Rather than try and keep thinking up blog posts to accompany the mass of photo's we're collecting, I've created a couple of Albums on Facebook.
I'll carry on posting here, as we progress and detail the various decisions we make, along with the occasional update when I load more photo's in to the Facebook albums.
General Photos - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220261&id=708651418&l=43f93a5378
Timeslip Photos - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=225146&id=708651418&l=64eca6bcef
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Foundations complete, still a leak!
The beginning of this week saw the completion of the foundations. So all is running along, more or less, smoothly.
The only issue at present is what seems to be the always present water leak! We've had Southern Water to site on about 3 occasions, each time I call I'm told that the leak has been fixed, whilst our groundwork team tell us otherwise. The key problem is that it's the old property's water main - a nice old fashioned metal pipe with no locatable stop-cock. As the "nice" SW representative told me on the phone, we are responsible for the pipework our side of the stop-cock, so I kindly informed him that SW were therefore obliged to tell us where said stop-cock was located!
Luckily, whilst Keri was on site taking the photo's below, an Engineer turned up. Initially they thought it was a faulty valve, replaced that and still the leak persisted. Next up was a radio tracker, whereby they tracked the pipe to our boundary and then picked it up again at the roadside - I'm convinced the original stop-cock is located in the garden of what is now the new property built in front (completed in 2007). Anyway, the upshot is that SW are going to excavated where they picked it up by the roadside and finally fix it.
In the meantime, the first lot of below DPC materials have been delivered to site and, as I write this post, the brick layers should be getting on with the blocks you see in the photo.
The Signage by the road on entrance to site - a nice mock-up of how the house will eventually look.
The first delivery of blocks to site... not quite an action photo :o)
The only issue at present is what seems to be the always present water leak! We've had Southern Water to site on about 3 occasions, each time I call I'm told that the leak has been fixed, whilst our groundwork team tell us otherwise. The key problem is that it's the old property's water main - a nice old fashioned metal pipe with no locatable stop-cock. As the "nice" SW representative told me on the phone, we are responsible for the pipework our side of the stop-cock, so I kindly informed him that SW were therefore obliged to tell us where said stop-cock was located!
Luckily, whilst Keri was on site taking the photo's below, an Engineer turned up. Initially they thought it was a faulty valve, replaced that and still the leak persisted. Next up was a radio tracker, whereby they tracked the pipe to our boundary and then picked it up again at the roadside - I'm convinced the original stop-cock is located in the garden of what is now the new property built in front (completed in 2007). Anyway, the upshot is that SW are going to excavated where they picked it up by the roadside and finally fix it.
In the meantime, the first lot of below DPC materials have been delivered to site and, as I write this post, the brick layers should be getting on with the blocks you see in the photo.
The Signage by the road on entrance to site - a nice mock-up of how the house will eventually look.
The first delivery of blocks to site... not quite an action photo :o)
Saturday, 8 May 2010
We've got piles!
No, not the sort from sitting on damp ground for too long. Although there has been plenty of dampness from those pesky water pipes from the old house.
The piling work has been making progress, though according to the logs they've managed to go further down than initially quoted. The original quotation indicated an average of 8m, even though the site survey and exploration bore holes indicated around 10.5m. The actual piles have gone down between 9 - 13m. It's going to make a bit of impact on our contingency fund, literally pouring money in to the ground!
Foundation materials are due on site in just over a week and the following week are the blocks for the ground floor. It'll be around then that we start taking regular photos as the skin of the building begins to appear out of the ground.
Here are a few photos of our piles for those interested.
The Piling Machinery
Piles in and the concrete poured
After the initial concrete, the steel mesh will be laid for the concrete ring beam on top of the pile.
The piling work has been making progress, though according to the logs they've managed to go further down than initially quoted. The original quotation indicated an average of 8m, even though the site survey and exploration bore holes indicated around 10.5m. The actual piles have gone down between 9 - 13m. It's going to make a bit of impact on our contingency fund, literally pouring money in to the ground!
