Energy Saving Expert's Blog

We’ve had a set of stairs in our designs that are central to the hallway. They go up halfway, you turn a corner and go back up the other half to the landing. We’ve decided to scrap the idea in favour of a straight set of stairs that splits left and right at the top. The implications are: 1) we lose a cupboard at the top of the stairs. 2) We end up with a bigger landing. 3) We end up with more hall space. 4) We gain a big cupboard under the stairs. 5) We lose direct access to the big living room from the kitchen (you now have to walk around the stairs). It’s a neater design, probably cheaper, and we like it. Phew.

With so many horror stories about cowboy builders, this becomes a rather anxious process. However I’ve followed up on some of the recommendations that I’ve been given and had glowing reviews returned. This is very encouraging and I’m starting to feel a bit better about it. I’m hoping now, that with a good deal of preparation and choosing builders that come highly recommended, we’ll get some guys that are a pleasure to work with.

I read in my magazine a few tips for choosing your builder:

1. Get recommendations, follow them up and ideally see the work they’ve done
2. Prefer builders that put a sign up outside the property they’re renovating – it suggests they’re proud of their work
3. Choose builders that are members of the FMB (federation of master builders)
4. Ask your building regulations person at the local council for any tips
5. Be wary of choosing the cheapest (particularly if they’re a lot cheaper than the others)

So it’s the day of planning permission deadline (8 weeks from application), and yesterday SODC decided to raise the issue of bats, long after the end of the consultation period had finished. This is very annoying and bad form on their part. They’ve agreed to extend the period whilst we get a ecologist’s report submitted but it’s really thrown a spanner in the works and will delay things dramatically. Seems they play by the rules when it suits them, and not when it doesn’t.

Pipistrelle Bats

Some news come in from the architect – another of his clients is renovating a property on the banks of the Thames, and the planning application has just been put on hold, 3 weeks after submission. The Conservation Officer said that the house was a good candidate for accommodating bats and that an ecological survey was required to ascertain the extent of the problem (if any). So now we’re on the look out for bats – hopefully we don’t find anything and the matter goes away. If we find bats, we’ll need to plan mitigating steps to sufficiently reduce the impact on our little furry friends whilst the building works take place.

I’ve just put up a load of signs to say “Danger: Keep Out”. I’ve read that you can be sued if someone breaks into your house and hurts themselves. Can’t say I didn’t warn them.

We’ve now interviewed 8 architects on site. We’ve made notes as best we can so we remember who’s who. We wanted to know if we got on with them, did they sound knowledgeable, were they practical. Did they have environmental experience and what were their similar projects like?

So after few ups and downs, we’ve completed and bought the house! What a feeling. A good price for it too! I think that there’s limited interest because there’s so much work that needs doing to it.

The insulation could be improved...

My dad asks me some practical questions like where are the services: water, gas, sewerage… I don’t know! I guess there’s going to be a lot of unknowns that need discovering.