would that mean it wouldn't apply to us? (We will have a structural engineer visiting us several times as will building control).

Jeez maybe it's a local thing? JFC abbreviation for JesusF*ingChrist Apologies if anyone offended.

A friend who was a really good architect called Malachy used to go by the name Malpractice (despite our recommendations to the contrary and no he was never sued). Today I passed this building and I am sure they too are good but to me the name has similar negative undeserved connotations.😁

Just wondering why are these roof tiles peeling?

Absolutely FANTASTIC, well done. It's stunning.

Also re tips, probably best to not mention or show the actual location, it just means you can ask whatever you want without comeback locally.

Hello Gregor, good to see another one doing it in NI. You will probably hear from just about everyone in the biz here (NI) 'are you mad?' Many have locked up self build sites, stopped at foundations or when it got watertight till next year. If you are just at the planning stage hopefully the situation will have eased by the time you get planning permission through. I was speaking to a neighbour/builder the other day, he said in a month the cost of foundations he was doing in Coleraine went up by 20k. He said it's hard to get workers, there are few men working here, most are in London or Dublin, the big sites are pulling them in to get jobs wound up before the recession hits. They expect everything to go belly up next year and then hopefully prices will fall. Supplies are a problem too, the builder suppliers are very slow but their stock is sporadic. Price differences between them can be quite wild too. He said it's crazy getting quotes for the whole job now because it will be at the top of the market. Best to phase it if you insist on going ahead. Today of course I am waiting for our quotes,😒 overhead cables should be down in a week so in theory we could start demo anytime after that. I am totally green with all of this so I come on here a lot and read old threads to try and understand it. Occasionally I put on questions and I feel like a 5 year old asking the adults. Luckily the people on here are very patient and tolerant. They also seem to know between them just about everything and can be very helpful with saving money, time and sanity.

Ah Conor, he also told me your suggestion for the water connection was spot on - so you saved me min 400min . Thanks so much. Yes good point about Grenfell/Kingspan. Forgot about that.

So met the builder today who told me we should have our quote on Friday. He went on to explain that when it comes to insulation, although the architect has specified certain brands like Kingspan that sometimes he may have to swap for another comparable brand due to supply issues. He then went on to point out that the insulation brands all tell the builders merchants they will have price increases say for example on Monday at 8am. He said they all did it simultaneously and it happened regularly. Is that not cartel behaviour? Is it allowed?

Thank you so much, seriously chuffed with that.💃 The flow was fine for the cottage that was there. The main thing is that I don't then have to do anything right now about it. The building can start with them using the water source that's in place .Cheers.

Thanks. 4 bathrooms and the water has to rise up a steep slope. Just wondering - why do we need a NEW connection? Like right now we have one (in the house we are about to demolish) Can we not just redirect the pipe on our land to the edge and link it to a tap for building?

Just applying for our connection. Unsure which to go for.