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First time self build, nearly starting.


Ian Phillips

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Hi everyone,

 

I have been lurking on this site since November 2018 when we moved from our lovely house to a static caravan on site with a very run down bungalow. Fast forward 13 months and we have got all the drawings and planning signed off and about to (fingers crossed) get the self build mortgage from Ecology. Planning to start the build weather permitting in the New Year!

 

Hoping to do a lot of the build myself so will probably be asking lots of questions along the way. The build will be a timber framed dormer style bungalow with 4 beds upstairs and opened planned living downstairs. We are going for an air source heat pump as well.

 

I have got all the costings via the build aviator and trades quotes and hopefully we can stick to the budget and spreadsheet I have done! I have been busy this year with removing trees, putting up fences and putting in a sewage treatment plant oh and sorting out various sheds for storage, all of which went better than expected.

 

There are four of us (2 adults and 2 children plus cat) living in the static caravan and we are loving it. Can't wait to get started now. We are based in West Sussex.

 

Any questions just ask and I will try and answer them.

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Hi Tony, I know roughly in my head the job list, its laid out quite well in the build aviator service as well. As for timeline its hard to say really, the foundations, brickwork/framework, roof will go up fairly quickly I would say, then slow down as it will be down to me to do the work and sort stuff out.

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2 hours ago, Ian Phillips said:

I have been lurking on this site since November 2018 when we moved from our lovely house to a static caravan on site with a very run down bungalow.

Welcome to the forum. Last year we dismantled our old bungalow that we had been living in while we build the house in the garden. We missed the caravan stage fortunately as it took us eight years to build the new house. Good luck with the build.

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5 hours ago, Ian Phillips said:

Hi everyone,

 

I have been lurking on this site since November 2018 when we moved from our lovely house to a static caravan on site with a very run down bungalow. Fast forward 13 months and we have got all the drawings and planning signed off and about to (fingers crossed) get the self build mortgage from Ecology. Planning to start the build weather permitting in the New Year!

 

Hoping to do a lot of the build myself so will probably be asking lots of questions along the way. The build will be a timber framed dormer style bungalow with 4 beds upstairs and opened planned living downstairs. We are going for an air source heat pump as well.

 

I have got all the costings via the build aviator and trades quotes and hopefully we can stick to the budget and spreadsheet I have done! I have been busy this year with removing trees, putting up fences and putting in a sewage treatment plant oh and sorting out various sheds for storage, all of which went better than expected.

 

There are four of us (2 adults and 2 children plus cat) living in the static caravan and we are loving it. Can't wait to get started now. We are based in West Sussex.

 

Any questions just ask and I will try and answer them.

Similar to my own situation...ecology ongoing at the min...on site in static since June, 4 of us plus 2 cats.

 

Just waiting to pull the trigger..foundations delayed till jan now, weather has pushed my ground workers back and the everywhere shuts for xmas next friday..hey ho, but it will all work out eventually.

 

Good luck with your build.

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Sounds good. 
 

Just thinking if I should have a “plan of attack” Listing dates & times of things like 

1.foundations

2. walls

3. floor 

4.roof

5. windows 

 

with a date & cost by each 

 

is there an ‘app’ where you can keep an eye on costs & timings on a build ? 
 

plus, is there a list of “things to do or need” like

insurance 
 

any tips or hints off anyone mid build on here ??

 

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11 hours ago, Tonymac01 said:

Just thinking if I should have a “plan of attack” Listing dates & times of things like 

1.foundations

2. walls

3. floor 

4.roof

5. windows 


Yes...

 

11 hours ago, Tonymac01 said:

with a date & cost by each 


... and NO..!!

 

Break your costs down by stage, add 15% contingency to each, and then list them by approximate month. You cannot tie yourself to dates ..!

 

Usual ones are 

 

- Site clearance and services

- Foundations

- Wallplate (inc any floors)

- Watertight (so roof and windows)

- First Fix

- Board and plaster

- Second Fix

 

Give yourself plenty of leeway for bad weather etc

 

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12 hours ago, Tonymac01 said:

is there an ‘app’ where you can keep an eye on costs & timings on a build ? 

