Redoctober

Oh dear not good. Sound advice given though so hopefully it won't cause you too much pain. We had a similar situation whereby the oak arrived ahead of the scheduled time and in fact unannounced. I refused to take delivery of it simply because we had nowhere to store it and had I done so we would have been forever moving it about within the build structure as I wasn;t prepared to store it outside. The Company accepted it was going to be returned but unfortunately, when it was re-delivered some weeks later, it was in an awful mess! I suspected at the time that the Haulage company concerned just "slung" the pallets in a corner of their warehouse pending re-delivery. The Oak company were very good and replaced warped and broken items.

Yes, absolutely and I will take that into consideration when fitting a pipe etc. The thin pipe shown is actually a drainage rod used for demonstration purposes, but thanks anyway.?

@joe90 - Interesting. Our Mitsubishi Ecodan 5kw has a pipe coming form the base of the unit and we were instructed to create a soakaway for the pipe to drain into, as the unit will produce a good few litres of condensate. I did that but unfortunately the soakaway I created is surrounded by clay. Hence the issue. Thanks for the advice re hole cutter etc.

Here goes - It seems I under estimated the area needed for my ASHP condensate pipe to drain away into, as the condensate has been backing up recently. [Not draining away via the soakaway created as expected.] Upon inspection, I thought I could just dig a larger area but unfortunately, the area I am working with is clay based. In fact I managed to dig down a good 900mm but all I have done, is to create a clay walled well! Yes, it will no doubt take time to fill up but it is not a "long term" solution. So, one possible solution is to connect the ASHP condensate pipe to a pipe which in turn will "tap" into a nearby down-pipe / gutter system - see image. My question is this - How best to drill / create a hole in the "gutter" / "drain" to accommodate the new drainage pipe without breaking it and causing me all sorts of additional problems' As ever, your thoughts are welcome.

Cracking video and I shall look forward to this unfolding. The "one driver / operator" approach reminded me so much of my situation. Not that we were moving the quantities you have, but nonetheless, our ground needed to be stripped and the Contractor left just one bloke on site to use both machines. As I was in a position to do so, I helped out by operating the dumper. The job still took two and a half days mind! Probably would have taken half that if left to his own devices!! ?? This was the view from "my office" for a few days.

Hi and welcome to the Forum. There are members, including myself, who didn't use an architect or QS - or even a PM. Most self builds are manageable but again it does depend on ones circumstances. You say your time is a premium so are unlikely to be too involved. That in itself will add to your costs. I don't know how far down the line you are and what type of build you are after - TF or Block/ brick? Again, all important things when trying to price up / estimate costs. 3 years ago we finished our house - 165sq metre - a generous 3 bed 3/4 build for £1850 per sq metre. Again, the detail needs looking at rather than the headline as our finish may be considered higher than others and it did include an oak frame garage and shed combination. Take a look at my blog which might assist - others are also available and can be found here - https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/

Interesting thread. As always the devil can be in the detail. "Looking at it from a one off self build project" I am of the view that the plumbers approach isn't too far off the trades I used during our build. From my experience, our Plumber didn't spend a whole day on site, he came and went having done what he could in order to move the build on. That said he wasn't paid an hourly rate. He priced up the job and was paid at certain stages - However, our Chippy was paid an hourly rate and spent weeks on site. He took a 30 minute break in the morning and an hour for lunch. All explained beforehand. He even mentioned a bit of travelling time allowance. BUT, and here is the but - his was work was top notch, he was reliable, communicative, offered solutions not problems and pleasant to have on site. As with most things with Self builds, there will be many elements to consider and things aren't always as black and white as we would want them. That said, I do appreciate larger projects beyond a one off self build would require a more robust approach to the trades employed. @NewToAllOfThis what is your situation/circumstances?

Just catching up with this blog and it is wonderful to see you have started. Good luck with it all, try to enjoy it and keep up the "blogging" as it is very informative. Looking forward to seeing this project unfold over the coming months.?

We burnt ours on an area that was eventually used as our drive way. Also, the best £25 I spent was on an old Juice drum converted into an incinerator. Still got it and use it.

Highways act 1980 - sorry - 50 feet not metres - refers to fireworks etc Here it is in full For section 161(2) (penalty for lighting a fire or discharging a firearm or firework within 50 feet of the centre of a highway) there shall be substituted the following subsection— “(2)If a person without lawful authority or excuse— (a)lights any fire on or over a highway which consists of or comprises a carriageway; or (b)discharges any firearm or firework within 50 feet of the centre of such a highway, and in consequence a user of the highway is injured, interrupted or endangered, that person is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.”. (3)After section 161 there shall be inserted the following section— “161ADanger or annoyance caused by fires lit otherwise than on highways. (1)If a person— (a)lights a fire on any land not forming part of a highway which consists of or comprises a carriageway; or (b)directs or permits a fire to be lit on any such land, and in consequence a user of any highway which consists of or comprises a carriageway is injured, interrupted or endangered by, or by smoke from, that fire or any other fire caused by that fire, that person is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale. (2)In any proceedings for an offence under this section it shall be a defence for the accused to prove— (a)that at the time the fire was lit he was satisfied on reasonable grounds that it was unlikely that users of any highway consisting of or comprising a carriageway would be injured, interrupted or endangered by, or by smoke from, that fire or any other fire caused by that fire; and (b)either— (i)that both before and after the fire was lit he did all he reasonably could to prevent users of any such highway from being so injured, interrupted or endangered, or (ii)that he had a reasonable excuse for not doing so.”.

