BTC Builder

150mm. I find pir as easy to use as dritherm, which is difficult and itchy to cut, but I don't like it getting wet and soaking through so prefer pir

I've got 0.17 u value, thomas armstrong 7.3n lightweight concrete blocks inner and outer skin, 100mm unilin PIR partial cavity fill. Blocks 97p each, 6.48 each for the unilin.

We're way past foundation stage. Could such a thing be left entirely external and only drill into the house if necessary above the dpc cavity tray? I've got a radon barrier so having a duct in the ground and up into the house seems at odds with that. I've also no intention of using any ducting as the cable is there in my front garden. I'll only be going down the ducting route if someone forces me to. I should add that someone else at LABC, a younger chap who is keen as mustard, has already mentioned my "lack of a connectivity plan" so it's not as if I'm opening any new doors in asking the question. I'm just wondering if my "plan" to use the existing overhead cable is viable

Why ask? Because I don't know what gigabit ready connection is. I don't know if it will or won't involve getting into the sub floor, which with underfloor heating, screed, tiles will cause massive issues, if I leave them until sign off inspection.

I know there's been a few threads on this over the past 18 months but I thought I'd see if anyone can help with my situation. I'm building a replacement house within a built up residential area. There's a telegraph pole at the end of the driveway where an overhead cable used to go into the old house and give us 100mb download speed Internet. When we demolished the old bungalow, we simply wrapped this cable up, covered it, and the intention is to simply put it back on the new house with the same Internet provider (sky). I just had a meeting with the local authority building inspector and when I asked if using the telegraph pole to provide a cable with a 100mb connection would satisfy part r and ultimately allow him to sign off the house, he wouldn't commit to anything and almost became a robot "every building regulation submission should have a part R connectivity plan". Well my plan is just to use the cable I've already got but he wouldn't tell me if he would pass it or not. He's an old bloke and probably thinks the whole thing is a load of bollocks. Would a letter from sky showing the speed available be good enough?

So would the summary be, avoid and stick to polythene trays above the radon tray? I noticed NHBC are now saying polythene trays should be avoided which probably contributed to the architect specifying zedex.

I'm already doing that with the radon barrier. it's a detail I've never seen before, radon barrier across level from internal to external skin at dpc level, then a tray down from the first course internal to dpc external. Two trays if you will.

A bit of a strange one. My drawing says to use "high performance Zedex DPC or similar approved" for the all dpc/tray at dpc level. I've never heard of this product and none of the local merchants stock it. When reading about it, it says that it does not conform to BS6515 standard which is what I'd associate with "normal" dpc rolls. Anyone any experience with this stuff? I'm a bit wary of it tbh. I'm also installing a radon barrier which is perhaps why they've put this Zedex stuff on the drawing in addition to the radon barrier.

I've said it in a thread of my own. CIL is a scam. The self build exemption is full of pitfalls and booby traps which councils will happily allow you to fall into. If you're exempt because you are self building, you should be able to claim the exemption you're entitled to, even if you've started in error without the correct paperwork due to poor advice from architects/designers or plain ignorance. I had someone reply telling me that CIL is in fact not a scam because councils need money. In your case, you've received some truly awful advice in this thread with regards to applying for demolition and replacement dwelling. That's the worst thing you can do. What will happen is, the council will gladly allow you to walk down this path, then when it is approved, the CIL officer will be in touch and say something like, "oh no, you've already started the build and you can only claim CIL exemption before any work commences, as per government guidelines. It's a real shame and I don't want to do this, I really don't, I swear, but that will be £52k please." They'll have you by the bollocks and there'll be nothing you can do. All you can do is fight this now to stay within your current approval which didn't trigger CIL in the first place. Of course the council want you to do a new application which will trigger CIL and will legally allow them to bill you £52k. It makes a wee bit of sense when you think about it that way.

