Redoctober

Ouch indeed. There are many other "ouches" to come - Yes it is a fine balance against the economies of time and money. Throw into that equation experience and confidence and you have a heady cocktail which could go many ways!! We are hoping for a 26 week build from start to finish and that unfortunately, comes at a premium. Fingers crossed.

By way of a quick update as the TF arrives on the 29th May - The Car port now has a slate roof on it - the sides and enclosed shed will be finished once the scaffolding comes down, hopefully the larch cladding will be complete within the next 10 days or so. The scaffolders have erected the main structure in readiness for the TF. You will see one section has been left "open" to allow the panels to be fed inside. This will be closed off upon completion. I'm told the TF will be ready for the windows and doors within 3 weeks. For those interested, the scaffolding you see for both structures - the main structure being on an 8 week hire has cost just shy of £5k. This was the agreed price after 3 separate quotes. Which in fairness were all in the same ball park. The Telehandler with a 10 metre boom will arrive on the 29th, and the hire for that for a week, amounts to £300 plus £40 delivery and £40 collection - another one of those "hidden" costs! The TF company will be erecting the TF and the carne they will hire in has been absorbed in the erection costs. I will breakdown the erection costs when I post about the TF arriving etc. Thanks for reading - PW.

Hi @epsilonGreedy Yes the "pad stones" were requested by the Oak frame manufacturer - I would have preferred stone but time beat my decision making / sourcing options, so we tied them in with the dwarf walling. They were not without their issues but after some "correction" those issues were resolved. As for the roofing, sarking has been installed - this is very much a Scottish thing and then today as it happens, the membrane went on ahead of the slates, which will go on tomorrow. I hope this helps. PW

Hi and welcome. You have certainly come to the right place. Your project sounds very interesting and you should be prepared to make some tough decisions ahead. What size house are you looking to build - that in itself, might be an indicator as to whether or not your plans are realistic, especially given the fact that the main trades are having to be brought in so to speak. That said, I'm sure it could be done providing you are "economical" with your finishes. Either way, keep us posted as it will be a very useful sharing experience I'm sure. Good luck. PW.

Thanks @Temp I was going to let the oak frame weather naturally as with the larch cladding. Should go a lovely silver / grey in time.

Hi @Onoff the right hand section will form an enclosed shed. The middle section will be the car port itself and the final 3rd, about 1000mm will be the log store. Running across the entire front will be a 1000mm covered walk way. Basically allows us to exit the shed and car without getting rained on. The upper space will remain open. No intention to use as storage or additional accommodation - the budget just wouldn't stretch that far!! Thanks @Crofter you have explained it well and also reassured me in the process!! I just told the company what I was after and they drew it all up - a complete design, manufacture and installation package. And yes, I don't think it will be going anywhere soon!

The roof will be slated back end of next week - The TF for the house arrives on 29th May 2018. Will update again thereafter.

Yes, I have to agree I did enjoy the process and the decision making wasn't too difficult either. I'm sure that will soon change!! Thank you, yes, the builder has been good and the figures mentioned were what I budget for. Although having said that, I had forgotten the dwarf wall so that had to be included - but in the scheme of things not a problem.

The ground works have moved on considerably, no doubt assisted by the fine weather we have experienced since mid April. The dwarf wall and base for the car port was always the priority as the frame itself arrives to site on Monday 14th May. The main house sub structure is almost complete – the ducting for the electricity cable and water pipes are in as are the drainage outlets. Over the next week or so the sub base will be completed. The TF is due to arrive Tuesday 29th May. You will see I have electricity going into the car port structure – this is where I will be housing the main electricity meter. Look close enough and you will see an additional piece of ducting. This will allow a return run back into the house. I have also allowed for water to be supplied to an outside tap in future. You may be able to pick out the orange temporary fencing. Installed to protect the tree as per a planning condition. However, more importantly, nesting in the long grass between the fencing and the tree is a pheasant. She is sitting on a nest of at least 10 eggs. I discovered this as I was strimming the long grass a week or so ago!! I have also attached an image of the trench in which we placed the water and electric ducting. One of the many reasons for joining this forum was to try and establish the likely costs for various elements of a self build. A s a complete novices it was important to us to try and establish such costs as we didn’t want to venture into something that was going to financially break us. So with this in mind, I am happy to disclose the cost of our ground works to the point displayed in the photos shown in this entry. Hopefully, others will appreciate it as I am keen to offer whatever information I can for the immense wealth of knowledge I have gleaned so far from this wonderful forum. Total cost so far for the ground works – Strip site and to do concrete foundations - £5500 To build to floor level - £4100 To prepare and concrete ground floor - £9000 [includes car port] Thanks for reading.

Funny, when we were pegging it out to place it within the plot, both I and Mrs W thought how small it looked ! . The ground floor is 90 sq. meters and the first floor is 75 sq. metres - a total of 165sq. metres.

A few days for the foundations to settle and then the deliveries arrive and the builders set to work again............ The images will show the footprint of the house and utility room together with the walling and dwarf wall on which will sit the oak framed car port.

