SarahG

Well we have our soakaway design, so maybe we can do the percolation tests ourselves. Like you say process seems to be easily enough to find online. Our design is far better than the existing soakaway for the house that was built 80 years ago and there were never any issues there, so I can't imagine there should be too much to worry about. Not sure how soil samples will benefit us, foundations have already been dug and filled in with concrete anyway, all signed off by BCO... don't know the point of a site inspection. I'll call them tomorrow and ask.

Just had our first inspection from warranty surveyor and they are asking for a site investigation report and also a soakaway design and percolation test to be completed. I'm not sure what a site investigation report is and why we need one. It seems to be more to do with possible contaminated land? Anyone else had this request? We have our soakaway design, can we do percolation test ourselves? It is mostly sand, but there is some clay which I assume is why they have asked. Feels like we are about to embark on another episode of spending 1000's on reports again 😭

Good that makes sense- ok so maybe I am in agreement in having hard flooring downstairs due to the UFH. I can perhaps afford a couple of rugs. This is my exact memory of sisal, defeats the object of a nice soft carpet. Maybe we can agree on a wool loop pile or similar for bedrooms only. Oh really- I wanted light stone coloured tiles for the downstairs too. Definitely like the idea of carpet runner on stairs. Now my head is spinning with too many flooring options!

@Conor - Depends on the carpet you go for! He wants this expensive sisal stuff. Although I wouldn't put that in kids bedrooms. @JohnMo why is UFH and carpet rubbish? We will have UFH downstairs only but I wanted carpet in playroom and study. Upstairs won't be UFH so guess it doesn't matter then. My issue with hard flooring also is you then have to spend a fortune on rugs to make it actually feel nice and homely. Also will it be more noisy with hard than carpet?

I see here that you cannot claim VAT relief for carpet - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-refunds-for-new-builds-if-youre-a-diy-housebuilder#goods-you-can-or-cannot-claim-for Can you claim back the VAT on hard flooring though, such as solid wood floor or tiles? I am currently going through a debate with my husband if we have solid flooring throughout the whole house- I want carpets in bedrooms and he does not. I think if you have to pay VAT on carpet and not on hard flooring then this might support his argument and not mine?!

If anyone is looking for conveyancing for their self build I would recommend Russell & Russell. Excellent communication and very quick to respond. Also the price was extremely competitive. Just completed today and really happy with the service I received.

We were not keen on the windows our builder recommended and he is happy for us to source our own. So having heard positive stories from others about windows from Poland we are looking at this company which a friend recommended- https://eurostyl.net.pl/en Has anyone used them before? We have a quote which seems pretty reasonable, they are really helpful and seem to be able to provide exactly what we want and the website looks good (not necessarily an indicator!). I cannot find any reviews online though.

Thanks- I have sent across my site insurance quote from Protek which mentions Saffron. I am hoping that will be enough to satisfy them. So I can just take that policy out and we are good.

Yes that's exactly it. I wasn't quite sure if we needed our own site insurance, as far as I can tell it's all covered under the builders insurance. He seemed to think we didn't need it anyway. I'll speak to Protek as I have my warranty through them and have a quote for site insurance. If they can mention saffron on that policy then maybe I will need to do that. Oh well what's another £1000 😩

Our lender has stated in terms of our mortgage offer the builders policy must state the interest of our lenders and of us as well. Obviously it does not, as it covers all his work. Just wondering if others have come across this and what they have done? I suggested to the builder maybe we need a standalone policy for just our build, he said he would take a look.

Ah ok. Yes their house is next door and is about 3m away.

No we are not building anything on their side. We are building wholly on our land. There will be a new fence which will be placed on the boundary.

We served our neighbours with a section 1 notice as we are building our single story garage right up to the boundary, wholly on our land. From what I can find online it says- Unlike other sections of the Party Wall Act, an adjoining owner cannot just appoint a surveyor on receiving a notice unless they can establish an actual dispute over the section 1 notice. Actual disputes are fairly limited and so it is unlikely that serving a section 1 notice will result in surveyors being appointed or a Party Wall Award needing to be made. Now we have received a letter from their surveyor saying they dissent to our works and have appointment them to represent them and we must draw up an award now. There is no detail on why though. Anyone have any insight or experience?

Sliding sashes with weights and cords and double glazed. Don't really want any mock features on the exterior as want it to look as traditional as possible. Thanks!

