It may seem I have have jumped straight into the build with the section on structural engineering. However, before we started the construction programme, we had to do what is called Enabling Works.

One of the decisions we took early in the project was to get those that know what they’re doing project managing the build. From our perspective, our focus was to provide as much detailed specification of what we want as much as possible. Deal with any risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies. We’d consulted with a lot of people and concluded it wasn’t worth the stress trying to manage what we know nothing about.

I have to admit, I’ve obsessively read most house build magazines cover to cover over the last couple of years. I’d like to thank Keri Barker for introducing us to Readly. It is the digital equivalent of nirvana for anyone that reads all sorts of magazines. Most of them, if not all are available with an App Store subscription. We picked up loads of golden nuggets in our obsessive reading.

We decided to move close to our build last year to get kids settled in the village pre-school. We were fortunate to rent a newly converted barn in a village 10mins away from Dianthus. Therefore, we didn’t feel there was any risk we wouldn’t be able to specify what we want whenever we needed to.

To get us going, we engaged the services of a Building Surveyor on the recommendation of our architect who presented a number of options to us. We selected a local practice, Gysin Warr based in Winchester. At the time they were a local boutique before they were acquired by Ridge also a local Practice early this year.

Their remit for our programme was to prepare differing levels of cost estimating documentation, namely; an Order of Cost Estimate or an Elemental Cost Estimate. The former broke the building down into ‘Grouped Elements’ and utilised approximate rates against the Gross Internal Floor Area of the building – this is basically an approximate budget which did not take into account specifics of the scheme and / or specification and is generally appropriate at RIBA stages 0-1.

The latter, was an Elemental Cost Estimate that broke the budget down into individual constituent parts (Elements and Subelements)
and attributed rates to each element; this provided us with a cost estimate which is transparent and was updated during the pre-construction RIBA stages.

Matt Stride is our lead building surveyor we engaged with and we’re also working with Tom Luke and Tom Killoran Senior Quantity Surveyor and Assistant Quantity Surveyor respectively. Prior to this, we worked with Sen Ibrahim who helped us with the shortlist and selection of the main contractor for the enabling works.

Once we appointed Ridge (at the time Gysin Warr), Matt and his team challenged us on build route we wanted to take. There are several routes you can take, in summary they include the following; Design and Build – this hands off the entire process including finishing the architecture detail to a design and build contractor such as Design and Materials or the Package Home Companies such as Potton and Weber Haus.

You can also self build – this involves you undertaking a lot of the build hands on and learning on the fly. Having undertaken a few house/flat renovation projects in the past, we weren’t keen on it what with work and family life to manage as well.

We decided to go down the mixed approach or DIY Design which involved us doing a lot of detailed design up front with our architect and chosen sub contractors for key areas like kitchen, lighting, audio visual, bathroom, interiors, sustainability, mechanical and structural engineering. The period between October 2018 and April 2019 was intense as we spent a lot of time during the week working with the professionals on each area to reach a sufficient level of detail enough for our architect Rob Jackson to do what is called building regs drawing ready for building regulatory sign off as well as the main contractor tender process.

Ultimately, working with Rob and the team, we designed each sub subsystem which I’ll cover in some detail in subsequent posts before Rob and Najib could complete the building regulations drawing for pre-commencement planning approval.

The process of taking our time to detail the design was serendipitous. Living locally in a rented recently converted barn was to prove instrumental in refining some of our initial design aesthetics. It also improved our design based on the similarities of how we are using the living dining space in our rented accommodation vis a vis how we intend to live in Dianthus.

First, we had to demolish the old Dianthus. We also tried to ascertain what we’d like to keep. The cladding wasn’t local flint as it’s built of clay. We kept the spoil from the demolition. Which we intend to use for landscaping later. For the enabling works we had to disconnect existing utilities following a utilities survey, this was the most painful part as getting hold of the relevant utilities is a pain in the ass.

Be aware that this is the most painful part of the entire build. If you don’t get utilities sorted, your timelines will be impacted severely. We’re still dealing with a few dependencies but we’ve mostly overcome them. We’ve built up a relationship with the SSE Network Distribution team. Once you get to know who they are and they get an understanding of your project, things move smoothly from that point.

We’ve also been fortunate that Virgin Media recently installed their cable network in the village. @350 Megbits per second, Literally the fastest broadband speed you can get in the UK. We decided quickly to connect it to the main contractors cabin at the rear so it’s easy to relocate it to the main house once the build is completed next year.

We selected Colmar for the enabling works from the short list of five main contractors we got. They won on price as well as detail of scope and no hidden assumptions.

As it subsequently transpired, this was a good decision as it was useful downstream during the main tender process for the build.

Following the appointment of Colmar for the enabling works at the end of March, we focussed on getting all of pre-commencement conditions discharged for planning including building control sign off etc.

Ridge followed a rigorous process for the main contractor tender, We sent out expression of interest letters to five main contractors. Four of them expressed interest. We then supplied them all the tender drawings, specifications etc. with a request to submit their return by the 7th of June. We asked them to provide us with their proposal for the build, priced tender sum analysis based on a fixed price, construction programme plan, and confirmation of building warranty provider. We did extend their return date by a week as we had to re-design the basement to a secant pile approach to reflect the conservative approach so we can protect neighbouring properties and deal with the high water table.

At the same time, we started drawing up our own criteria for the tender process. We were looking for candour, access to the senior team, demonstrable experience of doing this before, We also took advice from friends that had been through the process on what to look for. For example, we did site visits and took references. We ensured we listened carefully to what each main contractor was saying looking for evidence of golden nuggets and pearls of wisdom they’d drop in to ensure a successful project.

The last bit above was quite revealing. The winning main contractor Colmar needless to say, demonstrated that they’d done this before. There were fewer assumptions in their estimates during the pitch process than the other competing builders. We’d also got to know them as they were charged with doing the enabling works.

We visited a number of sites and completed developments by Colmar locally. From what we saw and the quality of the build, It left us in no doubt they were capable. They were also the only vendor that did a thorough job of reaching out to all our selected design sub contractors (Bathroom, Kitchen and Audio Visual) to get the right estimates as well as a good view of where each fit on the project timeline.

One other nugget, Richard from Colmar spotted a huge dependency on services that we needed to bury a low voltage overhead cable before we could proceed with the piling work. This service alteration as it’s called delayed the start of piling by three weeks.

If you look at the feature image above, the low voltage cable wrapped in yellow crosses the build area. We had to get SSE distribution to come and bury it to enable the piling rig to operate in the designated area.

In subsequent posts following a summary of the Construction Programme and where we are according to the plan, I will cover what we did with lighting design, bathroom, kitchen, flooring and interior design.