Redoctober

You will be surprised by what some of these drivers can manage in such tight spaces - We too are on a single track lane and the entrance to the plot was nothing more than a "farmers" entrance to his field - no gate at the time. As you will see from the photos - we removed a small section of the hedgerow to open up the gap when the time came. The gap remained the same width throughout the build thereafter. Not sure of the measurements but the finished gates, may give you an idea.

Hello and welcome - you find yourself in a very familar position to many on this forum. Most have been in this position, me included, whereby the uncertainties can be overwhelming. Sadly the stark truth of the matter is no one really knows! So in order to try and understand whether a project is vaiable and affordable, one has to research, read, enquire and eventually " gamble". Obviously the more research one does, the less of a gamble it becomes - hopefully, you may get to a position whereby is it becomes an almost cert - !! We started our project 5 years ago and a lot of what you mention, we encountered. Like you we had no idea but a limited budget! Have a read of my blog, it may help albeit the figures are 5 years out of date. One thing is for sure though. You will have to start spending some money, in order to progress your decision making, so good luck with it -

@MarkW1979 take a look at my blog - ours went down after the TF went up -

Yes I concur.

Yes I would certainly encourage you to get estimates from the service suppliers sooner than later - can be done online and can be as little as £3k depending upon the site and connections available etc. Beyond that, things like warranties - depends upon your intentions - are you going to stay in there for longer than 10 years? If so there is an arguement not to bother. Otherwise I guess you could be looking at £4k plus - again it may depend on how the build is being finanaced. Ground surveys about £2k I guess. Take a look at my blog - there are some costing on there for a 165sq m 1.5 house but be mindful the costs are 5 years old now so allow some uplift. I hope this helps.

I like to maintain a decent lawn and have found these people to be very useful - lots of tips advice and quality products. https://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/

@Jim30 if not done already, take a look at my blog - plenty of prices on there albeit about 5 years out of date but may give you some food for thought etc.

Hello @Jim30 and welcome - It is always good to have some idea of what things may cost and I appreciate getting those figures screwed down can be difficult. Does the above include second fix items such as plastering / dry lining and or joinery - skirting and internal doors etc? It may be difficult for others to comment without any plan elevation drawings as the shape of the property can influence prices. That said, your budget verses square metreage does seem appropriate -

I have Indian sandstone which affords a lovely rough finish but is a bugger to keep clean it has to be said. I power wash it twice a year. Porcelain tiles appear to be the better option, however, the only observation I would make is would the modern sleek finish suit the appearance of the house? Does the house have a modern looking rendered finish which would complement a porcelain patio etc?

Not wishing to hijack the thread of this post but could this be why you are still looking for a builder? Our builder was the same view as the one you dismissed. He had no idea what an ASHP was when it arrived but has built many houses in the area. That is why we choose to leave the heating and plumbng to those expert in that field - bit like Doctors I suppose - A generic term covering a host of specialities!

@Kernow I don't know for sure but would have thought any additional support - if required - would have been factored into the plans / building notes. This is a list of our floor build up from the top down and have had no issues with our staircase. limestone tiles - 22mm 65mm self leveling sand/cement screed · 100mm Kingspan Thermafloor TF70 (or similar and approved) rigid insulation board. 150mm thick concrete slab designed by engineer.

Hi @JennyF and welcome to this forum. We too are in the Scottish Borders having been through the "process" ourselves some 4 - 5 years ago. There are also many other self builders in the area, some frequent this forum others don't. Their loss as this is certainly the place to share ones experiences as well as gain vital advice and guidance on a range of subjects. Treat the comments like a general chat with friends in a pub - some comments will be more valueable than others and there will be a healthy mix of honesty and humour, so hold on tight, enjoy and ask away!

Similar experiences with @ProDave - we noticed that our water supply was yellow in colour on one ocassion. Contacted the local water board and was informed that there was a burst water main repair being undertaken in the local town - some 3 miles away - and residents should expect some "disturbance" filtering through their systems for a while - The advice was to let the water run and all would come good - which it did.

So to be clear - have they quoted £65k for the "optional" second phase or is the £65k quote to get the whole project to watertight stage? If it is for the "second pahse" only, then I suppose you have to price up the items seperately for your size house - roof tiles - supplied and fitted together with lead fallshings etc. Windows supplied and fitted - External door supplied and fitted - additional insulation - supplied and fitted. Given we don't know the number of windows and doors etc I would suggest the quote is a touch on the high side but perhaps more details are required before saying for sure?

Likewise, we don't touch ours other than to service the pump. This is a very basic DIY job. If you are looking at a treatment plant that requires such a high level of maintainance then I would suggest you look at other models. There are plenty of such models used by members on this forum which have so few moving parts, maintainance is kept to a minimum.

Hi - I understand your concern but what's the point in checking something that isn't finished? At least a two week visit prior to the TF arriving will give those involved a chance to correct anything that is needed to be changed etc.

Yes, it is disgraceful BUT from my experience when we had an issue with a neighbour many moons ago, the Solicitor I contacted suggested a "forceful" letter in order to try and resolve the matter. He then added that some matters weren't worth "dying in a ditch over", which I took on board. Sadly it seems this advice may not have been offered on this ocassion, or indeed if it was, someone became so entrenched, they lost all reasoning! Providing the solictors gave due consideration to likely costs, then it is down to the person making that decison, sadly.

Hello - yes I suspect the costs will be exorbitant, as others have suggested. That said, I would have thought that the cheapest way would be to install your very own treatment plant [ modern words for old school septic tanks!]. There are some very good options out there for you to consider - see previous threads for some ideas - as for them being emptied regularly - well I don't accept that. The types used by many on here and speaking from personal experience, we empty ours every 3 years! The cost of doing so can be anything from £150 - £300 depending upon the contractor, and notice given etc.

Is there a danger that you might be overthinking this? We have used brushed nickel throughout in the belief that some white moulded sockets may discolour over time and also the brushed nickel ones enhance the qualities of our other fittings etc. The reason I say what I did at the start is that although like most things, you can pay an unlimited amount for things which in essence do the same thing. Surely electrical sockets fall into that bracket. There are plenty of suppliers on the internet all with competitively priced products. They all look the same and all do the same job so why over invest when there isn't a need to do so?

Likewise, I am awaiting a delivery of a Potato box of Kiln dried Ash - being offered to me for £160. [Told that a potato box equates to one and half builders type bag]

Well that is a sizable house - I guess there is no "typical" heating regime, what I was trying to say is - you pay for what you get. My Mother in Law is a classic - she lives alone, wants all the lights on across the house and the heating on to the point you can walk around the house in a T shirt. Sadly, she fails to appreciate that that level of service comes at a cost!

You say the ASHP is costing you £40 a day and then on top of that you gave £20 being spent on wood. Well, I'm not that surprised to be honest if you are running a heating regime like you say you are. 7 zones for up to 14 hours and a wood burner on for 17 hours or so! How many people in the house and how large is the house? These factors need to be considered because given the heating schedule, the size of the house and number of occupants, you may find you are doing well out of it !

North of Coldstream - Darnchester - take a look at my blog for our build experience etc. May be of use albeit the prices etc are now dated!!

We too are in the Borders but completed our build some 4 years ago. We used Flemings and were equally impressed. Whereabouts [roughly] are you in the borders?

I'm not sure if that is considered to be the correct / best practice, but I do see on @PeterW photo, his have a short downpipe. That said, I have not experienced any problems with this approach so it may just be a case of either or?