Just wondered if anyone can recommend a supplier for timber sash windows ideally with structural (rather than astragal) bar running down the middle. Asking for a friend

I have never in 14 years had anyone to the property for our first mortgage or any standard remortgage since. This is the first self build and they will be sending someone, they could just use Zoopla and save me £1400 and them some time..

Finally the lender is happy with the builder! My mortgage advisor went above and beyond to help us. The builder also sent us lots of useful documents, all this managed to reassure them thankfully. So glad to make it to the next stage, now the land valuation. I'm sure this will be fine..

Quite right. I just checked and the walls are 0.18, so sounds like there could be room for improvement there too. Maybe I should give the SAP assessor a call and see what changes we could make to get the score up to 88. We have room on the top of the roof to put a couple of solar panels which I think would be approved as it would be the same as our neighbours. Actually our SAP is 81B, not 82.

Hi- I've not selected one yet actually as still waiting for mortgage offer.. taking ages. I did get some quotes though around 1200-1400. One from Russell and Russell and a few from conveyancing index comparison site. I confirmed it was for self build. I have no idea how good any of them are but the prices seem reasonable.

Thanks- all good points. Yes our glazing is all set to 1.2 u-value so that could certainly be reduced and ai tightness again is 5 so potentially another easy win. I think as we are in a conservation area we might need to get a planning amendment. But we could do that during the build anyway and our neighbour has them so shouldn't be an issue. We would like to install them in the future anyway. We already have an ASHP. I'm not sure about the walls, I think they are pretty highly specced already. I've spent a lot of time this week gathering reviews and documents from the builder and people I know that have used him. Just sent it all over to my broker so I am crossing my fingers they will accept it and we can move forward. Otherwise I think it may be a case of doing the above and trying ecology!

We would need to get new drawings done, submit a planning amendment so would take months not weeks. In hindsight we should have perhaps done this two years ago when we were doing planning.. Is an option though. It feels like everything is always so difficult everywhere you turn and everything seems to cost 1000's. We have already had a delay of a year due to personal reasons. They basically have an issue as they can't find any independent reviews and they don't like the website (I mean nobody can fake google or checkatrade reviews can they ) So now I've had to ask the builder for a CV of his work and a load of other stuff, luckily he is being great and said he can do all of this. I just feel like now they are looking for an excuse to say no though. Really is a test of mental health. Also working through various planning conditions and party wall stuff at the moment. I think someone said on here the easiest part is the build, it's all the stuff beforehand which is the hardest. I have to say without this forum I wouldn't have even got this far.

Yes I thought someone would say this, that is of course one option but going to delay us even more

If there is another reason they have not shared it with me or maybe they can't? It is not a complete done deal yet. They have a checkatrade logo on the website but are not on checkatrade- builder says sorry it's a mistake and he doesn't use checkatrade as nobody accepts those reviews anyway and tend to be for smaller jobs. There is also a typo in the menu, it says reat extension instead of rear apparently! I mean English is not his first language, and I wouldn't wnat to go with a builder with a flashy website anyway! it just seems nit picky. He has done refurbs for our friend and their friends and all highly recommended and we think he knows what he is talking about. Their main business is refurb, but I would imagine new builds are not most builders primary work anyway. Builder is going to get together an advice letter to vouch his work. I am hoping they will accept this. I had a look at melton, I am already using a broker so maybe I can suggest to them. Just feel like throwing in the towel now!

After months of waiting and sending documents to Saffron BS they have now said they are happy to lend us money but not happy with our builder. Really annoyed it has taken so long for them to say this. We are happy with our builder and he comes personally recommended. Apparently they don't like his website and it has errors. Can anyone recommend any other lenders we could try? We cant use ecology sadly as our SAP is only 82 and has to be 88. We are hoping to start in March so really gutted about this.

We are currently going through an application with Saffron BS. They are keen to get in to the self build market and actually reduced their self build interest rate at one point last year. We are applying for a 5.99% mortgage which is quite competitive. I was keen to go with Ecology given the great reviews on here but our EPC rating was not good enough. We are two months in to the app so I am hoping for an offer very soon as it feels like it's taking forever. We went through a broker(also a friend) it's been a learning curve for both. So don't have direct experience yet of dealing with Saffron. I hope it all turns out ok.. We also own land and the amount we want to borrow is only half of the value of land so really no risk for BS at all. No idea why's is taking them so long. We also sent them estimators online quote and hoping this is acceptable. Good luck!