Foundation materials are due on site in just over a week and the following week are the blocks for the ground floor. It'll be around then that we start taking regular photos as the skin of the building begins to appear out of the ground.
Here are a few photos of our piles for those interested.
The Piling Machinery
Piles in and the concrete poured
After the initial concrete, the steel mesh will be laid for the concrete ring beam on top of the pile.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Construction has started
Yes, finally the construction phase has begun! It's been almost 12-months to get from purchase completion to this point and almost 18-months from our original offer.
So, what's happened since our last posting?
Contractor Selection
The contractor selection process worked well, although a certain contractor who shall remain nameless attempted to strong-arm us - he was subsequently dumped from the selection. To get things moving, we decided to tender separately for piling and construction. Our thought process was that we could get the piling work moving faster and could take more time deciding on the main build contractor. Upon verbally awarding this contractor the piling work (to give you a hint their trading name has "Foundations" in the title), he decided to drag his feet on providing a contract! After pushing for almost 2-weeks he responded by telling us he would only do it if he got both the piling and construction! Knowing we were pressed for time on making the decision to allow us to hit the December move in date. We reviewed our options and went back to the piling contractor that came in 2nd - they were prepared to mobilise quickly and it's those guys that will start piling tomorrow.
Next up was the main build contractor. We were now down to 3, though quickly 2, as after the site meeting day we realised one of the contractors hadn't cropped up in our conversations over the next couple of days - a sure fire indication that they hadn't done enough to impress, even though they were number 2 in terms of costs. In the end, it came down to budget, as whilst we'd built decent rapport for both the final runners there was no denying who on paper appeared most cost-effective and we appointed MPR projects to manage the build. Though it was a close run thing with Bassett Homes (they don't advertise it, but they do full builds too).
Building Regs
The next step, before we could start was to get the Building Regs through and the final planning conditions discharged. Building regs went through fine, though it was touch and go with the final planning conditions as Environmental Health questioned whether any vibration tests had been conducted by the appointed piling contractors and if not, there needed to be good reason why.
Luckily, the appointed contractor, Able Piling, had conducted the piling work on one of our neighbours, so were in a good position to explain why one was not needed - Our biggest concern was what would have happened if tests were mandated? We were guessing it would have taken weeks to arrange access to neighbours properties to perform the tests!
This and the report from the Arboroculturist (Tree chappy), that our planned landscaping changes were okay and we were ready to begin work!
Making friends of our new neighbours
To smooth progress, our first task was to send personal letters to all our neighbours, introducing ourselves, indicating when work was due to begin and our contact details in the event of any issues/concerns. We used the planning application list of consulted neighbours to target our letters, and a couple of websites that provide electoral role info to personalise them (which was done through some clever cross-referencing of two websites that provide differing partial electoral role info).
Service Provision and pre-start activities
Make sure you allow plenty of time dealing with the Utility companies, though in all fairness both electricity and water were fairly responsive. the latter even more so, when I expressed that I thought there may be a leak on-site from the demolition work! ;-) It was a bit cheeky, but saved my skin as once the engineer was on-site and I chatted with him, he quickly sorted out getting the existing standpipe and new metered supply back up and running (it had been done by the builder of one of the other properties in expectation of winning this build too).
Also, ensure when having the temporary build electric supply, you specify that it will later provide the residential supply - this can possibly save additional cost later.
All of that lined up and the Ground Worker in place to lay the piling mat (Able Piling don't do that, or the setting out themselves) and we're good to go. Trees removed from site, piling mat down and the construction phase is about to begin.
So, what's happened since our last posting?
