Feedback on Dan Wood build

[kandgmitchell]

Well it's the second day on week 4. The ground floor screeding is being done as I type this. To date all the walls are up (they come fully glazed, partially rendered and plasterboarded). The roof has been tiled and guttering fixed, the first fix electrics are done, the first fix plumbing is done (wastes and supplies for basins, wc's etc come ready installed in the panels), the underfloor heating is in and the MVHR ducting in place. In the service room is the cylinder, expansion vessel etc for the ASHP and the external unit is here wrapped, sitting on it's pallet. They started on the 8th April and expect to hand over at the end of May.

 

We elected to use Dan Wood as a "half way house" - it's our original design (although with a nod to that sort of style). We didn't go extreme, much as we would like as I wanted a smooth planning experience, which we got. So, some of the standard Dan Wood bits we omitted. They can finish right up to carpets; handing over complete, save for the kitchen (too many choices apparently). We wanted a UK stair with closed risers so it could be carpeted. DW use bare wood, open riser and being aimed at the German market, the pitch is lower so the going messed up our internals too much. We also left out the doors (odd looking with the leaf rebated and closing against the face of the frame) and floor finishes save for the bathrooms. Those are now down to us.

 

We had to provide the foundation (insulated raft for us) and drainage/service connections. However, it's been a dream not having to organise anything once they sign off the slab as ok. Men turn up at 7.00am sharp and work to between 5 and 6. Saturdays 8 till 1 ish. All materials are either brought with them or turn up on time. Electricians, plumbers, and scaffolders are woven into the work and are here at the correct point. The electrician was here until 11pm finishing off first fix because the next trade needed it done. Every single day it progresses.

 

It probably isn't the cheapest way of doing it ( about £1730/m2 ex foundations) but the joy of not having any arguements with individual contractors makes up for it and there is no doubt the polish crew working on this house work damm hard and do a good job. You have to credit their attention to detail too. They obviously do this all the time as all the membranes are properly taped and sealed, the windows being inserted in the factory are done properly, etc etc. It's clear they have designed out issues over the years and have come up with solutions that work - hence the 20 year guarantee. 

 

We could buy the plot but needed to sell our house to fund the build. We are in a static caravan at present on site. Having reached retirement the certainty of getting the build done in a sensible timescale so we could get on with enjoying life was a big driver for this approach. Hopefully it'll be a family Christmas settled into a house this year instead of renting a cottage to escape the cold and damp of a 32ft static!

[AppleDown]

Really interesting! I didn't realise they did non-catalogue designs - it would be great to see yours. I had excluded them from my initial list, but sounds like it might be worth reaching out to them.

 

How does BC work with something so speedy?

[kandgmitchell]

The BC side is not too much of an issue. The foundation stuff is dealt with as normal and we did that so it didn't move as quick anyway. As for the superstructure technically it's a dpc inspection but DW cover the whole slab and a photograph did the job there. The rest is factory manufacture and BC seem very happy. DW do the pressure test and provide all the certificates for MHVR etc. Hopefully the final sign off will be smooth after we've done our bits.

 

We had seen an Adelia made by Scandi Huis, they have one on their factory site near East Grinstead. It was too big (and too dear). We had looked at DW but couldn't find a design we liked although some of the features we thought were interesting. So we came up with something along that scandinavian look which would not be out of keeping in the streetscene. MBC quoted and whilst we were considering where else we could go for an alternative quote, we spoke to DW just on a whim and they said they could get close. We had to drop a few bits, partly due to their system and partly due to cost so there was a compromise to be made but we're not far off. Just couldn't face several years of pain at our age just to get the fully glazed gable that you can't curtain anyway!

 

 

[Budd]

Thanks for sharing your experience with Dan-Wood . We are also considering this approach, once we find a plot.

 

I've read the foundation slab is specialised and very costly? 

 

Would love to know more and see some pics please.

