Redoctober

Likewise. Great looking house but let's hope the door is only a temporary feature. ?

Spooky, just booked ours for the 27th Nov. Should be interesting. The thing he wanted to know beforehand was our SAP Calculation. Pre-built it was 83 - is that good bad or indifferent I wonder?

Plus 1 on this recommendation - we dealt with Luke and he too is a top bloke - they designed, built and erected our oak framed car port and porch.

Yes, on the face of it, the budget does seem a bit tight. A 3 bed house - probably 140sq metres at least I would say - Rough guide - £1k per sq metre build budget - [this will require a lot of work to be undertaken by the client], doesn't leave a great deal for land and services. Perhaps more details of the intended house, location of plot, and it's orientation might help.

What you decide to put upstairs for heating may have an impact of which type of joists you choose. Some structural engineers may insist on web joists if UFH with a biscuit screed is being planned for.

@newhome and @ProDave thanks. I have applied for a temporary habitation certificate so will await the result. We will be looking to move into a completed house. No work left to do, so in not sure if that has any impact upon which route I take with regards to insurance.

With regards to insurance, I decided to do an internet search for House and Contents insurance. Our address is already registered with Royal Mail and the systems allowed me to obtain a quote for a new build property. Is there any reason why I can't go ahead and get insured without a completion certificate? The systems never asked for one.

@Ian Please add me to that list for a PM with details. Thanks.

Cheers @Onoff - exactly that. The block wall was built internally and "popped" out at the roof line, in readiness for the stones. The single storey building is our utility room and the room to which it joins, is the kitchen.

Guys, sorry for the delay in getting back to you but the stone wall you are enquiring about was built on to an internal block wall. That wall was then plaster-boarded and plastered. As you will see from the attached images, the doorway into the utility room from the kitchen, the recess is quite deep. Not a problem for us but thought I would just highlight it.

The dormers have just started to be clad in wood. We had hoped to render them but it proved to be too problematic. Happy with the results nonetheless. We do have a date stone, courtesy of the stone man. and that is already in situ. Photos attached.

Yep it does. The hose coming out of my inlet was simply there to fill the tank up with water in order to assist with weighing it down for installation purposes. Perhaps others more knowledgeable could assist.

Hi @Christine Walker Ours is now safely and securely installed - The electrician, who failed to show all last week is due to site Monday 5th Nov to wire it up amongst other second fix installations. Unfortunately, other than what I have already posted, I haven't any other guidance - sorry.

@TheMitchells thanks very much for your warm comments. Much appreciated. ?

Yes, if that price quoted is the actually price then steer well clear. I hired our loo for £25 per week which includes a weekly service. It has been well used by all and even when it ended up on its back recently due to exceptionally high winds, the hire company had a replacement on site within 90 minutes.

Crimewatch!

Yes, I too was surprised the drainage system didn't go in at the foundation stage but was guided by our builder. Not sure there is a right or wrong way but I was concerned that the weather would not hold up by the time they were put in. Guess he was lucky and got away with it! The surface water runs off to the existing field drain discharging eventually into a nearby water course.

Could you not fit a drainage channel which then runs into the main rainwater system? An example of which is here - https://www.drainage-channel.co.uk/

Top tip @ProDave - I will certainly bear that in mind because we were certainly caught out by the water table. We found it hard to believe that the water table would "force" the tank out like it did.

Thanks very much. Yes, I am confident that given the time frame and the tradesmen "booked" in, we should comfortably meet our intended moving in date. But as we all know, when does a plan come together?

Blimey another month on there is a real sense we are getting there. So much so, we have given notice on our rental. We move in on Friday 30th November regardless! The main emphasis this month has been installing the treatment plant and drainage system. The treatment plant was initially installed, somewhat optimistically, without any anchors only for it to pop back out of the ground within 24hrs, despite being filled with water and the pit filled with pea shingle. Needless to say the second time round, it was anchored down and the pit filled with a lot more concrete than the first time. SEPA – [Scotland] had requested a soak away to be installed along with a 20 metre drainage channel 1.2 metre wide, before connecting to a field drain that eventually discharges into a nearby water course. I then had to register my plant with SEPA at a cost of £137. The local Building Controller arrived on site to test the drains and within 20 minutes or so, both the foul and rainwater systems were passed. As soon as they had been given the all clear, the landscaper and his team set about back filling the trenches and levelling the site ready for a Hammer Head driveway, boundary hedging and turf across the remaining plot. Landscaping can be one of those often forgotten costs and to assist others here are my quantities and material prices. I haven't included the cost of the turf as it is still uncertain as to whether or not it will be laid this year or next. That decision will be taken during the week. Patio mix slabs & single slabs 2265 Setts 540 MOT 3 x 28 tonnes 448 Sand x 6 tonnes 195 Cement x 40 bags 150 Membrane - 60 metres 150 20mm whin stone x 26 tonnes 650 Internally, progress has been frustratingly slow. I had a check of my records and found that the joiner / tiler had only been on site for 11 of the possible past 30 work days!! That said, we now seem to have a momentum building and the floor tiles have started to be laid. This in turn will allow the kitchen units to be fitted this coming week. The electrician will have completed the second fix installation by the end of this coming week and the plumber is booked in for the following week to complete his second fix installations. Once the tiles are down, the joiner will turn his attention to cladding the dormers. So, over the next 4 weeks the following needs to happen – Internally – Floor tile to be laid, grouted and sealed. Kitchen, utility room cabinets to be installed. Fitted furniture in the master bedroom to be fitted. Electrician to complete his second fix and to wire up the pump for the treatment plant. All sanitary ware to be installed. Final bits of internal joinery to be completed. Externally – The gable end stone work to be completed. The dormers to be clad. The porch to be erected. The chimney to be finished off. The landscaping to be completed. Open Reach to connect us to the BT pole outside the plot. What can possibly go wrong ??

Looking good. Love the cladding and fingers crossed the weather works in your favour.

Yep, I too feel your frustrations - our Joiner has been on site for just 13 days out of a possible 30 working days!! As a result, other trades are having to be put back and the time in our rental extended for another month. Electrician said he would be on site this week - failed to show thus far. Plumber won't come out until Kitchen is in. Kitchen can't go in until tiles are down. Tiler failed to show for past 3 working days despite saying he would. What can you do? I'm sure it will all come together over the next 2 -3 weeks but why does it have to be so blooming frustrating ?? I believe it is part and parcel of self building - I don't believe anyone said it was going to be easy !!

Hi and welcome to the forum. It is certainly the place to be - We too went down a TF route and have project managed from thereafter. Some TF companies offer plan drawing options so it might be worthwhile looking into that - Fleming Homes are just one - As for your plans I would make the following observations - The front door looks odd being off centre - I appreciate why you have done this, to accommodate the stairs but from an external view it might be niggling. The Boot room, utility and upstairs DHW room appear a touch tight - are you planing on having a cylinder? If so where is that going. I'm not sure there would be sufficient room on the spaces mentioned if indeed it was going to go in one of them. A Snug and Lounge appear to be an extravagance and perhaps a large all en-compassing utility room / boot room /plant room and cloakroom could be accommodated. We have a 165 sq metre house, albeit 3 bedrooms but conscious of costs etc,. we built / building a fairly rectangle house - see my blog for details. It might help. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/entry/127-base-camp-finally/ Good luck.

Looks good to me - I have attached a screen shot of what I sent though along with all the relevant drawings etc. It seemed to work for me and proved to be the basis of what we have worked with since. The end column was for them to price up the various elements of that section of the project. the tabs at the bottom worked through the whole project in a similar vein.