Live self-Builds - mod warning in post no. 1

metalscrubber

JKD,
Sorry for delay in replying - missed your question.
We are also in Meath. South of the county.
Where abouts are you ?

Metal

metalscrubber

Dark days for you, comiserations, I have been there.

However if its any consolation in my own case I met the council a few weeks ago to trash out a further information request and I found them (our coco) very reasonable.
I put the drawings of what i wanted on the table, they told me what they didn't like, we used a pencil and came up a compromise I can happily live with.
I had the Architect do up the drawings and the FI is now being processed.

So what Id say is when you meet them have a few drawings, hand drawn sketches are good enough, showing different variations of the basic plan you want.
Keep it very calm, remember they are just doing a job, and keep asking them what you need to get the planning permission. If they have problems with your site entrance then keep coming up with variations until they find one they can accept.

Good luck

2010House

Thanks Metal Scrubber, had my brother in laws on the phone last night, going through options and advising me to have work done on what I'm willing to compromise on, so I'll get the most out of the meeting with the county council. Will let ye know how the meeting goes in June.

stephen_k

2010House wrote: »

Planning came back for further information yesterday but want me to shove the house to a lower part of the field, the front of house would then be facing a dirty ditch. Or else change the house to a single storey house!!! €5k for architect and percolation (ripped off I've been told!!) and he's of no help. Architect said he can't work on it for at least 3 weeks??? Think he's forgotten about the 5k given to him. Doing this project on my own, so any more money spent at this stage is down the drain, its eating any savings I have!!! Council querying the entrance which is ridiculous, down a lane with my home parents farm and one other neighbour. All 2 storey houses around me and now they want me to reduce the size of my 2 storey house even though its not on top of the hill. Meeting the council on the 13th June to see what options I have before I submit the further info. Very disappointed with architect, he saw no problem with the site and house on it.

Hi 2010House,
I had a very similar problem to you with my planning application, 2 requests for further information with no real help from my architect and every possiblity that the council would refuse us altogether, when we were advised to contact our local councillor... When I called him and explained the situation he said he is in the council every week fighting the planners on other situations like ours, we got the planning permission shortly after this... Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Stephen

smashey

stephen_k wrote: »

2 requests for further information

I thought they could only request FI once.

mighty mush

We are just about to start our self build (god help us):eek:. Digging out in two weeks. 2200sf L shape. Will keep ye posted on how we get on. Can anyone give us an idea about how much it will cost to get it to floor level please.

stephen_k

smashey wrote: »

I thought they could only request FI once.

Dunno smashey, All I can tell you is they asked us twice!! First request was to ask us about planting (layout and species of plants) in our garden (I never ever thought about it), with a comment about the height of the the house design being to tall. We sent that back with the roof height reduced by about 1.5M... Second request came back stating the house is too big, the garage has to be detached and either my music room or sunroom would have to go and the roof height to be reduced further. All of this was totally out of the blue, they never mentioned any of this in any of the pre-planning meetings we had. We had to totally start from scratch, totally new house plans and wasted about a year in the process!!! I firmly believe if I hadn't involved my local councillor I wouldn't have got permission!!

PS After the second request, I rang the planner in question to ask her what exactly I could build to avoid more delays, her response "I'm not here to tell you what you can build, I'm here to tell you what you can't"..... Helpful don't you think.

Villain

mighty mush wrote: »

We are just about to start our self build (god help us):eek:. Digging out in two weeks. 2200sf L shape. Will keep ye posted on how we get on. Can anyone give us an idea about how much it will cost to get it to floor level please.

I've just got the floors finished on a 2500 Sqft house and 600 Sqft garage, cost me about €18k direct labour with myself doing a good bit and friends giving great help.

getfit

2,500sqft house, just poured the floor last Friday. I did it by DL also with a project manager to advise on technicalities. There were 5 courses of blocks (had expected 3) which added to the cost (as did the extra fill that was needed due to the extra courses). radon sumps and radon membrane were also installed. I went with 100mm xtratherm insulation. I also have the site fully levelled and hardcore up to intended ground level already. Many people leave levelling the site and bringing the area around the house up to final ground level until the end... I have the 1st fix plumbing done also, but am not including that in my up to floor level budget... That will be seperate in my plumbing budget....
I had to knock and dispose of about 3,000sqft of block sheds
The bottom line is coming in at about 27k including project manager cost for that phase. I didn't lift a finger (bar writing cheques) in the job.
You could deduct about 3.5k for the cost of knocking buildings from the 27k...