Contractor Selection
The contractor selection process worked well, although a certain contractor who shall remain nameless attempted to strong-arm us - he was subsequently dumped from the selection. To get things moving, we decided to tender separately for piling and construction. Our thought process was that we could get the piling work moving faster and could take more time deciding on the main build contractor. Upon verbally awarding this contractor the piling work (to give you a hint their trading name has "Foundations" in the title), he decided to drag his feet on providing a contract! After pushing for almost 2-weeks he responded by telling us he would only do it if he got both the piling and construction! Knowing we were pressed for time on making the decision to allow us to hit the December move in date. We reviewed our options and went back to the piling contractor that came in 2nd - they were prepared to mobilise quickly and it's those guys that will start piling tomorrow.
Next up was the main build contractor. We were now down to 3, though quickly 2, as after the site meeting day we realised one of the contractors hadn't cropped up in our conversations over the next couple of days - a sure fire indication that they hadn't done enough to impress, even though they were number 2 in terms of costs. In the end, it came down to budget, as whilst we'd built decent rapport for both the final runners there was no denying who on paper appeared most cost-effective and we appointed MPR projects to manage the build. Though it was a close run thing with Bassett Homes (they don't advertise it, but they do full builds too).
Building Regs
The next step, before we could start was to get the Building Regs through and the final planning conditions discharged. Building regs went through fine, though it was touch and go with the final planning conditions as Environmental Health questioned whether any vibration tests had been conducted by the appointed piling contractors and if not, there needed to be good reason why.
Luckily, the appointed contractor, Able Piling, had conducted the piling work on one of our neighbours, so were in a good position to explain why one was not needed - Our biggest concern was what would have happened if tests were mandated? We were guessing it would have taken weeks to arrange access to neighbours properties to perform the tests!
This and the report from the Arboroculturist (Tree chappy), that our planned landscaping changes were okay and we were ready to begin work!
Making friends of our new neighbours
To smooth progress, our first task was to send personal letters to all our neighbours, introducing ourselves, indicating when work was due to begin and our contact details in the event of any issues/concerns. We used the planning application list of consulted neighbours to target our letters, and a couple of websites that provide electoral role info to personalise them (which was done through some clever cross-referencing of two websites that provide differing partial electoral role info).
Service Provision and pre-start activities
Make sure you allow plenty of time dealing with the Utility companies, though in all fairness both electricity and water were fairly responsive. the latter even more so, when I expressed that I thought there may be a leak on-site from the demolition work! ;-) It was a bit cheeky, but saved my skin as once the engineer was on-site and I chatted with him, he quickly sorted out getting the existing standpipe and new metered supply back up and running (it had been done by the builder of one of the other properties in expectation of winning this build too).
Also, ensure when having the temporary build electric supply, you specify that it will later provide the residential supply - this can possibly save additional cost later.
All of that lined up and the Ground Worker in place to lay the piling mat (Able Piling don't do that, or the setting out themselves) and we're good to go. Trees removed from site, piling mat down and the construction phase is about to begin.
Monday, 25 January 2010
The old building is gone!
Well, it's been a few months since we last wrote anything.The plans were approved on 18th September (these are the plans published on the EBC website), we then went through the process of selecting a demolition contractor.
Demolition started just before Christmas and completed mid-January (see the photo of nothingness!), in parallel we also went out to tender for the main build. The tender went out to 7 builders, with 5 responding. The quotes have been interesting, varying by almost 80% between the lowest and highest!
January 30th will see the site meeting day, in which we'll be meeting the 4 shortlisted builders to discuss their proposals. We went through the process of taking the most comprehensive response and taking the content to produce a checklist (supplemented by items from the others too), which will allow us to do an "apples for apples" comparison. Hopefully it'll clearly show what each is providing us for the money it's going to cost.
We've also confirmed since our last blog that we will need piling, possibly all the way down to a whopping 10.5M! Talk about pouring money in to the ground :-(
Hopefully by the end of the first week in February we'll have selected both the piling contractor and main builder. Afterwhich it'll be all systems go, all seem to believe that it'll be an 8-month build meaning we should be in by next Christmas!
We'll be keeping a photo journal of the whole thing by cementing in an old camera tripod at the bottom of the garden and taking regular photos as the build progresses.
