Redoctober

There you go @Jeremy Harris a nice little project for you. Seems there could be a market for such devices for those competent self builders out there!?

We have a timber framed carport and combined shed that is built upon a concrete slab with a twin dwarf wall. The bricks are a range of heritage bricks from a builders merchant so nothing specific as to needing to be an engineering brick etc. We dont have a damp proof course between the supporting bricks and the oak posts as they are protected by the external larch cladding. I'm sure a competent bricklayer / builder / DIYer could lay the bricks. See images below. Although everyone has their own reasons for doing something or not as the case may be for @Carrerahill, I'm very pleased with our timber frame construction. It is oak framed with larch panels, so I don't intend it to be going anywhere anytime soon! That said, I won't be doing any welding in it either. ?

I have to agree with @nod. Accepting I don't not know the shape and design of the house, I would expect a 115sq m house to be "pretty" straightforward in it's design, therefore allowing you to rely on the good relationship you have with the trades and the safety net offered by BC. Again, having built a 165 sq m house without an architect whatsoever and no previous self build experience, I can't help but think that the scheduled visits are an expense too far and perhaps a justification on their part. to charge you whatever it is they are charging for their services. Take a look at my blog if it helps you remove some of the risk / mystery to self builders which others are all too keen to emphasis for their own purposes, sometimes.

We didn't spray the walls but hand painted them with a roller etc. Make sure your very first coat of paint is a diluted trade paint - Two or three coats are considered best practice. Only then can you think about applying top / finished coats. Failure to do so will cause all sorts of problems with the plaster etc.

Sorry for the delay in responding but this is coming on a treat - You must be very excited as the big moving in date looms.

Hi @sean1933 welcome to the forum and also thanks for actually coming out of the shadows following a long spell of researching etc. This forum thrives because people like you are happy to share your experiences. I would imagine the journey through the planning stages for a plot that didn't have any permissions attached would be of interest to some. This looks a fantastic project and I wish you luck with it. Hopefully your progress will not be confined to Instagram as there are still some Luddites like me out there!!

Yes, just taken a look and have to agree - well done - sadly I'm not in a position to assist with your questions but I'm sure these drawings will certainly assist you in obtaining fairly accurate costings etc. ?

The whole UFH system is powered by an ASHP and only comes on when the temps drop below whatever it is, we have set the various rooms for. That said, two of the bedrooms are simply guest rooms so not in use for best part of the year. Therefore the temps are set at a level that they very rarely come on during the winter months, as it is pointless heating a room not used so to speak. The same is said of the "guest" bathroom but for our bedroom and en suite, the heating is set to come on more regularly. They are set at no higher than 20 degrees and I have to say I only notice the heating coming during the late afternoon / early evening. The en-suite has a stone covered floor and I am more than happy to walk bare footed on this even in the mornings.

@Moonshine for an alternative approach - not suggesting that it is the most appropriate one, but an alternative nonetheless, you may wish to read through this blog entry. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/entry/380-the-build-insulation-ahead-of-1st-fix-update/

Hi @DerbyLad welcome to the forum. Perhaps some further details of what it is you are intending to build - the materials involved and build route might encourage others to offer some advice / guidance or indeed share their experiences.

Hi @Jamesi and welcome to the forum. Take a look at these threads I have copied in below - they may give you a starter / others thoughts etc., as to which TF supplier to go with. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/12161-which-timber-frame-company/?tab=comments#comment-204611 https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/11684-timberframe-suppliers/?tab=comments#comment-196475

Hi @Stewpot we too are in the Scottish Borders and have been since 2018. If you wish to pop along to discuss any aspects of your build etc,. drop me a PM as I would be more than happy to assist. We used Scottish Water and found them to be OK to work with but that said, they were the more difficult to do so out of the utility companies. Like you, we wanted a likely cost of connections before committing to the plot. Our connection to the mains was across a single track country lane. Having identified it made the application a touch easier and I eventually got a cost out of them. They don't do road trenches etc - that said I found a local company which are Highways approved. They were more than reasonable and I believe the cost of digging up the road etc and making the connection in readiness for SW was about £900 - SW charged me just under £1k for there parts. If you haven't already done so, take a look at my blog - it might be helpful.