When getting costs from people who are building, try to get an idea of what they did to get to floor level... A mate who is building a bigger house than myself has about the same costs as me, but he went with 60mm insulation, has no radon sumps or radon barrier and still has to level off about 12/15 large mounds of soil and get a good few loads of hardcore to bring the area around the house up to ground level...

It looks like my breakdown on materials and labour will come in at 67% materials and 33% labour... Considering I didn't do a tap of work myself (bar keeping the site tidy, liaising with guys I was employing and paying same and ordering stuff and filling a skip) you can get an idea of how significant the materials cost are in this phase of the build...

Now, trying to get my block layer to start the house outright - that's a much less fun story!!! Especially considering I've had 4 seperate blockies approach me recently saying they can start within hours of getting the job if I want!!

Villain - seeing as your finishing the floor around the same time as myself - when do you expect to be ready for occupancy??

Villain

getfit wrote: »

Villain - seeing as your finishing the floor around the same time as myself - when do you expect to be ready for occupancy??

Oh I'm no good to compare against, I'm in no hurry at all, my uncle is block laying and gave me a keen price imo 5,400 labour for block laying the entire house and garage excluding the footings which were done at €1 a block. So he got another house to start so I told him to work away and come back to me when he's ready. Although I have asked him to block the garage in the next 2 weeks as I want to get the garage finished so I have somewhere to secure materials etc.

I should add that my finished floor price is for sub floors in the house and finished floor in the garage. I went 3 rows in the house with a sub floor and then I'm going with 2 more rows with a suspended timber floor. Makes life so so much easier for plumbing and services.

I reckon I'll be in for Winter 2009 or early 2010

loinnsigh

Haven't posted here since November, as I've been a bit busy, eh, building a house. Thought I'd share some photo updates of progress so far.

First fix plumbing and electrical done, insulation and slabbing starting next week. So far so good, some minor hiccups but nothing major. We plan to be done by October at the latest.

2010House

stephen_k wrote: »

Hi 2010House,
I had a very similar problem to you with my planning application, 2 requests for further information with no real help from my architect and every possiblity that the council would refuse us altogether, when we were advised to contact our local councillor... When I called him and explained the situation he said he is in the council every week fighting the planners on other situations like ours, we got the planning permission shortly after this... Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Stephen

Stephen I've been advised to go to my local councillor who is always good to follow up on pot holes in the area being filled etc even though I'm in the middle of nowhere, she gets jobs done. So when my further information is ready to go back in I'll be getting her to submit a "plea" with it!!! I'm hoping the further information meeting will be happy to accept a storey and half.

RKQ

Firstly I think your Architect has let you down. 5K and no back up is crazy. I don't see moving the house on the site plan, or lowering the height of the house on an elevation, taking much time. The Architect should do these works for free. A totally new house design would be a different story! Bring revised sketches to your meeting with the Planner. Express your connects to the area, bring photos of nearby houses and put your ideas forward in a calm and friendly way. Hopefully you will reach a happy compromise.

sinnerboy

2010House wrote: »

Planning came back for further information yesterday but want me to shove the house to a lower part of the field, the front of house would then be facing a dirty ditch. Or else change the house to a single storey house!!! €5k for architect and percolation (ripped off I've been told!!) and he's of no help. Architect said he can't work on it for at least 3 weeks??? Think he's forgotten about the 5k given to him. Doing this project on my own, so any more money spent at this stage is down the drain, its eating any savings I have!!! Council querying the entrance which is ridiculous, down a lane with my home parents farm and one other neighbour. All 2 storey houses around me and now they want me to reduce the size of my 2 storey house even though its not on top of the hill. Meeting the council on the 13th June to see what options I have before I submit the further info. Very disappointed with architect, he saw no problem with the site and house on it.

I do symapathtise but

the architect saw no problem with 2 storey evidentially , because in the past neither did the planners it seems .

Perc test alone cost between 750-1000 . The guy has to pay tax . You are not being ripped off .