 

Cheers

[kandgmitchell]

It's not a particularly specialised slab, it's just a little awkward (and has to be "right" dimensionally and level). They want a min. 150mm thick slab to lay their dpm over and then stand the frame on and fix down to. They then dress another dpm skirt off the bottom of the frame onto the vertical face of the slab. In a local DW build they used traditional foundations, built up to level with blockwork and cast their slab across the whole lot. That meant they needed formwork around the perimeter to contain the slab (normally the slab would be within the blockwork on a traditional build). Add to that their internal floor insulation used to comply with BRegs by itself but the last changes meant that some additional underslab insulation is needed as well.

 

We therefore used an insulated raft design. The formwork and under slab insulation is then covered all in one. The only frustration was that they wanted the upstand insulation removed so that their dpm skirt could be fixed to the vertical concrete. I removed that, stored it and will fix it back after completion. If you go that route then make sure the upstand is removable. We used Greenraft who use a plastic "fin" on a strip to join the horizontal and vertical, so removal was easy.

 

I've covered the foundation cost elswehere but it was about £20K (100m2) inc some drainage and a bit of cutting into a slope . One quote for the DW suggestion was £65K. I get the impression that DW are aware of the foundation issue and the rise of insulated rafts following the reg changes, but being based in Poland and feeding the German market it's not had the highest priority.

 

That lack of awareness is illustrated by them not offering a half glazed door option. This is due apparently to the Germans not normally having "back doors". After a concerted push by the UK sales people, they have now added such a door to the options for the UK market.....

[Ed_]

Likewise i would love to see what is being built here, any pictures etc.

I would love to use Dan Wood to save myself some time and stress but their off the shelf designs aren't suitable and they are fairly coy about bespoke. 

Currently working up plans with an architect, will take them to DW once complete to see if they can quote.

[kandgmitchell]

Well this is entirely our original design but adapted for the DW system so they can do it (if you alter any of their standard designs by say moving a window it becomes "bespoke"). We omitted additional cladding due to cost and didn't do the glazed gable and fancy aluminium glazing as their system couldn't handle it. The interior is however exactly as we wanted. Sure there were compromises to make but we should be in, carpets laid and sitting on the sofa watching TV within 12 months of clearing the site and bringing on the static. We are both in our later 60's so didn't want a prolonged build on site, been there, done that. Garden to sort but can enjoy a warm modern house this winter after the last couple of renovations of old, cold "characterful" houses.

[kandgmitchell]

with this as the rear

[Kelvin]

Very nice. There’s a Dan Wood bungalow near us that went up in 6 months. 

[kandgmitchell]

This was 8 weeks from slab to hand over, with all services done and bathrooms tiled. We wanted our stair for space purposes and decided to fit our doors and skirtings. It's taken almost as long using local labour to do that as the poles took to put the thing up!

[Michelle26]

We’ve just had our bespoke house built by Danwood, completed in July 2024. The house is amazing and built in less than seven weeks. But there’s a problem with birds pecking through the render in quick time. The first one appeared on one side very high up with some smaller damage on the other side. But a new one appeared yesterday which only took them 30 minutes while we were out. Has anyone else had this experience? It looks like it’s going to be expensive to fix. Surely it shouldn’t be this easy to damage?

[Macfracam]

We are in the process of going for a Dan-wood house on a plot in our current back garden. Great to read this feedback on the process. We are about to submit our stage-2 technical planning application having got planning in principle approval for a self-build. I was inspired by @kandgmitchell to get in touch with Greenraft today for a raft foundation and they came back straightaway with an outline quote. Would be interested to know about the spec that Dan-wood were happy with (eg is 150mm concrete sufficient). And whether it is worth exploring AACM as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to Portland cement as we won’t need a construction warranty for mortgage purposes.

[Budd]

On 28/10/2024 at 20:02, Michelle26 said:

We’ve just had our bespoke house built by Danwood, completed in July 2024. The house is amazing and built in less than seven weeks. But there’s a problem with birds pecking through the render in quick time. The first one appeared on one side very high up with some smaller damage on the other side. But a new one appeared yesterday which only took them 30 minutes while we were out. Has anyone else had this experience? It looks like it’s going to be expensive to fix. Surely it shouldn’t be this easy to damage?