Welcome to the forum - I was born and dragged up in Windsor so know the area well - Left after 24 years and still return to visit family. Great area. Now becoming established in the Scottish Borders following retirement and a new built house back in 2018 - Any way enough about me - Good luck with your project and I'm sure you will be suitably advised once you start firing off your questions.

Yes hello and welcome - we are based in the Scottish Borders, so in your area. Our build experiences are now about 18 - 24 months old but some aspects may be still relevant depending upon what stage you are at - if you have time, take a look at my blog, which details the whole build process. Good luck with your project and enjoy the ride this forum offers!!

wow - and @zoothorn thought he had a problem - best not go there! ?

For what my input is worth, I would be a touch concerned that the Family / kitchen room along the back could end up looking quite long and narrow - I think @ProDave raises an interesting point about its location, given the orientation of the house. I also agree with @Thedreamer regarding the front elevation and the benefits of that bit jutting out. If budgets are tight, then the fewer angles and corners etc the better I would have thought. Again, it is difficult to advise as we do not know your specific requirements - do you need 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms upstairs? If so great, if not, then a re-configure might be able to save some money. If you can get away with fewer bedrooms then layouts such as mine, @ProDave,@Thedreamerand perhaps @joe90might assist. Finally, we have a utility room / boot room with a door and have found it to be the most useful thing ever. That said, it ties in with the outside car port and drive etc, so again, as @PeterWsays, a door may or may not be useful depending upon how it fits in with the outside space.

Yes I agree with @Big Jimbo - your figures appear light but that said, it is hard to offer any advice without an indication of the spec level you are hoping to achieve and the size of the rooms being considered. You will always find someone who can fit out a bathroom or kitchen on XYZ budget but without any known variables, it is hard to compare.

One should be careful of what one wishes for!!!

We moved in this month last year - the build [TF] from ground being broken to moving took 9 months - the build route we opted for was builder and sub contractors - I swept up, made the tea and did the painting - internal and external. I like to think we have an upper end spec and all this came in at about £1800 - £1850 per sq metre. [Landscaping included] Take a look at my blog which details the build - which was a 165sq metre 1.5 storey TF house with natural stone external wall and stand alone oak frame carport.

Surely that depends upon what you and your builder have agreed to - the word " assumes" is the one word that shouldn't feature in any self build project as far as I am concerned. Each person on here will no doubt have a different answer because it depends on what they agreed with their particular builder - me included.

Fantastic news - the very best of luck with it all - that said, you seem well prepared and to have done as much has you can, to get things straight in your head.

This is exactly what happened with our first order - there were a good 50 or so spare so they were planted in the neighbouring field collectively like a bushel. This acted like a nursery and come the spring, we replanted them in place of the ones that had been eaten by the Hares! @epsilonGreedy the hedging is a mixture of what they call native hedging - Hawthorn, Horn beam, field maple and blackthorn. Although across the back for continuity we have gone for Hornbeam - very similar to Beech.

But in today's enlightened times, you managed to ! ?

@zoothorn - it seems we are back to where we were with the concrete foundations! It was suggested by many people then that you should take more control of the situation as you are the client. If the builder isn't working with you / or is having you over in your eyes etc. then pay him up and get someone else in to do the job. Why subject yourself to all this stress? I just don't understand it! Finally, here is the plan you posted on another thread - unless I am mistaken it seems the floor to ceiling height is shown as 2000mm.

Yes, this was our approach too. We had decided what type of finish we were going for and priced it all up. Everything was agreed before a spade was put into the ground. As long as the collective prices were within our available funds so to speak we pressed ahead. Yes there were a couple of unknowns or price differentials but nothing we couldn't cater for within our overall budget. That said, if things were to get out of control [ which they didn't] then we would have been able to cut back on the finishes etc to claw back the overspends etc. Once were out of the ground, I felt fairly confident that the budgets planned for were going to be pretty much as expected, and they were.