Watch this space!
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Moving on...life with the in-laws...possibly homesick!
The sale of our current house completed on August 21st, preceded by a very busy couple of days packing, deciding what was for storage and what would be coming with us to our temporary accommodation.
The temporary accommodation in question was to be the in-laws, Keri's parents to be precise. We decided after a lot of deliberation that it would be the most cost-effective solution and would allow us to pump the maximum amount of money in to the project. Thanks to their generosity we would be staying with them at a lot less than it would cost to rent a property. Much of our possessions were placed in to storage, again at a good deal having negotiated a 12-month contract.
We've been in our new accommodation for about a week and a half now, though the first couple of days I was away with work which made the transition easier. That said, going from having a free run of a 3 bedroom house to a double bedroom in a shared house is quite a difficult transition. I think it will take a little while to adjust and feel comfortable, there's that feeling of imposing and lack of personal space - not that our hosts are contributing to that, far from it, in fact I'm sure they're pleased to have one of their daughters home and for my retired father-in-law to have some company when I'm working from home! Bizarrely, it might actually be a slight case of being homesick.
I think Max has definitely settled in though, we've found a couple of good local parks for him to play in and a nice walk along a disused rail line (if only it had a pub along it... maybe Basingstoke canal would be better for that!)
Both Keri and I are looking forward to hearing positive news on the planning application - the consultation period ended last week, so hopefully we'll get some news shortly. Though I suspect the Council Planning Dept will take their full 8 weeks before we get our decision.
The temporary accommodation in question was to be the in-laws, Keri's parents to be precise. We decided after a lot of deliberation that it would be the most cost-effective solution and would allow us to pump the maximum amount of money in to the project. Thanks to their generosity we would be staying with them at a lot less than it would cost to rent a property. Much of our possessions were placed in to storage, again at a good deal having negotiated a 12-month contract.
We've been in our new accommodation for about a week and a half now, though the first couple of days I was away with work which made the transition easier. That said, going from having a free run of a 3 bedroom house to a double bedroom in a shared house is quite a difficult transition. I think it will take a little while to adjust and feel comfortable, there's that feeling of imposing and lack of personal space - not that our hosts are contributing to that, far from it, in fact I'm sure they're pleased to have one of their daughters home and for my retired father-in-law to have some company when I'm working from home! Bizarrely, it might actually be a slight case of being homesick.
I think Max has definitely settled in though, we've found a couple of good local parks for him to play in and a nice walk along a disused rail line (if only it had a pub along it... maybe Basingstoke canal would be better for that!)
Both Keri and I are looking forward to hearing positive news on the planning application - the consultation period ended last week, so hopefully we'll get some news shortly. Though I suspect the Council Planning Dept will take their full 8 weeks before we get our decision.
Friday, 7 August 2009
The planning application is in!
After a couple of months going back and forth to the planning officer, around 3 iterations to the plans, we've finally submitted our formal planning application.
Interestingly, our original brief was to produce plans with elevations that were fitting for the surrounding properties. The original feedback from the Planning Officer at an informal meeting was that he found it too bland!
Second iteration and we increased the window sizes to the corner of the property that would be seen upon approach to the house and added some Arts & Craft features... still not enough, it was becoming a little frustrating.
After that feedback, we decided to leave it with the Architect to come up with some bolder suggestions. The result was to be a 2-storey window providing a feature for the entrance hall and gallery landing. It's actually something we had wanted, but had avoided as we thought it would introduce excessive costs. Though as we had also decided on block & render for most of the build, the costs more or less balanced out.
Some other good news over the last couple of months, particularly given the current market conditions, is that we've sold our current house. Admittedly, there was some incentive for the agent - we agreed they'd get their full 1.5% commission if they achieved a sale within 4 weeks of initial marketing, otherwise a flat fee amounting to ~1%. No surprise, we'd sold by week 3! Though it was also probably helped by a full page spread in the local paper :-)
So, now we wait for up to 2-months to see if we get permission. It's probably going to be at least 3-months before the build actually starts, making it over a year since the purchase was agreed!
