Have just recently started building...

[DanB]

Hi, new to the forum, have kept coming across the forum every time I've googled for a solution to a problem, so thought I ought to finally join!

 

I'm English but moved to Antigua 6 years ago, and finally bought a plot of land last year and started building in the new year. Quite a few challenges building out here, but also quite a few advantages too. I'm doing a self build (although I do now have a local builder helping me to get out of the ground on 2 of the 4 buildings - cheating a bit I know, but it was taking me forever plus I was missing some key bits of knowledge/experience). It's also my own design, and I don't have an architect or project manager (other than myself)...so a text book case of "how not to build a house"? I do have some experience from doing my own extensions and house gutting and renovations in the past, but I've never done a complete house or new build before.

 

The plot is one acre, on a 6/12 slope (aprox 26 degrees) and the key unique concept is modular buildings - instead of one big house there will be 3 bedrooms and one main house all as completely separate buildings and not connected. The advantage being that, given the relatively steep slope then the construction can sit into the landscape much better with less excavation of granite (and the disadvantage is that you get wet if you want to go to bed and it’s raining!) The main house is 40’ x 28’ and is one single open plan space of kitchen/dinning/lounge that is also open on 50% of the walls – there is no glass or windows at all in this building...in order to benefit from the cooling trade wind breezes. There will be integrated roller hurricane shutters for storm conditions.

 

Construction is mainly cast reinforced concrete columns and beams (with 16” cinder block shear walls) with open/cathedral ceilings of 3x6 rafters and 1x6 v-joint/t&g roof boarding. The entire construction is 100% off-grid. Water is collected from roof gutters, fed into a 30,000 gallon water cistern for domestic fresh water. Self composting septic tank & soak away. 12kW solar array with 25kWh lithium-ion batteries and 18kW LF inverter. Hot water via a 300L all-in-one heat pump.

 

Another interesting feature is UFH in the main building. Since there are no windows then air conditioning isn’t possible (and shouldn’t be needed) but in order to prevent the concrete floor slab and superstructure building up heat and radiating it back, then hydronic UFH will be embedded into the concrete pour and supplied by a monoblock heat pump (obviously running in reverse / cooling mode!). Heat pump will only be active during the day (when there is sun on the PV and excess power) and the thermal mass off the concrete will store much of the energy (along with a large buffer tank, circa 500L).

 

Tons of other details but don’t want to send everyone to sleep on my first post. I’ll include a couple of pics of progress so far. I also have a few questions to ask so will try to make another post or two during the week. Pics:

 

(Front half of main building, forming utility/basement. Rear half will be 30k gal cistern. Then main house floor will be over the top)

 

(Master bed, up in trees overlooking the whole plot down to the road)

 

 

[joe90]

Welcome and what a lovely plot/view. I engaged a main contractor to put the shell up as I would take forever to do it on my own (and I am too old for that ) you will have enough to do with all the “other things”, looking forward to questions and pics of the progress 👍

[ProDave]

Hi and welcome.  Nice project but don't expect us to know your local building regulations.

 

So with so much of the main house open / no windows, are they a really honest lot there so no risk of burglary? 

[DanB]

Thank you both for the warm welcome!

 

ProDave - yes I would say so, crime rate here is virtually non existent. To give you an idea this is the photo below of our current house (didn't build it) which I've just taken for you now. As you can see apart from some sliding bug screens it is completely open to our lounge/dining, and open through to the bedrooms and not had an issue in 6 years. Even if we go out for the day it is open. If we ever go away on holiday we can board it up, but honestly only for storms, not crime.

 

Building regs...what are those?! Only kidding, but they don't really exist here. Nor does planning really...the process is that you do have to submit an application (which costs £0.15p / ft) but it is just a rubber stamp job, nothing has ever been refused / rejected. In terms of building regs, no one ever comes to the site or finished build to inspect, there is no "code" and no final sign off. If you believe that you may need an engineer then that is up to you, but no calculations are required to be submitted. That being said they do seem to build structurally to a very high standard here - don't forget that we are in an active earthquake zone, and high risk hurricane zone. So people here tend to do things out of self preservation rather than being told what to do. Builders here rely heavily on reinforced concrete "rules of thumbs" for column, beam, and slab sizes - as is very common in other emerging economies such as India, Pakistan, and much of South America.

