Jump to content

Ed_MK

Recommended Posts

Hello Everyone,

 

I am progressing with some quotes for the foundations for my Potton home. I must admit, the prices have me a little daunted as they seem to be a lot MORE

than I was told about 6 months ago. I am not suggesting I am getting "shafted" but I want to run it past you guys to see what you think.

 

I am building a Potton Timber Frame and have been advised that Block and Beam would be the way to go ....easier and more friendly on the surroundings (i.e
better received by planners) 

 

The house area from looking at the architects footprint and adding on roughly 50cm around (I just did this to be on the safe side for my working out ...I am not sure if it actually done)

..I am coming up with an area of 121.81 Sq Metres with a Perimeter of 49.82 Sq Metres.

 

Now I have the first quote and it is over £23k, I know this company is trusted and has done many foundations for timber frames...But does this seem expensive?

I have snipped the basics from the quote below ..so you can see what it entails ...hopefully someone on here will know what some of the  specifics mean 

 

thanks 

 

 

 

groundwork.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Simon,

 

well I am glad you are underway anyway ...Good Luck with Everything :)

So what you are saying is my quote isnt bad ?

 

Out of curiosity what is your footprint area and where are you located in UK

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hiya,  not got any of my books but that price at various glance does not seen unreasonable given the scope of works involved (I. E not just bnb). 

 

Facinated to know why planners would prefer bnb! I've no idea why they would care! 

 

Do you have the House Builders Bible? That should give you a reasonable baseline for the items listed as a starter. 

Edited by jamiehamy
Typo!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Jamie,

Yes I have the "Bible" ...I think its required reading for homebuilders!
I guess because i went to shows and got "guide" prices for 2 years before it really started moving....
.. I have a load of numbers in my head and for some reason i pencilled them in at sort of "16k" for baseworks.

 

Regarding the BNB ....I have a lot of trees (really just big scruffy bushes) on the other side of my fence on council / highway
side and the tree officer seems to be keen to say the least. Almost everyone I have spoke t seem to think that BNB is 
"kinder" and easier to work with regarding RPZ (root protection zones) ...I am a layman ...So I don't know the in's and outs.

 

My father was a groundworker most of his life(he is over 90 now), and I can recall being on sites and just seeing shutters, steelfixings,

a great big tube of wet concrete constantly pumping or pouring and several guys vibrating with rods and smoking roll-ups :)

 

but this was the 70's and I guess we have moved on 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Ed_MK said:

Almost everyone I have spoke t seem to think that BNB is 
"kinder" and easier to work with regarding RPZ (root protection zones)

 

As far as I can tell what kills trees is the trench dug for the foundations not the floor construction.

 

Our garage is near a tree and we had to use piled foundations rather than strip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Ed_MK said:

Regarding the BNB ....I have a lot of trees (really just big scruffy bushes) on the other side of my fence on council / highway
side and the tree officer seems to be keen to say the least. Almost everyone I have spoke t seem to think that BNB is 
"kinder" and easier to work with regarding RPZ (root protection zones) ...I am a layman ...So I don't know the in's and outs.

 

Council tree officer is smoking pot.....

 

BNB is irrelevant - your foundation trench will have severed any subsurface laterals so you could put anything you want down after that first trench and it wouldn't matter however it does vary by soil type. I've just built within 1200mm of a 14m sycamore and we didn't find a single root when digging out the footings ....

 

RPZ is calculated in BS5387 and it's easy to do. This guide from the Lakeland Council is very clear and concise and talks about a tree constraint plan as a first stage. It's better than going full blown tree survey and helps you with RPZ.

 

http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/256061/Trees.pdf

 

They will most likely insist on a fence to protect it - find some cheap heras fencing and some scaffold poles and it's half a days work. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be honest i had the Tree Survey done a few weeks ago ..and you are right ..its heras fencing and signs and stuff.

Not sure where i should put them though as NONE of the trees are on my land at all LOL..its a load of hawthorns growing along my fence

here is a piccie

 

pic5.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Oz07 said:

Tree officer shouldn't be dictating construction method. Are trees even tpo?

 

Tree officer.. the world's gone mad what happened to austerity. Give them the bullet

 

not sure it was "dictating"

basically they disagreed with the first stage of planning consultation as they felt that the removal of 3 hawthorn bushes (see above pic) would be a real detriment to the areas "character" or something like that ....I mean i have about 30 of them ALL along my land border ...(on the road side) ...but i needed to basically apply to cut 3 down as without this ...I wouldn't have a DRIVEWAY in ..so kind of essential . 

 

dont get me wrong ..I am not a "tree hater" and i tried to enter into dialogue to get guidance ..but the reply was plain and simple ....basically in simple terms it said " i am against the development because i don't think we should be cutting these 3 bushes" ...thats it.

 

I was hoping for some guidance or advice ...but I am afraid if you need to trim a few trees around here you feel as welcome as Salman Rushdie at in IS Birthday Party.

OUCH

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If the bushes are not TPO and you are not in a conservation area and root protection zones are not mentioned in your planning permission or you are digging outside the RPZ, then get on and dig trench foundations unless you have other circumstances e.g made up ground, tall trees on clay etc etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

We went through all this last year

we are lined with 12 mtr trees down the side of the house and along the back of the garages

The council tree expert told us deep piles ONLY option

The engineer that I've used before 

Who is tge

 local authority consultant 

Just laughed and said I wish these people would stick to what they know

and decided deep strip foundations 1.8 

suriubded by clay board

To allow for heave 

he also specified BnB for the house

we used double skin block on the garages but decided to put a independent concrete base in

As already stated the type of floor won't make any difference to the trees In our case it was simply to allow movement 

 

To give you a little idea of cost

our house base is just short of 150 mtrs We pretty much filled the trenches So no foundation blocks

cheaper to do this than pay for labour and blocks

 

£1000 materials Brick 

£850 labour

BnB £4000 

Could have done this for less 

November weather closing in 

All done in a day

the setting out can add up I borrowed a friends EDM and did it in an afternoon 

and set out corners for bricklayers a week later

We had a large two story building blocking our acces The ground worker and his lad started at 7am 

I arrived onsite at ten The building had gone and majority of it was in the ground to for the lorrys to be loaded on

Amibg how much gets done on the first day

 

good luck.   Gary 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...