Kelvin

There are a few milestones for the self-builder - buying a plot, getting planning permission, the first spade in the ground etc. Taking the Heras fencing down is surely one of those. I took the last panel down today and the fencers are cracking on with the fencing and will be finished by Thursday next week.

Ours ticks all the wrong boxes and haven’t any problems insuring it for a reasonable rate. I’m not suggesting that it isn’t a problem just that it hasn’t been for us so far. But yes the more non-standard the smaller the pool of insurers and lenders there’s going to be.

The would certainly give you the upper end of the price scale to give you an idea how dear it could be. Dan Wood seem quite cost effective but still too dear for this budget. Here’s a 90m2 2 bed bungalow turnkey. https://www.dan-wood.co.uk/house-designs/bungalows/perfect-86e

80% of house in Scotland are timber framed although most are block and rendered outer skin. You also see loads of timber clad houses especially in the Highlands and Islands. They can’t all be cash buyers or tiny mortgages. It’s not something for us to worry about for 15 years+ and even then we’ll give it to the kids and they can not worry about it either.

I like our Blanco kitchen one. It’s in two parts. A plastic but you twist to seal (or remove) and a stainless steel ‘pretty’ cap that you use turn the plastic bit. Not likely available for a bathroom sink but I like it because it’s just a plug so won’t fail and is easy to clean. The utility room is a more traditional push in plug which also works fine. Both bathrooms are pop ups for the sink and a lever for the bath. The bath one will inevitably fail eventually and I can’t get to the other end of the mechanism so will be replaced with a plug.

One thing to consider that can be overlooked is furniture and furnishings. Obviously that has nothing to do with building the house and it’s something you can deal with when funds recover over a period of time. We intended just to use as much of the furnishings and furniture we already had to save money. However a lot of it just wasn’t suitable (our large L shaped sofa was too big for the open plan living room for example) or we didn’t like it in the new house. Consequently we’ve pretty much got rid of 90% of what we had and replaced it. Not a consideration for the house build but is potentially an extra cost down the line a bit.

You sound like you’ve made up your mind so good luck with the choice.

Welcome. Perfect house to stick build on-site rather than a timber kit which would likely be a bit dearer. The budget is very tight though so will need careful thought and no surprises in the ground or with utilities. There are people who have spent close to your budget just getting utilities to their site so the first thing I’d do is look into that if you haven’t already. That said most of us have a tight budget even if the absolute number is higher.

I have a whole thread on it a search will find it (search for Heb Homes) My experience isn’t necessarily typical (although not untypical for Heb Homes as I am now aware of others) but then you see similar stories appear on here. Suffice to say be very familiar with your drawings, structural engineering, detailing and check the work as it goes. If you can’t do that make sure someone else is. Be prepared to challenge the people you’ve entrusted the work to if necessary. Be prepared to stop everything and get rid of people if you also have to.

We’re ‘only’ in our late 50s but one of the things we thought about was access to both showers 10 years from now. 20 years from now and it’s someone else’s problem. That meant easy access. No step ups. Easy to add grab bars if necessary. No doors.

You are as wide as you can go. I’d go a bit longer to 1700mm and move the loo over a bit although that might mess with loo central to the sink plan. I wouldn’t leave the end open though. Then fit a 1200mm glass panel. I prefer simple glass screens to doors as they are much easier to keep clean with no nooks crannies. We dry the showers after use and glass screens make that easy.

I’d likely take that out and get a larger box. It’s far easier to make good connections when you have more room.

I made the same decision for the same reasons and got none of those benefits in reality and a World of pain trying to sort out the mess. The company I used isn’t a big company but aren’t that small either and everything was certified which isn’t worth that much as it turns out.

No but £14,000 for a 5m section of pipe and connection. Sheesh! If that’s typical and you have the room then a treatment plant and drainage field (or somewhere else you’re allowed to drain to) must be surely tempting. No wastewater charge either. Our treatment plant and drainage field cost just under £5k installed.

When the warrant is approved it gets uploaded to a portal for you (or your architect) to download them. There are two documents, the warrant approval document which explains what you have to do with links to guidance notes. The other document is a pdf of everything you (or the architect) sent to the council’s building standards department with each page stamped with a building warrant approved watermark. My approved warrant contains the following: 1. SE design for drainage layout for rainwater and sewerage on a block diagram. It also includes build details of what to do including drainage field design and everything connected with it. 2. An existing location plan with boundary line 3. Land survey showing existing boreholes, trial pits, location of drainage, any significant features (burns etc) 4. Detailed SAP analysis and predicted EPC 5. Topographical survey 6. Architect warrant drawings showing: existing block plan and site section, proposed site plan and section, GF/FF house layout and dimensions, drainage, electrical layout, roof plan, various sections through the house, proposed elevations, garage, build up details for floors, walls, roofs, window schedule, then a more detailed specification document for the build, all the detailed structural engineering drawings, the SER certificate. We also had some supplemental drawings sent separately the council asked for to do with drainage.