 

I'm no expert, but I'm guessing there's something in the render that's attracting them e.g. insects, but I also know woodpeckers have been known to make holes in render for shelter in bad weather. Some people have found that using a "scare" tactic like reflective tape around area or in nearby trees help scare them away. Hope you've managed to resolve it.

Edited November 21, 2024 by Budd

[Budd]

On 13/05/2024 at 12:53, kandgmitchell said:

It's not a particularly specialised slab, it's just a little awkward (and has to be "right" dimensionally and level). They want a min. 150mm thick slab to lay their dpm over and then stand the frame on and fix down to. They then dress another dpm skirt off the bottom of the frame onto the vertical face of the slab. In a local DW build they used traditional foundations, built up to level with blockwork and cast their slab across the whole lot. That meant they needed formwork around the perimeter to contain the slab (normally the slab would be within the blockwork on a traditional build). Add to that their internal floor insulation used to comply with BRegs by itself but the last changes meant that some additional underslab insulation is needed as well.

 

We therefore used an insulated raft design. The formwork and under slab insulation is then covered all in one. The only frustration was that they wanted the upstand insulation removed so that their dpm skirt could be fixed to the vertical concrete. I removed that, stored it and will fix it back after completion. If you go that route then make sure the upstand is removable. We used Greenraft who use a plastic "fin" on a strip to join the horizontal and vertical, so removal was easy.

 

I've covered the foundation cost elswehere but it was about £20K (100m2) inc some drainage and a bit of cutting into a slope . One quote for the DW suggestion was £65K. I get the impression that DW are aware of the foundation issue and the rise of insulated rafts following the reg changes, but being based in Poland and feeding the German market it's not had the highest priority.

 

That lack of awareness is illustrated by them not offering a half glazed door option. This is due apparently to the Germans not normally having "back doors". After a concerted push by the UK sales people, they have now added such a door to the options for the UK market.....

Thank you for your reply and information, much appreciated. We've had an estimate of £45,000 for foundations 100sqm , that was from a Dan-wood agent.I must admit that put us off.  We are also nearing retirement age and just don't want the hassle of building in the traditional sense.We don't want anthing fancy but something that s more energy efficent than the Victorian build we live in.  Getting a plot is the most demanding thing atm . Thanks again for the info.

[SBMS]

4 hours ago, Budd said:

Thank you for your reply and information, much appreciated. We've had an estimate of £45,000 for foundations 100sqm , that was from a Dan-wood agent.I must admit that put us off.  We are also nearing retirement age and just don't want the hassle of building in the traditional sense.We don't want anthing fancy but something that s more energy efficent than the Victorian build we live in.  Getting a plot is the most demanding thing atm . Thanks again for the info.

No reason to think traditional can’t be energy efficient. 

[Budd]

17 hours ago, SBMS said:

No reason to think traditional can’t be energy efficient. 

Hi there, I'm not saying a traditional build can't be efficient, but more to do with the speed of a prefab build that's attractive to us.

[kandgmitchell]

Well not had a bird issue but will keep an eye on it. 

 

As for the foundations Dan Wood do have contacts but they also supply all the structural calculations and foundation loads. So we used our own SE for the slab design and found a local builder for the job.

[RCbuild]

Just signed contract for delivery of a Danwood house.

 

Happy with the process, have a fixed price and one supplier for 90% of the house

 

Re Kitchens I believe it is because one of Danwood's (a Polish Company) main markets is Germany and German's move their kitchen's when they move house hence why the quality of German kitchens is so good.  So Danwood don't have a supply chain set up for kitchen's.

All the building products are continental hence "different" to UK look eg the Door's,.  As we lived in Poland for 2 years we were happy with the look.