I just produced a spreadsheet with tabs in build order for each aspect of the build and a breakdown of estimated costs and actual costs for each tab.

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On 13/12/2019 at 14:17, Ian Phillips said:

Hi Tony, I know roughly in my head the job list, its laid out quite well in the build aviator service as well. As for timeline its hard to say really, the foundations, brickwork/framework, roof will go up fairly quickly I would say, then slow down as it will be down to me to do the work and sort stuff out.

 

 

How have you got on with `Build Aviator' Ian ?? 

 

What were the costs related to what they did if you used them ?

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On 13/12/2019 at 19:31, LA3222 said:

Similar to my own situation...ecology ongoing at the min...on site in static since June, 4 of us plus 2 cats.

 

Just waiting to pull the trigger..foundations delayed till jan now, weather has pushed my ground workers back and the everywhere shuts for xmas next friday..hey ho, but it will all work out eventually.

 

Good luck with your build.

That almost identical! It's taken us a year to be where we are but yourselves only 6 months! We have not been hanging around either ? Good luck with your build.

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On 14/12/2019 at 08:18, PeterW said:


Yes...

 


... and NO..!!

 

Break your costs down by stage, add 15% contingency to each, and then list them by approximate month. You cannot tie yourself to dates ..!

 

Usual ones are 

 

- Site clearance and services

- Foundations

- Wallplate (inc any floors)

- Watertight (so roof and windows)

- First Fix

- Board and plaster

- Second Fix

 

Give yourself plenty of leeway for bad weather etc

That's great advice! We have got a spreadsheet with all the material and Labour costs, this was also really useful for the mortgage application as well. The other spreadsheet is all the costs we have got so far from day one! Hopefully the 2 spreadsheet will tally up at the end ?.

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16 hours ago, Tonymac01 said:

 

 

How have you got on with `Build Aviator' Ian ?? 

 

What were the costs related to what they did if you used them ?

Build aviator were great, it was the best £250 spent so far! They have listed everything and I mean everything on the build. 

Whats even more useful though is all of the quantities of the materials, as you can ask different suppliers to quote for x amount of bricks, timber etc. The savings we potentially have  made (damn brexit uncertainty) by shopping around is phenomenal!

We have sent the build aviator quote to jewsons, covers and alsford timber who I think are literally fighting over our business! They do all the leg work as well as they take the whole quote and work on it. One supplier also noted that their timber costs were the same as the others but theirs was c24 and not c16 timber which I might not have noticed.

 

 

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Caveat emptor ! I didn't know what the build aviator  was until 5 minutes  ago , in that time I found out Saint Gobain are the owners and they also own Jewsons and Gibbs and Dandy they fail to mention  that when promoting the synchronized relationship of the forementioned company's . I'd use the jewsons pricing as a benchmark  for other non affiliated suppliers 

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1 hour ago, Danny68 said:

Caveat emptor ! I didn't know what the build aviator  was until 5 minutes  ago , in that time I found out Saint Gobain are the owners and they also own Jewsons and Gibbs and Dandy they fail to mention  that when promoting the synchronized relationship of the forementioned company's . I'd use the jewsons pricing as a benchmark  for other non affiliated suppliers 

Me neither ??

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1 hour ago, Ian Phillips said:

Build aviator were great, it was the best £250 spent so far! They have listed everything and I mean everything on the build. 

Whats even more useful though is all of the quantities of the materials, as you can ask different suppliers to quote for x amount of bricks, timber etc. The savings we potentially have  made (damn brexit uncertainty) by shopping around is phenomenal!

We have sent the build aviator quote to jewsons, covers and alsford timber who I think are literally fighting over our business! They do all the leg work as well as they take the whole quote and work on it. One supplier also noted that their timber costs were the same as the others but theirs was c24 and not c16 timber which I might not have noticed.

 

 

Sounds great Ian, I’m going to give it a go. 

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