Building a dwelling house on the farm ...

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I've done it twice now in grand design style

First was a new build - VAT is zero rated so it's best done outside the farm business

Bespoke costs and changing your mind costs so if you want to keep things under control do neither !

Cheapest route will be a kit house that has already been build buy someone else, get a builder on a fixed price contract

I didn't do any of the above ! Ended up with a fabulous house though that was massively over budget and time !

Second (current) project is a restoration / large extension of a listed farmhouse. I've made most of the mistakes I did first time around again ! It will be over budget and over time again !!

All builders are pathalogical liars and mostly have no genuine comprehension of money or time

It's so worth it though ! Results are fabulous and nothing better than living in a house you were involved in building
 

hindmaist

Member
I've done it twice now in grand design style

First was a new build - VAT is zero rated so it's best done outside the farm business

Bespoke costs and changing your mind costs so if you want to keep things under control do neither !

Cheapest route will be a kit house that has already been build buy someone else, get a builder on a fixed price contract

I didn't do any of the above ! Ended up with a fabulous house though that was massively over budget and time !

Second (current) project is a restoration / large extension of a listed farmhouse. I've made most of the mistakes I did first time around again ! It will be over budget and over time again !!

All builders are pathalogical liars and mostly have no genuine comprehension of money or time

It's so worth it though ! Results are fabulous and nothing better than living in a house you were involved in building
Hmmm.....I've done a fair view bits and pieces over the years.I use people I know and trust to graft hard on an hourly rate.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Hmmm.....I've done a fair view bits and pieces over the years.I use people I know and trust to graft hard on an hourly rate.

Me too, we have a decent property portfolio and use a lot of trades almost constantly it seems

Never works out the same on your own house though in my experience where heart seems to rule over head

Never pay a day rate or per hour on anything other than smallish jobs - work seems to simply expand and stretch out when you do.

I've learnt the hard way even with tradesmen I trust to work on quote
 
Location
Suffolk
I'm nine years in & counting.......The finished part is fab. I sit in the unfinished part & dream of what it will become. I look at the half started part & think of the pain:rolleyes: This is my own place so I work on it when I'm not working for others or keeping the smallholding in good order. I have built about fifteen houses in my time. Firstly as an apprentice for a big housebuilder co, then as a subbie, then as a contractor & renovated some interesting places too, using my acquired skill-set. I do all the basic electrics ( & test before burying) & all pipework runs with the finishes & testing being done by the required trades when needed. @hindmaist agree with you & yes @Clive still way over budget hence the time!:whistle:
My biggest worry now is I'm really s l o w because my body is telling me it's had enough....:banghead::banghead::banghead:
Forethought is a major player. I'm still picking up where I left something eight years previously. Particularly under-ground.
An interesting part is there's very little rubbish. As an example, I've never had a skip on site. If I need to get rid of excess packaging I fill my truck & go to the local tip, occasionally paying for plasterboard disposal but most stuff is used or saved for 'ron.
I have to look in my 'ron store before going to the merchant in case I've put it in stock & forgotten. An example recently being ALL the gas fittings/regulator & etc in a carefully labelled box but just out of sight. Ready for the day when the cooker is commissioned. Ran up a £160 bill but went to check before pressing the BUY button......:ROFLMAO:
SS
 

Grassman

Member
Location
Derbyshire
There is various good practice procedures when erecting kit , to make air tight , expanding glue in all kit joints , tape all insulation. Compriband at all soft joints , takes a bit of time , wouldn't want to have to be relying on a bit of silicone around skirting , etc to try and rectify, we haven't had one fail , but know of many failures and tubes and tubes of expanding foam pumped into areas to solve , which will cause problems in the future, normally done at a weekend when no chance of building inspector turning up
Our biggest problem was window fitter who didn't seal the bottom of windows and doors and plasterers who didn't seal the tops and bottoms of the plasterboard.
The main problem really is my inexperience in not knowing what is right or wrong!
 

Grassman

Member
Location
Derbyshire
An interesting part is there's very little rubbish. As an example, I've never had a skip on site. If I need to get rid of excess packaging I fill my truck & go to the local tip, occasionally paying for plasterboard disposal but most stuff is used or saved for 'ron.
I have to look in my 'ron store before going to the merchant in case I've put it in stock & forgotten. An example recently being ALL the gas fittings/regulator & etc in a carefully labelled box but just out of sight. Ready for the day when the cooker is commissioned. Ran up a £160 bill but went to check before pressing the BUY button......:ROFLMAO:
SS
I'm fed up of Ron. Once my building project is finished I'm giving up saving things for him. I have things from 40 years ago that are too good to bin but I will never use them!
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Firstly, good luck!

We've extended/refurbished 2 houses and built 1 from scratch. I'd echo most of the prior advice.

Spend LOTS of time deciding exactly what you want.
Write it down.
Stick to it.

That'll save you £000's and heartache.