Interestingly, our original brief was to produce plans with elevations that were fitting for the surrounding properties. The original feedback from the Planning Officer at an informal meeting was that he found it too bland!
Second iteration and we increased the window sizes to the corner of the property that would be seen upon approach to the house and added some Arts & Craft features... still not enough, it was becoming a little frustrating.
After that feedback, we decided to leave it with the Architect to come up with some bolder suggestions. The result was to be a 2-storey window providing a feature for the entrance hall and gallery landing. It's actually something we had wanted, but had avoided as we thought it would introduce excessive costs. Though as we had also decided on block & render for most of the build, the costs more or less balanced out.
Some other good news over the last couple of months, particularly given the current market conditions, is that we've sold our current house. Admittedly, there was some incentive for the agent - we agreed they'd get their full 1.5% commission if they achieved a sale within 4 weeks of initial marketing, otherwise a flat fee amounting to ~1%. No surprise, we'd sold by week 3! Though it was also probably helped by a full page spread in the local paper :-)
So, now we wait for up to 2-months to see if we get permission. It's probably going to be at least 3-months before the build actually starts, making it over a year since the purchase was agreed!
Monday, 4 May 2009
All ours... first photos
We finally exchanged on April 27th, though it was a slight disappointment. As Keri collected the keys late af
ternoon and I was stuck up in London, so we didn't get to go over until early evening.
We packed Max in to the car, thinking that he'd love a quick tear around in his new back garden.
However, upon getting there we find that the previous owner is still finishing his packing!
Suffice to say Keri was mortified and just slightly angry. You only get one shot at that excitement factor! Unfortunately it was a little deflated as we
couldn't act like a couple who'd just got the rights to their dream future. I ended up having to knock on my own front door! Though in all fairness he was just finishing up and was very apologetic - it's very difficult to be angry at a 71 year old man, who then tells you how he's grown up in the house, has fond memories, etc, etc.
Anyhow, here are a few jumbled photo's of the current property and land.
Our next task is to get our preliminary drawings sorted out and hold another informal meeting with the planning officer, then all being well we'll get the nod of approval and go for formal planning.
You may notice the nice crack in the garage, apparently a result of a WW2 bomb blast that caused the subsidence in the main building too!
ternoon and I was stuck up in London, so we didn't get to go over until early evening.We packed Max in to the car, thinking that he'd love a quick tear around in his new back garden.
However, upon getting there we find that the previous owner is still finishing his packing!
Suffice to say Keri was mortified and just slightly angry. You only get one shot at that excitement factor! Unfortunately it was a little deflated as we
couldn't act like a couple who'd just got the rights to their dream future. I ended up having to knock on my own front door! Though in all fairness he was just finishing up and was very apologetic - it's very difficult to be angry at a 71 year old man, who then tells you how he's grown up in the house, has fond memories, etc, etc.Anyhow, here are a few jumbled photo's of the current property and land.
Our next task is to get our preliminary drawings sorted out and hold another informal meeting with the planning officer, then all being well we'll get the nod of approval and go for formal planning.
You may notice the nice crack in the garage, apparently a result of a WW2 bomb blast that caused the subsidence in the main building too!
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
A False Start
So we spent the whole weekend ecstatic at the thought of having exchanged, only on the Monday to get a call from the agent asking why it hadn't happened.
Spending the week at home in between jobs gave me the opportunity to get on to it straight away, well, in between climbing ladders and painting the exterior of the current house. Apparently, now we were in a position where the transfer deeds were to our solicitors satisfaction, her attention had turned to our mortgage offer... were we currently in the process of completing the sale of our current property... not whilst I was half way through smartening the place up we weren't! A condition in the mortgage offer indicated that we should completely repay our existing mortgage prior to taking up the new one. Where was that winning lottery ticket!
