Redoctober

Hi all - We have just had our building warrant drawings returned for our approval prior to any submission. The SVP sticks out like a sore thumb - wasn't expecting that. Any thoughts on an alternative position or a better way to deal with it. To assist, the Bathroom and ensuite are at the front of the house [middle and right hand window as you look at the front]. As ever, I appreciate your thoughts. PW Doc1.pdf

Here goes - I have had to publish them separately as opposed to an entire work book - Hope people find them useful. I no longer have the source document and please remember, these lists have been "tuned" to our particular build so some things may not apply universally and or are missing. PW. Brick layers.pdf Carpentry.pdf Electrican.pdf Groundworks.pdf Landscaper.pdf Misc.pdf Plasterer.pdf Plumber.pdf Prelims.pdf Roofer.pdf

Yes @Triassic sadly it is true, I have one prepared for every element of my build. I intend to submit them as part of my tendering process when the time comes later this year. I can't take all the credit as I lifted the various stages / elements out of an article in one of the Building magazines I read. If the Admin team could suggest a suitable place for future reference, I could up load them for everyone's benefit if it was thought worthwhile. PW.

Hi @Triassic this is something I hope to use in the coming months. I'm grateful to @JSHarris for his input above, as I will no doubt use what he has mentioned to support my spread sheet. Groundworks.pdf

Hi @MrsB yes it can be frustrating but you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs!! We have spent north of £3k - not including the land obviously - and are no way near to digging the ground as yet. On the plus side, we have full planning permission, the Solicitor has been paid and we are confident and comfortable with our budget for when the time comes. Sadly, at some point you are going to have to break those eggs!! PW.

@underfloorplumber Many thanks and I will certainly bear that offer in mind - By the way, welcome to the forum. Perhaps you could introduce yourself via another thread and let this "crazy of people" know you are out, so to speak! Enjoy.

Fantastic ..........what a way to spend a Saturday. Only the one change of underpants then Ian? PW.

Not quite @AliG this will no doubt be covered in due course - we are just at the stage of drawing up the Building Reg. Plans etc. and the question of UFH upstairs or not was raised.

Absolutely, but equally, when heeding the sage advice, one has to remember it often relates to a set of specific circumstances. The old adage " judge every case on its own merits" comes to mind.

I should have mentioned we are talking Scottish Regs. here not English, so it would be interesting to hear the experiences of those North of the Border so to speak.

Maybe so and I'm not here to defend them but it's like most things I suppose, a degree of caution has to be applied because there are going to be exceptions to the rule and perhaps they were talking or trying to explain things, in a more general manner. Any statement or comment could be considered to be wrong regardless of topic or subject matter I'm sure, but I'm equally certain, this was said with the best intentions and to cover more general situations. Perhaps their views would change, if dealing specifically with a particular set of circumstances like your @JSHarris - for example. PW

Thanks for all your contributions I really do appreciate it. I’m sure there are others out there who do so too. @Barney12 summed this up nicely - The need to put UFH upstairs in a well insulated home really does seem to split the audience! So by way of a round up and after considering these very useful thoughts - @Nick - I'm also trying to solve this same dilemma. Part of it depends on what is driving your under floor heating on the ground floor. If you are running a heat pump then it seems a shame after the big up-front cost of installing it, to then use a less efficient system upstairs. @AliG -My wife is insistent on having UFH so that the tiles are warm. But the reality is the heating will hardly ever be on so they won't benefit from it. I may have to run the heating in the en suite at a higher temperature than the rest of the house just to warm the tiles @jack – thanking you in particular for your honesty - If I were doing this all again, I'd definitely include UFH in the bathrooms, just to take the chill off the tiles. And comments from the UFH people which I thought would be useful to share - We think it would be beneficial if we explained to you the advantages to having under floor heating throughout, against the disadvantages of having radiators or part UFH plus radiators in some rooms. From a design and installation perspective, it is far easier and more straightforward for all concerned if UFH is being installed, to have it on the whole floor rather than in part of an upper floor. From an energy efficiency perspective it is definitely more efficient throughout because the flow temperature to UFH is much lower than radiators at the higher temperature they require. Having UFH across the whole floor will enable the customer to achieve a 6 star energy rating, rather than a 4 star because of the radiators, which would also result in a reduction in RHI payments. And finally, from the customer’s perspective, there are additional flow temperature control components required to service the radiator distribution, which put the cost up. More equipment means more potential for things to go wrong. UFH throughout is the far simpler and most cost effective method for short and long term effectiveness. A lot of people have gained the impression from some external influence (could be an article in a homebuilding magazine or a grand designs type programme), that you do not nowadays need heat in upper rooms. This is completely false. Even with a very well insulated house, for a building warrant to be granted, building control will need evidence to show that the whole house can be heated to the required room temperatures to satisfy the building regulations. It is highly unlikely that the required temperatures can be achieved without what we would call a primary heat input. Contrary to popular belief, under floor heating on a ground floor definitely does not heat rooms on an upper floor. MVHR is not a primary heat input either, although it does assist by pre-heating the incoming fresh air. All this has led us to a decision that we will go for UFH upstairs - Thanks again PW.