I don't think having a bonfire is illegal as such - the only legal requirement I am aware off is that any "bonfire" has to be at 50 metres from the highway.

Hi @Colin Shaw Have a read of these two entries - may answer some of your questions.

@Kiltmmm, interesting conundrum. The builder we ended up using sounds a bit like your Builder A - He was at times frustrating to deal with in regards to meetings and communication prior to actually starting work but his "work" and "reputation" for me, outweighed those niggles. Once I had pinned him down we agreed a start date and the rest was left to "trust" which interestingly enough, was something he mentioned to me at an early stage of our "relationship." Ironically enough, that agreed start date was put back a week! Yes frustrating but these are the things one will have to accept perhaps when venturing on a self build project. I guess you have to consider such things as "personal" relationships in this equation as well as just areas that are black or white. PS - Also things like locality may come into play - Local reputation is "king" in our area, whereas in more urban built up areas, some builders may not care for that as much.

Put your plans through an online estimator - will cost you about £150 but could be money well spent, when coming to a decision as to take the chance or not!

Hi @revelation our oak staircase was fitted after the skimming / plastering had been done like others above. Some images to show that the finished product was just as good as if done the other way round. Ours has been in place for over 2 year snow and there are no signs of cracking etc. The second image shows the section under the stairs leading to the understairs cupboard. Hope this helps.

I think this is a good point and was certainly the case for us with regards to builders rather than TF suppliers. I had to chase up one builder for a quote, after supplying him with a tender pack and he said he wasn't going to bother as we had already sent the same out to a number of other local builders! I found this a strange way of doing business but nonetheless, he didn't price it up!

Hi - something to ponder as we continue to hunker down - Unfortunately, the door furniture - see image - occasionally hits the painted kitchen unit when opened fully and or clumsily, leaving a mark on the painted unit. What is the best way in which to protect said unit from anymore damage? I was thinking of a rubber type sleeve to fit over the offending arm & latch of the door furniture but am struggling to source anything suitable. I know I could just "tape" over it etc but the solution has to pass the "Mrs W" test!! Thoughts welcome.

Thanks @ProDave and @joe90 i will give that a go - sadly though you are dealing with a right numpty and knowing my luck I will switch the wrong one off - Is the one marked "water heater" that I should turn off and see how things change? ?

Hi @joe90 Not sure what the set up is other than the "system" is controlled by a central control panel and then there are seperate units for each room. I have attached some images which may help fill in the gaps of my limited knowledge. I do know though that the main control panel has been set up to allow a regular "legionella" flush so to speak, which brings into question my immersion heater switch. Both these wall units are on 24 / 7 and one is labeled "water heater".

Just bumping this question as I too would like to know - we have an immersion and it is never switched off! Is this something I could change by switching it on and off when necessary? But I suppose in order to do that I would need to know its purpose.

Hi - we operate a 3 bed detached house - 165sq m in total - and our water and heating is run on electricity only - no gas. Not sure how helpful it is, but my annual usage last year from February 2020 to date - so nearly a full year was / is around 7000KWH - our latest bill shows an average daily usage of 19.5kwh - So for completeness, we did have our adult son staying with us for that full period, so there was three of us at home throughout. None of us working. Obviously the cost of that usage will vary depending upon which tariff you are on but for us, our total annual energy usage came to about £950

All good thanks - PM sent directly so have a look out for a message!

@the_r_sole - @Omi Here is another "local" house - with alcove gable type frontage. Good luck with resolving the issues raised.

I would say it is most important to get other quotes. You would in other matters of general life so self building is no different. That said, you also need to gain an understanding of the terminology they use as this will assist your understanding when it comes to knowing what it is they are actually supplying or not, as the case may be. Ask the question on here and you will find an answer - I'm sure. That all said, trying to compare TF quotes like for like is not easy! They all offer different things and the devil is in the detail!!! There are plenty of members who have used various TF suppliers so ask a question or indeed use the search facility to research previous queries/concerns/questions etc. Good luck and finally, invest in some candles that burn well into the night, as you will need them as you embark on your research/understanding!??

As others have said - it depends on your circumstances really and what shape the house intends to take - The more angles etc the dearer the build cost could be. We built a 160sqm TF stone clad house, with Oak framed car port - 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms etc. Plenty of space and all for £1850sq metre, albeit north of the border and it was completed 2 years ago. Take a look at my blog to see what we ended up with and for details of how we achieved it.