Hello

[Ferdinand]

This from @vivienz' early days may also be of interest.

 

The key thing is to get as far as possible on a level with your contractors and architect understanding wise as far as possible.

 

The way to do that is to give yourself the time to learn, and to understand what you actually need.

 

 

[newhome]

46 minutes ago, Ralph said:

@newhome Where would you save and where would you spend if you had to do it over again?

 

Well that's the million dollar question . Thankfully I didn't spend a million dollars . The house is too large, way too large. There would only have been 2 of us living here and now there is only me and I live in a pretty large house, most of which I don't even go in, that has 6 bathrooms / shower rooms, which is mental. The house next door is a similar design and we viewed it before purchasing this plot (it had just gone under offer), and as planning permission was already granted and the building warrant approved for this plot we went with the overall design and just altered the internal layout so that we could get going on it as hubby was keen to get cracking. 

 

Having a house that suits the way you live is most important and having endless rooms that I never go in is a bit crazy TBH. I do like some of the things we did internally. We took out the snug and the office that the house next door has and made one big kitchen / family room. I spend all of my time in here and find it relaxing and comfortable. I would never have used 3 separate rooms the same. I wish that the utility room was larger as I could easily have lost a metre off the kitchen / family room and not even noticed. We put in an extra bathroom - AGHHH!!! and really we should have removed at least one, and we changed the downstairs cloakroom to be a wetroom with shower. That's ok, but it makes bathroom number 6!  We took out a bedroom to make an upper sitting room upstairs. I have never yet sat in that sitting room upstairs . It would be an easy job to reinstate it as a bedroom though. I would make the master bedroom larger. It's not small by any means but I don't need a large open plan sitting room upstairs and would rather have some of that space in the main bedroom. 

 

This is a biggy! I would have put in a different, more straightforward heating system. One that I was able to understand and could get people to work on. It was never installed correctly and no one round here has ever been able to work out how it works, and I have spent lots of money on people coming and doing 'stuff' to it that seems to have compounded the issues. I have a very long thread on the go about my heating nightmare if you have a few hours to spare . I have a central vacuum installed that I never use. Ok, so it didn't cost the earth relatively but I push a cordless Dyson round instead and never use it so it was a waste of money. I wish that I had spent more on the sanitary wear and / or got people in who were better at installing it as there are no end of plumbing jobs still to do here where things packed up not long after they were installed or were never installed properly to start with, and getting people out here to do work is a nightmare, and those that do come can be terrible. At least with many bathrooms I can just use a different one if something breaks . 

 

We did spend extra money on the insulation, but whether that has been a success I'm not sure. I haven't really looked into whether the heat losses in this house are different from next door who just have standard insulation. We started off by looking at lots of suppliers for the TF but in the end we went with the supplier of next door's frame as they already had drawn up plans for this house for the previous plot owner and were happy to work with us to redesign the internal layout to match what we wanted. They were always very helpful so I have no regrets there, but I suspect that what we wanted to have done wasn't particularly challenging for them. We sourced different windows as we wanted windows with internal blinds that the TF supplier couldn't supply. I do like those however as I am not a 'curtain' sort of person . 

 

Think they are the main things anyway. 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2018 by newhome

[Ralph]

7 minutes ago, Trw144 said:

 

And what size house? Anything unusual too it that makes it more expensive?

it's 200sqm, The windows is probably the thing that seems to stand out to most builders as being spendy. Right now our quote is £32K  for aluclad timber but I'm waiting on quotes from suppliers recommended here. 

 

Windows

Location	Quantity	Size	Openings	Glazing	Notes
Dining	1	1500 x 2400	Fixed
	1	2700 x 2400	Fixed/ Fixed
Family	2	2400 x 2400	Fixed
	1	5300 x 2400	Patio Door
Utility	1	750 x 1050	Open
Studio	1	900 x 2400	Fixed
	2	1200 x 21400	Fixed
	1	3200 x 2400	Patio Door
Guest Bedroom	1	900 x 2400	Open
Shower Room	1	750 x 1050	Open	Obscure
Lounge	1	1500 x 2400	Fixed
	1	1800 x 2400	Fixed
	1	2700 x 2400	Fixed/ Fixed
	1	5300 x 2400	Patio Door		Escape
Study	1	750 x 1050	Open		Escape
	1	900 x 2400	Fixed
WC	1	600 x 1050	Open	Obscure
Master Bedroom	1	900 x 1050	Open		Escape
	2	1200 x 2400	Fixed
	1	3200 x 2400	Fixed/ Fixed
Dressing Room	1	900 x 1050	Open		Escape
En Suite	1	750 x 1050	Open	Obscure

 

[Ralph]

19 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

Well that's the million dollar question . Thankfully I didn't spend a million dollars . The house is too large, way too large. There would only have been 2 of us living here and now there is only me and I live in a pretty large house, most of which I don't even go in, that has 6 bathrooms / shower rooms, which is mental. The house next door is a similar design and we viewed it before purchasing this plot (it had just gone under offer), and as planning permission was already granted and the building warrant approved for this plot we went with the overall design and just altered the internal layout so that we could get going on it as hubby was keen to get cracking. 

 

Having a house that suits the way you live is most important and having endless rooms that I never go in is a bit crazy TBH. I do like some of the things we did internally. We took out the snug and the office that the house next door has and made one big kitchen / family room. I spend all of my time in here and find it relaxing and comfortable. I would never have used 3 separate rooms the same. I wish that the utility room was larger as I could easily have lost a metre off the kitchen / family room and not even noticed. We put in an extra bathroom - AGHHH!!! and really we should have removed at least one, and we changed the downstairs cloakroom to be a wetroom with shower. That's ok, but it makes bathroom number 6!  We took out a bedroom to make an upper sitting room upstairs. I have never yet sat in that sitting room upstairs . It would be an easy job to reinstate it as a bedroom though. I would make the master bedroom larger. It's not small by any means but I don't need a large open plan sitting room upstairs and would rather have some of that space in the main bedroom. 