Sorry @PeterW - this should not have been included in my Post - ignore! @ProDave - thanks I shall raise this with them tomorrow when we discuss the increases.

Hi I have come across a slight dilemma. Currently working through the TF with a manufacturer and they had priced up the quote based on solid timber joists - We have been asked to indicate which type of heating would be going upstairs. Mrs W wants UFH especially for the bathroom and en-suite which will be tiled.In order to accommodate this, the joists will need to be upgraded to engineered joists such as Posi or TJI. In addition there will be additional costs to cover such things as 15mm plywood or OSB to the first floor, 50x30mm battens, an extra 145x45mm first floor wall plate to perimeter and 95x45mm wall plate to internal panels etc. I am awaiting an updated quote to cover all this but in between time my question is - Is there an alternative - Radiators I suppose. What heating to you guys have or have planned for the upstairs of a suitably well insulated house? Price wise, is it worth the upgrade over radiators and existing solid Timber Joists? Finally to assist, hopefully, the house will be well insulated with predicted U values of for the TF to come in at around - 0.11W/m²K. There will also be 280mm Frametherm 40 insulation to horizontal ceilings, if this helps ! PW.

These appear well regarded according to the Leading Magazine dealing with House Building etc. http://www.estimators-online.com/ PW.

Like you we struggled to understand whether or not we could afford what it was we intended to build. There were some helpful guides but they were only offering "ball park" figures. We needed something more forensic. For us, in order to move forward, we sent our plans to one of the various online estimators - total cost of £150 or so. We talked over the phone to iron out a few things and they provided us with a full breakdown of items required to build our house. I have to say, it has put us on a good footing and allowed me to develop the budgets thereafter, by comparing what it takes to build a house with items I could source independently. Probably the best £150 I have spent so far on this project because it allowed me to move forward with some confidence. PW.

Having been through this process myself recently the following might be useful to a wider audience - http://www.national-one-call.co.uk/?gclid=CN-i4rjE-9ECFc2d7Qodtv4Nqg https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry The rest of your list can be covered by talking to the interested parties - Solicitors, Estate Agents, Neighbours and the such like. PW.

I will PM you the details but this is the thing with self building - You have to understand what it is you want from the build and how it is going to serve you in the future. Like most self builders, ours will be our retirement home - we are not looking to sell it on anytime soon so the costs involved are irrelevant - [to a degree!]. If you are looking to sell it on within say 10 years, you have to ask yourselves do you hold back on the spec in order to maximise the profit when the time comes or do you invest the money in an existing house and convert it to your requirements with extensions etc. instead? PW.

Our TF, which should provide a U Value of 0.12 W/m².K has been costed out and that is hitting £260 per sq. metre. This doesn't include windows or external doors but does include erection costs. All the other elements such as Utilities, Foundations, Slates, rainwater goods, external wall etc., which haven't been finalised as yet, will bring that figure, into the area mentioned by @JSHarris. [Hopefully! ] PW.

You probably do that all ready without having to do that !!! [tee hee].

We submitted our plans via the on-line portal and the whole process from start to finish - being granted Full planning permission - went very smoothly indeed. The Council we dealt with were the Scottish Borders Council. As for any contact, perhaps each individual case is different but we had a couple of telephone conversations simply to iron out the Developer Contributions that were applicable in our case. They also made the decision within the appropriate time frame and I got the impression they were keen to do so as well. Perhaps this is a "performance measurement" they have to abide by. Either way - good luck. PW.

Is it "over thinking" or just "thinking" time? Either way, having the time to do "thinking" has been a real benefit for me. I started out about 2 years ago and still have about 12 months before the development starts but Boy ! the things I have thought about as a result of reading magazines and being a member of this [& the other ] Forum has proved invaluable. Any thinking time shouldn't really be considered a waste. PW.

Excellent. Looks like the "clouds" are drifting away, paving the way for finer weather! Long may it continue I say. PW.

Blimey, is this spell of "bad weather" ever going to stop? Surely we are due for a break!? PW. Typo.

Absolutely agree - good on yeah - We contacted the Programme people too and they have advised us to get back in touch once the TF has been ordered, which we will. Will look forward to hearing about your experiences and or seeing the results in due course. Any idea of the broadcast dates etc., yet? PW