Plan everything you can before you start. Especially the plumbing and electrics. Don't install any plumbing runs without isolating valves and drain down valves (makes living in / maintaining the house easy and costs little at the build stage). Fit twice as many electric sockets as you think you need and fit trunking for pulling future cables through. I like the network cable idea too.

Use more insulation than you think you can afford - your wallet will thank you for the rest of your life.

A detailed recommendation based on personal experience for any builder or tradesman is worth 1000 adverts or "mates down the pub who know a bloke".

Under floor heating is gorgeous to live with (once you realise that you can't just "whack the heating up" and start to plan your heat settings a bit) but, from experience, if you do use it then plan in a drying room as you can't dry stuff on radiators.

The more of the house you personally see built, the better the quality will be. Many tradesmen/women are bodgers these days and will happily bodge your pride and joy then hide it if you're not there to watch.

Building your own house, or having it built for you, is often frustrating, elating, depressing, uplifting, worrying and rewarding all at the same time but there are few better feelings than when you live in a house YOU had built.

Finally, Good luck again. You'll probably need it.
 
Last edited:
Location
Suffolk
Our modest new build part now has a porch/coat drying area with nine coat hooks & a hat/glove/stuff shelf plus somewhere to sit to either put clobber on or off.
In my quest to orientate everything to maximise the solar gain I built this on the North wall as a three sided timber framed building with 200mm+ of insulation in walls & roof. . The East & West elevations of said porch have as much glass as I could fit. West has a fully glazed door. Frame material by Duraflex, argon filled with composite spacers & glass by Saint-Gobain UK. The East has a three light window one of which I can open, again top spec argon & etc. There is under-floor heating too.

From a technical point I have very little window frame showing inside, using the glass as the main insulator. There's the beading then a 5mm gap. My thoughts were to minimise any chance of cold bridging even with a quality frame. The door works in a similar way although there is a 30mm spacer on the hinge side so it will open correctly.

I had the heating on in Feb to help with drying paint & to work in just keeping the cold out so didn't think more of this until this month. While I have been finishing the tiling & other jobs I have been watching the main temperature guage. It hasn't dropped below 20 degrees if there's any chance the sun shines.

Solar orientation means the sun streams in the East window from 07.30am 'till 10.00am. instant heat. The evening sun streams in the door from 17.00pm until 19.00pm so again instant heat, also making a lovely place to sit at the end of the day! All free benefits(y)
SS
 

SRRC

Member
Location
West Somerset
For a lesson in how not to do it have a look at the Grand Designs one where the chap was building a houseboat.
No preparation, he took great pride in announcing that every thing was done ad hoc. Complete disaster, huge strain on his relationship too. The end of the episode had him being sued and having to remove his boat from the berth.
 

Dave645

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
N Lincs
Solar gain is one thing to watch in super insulated houses, as they trap it very efficiently, this was one reason I fitted a ground heat exchanger pipe to the inlet of my heat recovery, the heat recovery system goes into bypass when the house hits the temperature I set it for, on its controller. Even on very hot days input air temperatures are under 14 C.

Air tight.... as someone put, even if it was possible which I do not think it is, would be ok as you have to run heat recovery ventilation which exchanges half the volume of air in the house every hour as a minimum. The more air tight it is the greater the required volume needed to be supplied by the heat recovery system. As with lots of things when building a house ask the experts..... that are supplying your system they should do all the calculations, but do tell them if you plan to go super air tight and require a fire of some type, as these effect your requirements.

For anyone not aware heat recovery is as it's sounds and is around 90-95% efficient it more than covers the cost of running it, think of it as a radiator on your tractor but with air both inside and out, instead of water in one. The air never mixes but the heat is extracted from the air extracted from your houses bathrooms, to warm the incoming air.
They also filter your air in both directions. It acts as a balanced system extracting air and pulling new clean air in.
 

multi power

Member
Location
pembrokeshire
For a lesson in how not to do it have a look at the Grand Designs one where the chap was building a houseboat.
No preparation, he took great pride in announcing that every thing was done ad hoc. Complete disaster, huge strain on his relationship too. The end of the episode had him being sued and having to remove his boat from the berth.
People seem to forget sunshine is free
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Our modest new build part now has a porch/coat drying area with nine coat hooks & a hat/glove/stuff shelf plus somewhere to sit to either put clobber on or off.
In my quest to orientate everything to maximise the solar gain I built this on the North wall as a three sided timber framed building with 200mm+ of insulation in walls & roof. . The East & West elevations of said porch have as much glass as I could fit. West has a fully glazed door. Frame material by Duraflex, argon filled with composite spacers & glass by Saint-Gobain UK. The East has a three light window one of which I can open, again top spec argon & etc. There is under-floor heating too.

From a technical point I have very little window frame showing inside, using the glass as the main insulator. There's the beading then a 5mm gap. My thoughts were to minimise any chance of cold bridging even with a quality frame. The door works in a similar way although there is a 30mm spacer on the hinge side so it will open correctly.

