SBMS

We're currently going through the pain of having to have bat emergence surveys done following a preliminary roost assessment for bats (PRA) that identified there 'could be bats' for some old barns we have to knock down for planning. We've been quoted £6k+VAT for the emergence surveys! Our quote is for full dusk surveys... infra red...video monitoring... a further survey 3 weeks later... This is for about 4 small barns on the land and will set back our build timeframes (first survey mid may, next survey end of June so puts our planning permission submission back a lot...) Two questions: 1. Does this price sound reasonable? 2. I am wondering if we should do another PRA with another company? It seems the one we picked may be overly...picky?

Can you elaborate? What do you know now?

Got you. It’s probably not the worst idea to get ballparks but just be mindful that once you get your building regs drawings and there are steel sizes etc if you have any that the builder may need to ‘revise’ their quote. This might also be why builders are asking for money to quote (none of ours did). They might think it’s very speculative not quoting to regs drawings. Most we spoke to refused to quote from planning and said they needed the full detail to quote accurately.

Are they quoting from planning drawings or full building drawings?

How about getting another quote to compare?

Be great if members have those numbers to hand, I assumed it was a big ask so though sqm was easier!

We’re early days and looking at all options but are steering more towards passive standards. Last build was block and brick and ACH achieved wasn’t the best. Also difficult getting trades to understand the detail and quality required for passive standards but the TF erectors (MBC at least) seem to understand it a lot more.

Fair enough! What insulation did you use on your brick and block? I'm guessing you didn't try and get to passivhaus standards for it, or did you?

Thanks @Buzz for comprehensive answer that’s really useful. Two questions - what was your house size and why didn’t you go TF in the end?

Do the TF companies quote from building regs drawings or can they do it from stage 1 drawings?

I wonder if this is true just for superstructure sqm prices? Granted a finished sqm price for a build is impossible due to internal finish, but I'm not sure there's a huge deviation in superstructure pricing for two TF builds that are of similar size and shape. Also, am not trying to price the job, just trying to get a feel for past builders' costs for TF

Do you care to share your MBC cost?

Am just investigating different methods of construction. Appreciate the answer isn’t exact just wondered if there’s a range.

Thanks. I got a number of about 700 from another group. Be interesting to see what other members got though.

Thanks - what size sqm was your build?

For anyone that got quotes or went with MBC timber frame - what was your average price per sqm? Did it include their insulated slab? —- Apologies for double posting I don’t know how to move it from general to here..

Hi all For anyone that got quotes or went with MBC timber frame - what was your average price per sqm? Did it include their insulated slab?

Hi Gary Yes we pretty much did the detailing as my diagram. We sacrificed 10-20mm or so so are not completely flush because we do get heavy rain and there’s no overhang so I went belt and braces. We put the cill on and drains into a slot drain. Can barely tell it’s not flush and it’s pretty level and have had no issues.

Thanks! Out of interest - how come they didn’t replace this for you? Were You out of warranty?

Thanks Andehh. Is it the controller circuit you replaced or a board on the actual unit?

Humidity is set to 70%. It kicks on around same time even before we have baths or showers and runs for a few hours. The c1 that comes up when you press the boost button seems to indicate some sort of timer but there’s nothing to indicate it’s on a timer in commissioning?

Wonder if anyone can help.. we have a vent axia sentinel kinetic and in the evening usually around 9pm to 11pm it starts ramping up. When I look at the control panel it’s showing boost 100%. If I press the boost button it says c1. I’ve gone into the commissioning screen and there are no timed settings for the boost (they are all just 00:00 to 00:00). It’s driving us crazy as there’s no reason it should be boosting and we can’t disable it - even from the control. Does anyone know what could be going on before we get the mvhr guys out? Thanks

So our plumber ended up installing our Quooker tap (wasn’t ready for the Quooker engineer). At the mains incoming where utility is, cold water comes out ice cold (and excellent flow rate). At the Quooker tap it comes out often tepid (and no where near as good a flow). I suspect the flow reduction might be down to a restrictor or something but the tepid water has me worried. A cursory glance and I can see the cold inlet feed for the tap and the inlet to the Quooker tank are branched off a Quooker specific ‘splitter’ (don’t know correct term). is it possible that some of the hot water from tank could leak back into this splitter and be pulled out when cold tap is running? Or does anyone have any suggestions for tepid water? Running for a good few minutes doesn’t really make a difference.

What’s your setup Ian? Have you got the timer active?

Thanks all.