 

This is a biggy! I would have put in a different, more straightforward heating system. One that I was able to understand and could get people to work on. It was never installed correctly and no one round here has ever been able to work out how it works, and I have spent lots of money on people coming and doing 'stuff' to it that seems to have compounded the issues. I have a very long thread on the go about my heating nightmare if you have a few hours to spare . I have a central vacuum installed that I never use. Ok, so it didn't cost the earth relatively but I push a cordless Dyson round instead and never use it so it was a waste of money. I wish that I had spent more on the sanitary wear and / or got people in who were better at installing it as there are no end of plumbing jobs still to do here where things packed up not long after they were installed or were never installed properly to start with, and getting people out here to do work is a nightmare, and those that do come can be terrible. At least with many bathrooms I can just use a different one if something breaks . 

 

We did spend extra money on the insulation, but whether that has been a success I'm not sure. I haven't really looked into whether the heat losses in this house are different from next door who just have standard insulation. We started off by looking at lots of suppliers for the TF but in the end we went with the supplier of next door's frame as they already had drawn up plans for this house for the previous plot owner and were happy to work with us to redesign the internal layout to match what we wanted. They were always very helpful so I have no regrets there, but I suspect that what we wanted to have done wasn't particularly challenging for them. We sourced different windows as we wanted windows with internal blinds that the TF supplier couldn't supply. I do like those however as I am not a 'curtain' sort of person . 

 

Think they are the main things anyway. 

 

 

 

It sounds like you've had a bit of a nightmare all round, your heating system I can't get my head around. 

 

I think you are bang on regarding building a house that suits the way you live,  we've certainly tried. I went as far as getting a designer to build a full 3d model in Sketchup for me based on the plans so I could visualise the house better. Best £50 I have ever spent. 

 

Sorry you've had such rotten luck.

[newhome]

Just now, Ralph said:

It sounds like you've had a bit of a nightmare all round, your heating system I can't get my head around. 

 

I think you are bang on regarding building a house that suits the way you live,  we've certainly tried. I went as far as getting a designer to build a full 3d model in Sketchup for me based on the plans so I could visualise the house better. Best £50 I have ever spent. 

 

Sorry you've had such rotten luck.

 

I can't get my head round it either . I'm hopeful that some knights in shining armour will address that soon though. Doesn't help that I have no building knowledge whatsoever and whereas my hubby would have stand up arguments with contractors on occasion, I start from a position of no knowledge and sometimes get shafted. I'm pretty resilient though and live to fight another day . 

 

The model sounds great. My husband used Sketchup a lot. We were restricted here to a degree as the council only really wanted the same house built as next door which meant that conversations we had with them re making the windows larger in places etc were met with resistance. I'd love to have a go at shaping my own house from scratch as a blank canvas. Then again, I don't think I'm over this one yet . 

 

 

 

[Ralph]

Just now, newhome said:

 

I can't get my head round it either . I'm hopeful that some knights in shining armour will address that soon though. Doesn't help that I have no building knowledge whatsoever and whereas my hubby would have stand up arguments with contractors on occasion, I start from a position of no knowledge and sometimes get shafted. I'm pretty resilient though and live to fight another day . 

 

The model sounds great. My husband used Sketchup a lot. We were restricted here to a degree as the council only really wanted the same house built as next door which meant that conversations we had with them re making the windows larger in places etc were met with resistance. I'd love to have a go at shaping my own house from scratch as a blank canvas. Then again, I don't think I'm over this one yet . 

 

 

 

Yeah I've not broken ground yet and I really don't want to think about buying another house never mind building one. 

[SteamyTea]

There was something on Radio 4 today about negative equity.  The specifically mentioned Scotland.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09smh8f

[Trw144]

@Ralph Yes that amount of glazing certainly would add some to the cost -  be worth getting a few quotes.

Edited March 3, 2018 by Trw144

[vivienz]

On 02/03/2018 at 20:27, Ferdinand said:

This from @vivienz' early days may also be of interest.

 

The key thing is to get as far as possible on a level with your contractors and architect understanding wise as far as possible.

 

The way to do that is to give yourself the time to learn, and to understand what you actually need.

 

 

Ah, heady days!  In fact, it took nearly another 3 months to actually complete!  This was followed by a year of getting a new design for the house, deciding how I wanted it built and then getting planning permission.  And, guess what, we still haven't broken ground!  In fairness, though, that should be fairly soon as we're getting the planning conditions discharged as soon as our bat licence has been granted.

 

Patience and waiting aren't strong points of mine, but buying the plot and everything else that has come after it has been a masterclass in those qualities, and it hasn't been a bad thing as what we are finally going to build is very different from what we first considered and all the better for it.  We're not true self-builders by any stretch of the imagination, but we are closely involved in everything - we'll save money where we can do stuff and not waste it by trying to do things that are not within our capabilities. Our egos don't out-compete our purse strings, thankfully, and I'm happy to pay professionals where we believe it to be worthwhile.

 

I'm going to finalise my glazing quotes next week (already committed on the timber frame and foundation) and the quotes for that have varied wildly.  I shall most likely use Norrsken 3G, who are coming in at about £43k including installation. The highest quote was Ecohaus Internorm at an astronomical £64k, inc. installation, so it really does pay to shop around.

 

Good luck with getting the prices that you want/need.