Just getting on with it could prove to be a costly mistake. There'd be an obvious second floor staircase in the large gallery entrance that the bitter architect across the road, who put an objection in would soon notice. Old bugger would gladly report it, especially after I, a bricklayer, made him look a fool to the council when I countered his objection.

Having finally secured the funding for my build, it turns out I've got a bit more money than what I expected when I originally put in planning permission. I've now decided that I'd like to put attic trusses on and claim an extra two rooms. The problem is, I wanted to start in a few weeks. I've already got the cil exemption but I'm not sure how it would work if I need to do a modified application for the additional rooms. I certainly don't want to fall into the trap of having started and then the council wanting £50k+ from me because my exemption is for a "different" application. Can anyone offer any advice? Do I have no choice but to wait until a new application is approved?

That's pretty much how it ended. What if I die? How will my wife do it was the quick summary. In the end they refused to look through the lense of doing it myself, it had to be through a project manager, paying a premium on everything. I've found another lender now who appears to be on board.

which is completely irrelevant to my original point which was that if I were to halve the size of the house by making it a bungalow, the roof would remain exactly the same and the "cost per sqm" would not halve.

I'm a builder, I've priced everything down to the last wall tie. No service connections are required, everything is already here. I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about RE roof. It's a trussed roof with no habital space in the loft. If I made the property a true bungalow, the roof would be exactly the same...

How much do you think concrete blocks, sand and cement, plasterboard, tiles, concrete, trusses and floor joist cost?

You have no idea what you're talking about.

it's worth north of £1,000,000 when finished.

my home won't meet the sap score required. I couldn't even get building regs without a heat pump. with 100mm cavity pir, insulated boards, areated blocks, heat pump and a roof full of panels, I still couldn't get the sap score for ecology

No idea, this only came about late Friday so we'll have to see what happens during the week.

That's all in, although there aren't any service connections required or any prelims required.

I'm 6 weeks into an application for a self build, tax returns checked and approved etc, and the qs check, if you can even call it that, has just completely messed it up. Labour costs are minimal, around £30k, as its going through the family business, it's materials only really. The total estimated build cost is £200k, £170k of which is materials. The broker (who I won't name but has been very helpful, no complaints) came back to me and said the qs has said estimated build cost is £400k-£700k based on their own cost per sqm. As far as I'm concerned, this is nonsense. That's the price an indulgent accountant or lawyer might pay a project manager to do the build for them. It's not the price i will be paying, not even close. I've been very clear about the minimal labour costs to the broker, but it seems the lender has just ignored them. I also find "cost per sqm" a very strange way of costing up. It's a two story property, so if I were to halve the size of it by making it a bungalow, the build cost would not halve as the foundations, roof, and floor slab are the same regardless. Conversely, going from bungalow to two story does not suddenly double the cost. Are there any lenders who actually look at your costings (or will price it accurately themselves) rather than just doing a basic cost per sqm?

When I said 165 sqm, that's the ground floor space for the underfloor heating, then there's the upstairs which is the same size with another 4 radiators and 4 bathrooms radiators. I'm assuming the smallest heat pump will not suffice but am happy to be proven wrong.

That's perhaps a bit optimistic, especially as I don't want the cheapest, nastiest ashp, and I'll need a 200l cylinder. Having just had a look at screwfix though I was pleasantly surprised by the prices, maybe it will come in under £10k all in.

£10k was a number I put in for easy maths, but if someone were to offer me a heat pump, tank and underfloor heating system suitable for 165 sqm for £10k then I'd take their hand off.

Thanks everyone for the help. I guess I need to be more assertive when saying it's 0% vat. I should point out that the guys who have been round were probably only in their mid twenties, new in business and didn't really understand. I don't understand it myself fully, hence why I offered to buy everything myself. But using my sums earlier, if someone buys £10k + VAT worth of kit and then passes it on to me for £10k, they then have to find the extra £2k VAT in the interim until the claim it back I guess I need an established tradesmen who's done this before and isn't penny pinching to the point where they can't make up the short term VAT