Yes the doors will be accessible entrances and I do intend then to have level access so I am grateful to you for your thoughts. No problems, we are all on this forum to give and receive, so once I finalise such matters I will post again. Yes, I am aware of how tight the SBC can be on such matters but thanks for the heads up anyway.

Nothing has been discussed re bridging the gap between the stone and TF of the door as yet !! It will be in the morning mind when I chat things through with the builder. It is clearly an area I have failed to identify - The attachment shows what is going to be in place for everything above the door thresholds!! Quoins and Cills.pdf

Thanks for chipping in - Yes we have a TF with natural stone as the external wall - the windows will have stone sills to them, just didn't think they would be needed for the doors! As a result the windows will come with what they are calling stub sills, which sit on the stone sills. So, I suppose the options are as you state - a timber threshold, or to cast a concrete one or fit a stone one. Thanks for your assistance - very much appreciated. PW.

Hi - I'm having difficulty in getting my head around what our Doors and window supplier are asking - they keep referring to the Thresh detail for the doors and after a bit of toing and throwing I have received this response - Regarding the thresh details again thank you for the information provided. The problem being as on the drawings you will require an external cill min 262mm which is not achievable as external cills are only 160mm projection. As you have 82mm frame which fitted flush with timber kit then 150mm external treatment and 30mm overhang = 262mm. Ways around this would be to have the doors on a cantered stone similar to windows. Is it me or can someone please try and explain in a better way, what it is I should be looking to achieve?

I'm in the Scottish Borders and their website had a page dedicated to such matters - From memory it is based on size verses their build cost estimates I believe - might be worth a look on your local Council planning website.

@Tennentslager good question - and answered superbly by @Triassic. In our case they were set at 200mm high so the concrete would just cover the pegs allowing the ground worker to float the surface off. I have to say the dumper truck driver did do well as on occasions there were some dodgy over hangs!! Sorry, forgot to add - yes 500mm mesh was placed in the trenches as the concrete was poured.

An update - photos speak for themselves........

Certainly beat the day job that's for sure!

Yes, thanks. We have a site meeting over the next or so with the TF company ahead of their delivery. They seem to think it will be OK but a site visit will confirm it I'm sure.

Yes, after years of dreaming, thinking, researching and waiting, work finally started on our first self build project. After a couple of false starts due to the builder having to finish a job that over ran and the arrival of the better weather, we eventually broke ground on Wednesday 18th April, two days later than anticipated. Annoying yes, but then what can you do? It’s only two days and it’s important to maintain a relationship with your builder. Nonetheless, we are now ready to do the foundations, which start W/C 23rd April. The sheer amount of top soil removed was somewhat overwhelming. The site had to be stripped down to what is called the sub soil – the firm clay stuff and therefore everything above it had to be removed. We had allocated a spot within the plot to store the topsoil but we soon realised that this space wasn’t going to be enough! Thankfully, the neighbouring farmer allowed us to deposit the remaining topsoil, in the field directly next to our plot. He will no doubt make use of it over the coming months but I have to say, if he hadn’t allowed us to do that, we would have had no choice but to hire in a fleet of tipper trucks with grabbers attached. Imagine the expense of that !! Anyway, the top soil removed and store within our plot we come in handy once the landscaping starts. I spent a couple of days as the Dumper truck driver and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I didn’t have the nerve to give the digger a go – far to many levers and pedals!! The hired in toilet was christened within half an hour of the Digger driver arriving ! Thank goodness it gets serviced every week. SPEnergy and BT Openreach both dropped off their respective ducting for when the time comes. Interesting to note that SPEnergy would only allow us 50 metres of ducting as anymore would affect the type of cabling that would have to be installed. 50 metres should be more than sufficient for us but in any case the guy who dropped off the ducting, gave us 75 metres!! The structures, namely the timber frame for the house and the car port, will be erected during the middle of May and the back end of May. Again, another little set back really, albeit a week later than expected. The team of erectors will not have finished the job before ours in time so we had to take a slot, a week later. More photos will be posted as the work unfolds but for now here are a few of the work so far. Thanks for reading.

Last push today and the site will be cleared - Now that we have started, I shall update my blog over the weekend with some more photos.

We have just finished day two and are still to complete the site clearance. The vegetation was removed first but we are having to scrape down some 12 - 18 inches of top soil to get to the sub soil. This has generated so much top soil, the space we had allocated within the plot was soon filled. Thankfully and I mean thankfully, the farmer has allowed us to deposit the remaining top soil in his neighbouring field as he will no doubt find a suitable use for it. I will post photos tomorrow after I have visited the plot but this must have saved me a fortune in removal costs. As @MikeSharp01 points out, you can never budget enough for ground works!!

I too am at the early stages of Project Managing our build - The reasons are as follows - TF being supplied and erected by Company 1. Ground works, external wall, roof by Company 2. Plumbing, electrics and joinery by associates of Company 2. Windows and doors by Company 3. Under floor heating / cylinder etc. by Company 4. Most materials supplied by me. I am now retired so will be on site most days, which helps as I do like to be involved. I have no previous build background but through being a member of this forum, reading and researching, I believe this and my general methodical approach, will help me through this project. Fingers crossed and no doubt that sentiment will be well and truly tested as the months unfold!!

Thanks - that will give me the know how, but would still require "key" materials!