I had the heating on in Feb to help with drying paint & to work in just keeping the cold out so didn't think more of this until this month. While I have been finishing the tiling & other jobs I have been watching the main temperature guage. It hasn't dropped below 20 degrees if there's any chance the sun shines.

Solar orientation means the sun streams in the East window from 07.30am 'till 10.00am. instant heat. The evening sun streams in the door from 17.00pm until 19.00pm so again instant heat, also making a lovely place to sit at the end of the day! All free benefits(y)
SS
I don't get the keeness for solar gain. Ok it's nice in winter / early spring, but we spend late April to September shutting curtains to try and keep the sun out as it gets too hot. Maybe we're just unusual not liking it too hot.

Like the thinking with the window frames though - Will incorporate that when I finish the window reveals in our current build.
 
Location
Suffolk
I don't get the keeness for solar gain. Ok it's nice in winter / early spring, but we spend late April to September shutting curtains to try and keep the sun out as it gets too hot. Maybe we're just unusual not liking it too hot.

Like the thinking with the window frames though - Will incorporate that when I finish the window reveals in our current build.


There is a thought process on solar gain in relation to the suns position throughout the year. The Australians use this to a far greater effect as the sun is more powerful in the Southern hemisphere. In Europe we're still learning;) although the Scandinavian countries have taught us to consider insulation as a major part of the construction. The combination of the two is useful!:rolleyes:
When I first started in the late 70's, cavity walls were the most scientific part of the build:scratchhead: Now putting insulation in tops that:LOL:

For anyone who is in/visiting Wales it's worth wisiting the CAT http://www.cat.org.uk/index.html

Cold bridging was known about and woe betide an apprentice who used a LBC Fletton as a corner spacer in a breeze-block wall. They had to be removed to the dissaproval of all the other apprentices in the gang.....:mad:
Looking at new build EPC rating against those of a decade ago is shocking with the average property in this part of the world reaching F, better E and the best I've seen for sale is rated with a D. New builds are the high end of B. Big difference. The potentials to improve are not much better either on the older ones.
 
Location
Suffolk
I've fitted both the Klargester bio-disk & the bubble on projects. I've posted in the past about five year contracts for the bio-disk which include servicing & parts & important regular emptying.

The last one I fitted twelve years ago was a bubble system, this is in a farm house right next to the occupants summer sitting area. Mrs would have soon said something if it was noisy. Mr has mown the coffin lid and those cost a surprising amount....:whistle: I employed a contractor to do the fitting as he had a Dando rig. Space was very tight so a vertical outfall into chalk was the way forward.

There is minimum pump noise, I could hear it running if I went to inspect the system and went close to the pump housing which means things were working ok. If you are in a normal rural position the tank will usually be a long way from the house. You can site the pump away from the tank too, the pump cover is ugly and so is the coffin cover & I'd advise landscaping around the tank. A electrician colleague suggested a timer for the pump which was a good idea but you'd need to think about the gaps between on & off. This was in anticipation of any noise complaint.

Personally I have a three tank system with a wild reed bed using gravity. No smell & watercress growing below the outfall (much to my surprise I must add)
SS
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
There is a thought process on solar gain in relation to the suns position throughout the year. The Australians use this to a far greater effect as the sun is more powerful in the Southern hemisphere. In Europe we're still learning;) although the Scandinavian countries have taught us to consider insulation as a major part of the construction. The combination of the two is useful!:rolleyes:
When I first started in the late 70's, cavity walls were the most scientific part of the build:scratchhead: Now putting insulation in tops that:LOL:

For anyone who is in/visiting Wales it's worth wisiting the CAT http://www.cat.org.uk/index.html

Cold bridging was known about and woe betide an apprentice who used a LBC Fletton as a corner spacer in a breeze-block wall. They had to be removed to the dissaproval of all the other apprentices in the gang.....:mad:
Looking at new build EPC rating against those of a decade ago is shocking with the average property in this part of the world reaching F, better E and the best I've seen for sale is rated with a D. New builds are the high end of B. Big difference. The potentials to improve are not much better either on the older ones.
Block walls are so 20th C. :)
We're using a new type of SIP which is basically very dense insulation sandwiched between two magnesium oxide render boards. It's U value is far better than cavity wall with 100mm of celotex. Air tighteness exceeding passive house.
 
Location
Suffolk
Block walls are so 20th C. :)
We're using a new type of SIP which is basically very dense insulation sandwiched between two magnesium oxide render boards. It's U value is far better than cavity wall with 100mm of celotex. Air tighteness exceeding passive house.
I've not seen this method, although I would like to try. Porch was all timber with sterling board inserted before the insulated plasterboard for fixing purposes. I must admit I'm still a fan of thermal mass hence blockwork. Plus the forgotten part; SILENCE.
Brickwork in Flemish bond as the outside skin(y). I still have a cavity as I'm in an exposed area. (good enough for big windmills) Modern building regulations require all this to withstand 120mph winds. I had one nervous monemt a couple of years ago before the main roof went on.....:eek: but I'd put in two big piers for structural & aesthetic purposes and they did their job.:)
SS
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top