 

[Bitpipe]

Welcome, I think we need to send out a BuildHub delegation to inspect your works when complete!

 

 

[ProDave]

12 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

I think we need to send out a BuildHub delegation to inspect your works when complete!

All expenses paid of course.

 

It must be a joy to build with nobody checking what you do.  And no need to spend a fortune on heating or insulation.

 

And i don't think we will be discussing air tightness or mvhr on this project either.

[Mr Punter]

I am too jealous to offer any advice.

[Pocster]

Was due to go to Antigua- but Covid came along . Perhaps if we go this year I can visit !? .

Am I allowed to ask your budget ?

[Onoff]

5 minutes ago, pocster said:

Was due to go to Antigua- but Covid came along .

 

Hence the low crime rate. 

[DanB]

3 hours ago, pocster said:

Was due to go to Antigua- but Covid came along . Perhaps if we go this year I can visit !? .

Am I allowed to ask your budget ?

Been on the forum barely 5 minutes and already the guy wearing nothing but an acid smiley face and a bag of crisps wants to travel half way across the world and meet me in person...what could possibly go wrong?! Joking aside, yes of course with pleasure. If you book then let me know and I'll share my local whatsapp number. Budget USD, I paid 200k for the plot. I originally had a build budget of 450k, but funnily enough I've spent the day on excel as I've been getting more firm numbers back in...think I was too optimistic, but not only that I'm finding a lot of material costs (and shipping, given that everything is imported) has gone up since I started planning. It might end up closer to 600-650 for build so absolute max 850 all-in with the plot. That's all in USD, so divide by 1.3 for sterling.

[Bitpipe]

35 minutes ago, DanB said:

Been on the forum barely 5 minutes and already the guy wearing nothing but an acid smiley face and a bag of crisps wants to travel half way across the world and meet me in person...what could possibly go wrong?! Joking aside, yes of course with pleasure. If you book then let me know and I'll share my local whatsapp number. Budget USD, I paid 200k for the plot. I originally had a build budget of 450k, but funnily enough I've spent the day on excel as I've been getting more firm numbers back in...think I was too optimistic, but not only that I'm finding a lot of material costs (and shipping, given that everything is imported) has gone up since I started planning. It might end up closer to 600-650 for build so absolute max 850 all-in with the plot. That's all in USD, so divide by 1.3 for sterling.

 

Did you plan for any walk on glazing? Asking for a friend ( @pocster)

[joe90]

5 hours ago, Bitpipe said:

Welcome, I think we need to send out a BuildHub delegation to inspect your works when complete!

 

 

Me, me, me, pretty please 😎

5 hours ago, DanB said:

Building regs...what are those?! Only kidding, but they don't really exist here. Nor does planning really..

Bliss.

[saveasteading]

I have a friend who built his own house in the Bahamas. For hurricane resistance there were standard local details, which basically meant use wood and a certain number  (neither more nor less) of nails.

This gave it the right strength and flexibility.

It has withstood a couple of hurricanes ( as did the crazy paving steps into the sea that I did...pleased with that while other docks were washed away..

 

Materials were all from Florida, with anxious waits for the boat to turn up.

[DanB]

12 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I have a friend who built his own house in the Bahamas. For hurricane resistance there were standard local details, which basically meant use wood and a certain number  (neither more nor less) of nails.

This gave it the right strength and flexibility.

It has withstood a couple of hurricanes ( as did the crazy paving steps into the sea that I did...pleased with that while other docks were washed away..

 

Materials were all from Florida, with anxious waits for the boat to turn up.