Their electrical fittings are continental back box https://www.swtch.co.uk/installation-rocker-switches-gira/?srsltid=AfmBOorbLAu9dpU3B1vTHknFC9o7GJLxnjqX_XCGlSsymDWlOdSS0-FW from a German Company Gira https://www.gira.com/en/en/ which has smart house options but not directly available through Danwood but can be upgraded I hope.

Windows are all triple glazed tilt or turn but open inwards, easier to clean a pain if you have traditional UK curtains in the way

Foundations slab needs to constructed to +/- 5mm which some engineers struggle to understand/deliver on we had to have our slab redrawn 4 times.  Will see if the groundworks Company can deliver on it 🙂

Pricing has been fair we were given a reduction when the cost of solar panels dropped.

Their design centre is tempting we added approx. £50k from upgrading from their standard finishes/choices in areas important to us eg large format tiles, glass balustrades, dimmer switches, outside power sockets etc.

 

Cost of the house approx £1,800 per SQM includes 4 bed, 4 bathroom

 

Will update again once house is built and we move in

[RCbuild]

On 30/04/2024 at 14:02, AppleDown said:

Really interesting! I didn't realise they did non-catalogue designs - it would be great to see yours. I had excluded them from my initial list, but sounds like it might be worth reaching out to them.

 

How does BC work with something so speedy?

we started with one of their designs Classic 184E and adjusted it to suit  ie expanded it and change location of staircase.  Our sales agent said it is best to start with their design that is closest to what you want and adjsut.

[Rosslyn]

Good to see your finished house and looking forward to getting there this year.

I am just about to sign the contract with Danwood. I had a shock getting a quote from one of their recommended foundation companies. It came in at £66k! I'm hoping to get a much improved cost from a local company even though they have not worked on a Danwood project previously.

My next step is to get the Geotechnical survey as clay and tree roots may mean I have to go for deep pile. Still trying to find a structural engineer and then to appoint the foundation designer. Welcome any advice from others experiences.

[kandgmitchell]

We have been living in our Danwood for six months now. Our design but adjusted for their construction methods. Very pleased - it's such a change to come home to a warm house where every room is comfortable, well almost. Just had their heating engineers out today to solve a poorly heated bedroom. This had been reported through their online reporting system and engineers were out within the week. They found the thermostat connections to the underfloor valves were mixed up and we were thus adjusting one bedroom and actually setting another. Still they were efficient and pleasant, soon fixed it and all going well. This is something we were pleased about with Danwood, very professional.

 

Be aware though with the foundation requirement. They did spring a need to add our own additional floor insulation on us at the last moment. What they specified in December 2023 did not quite meet regulations which they claimed had recently changed (well actually June 2022 chaps...). We consequently did an insulated raft on medium shrinkage clay but with trees some distance away.

 

No problem with BC - foundations were inspected then we provided photographs. The whole thing was done in 8 weeks. I think BC recognised that this was a factory assembled building made to a high standard. Fully designed out with full superstructure calcs by UK engineers. The construction is a well oiled machine and they didn't skimp as far as I could see (which was every evening after they'd left!). Be prepared for lots of left over timber, we still have a stack under cover for all those small jobs coming up in the garden.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Rosslyn said:

Good to see your finished house and looking forward to getting there this year.

I am just about to sign the contract with Danwood. I had a shock getting a quote from one of their recommended foundation companies. It came in at £66k! I'm hoping to get a much improved cost from a local company even though they have not worked on a Danwood project previously.

My next step is to get the Geotechnical survey as clay and tree roots may mean I have to go for deep pile. Still trying to find a structural engineer and then to appoint the foundation designer. Welcome any advice from others experiences.

PM me if you want details of a great SE, (as they don’t want to be ‘advertised’).
Not the cheapest, probably mid/high on costs at a glance, but they did a big complicated project for me and I was glad to hear there were no bolt-on costs for the good few final tweaks / redesigns etc plus they problem solved a bunch of stuff for us too (including coordinating with me for a large pita basement and swimming pool). 

Im glad you went with an insulated raft as these are night & day better than most other options