Self build newbie

[jamiehamy]

19 minutes ago, Sensus said:

 

 

 

Conversely, if all you want is to provide a clear and comprehensive brief and in return get a set of Planning & B.Regs approved construction drawings and specifications that meet that brief, then we can do it surprisingly cheaply.

 

 

 

 

That's exactly what we did - fixed price for each stage until Building Control - 'per hour' for time after. 

 

Our first architect )for the Barn that never happened) was fine with that approach, as was the one we chose for the Water Tank.  I don't think even asked our budget - we knew what we wanted, what support we wanted and that's what we asked for - it helped we had built a model of what we wanted.  One local architect asked what our budget was before I had even sat down - I could see the visible disappointment when i stated we didn't really have one...I very quickly made my excuses as it was obvious from the off he was out for money and status, not to help us fulfil our dream. 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by jamiehamy
Added pic

[TerryE]

@Sensus, we haven't finished our build; however, we are waiting for plastering completion to start second fit, so the design elements are all done and cast. 

 

In our case, Jan and I have reviewed and discussed our design and design process, and to be honest we really can't think of anything material that we would want to see improved or regret doing.  There are some fine details relating to the construction process that we could have done better, but nothing so far that we haven't successfully mitigated, albeit with a little effort.  So we are at a loss to identify how an architect could have provided any useful hand-holding, any added value or reduced our overall project cost. 

 

Perhaps we are at one extreme of the spectrum of self-builders.

[TerryE]

@Sensus , yes we used an AT and I agree that he added value.  However, his role was limited in scope.  Jan and I did the initial design and visualisation using an Open-Source package on an Ubuntu laptop.  As with @ProDave our AT then converted this into an AutoCAD set which he then used to produce the PDF submissions and he also coauthored the DaS for our Planning Application.  He also helped us to prepare a couple of amendments, but his role really ended once we had our application accepted.  We also passed this DWG file to MBC to quick-start their process.

[vivienz]

Thank you for the wealth of information, everyone.  We're still waiting for a couple of quotes to come in, but slowly getting there.

 

Deciding what structure to use is another question that we're pondering in parallel with the architect selection and the information on this and the previous forum has been very helpful.  I will post in the correct section of the forum with more questions.

 

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

[Roger Lindley]

Hi Vivien. Like many on this site we have already built one ( see http://www.passivhausprojekte.de/index.php?lang=en#k_4186 ) are busy building a second. Used an architect for the first, but to our design. Bought turbo cad and did my own drawings for the current house. One very important consideration IMHO. I would not build a house that was not to Passivhaus standards! The GSHP you are considering will be very expensive and with a Passivhaus design totally unnecessary!! Spend the £20k plus on the insulating fabric of the house and you will recoupe the spend year after year as energy costs are only going to rise. As a guide on costs our first Passivhaus house cost £285k (230m2) complete excluding landscaping. The one(s), I am assisting our next door neighbour to build to the same specification as my own, will cost approx. £220k (also 230m2) complete. Depends of course on quality of fitments such as kitchens and bathrooms!! £220k is to a good specification but not outlandish! We are building in North Wiltshire, near Wooten Bassett if you are interested in viewing the build while in progress. We are also totally electric. Construction is ICF (insulated concrete frame work) on an insulated raft foundation under a fully trussed, warm insulated, tiled roof. Previous house was timber frame details in link above.

 

Cheers

Roger

[mvincentd]

Hi Vivien

 

We are in Dorset too, with plot, permission and now an architectural technologist.  The plot came with architect designed full planning permission that we were broadly happy with but wanted numerous amendments too.  We spoke with the original architect but they saw the house they designed as being a £3000/sqm project and weren't excited at the idea of working to achieve economies (fair enough,  they have their market place and enough work hold out for just that kind of client).  So we appointed an architectural technologist who will deal with discharging planning conditions, submitting the amendments, handling cdm as principle designer, as well as producing the regs' drawings.  His bill will be circa £7k.

 

Wanting a 'collaborator' I purposefully treated him like an architect, not a draughtsman when agreeing the scope of his involvement.  I'm not going to begrudge this money but equally i'm not yet convinced i'll benefit from it versus the alternative AT who was just going to produce reg's drawings of what I put in front of him for £2.5k.  The next few weeks will reveal the answer but i'm feeling at this point like many questions i'd thought he might give strong guidance on, i'll actually answer for myself (e.g.; should I choose ICF).

 

This is surely the typical self builders problem....our own level of interest in, and concern with the detail of our builds can render much 'professional' advice academic.  As I think Sensus sort of suggests(?), 'genuine' self builders and architects might not be a great fit for each other (unless that self builder is wealthy and easy with his money). 

[vivienz]

Thanks, Roger and mvincentd; apologies for my late response as I've been away for a couple of weeks.

 

As yet, I'm not convinced that designing to passivhaus standards is for us; I keep thinking that the pursuit of that final bit of energy saving costs a great deal in time and effort as well as leading to some compromise on design.  Given that the residential curtilege of the plot is long and narrow, running north/south, it may not be possible to get enough southern exposure to benefit fully from that style of design.  Also, I appreciate that the GSHP is a large up-front cost, but this is almost totally recouped over the first seven years via the RHIP scheme.  That said, absolutely nothing is fixed as yet and there are so many good ideas out there that are worthwhile exploring.

 

 

[Ness]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I would comment in case it helps anyone reading it at a later date! So many great comments and I completely agree. As @Fallingditch said.... we have found the structural engineer the most difficult. With delays of a year and a half now and all the problems are still not ironed out. 

 

Our architect was amazing and actually quoted us a fixed price on a no win no fee basis, although I do agree with the build cost element. We gained our house under the "paragraph 55" clause in the NPPF and it was meant to be a 200k build, but it's more like a 300k and that's with hubby (who is a builder) doing pretty much everything and we are project managing etc.... 

 

Our problem is that the same architect wanted 11k for building regs with structural engineer fees on top and we decided to take this on ourselves. Although we have saved a lot of money, the hassle and stress from having a crap SE and a not much better "new Architect"  does leave me thinking we should have just coughed up the money as we would probably be living in our house now. We have made changes to "downscale" the build to make it more cost effective, but my advice would be, the builders, engineers, trades, that get back to you quickly and effectively (in my experience) seem to be the ones that are on the ball and efficient at their jobs. So look into them better than we did..... lol! Some corners in my experience are not worth cutting (like the SE) I wish we had chosen the more expensive one, as I know my limits and this stuff just goes over our head. 

 

Good luck, it sounds very exciting!