Yep, I've heard similar, I think this applies to wood frame houses. The spec with concrete (with wood roof) is having a concrete ring beam all along the top of the walls 16" deep x 8" wide with 4 x 5/8" longitudal rebar & 3/8" stirrups (like a wall plate but much much stronger!) and you have 2 lots of 1/2" rebar coming up through the cinder block wall all the way from the foundation, bent and wrapped over every 3x6 rafter and back down into the cast beam... So you build up the wall, fabricate all the steel work and form work for the 16x8 RCC beam, built the roof frame, and finally cast in the concrete (which also fills up the cinder blocks with concrete all the way down). That way you could virtually pick up the house by the rafters (and certainly if the roof is coming off it won't be due to the wall connection). Here is the drawing:

 

[SuperJohnG]

Pretty cool and what a view. Can feel the cool sea breeze just looking at the pic...

[saveasteading]

We like drawings on here. Is there any problem with concrete erosion/ steel corrosion from being near the sea?

[SteamyTea]

Welocme

I am a bit late to this beach party.

Used to live about 550 miles SW of Antigua.  Only got the tail end of one small hurricane when I was there.  All the cast concrete house had no real problems, Tin Town was not very pretty, but rebuilt within a week.

I have often wondered how easy it would be to build in the Caribbean as all the island I have been to have felt like home to me.

[Pocster]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Welocme

I am a bit late to this beach party.

Used to live about 550 miles SW of Antigua.  Only got the tail end of one small hurricane when I was there.  All the cast concrete house had no real problems, Tin Town was not very pretty, but rebuilt within a week.

I have often wondered how easy it would be to build in the Caribbean as all the island I have been to have felt like home to me.

Cornwall is now your new Caribbean home !

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, pocster said:

Cornwall is now your new Caribbean home !

As close as I could get. Better beaches. Not enough coral or colourful fishes though.

Sharks are larger, but the birds are dull, and you can read into that whatever you like.

Edited March 29, 2022 by SteamyTea

[DanB]

10 hours ago, saveasteading said:

We like drawings on here. Is there any problem with concrete erosion/ steel corrosion from being near the sea?

The key to that is increasing the minimum concrete cover by at least 25mm. So I'm aiming for the rebar to be at least 50mm off the sides of the form work, and 75mm off the ground. 

[Pocster]

15 minutes ago, DanB said:

The key to that is increasing the minimum concrete cover by at least 25mm. So I'm aiming for the rebar to be at least 50mm off the sides of the form work, and 75mm off the ground. 

What do you reckon your Labour costs will be ? . Assume you aren’t doing any of the build ??

[DanB]

45 minutes ago, pocster said:

What do you reckon your Labour costs will be ? . Assume you aren’t doing any of the build ??

Assumed wrong! 😂 I've done about 50% of what you see so far in the pics (very very tough going in this heat). But I've got local guys in now to get me to roof level. I'm estimating a total of £70k pounds for all my outsourced labour. My own labour costs...priceless!

[Pocster]

2 minutes ago, DanB said:

Assumed wrong! 😂 I've done about 50% of what you see so far in the pics (very very tough going in this heat). But I've got local guys in now to get me to roof level. I'm estimating a total of £70k pounds for all my outsourced labour. My own labour costs...priceless!

I did wonder about the heat - must be punishing on a  self build. 70k for outsourced labour is pretty good. So all the finishing e.g. tiling, boarding, fitting out, bathrooms, kitchen etc. etc - you doing that?

[Pocster]

20 hours ago, DanB said:

If we ever go away on holiday

Holiday???. You're on a tropical paradise island! - where would you go!!!😎

[DanB]

Just now, pocster said:

I did wonder about the heat - must be punishing on a  self build. 70k for outsourced labour is pretty good. So all the finishing e.g. tiling, boarding, fitting out, bathrooms, kitchen etc. etc - you doing that?

Exactly. And those are the skills that I have (since my experience is mostly in renovations and extensions etc). I also do cabinet making so will be making my own kitchen and bedroom furniture from local raw materials, and anything to do with joinery, plumbing, and electrical I'm good with (my formal training back in the day was electrical engineering). I'm planning to do a 20ft container from the UK in a few weeks time with bathrooms, kitchen worktop, etc so I have everything ready.