SBMS

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.

We do have PV, not commissioned yet. How have others set up their system? Is it better for PV to use a clamp and use the immersion, or just use the PV to assist with running the heat pump?

Has anyone had any success with scheduling when the hot water function on their heat pump is activated? We are on intelligent octopus so get electricity at 7.5p 11pm to 5am. Does it make sense to only schedule the heat pump to heat water during these hours? Are there any downsides to this? And as a bonus question, is it as simple as activating the scheduling function on the nibe f2040? thanks

Fair point for large works, not sure how relevant it is for a self builder engaging a small builder/contractor, which is really the only scenario I think my advice is relevant for (but probably the most common scenario encountered by those on this forum). Please don't try and build a railway station, bridge, or international airport heeding my advice 🤣

Yeah I'm not sure those examples are hugely relevant, obviously when you're that size you can dictate terms. I run a software business and our customers don't dictate our terms, we have a standard agreement normally they have a tweak. That's because we know how to build and deliver software and so can tailor our Terms to how we actually deliver a product. YMMV, we're just finishing up our self build so am just trying to give a bit of experience. We went small builder, payment in arrears. Of course we had a full project schedule, specification of works etc - so I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a project plan and fully understood and communicated set of requirements, designs, timeframes etc. It's just the 'contractual' element that I think is fairly pointless when dealing with smaller contractors.

I think you need to outline exactly what you are hoping to achieve and what you've currently agreed regarding terms with your contractor/builder. Here's my very simplified view on this topic, and the replies on this thread. There are typically two types of routes the average self builder goes down: 1. Large, primary contractor 2. Smaller family/local builder I think there's a disparity of expectation here. The self builder will look to the large primary contractor because of the reduction in risk, capacity for dealing with problems, resource they might throw at it, dedicated project managers etc etc. But with that, likely, comes a higher cost. The smaller/family/local builder is probably the opposite of that, but obviously comes in at a reduced cost. What I would expect here, and what happens in most other industries, is that the supplier provides contractual terms and conditions. This is because they are the ones that deliver the service and therefore they need to formulate their capability to deliver, what their liability is, how their contract feeds into their indemnity insurances etc etc. I don't know of any industry where the customer brings/formulates a suggested contract/delivery terms to a supplier. Granted, there's always scope for negotiation and tweaking terms, but it's generally the supplier that provides their contract. I think the problem with some of the comments in this thread is that self builders are choosing the smaller/local/family builders, but then attempting to overlay onto them a set of (often) onerous contract terms. My point that I've referred to repeatedly, is that I don't believe this works. Even if this small builder agrees to your terms, the likelihood is your project/build is maybe only one or two that they have on the go. In the event that something disastrous happens and you come to attempt to rely on those terms, what's the likelihood of legal success? Will you have a day in court, or will your contractor likely fold and phoenix, as it's a much more cost effective route. Larger contractors that do have their terms (or adopt JCTs etc) will typically have a fairly hefty insurance policy/Professional Indemnity cover that backs their capability to defend any legal action you might take - and actually means that in the event that you're right, and they messed up, and you need compensating or making whole, their PI cover picks this up. Smaller builders just don't have this. It's why I said, earlier in the thread, that selecting a contract and enforcing it, or even proposing it on your smaller builder just doesn't make logical sense to me. With a larger contract, and a larger contractor, you don't need a huge amount of trust. You could even pay in advance knowing if you get shafted, you can sue and get your money back. With a smaller builder - get referrals, pay in arrears, built trust as you go, inspect often etc. TLDR: If your contractor doesn't already have a suggested contract/engagement/terms likelihood is they don't have an insurance policy that would back this up in the event you legally needed to refer to it.

We are not yet moved in! Although I would imagine condensation is more a function of the glass, not the frames though? Someone on here will let me know if otherwise! Will let you know when we are in 👍

We had reynaers cp130s installed, they’re great. Two sets of 4m, lift and slide. Really smooth operation, chunky handle. Ours were on a double track as we wanted 2m of glass.

This is what we did with two vertical drops. Holesaw through the header and footer. In hindsight might as well have just left a 100mm gap when building stud wall! Wall not structural, both sides being plasterboarded so boards bridged the ‘gaps’ (there weren’t actually gaps as there was about 5mm of timber left each side of the hole).

Think this was something I was pretty worried about when starting off, hence why we agreed to pay in arrears at the end of each stage - I always owe the builder money rather than other way round.

My advice as well, bearing in my mind what others have said about contracts being fairly useless from an enforcement point of view (good points though regarding flushing out issues) - try and make sure the balance of financial risk isn’t predominantly with you. Our builder for example stood the cost of most of the stages of our build (less a small 5k builders deposit to get going). This fundamentally meant that we could make sure work was carried out to a good standard before payment. It’s one of the reasons I was less bothered with a contract.

What heat pump did you go for?

Re my previous point the installers can apply retrospectively after install. (Point 100 in the guide).

Just an FYI vouchers don’t have to be issued prior to work commencing the guide states this at point 100: “Installers can make voucher applications retrospectively after the installation has commissioned, but they will still need to apply for a voucher before they can redeem it.” I think this is how our installer is doing it.

We used total home to design and supply our MVHR and our builder has installed it. I believe that total home subcontract our the install. They were really very good, worked with us through a design change when we went with trusses and have been very useful and communicative.

Wow - 4.5m?? Our glazing manufacturer raised their eyebrows at our oversized 2.2x2m panes for our sliding doors. 4.5m sounds very special order. Especially in a roof orientation where gravity is wanting to pull the centre of the glass span in itself. Maybe speak with a commercial glazing supplier?