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It may be of interest to some - Gravenhill, the self-build estate in Bicester, are offering a series of online seminars in early June. The first 3 webinars are available to book onto now, don't miss out on your chance to get the answers to the questions you need. Tuesday 2 June, 2pm - The Graven Hill Story Tuesday 16 June, 2pm - The Graven Hill Experience Tuesday 30 June, 2pm - Self-Build Made Simple Others are planned. I would expect a mixture of useful information and a sprinkling of marketing. Ferdinand

Just a short rant from me. Need to vent! If you aren't already familiar, we're one of the builders at this new and leading custom build project in the UK called Graven Hill. We reserved in March last year and as yet haven't been able to set foot on that piece of land... largely due to the (in)famous Golden Brick. It's been a long process; lots of hoops and lots of compromises that we wouldn't otherwise had to do with a normal build. Then again, I suspect there's a lot of pitfalls we've likely avoided due to the same. Swings and roundabouts. We are at the stage where engineering calcs are being done by MBC for the TF loads, so that we can get the foundation designed and the Golden Brick costed and contracts exchanged. it's been a massive chicken and egg scenario between the TF and foundation which has cost us months of time, but that's what it is. Today we received a formal letter from Graven Hill informing us that our plot price could be re-evaluated if we don't close before the end of the month. That is three and a half weeks notice. To get all of the above done... If they adjust according to the market then our project is as good as dead. We've absorbed ~£30k already on a plot price that was more than expected. Another ~£40k in labour and material cost increases alone in the last year. And we suspect the Golden brick will be double the quantity surveyors estimate due to it not being self built. Thats another ~£25-30k. An increase of nearly £100k (+50%) against our original budget before we even own the plot. We've accounted for it and can just about manage that if we do about ~£40k in DIY (a lot!!) in just two years. We're assured by our architect that this is more an attempt to light a fire under us and get this done. But hell, it's rubbed me the wrong way today. I'm sure it'll be alright, but it's just another of those unexpected bumps in the long self-built road...

We're interested in buying a plot at Graven Hill, so it would be good to meet other like-minded self builders. We're trying to blog about our build at www.deanandhannah.com, - we try to post there with any updates we have, so feel free to drop by and say hello. So far we're still waiting for plot details to be released, but we're optimists so hoping for news soon! Dean & Hannah