Feedback on Dan Wood build

[RCbuild]

On 09/01/2025 at 19:31, RCbuild said:

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

 

[maison d'etre]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing the photos.

[New to this]

On 21/01/2025 at 15:01, 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.

@Rosslyn just wondered how you got on with your foundation design? We too are getting close to that stage; highest plasticity clay and a hedge the full length of the house with tree species has me a tad worried!! 

Edited December 14 by New to this

[saveasteading]

3 hours ago, New to this said:

hedge the full length of the house with tree species has me a tad worried

Plants in a designated hedge should never become the full trees on which foundation depths are based. So it should be OK.

 

Is the hedge in your control and how close to  the nearest point of the building?

 

[Rosslyn]

On 14/12/2025 at 10:03, New to this said:

@Rosslyn just wondered how you got on with your foundation design? We too are getting close to that stage; highest plasticity clay and a hedge the full length of the house with tree species has me a tad worried!! 

It went very successfully for me with a 250mm raft foundation onto 200mm Greenraft XPS insulation. Quite a lot of excavation (750mm O/A) and then compacted Type 1 hardcore. Came in about £40k so below my budget which is almost a first! Certainly a vast improvement on the deep piling that everyone seemed to advise was inevitable.

[New to this]

On 14/12/2025 at 13:55, saveasteading said:

Plants in a designated hedge should never become the full trees on which foundation depths are based. So it should be OK.

 

Is the hedge in your control and how close to  the nearest point of the building?

 

@saveasteading the structural engineer said because of the species, they had to be accounted for even though it's a hedge we own / control.  It's about 2m wide, as a hedge, and the building is going to be about 7m from the inside edge of it.  The specific species are hawthorn, blackthorn and field maple, if that's of any use?!

[saveasteading]

2 minutes ago, New to this said:

the structural engineer said

Fair enough. It is not clear in the regs so it is interpretation. 

Neither is there anything to stop a neighbour planting an oak close to your house (I think there should be) , so at least this is on the safe side.

 

The thorns aren't an issue but maple is.

It's an easy assessment off a graph.

Sometimes a designer will work from the closest distance tree to house and specify that depth all round.but it could be shallower at the opposite faces.

[New to this]

On 20/12/2025 at 18:28, Rosslyn said:

It went very successfully for me with a 250mm raft foundation onto 200mm Greenraft XPS insulation. Quite a lot of excavation (750mm O/A) and then compacted Type 1 hardcore. Came in about £40k so below my budget which is almost a first! Certainly a vast improvement on the deep piling that everyone seemed to advise was inevitable.

@Rosslyn that's so good to hear.  I wonder if you have the geo-tech results and would feel able to/happy to share with me? I'm just pondering whether it's an investment for me to get a different SE's take on the design - it's not that I have any reason not to have blind faith in my SE, more that I haven't a clue about the subject, and pondering would a different SE perhaps have a different take on the information. I have a set of lab results from our geo-tech survey that show our ground ranges from the highest category of "High" plasticity, up the middle of the "Very High" range and I believe it's this that is blocking our preference for an insulated raft solution. 

[New to this]

2 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Fair enough. It is not clear in the regs so it is interpretation. 

Neither is there anything to stop a neighbour planting an oak close to your house (I think there should be) , so at least this is on the safe side.

 

The thorns aren't an issue but maple is.

It's an easy assessment off a graph.

Sometimes a designer will work from the closest distance tree to house and specify that depth all round.but it could be shallower at the opposite faces.

Thanks for replying so very quickly.  Our architect did suggest we could remove the hedge completely, but we don't want to (nor can I imagine the Planning Dept being at all happy!)!!  And I completely agree with you regarding the risks of neighbours planting whatever they like on boundaries ... oaks and willows seem to be the worst possible tree species especially on clay from the viewpoint of how much they drink from especially clay soils. 

 

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, New to this said:

oaks and willows seem to be the worst possible tree species

It's all free online by NHBC if you want to do your own assessment.

 

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, New to this said:

get a different SE's take on the design

Only if you have real doubts about competence.

 

Without full reading back, you are on virgin clay? No fill?

So it's straight forward and my decision would be in comparing a structural raft to traditional build of footings and slab.

Beware, that the term raft is often misused, being applied to normal groundbearing floor slabs ( to make it sound fancier?)

[Mr Punter]

3 hours ago, saveasteading said:

The thorns aren't an issue but maple is.

 

Hawthorn is high water demand.  Maple is medium.  If the hawthorn is existing, they will calculate on the fully grown height, so best clear completely ASAP.

[New to this]

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

Only if you have real doubts about competence.

 

Without full reading back, you are on virgin clay? No fill?

So it's straight forward and my decision would be in comparing a structural raft to traditional build of footings and slab.

Beware, that the term raft is often misused, being applied to normal groundbearing floor slabs ( to make it sound fancier?)

Full virgin clay, three trial pits from 1-1.5m depth showed only blue/grey with occasional orange tinges of clay under a silty topsoil no more than 200 at most deep.  This land was agricultural for a minimum of the last 100 years, as we know the farming family who had it.  I need to go and read up on structural slab versus anything else ... our design to date has reinforced strips foundations, topped with blocks and beam, above a void of 300mm, then an insulated slab on top of that.  Pricey! 

[Russell griffiths]

14 minutes ago, New to this said:

Full virgin clay, three trial pits from 1-1.5m depth showed only blue/grey with occasional orange tinges of clay under a silty topsoil no more than 200 at most deep.  This land was agricultural for a minimum of the last 100 years, as we know the farming family who had it.  I need to go and read up on structural slab versus anything else ... our design to date has reinforced strips foundations, topped with blocks and beam, above a void of 300mm, then an insulated slab on top of that.  Pricey! 

Are you sure, you have a mixture of two floors there, you wouldn’t put block n beam in then an insulated raft on top. 
are you sure it’s not just insulation on top of block n beam then screed. 
 

post a drawing up. 
 

if your keen on an insulated raft then look for a SE that specifically works on them regularly. 

[New to this]

43 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Are you sure, you have a mixture of two floors there, you wouldn’t put block n beam in then an insulated raft on top. 
are you sure it’s not just insulation on top of block n beam then screed. 
 

post a drawing up. 
 

if your keen on an insulated raft then look for a SE that specifically works on them regularly. 

Hi Russell, I don't have the drawings for the DAN-wood house just yet; however I have the drawings for the previous timber framed house. That was as I described - made my eyes water!!  1.9m deep closest to hedge on strips 750 wide, graduating back to 1.1 deep on 500 wide, then the B&B with a huge void and finally a reinforced slab. That was for a passivhaus, but I'm not sure I should hope for it to be any different now, and I'm sure the D-W spec on site prep says something like 'do your SE-designed foundations, then cast a slab over the top to this specification' ... my computer's playing up just now, and won't let me access the files I wanted, to share more info. 

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, New to this said:

insulated slab on top of that.  Pricey! 

It's all pricey. Block and beam is a good option and not esp costly. Where you say slab, it's probably a screed.

Miles cheaper than a structural raft.