I was straight on to the lender, explaining that we intended to market Montague Road as soon as we completed on the land purchase. The Underwriter wasn't sure, but would discuss with her Manager as it placed us outside their standard lending policy. Waiting on tender hooks, I decided to get on with some inside tasks whilst awaiting the call back. About 40 minutes later it came, whilst outside their policy, they were happy to continue to lend, but stipulated they could not extend beyond the monies agreed until we had sold Montague Road... phew! That was all fine and planned for.
The following morning the new offer appeared, I quickly looked through it and sure enough the condition regarding repaying the existing mortgage had been altered. Back to chasing our solicitor. At about 11am she called me to highlight and new condition, "Existing Property Rented Out", they were expecting us to rent out Montague Road? Ok, I had the underwriter's name and I was straight back on the phone. Quickly she realised her mistake and agreed to email both myslef and our solicitor. By 12:45, we had the email and it was a green light... though it wasn't until 4pm that I received the confirmation that exchange had indeed occurred.
I'm pretty sure there's a few extra grey hairs amongst the blobs of white masonry paint!
Spending the week at home in between jobs gave me the opportunity to get on to it straight away, well, in between climbing ladders and painting the exterior of the current house. Apparently, now we were in a position where the transfer deeds were to our solicitors satisfaction, her attention had turned to our mortgage offer... were we currently in the process of completing the sale of our current property... not whilst I was half way through smartening the place up we weren't! A condition in the mortgage offer indicated that we should completely repay our existing mortgage prior to taking up the new one. Where was that winning lottery ticket!
I was straight on to the lender, explaining that we intended to market Montague Road as soon as we completed on the land purchase. The Underwriter wasn't sure, but would discuss with her Manager as it placed us outside their standard lending policy. Waiting on tender hooks, I decided to get on with some inside tasks whilst awaiting the call back. About 40 minutes later it came, whilst outside their policy, they were happy to continue to lend, but stipulated they could not extend beyond the monies agreed until we had sold Montague Road... phew! That was all fine and planned for.
The following morning the new offer appeared, I quickly looked through it and sure enough the condition regarding repaying the existing mortgage had been altered. Back to chasing our solicitor. At about 11am she called me to highlight and new condition, "Existing Property Rented Out", they were expecting us to rent out Montague Road? Ok, I had the underwriter's name and I was straight back on the phone. Quickly she realised her mistake and agreed to email both myslef and our solicitor. By 12:45, we had the email and it was a green light... though it wasn't until 4pm that I received the confirmation that exchange had indeed occurred.
I'm pretty sure there's a few extra grey hairs amongst the blobs of white masonry paint!
Friday, 27 March 2009
It's really happening!
It started with a missed call from the vendors estate agent, then an email from our solicitor. She had indicated that everything was in place ready for an exchange. I was still under the assumption that there were the outstanding access right issues, so replied asking whether conditions had been agreed and that this would just be a conditional exchange.
Off I went to lunch, thinking that would be it - though I'd just sat down to start tucking in to my lunch when my phone rang. Guessing it was related to my email I answered, to discover the access rights had actually been completed and the exchange was to be unconditional with a completion date planned for April 24th! Not only was today going to be a celebratory drink for my last day in the current job, but it was also going to be celebrating 6 months of getting this land purchase completed!
However, now we needed to get the deposit transferred, so I had to head into the closest branch of our bank... it all seems to be happening now, let's hope the planning permission doesn't take quite as long.
Off I went to lunch, thinking that would be it - though I'd just sat down to start tucking in to my lunch when my phone rang. Guessing it was related to my email I answered, to discover the access rights had actually been completed and the exchange was to be unconditional with a completion date planned for April 24th! Not only was today going to be a celebratory drink for my last day in the current job, but it was also going to be celebrating 6 months of getting this land purchase completed!
However, now we needed to get the deposit transferred, so I had to head into the closest branch of our bank... it all seems to be happening now, let's hope the planning permission doesn't take quite as long.
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