And you can't make him responsible for inconsistent planning policies

You have 6 months to respond to the FI . It is unfortuante that the guy can't "snap to it now" . But it looks like THE COUNCIL are forcing a re design .
LOT OF WORK for your Architect . anyway any work he does before the 13th June meeting could be abortive - depends on that meeting . Do not fall out with the guy now - make sure he attends that meeting with you .

If you do elect to move the house as required by THE COUNCIL - can you not culvert and grass over the ditch ?

you building will be less exposed and will require less energy to heat at a lower elevation

I do symapathise - but your Architect is not necesarily to blame .

sinnerboy

smashey wrote: »

I thought they could only request FI once.

They can ask for "clarification of FI"

archtech

sinnerboy wrote: »

They can ask for "clarification of FI"

However they can only ask for clarification if it is within the initial 6 month period from the date of requesting the FI or the 3 month extended period , (if that was requested by the applicant). (result of the amendments to the regulations last year.)

I've been told that STCC have adopted a policy of no longer asking for clarification of FI.

archtech

2010House wrote: »

Planning came back for further information yesterday but want me to shove the house to a lower part of the field, the front of house would then be facing a dirty ditch. Or else change the house to a single storey house!!! €5k for architect and percolation (ripped off I've been told!!) and he's of no help. Architect said he can't work on it for at least 3 weeks??? Think he's forgotten about the 5k given to him. Doing this project on my own, so any more money spent at this stage is down the drain, its eating any savings I have!!! Council querying the entrance which is ridiculous, down a lane with my home parents farm and one other neighbour. All 2 storey houses around me and now they want me to reduce the size of my 2 storey house even though its not on top of the hill. Meeting the council on the 13th June to see what options I have before I submit the further info. Very disappointed with architect, he saw no problem with the site and house on it.

I won't consider waiting 3 weeks as a long period to wait for your architect to get back to your project. Did you expect him to keep the week free to deal with your FI request or more to the point would you have been prepared to pay him to keep the week free. I think not, your architect at the end of the day is in business.

smashey

sinnerboy wrote: »

They can ask for "clarification of FI"

archtech wrote: »

However they can only ask for clarification if it is within the initial 6 month period from the date of requesting the FI or the 3 month extended period , (if that was requested by the applicant). (result of the amendments to the regulations last year.)

I've been told that STCC have adopted a policy of no longer asking for clarification of FI.

I know that, it's just that the OP was unclear.

mighty mush

Hi lads, well we are counting down the days now starting Friday(at long last). Again looking for help. When do we contact the E.S.B and how much will it cost also we have to move an eircom pole as it is right in the middle of our entrance we have been told that this will cost us about 7K is this right.

smashey

mighty mush wrote: »

Hi lads, well we are counting down the days now starting Friday(at long last). Again looking for help. When do we contact the E.S.B and how much will it cost also we have to move an eircom pole as it is right in the middle of our entrance we have been told that this will cost us about 7K is this right.

Contact the ESB straight away. I'm not too sure on the Eircom cost.

mighty mush

smashey wrote: »

Contact the ESB straight away. I'm not too sure on the Eircom cost.

Thanks Smashey another question. We are putting in solar panals and again dont know anything about this. Is this something we dont have to worry about.

stephen_k

smashey wrote: »

I know that, it's just that the OP was unclear.

Hi smashey,
Without meaning to be pedantic, I acknowlege you are quite correct that the planners technically sought to "clarify" our submitted answer to their request for further information. However their "clarification" request totally changed the goalposts for our planning application and to all intents and purposes resulted in a second request, resulting in, what may have had the same planning application number, but was in reality a new application (totally changed house design). As I said in my OP, the first request for further information sought to ascertain what planting we were going to use, and that we were going to be primary residents in the house, with a note regarding the height of the structure (not an instruction regarding the height but an advise note at the bottom of the page), we answered this request and dropped the height of the roof. The second "clarification" then instructed us to change the house design completely. This was totally out of the blue and went against the advise received at 2 pre-planning meetings. I personally don't regard that as a clarification. I see that as a second request. Apologies for an unclear OP...

PS for Mods: I write this not to be argumentative but to clear up my OP, and hopefully help other people on this thread that may go through the same, while you may be under the impression that the planners can only seek clarification on the RFI this can amount to a total redesign...

sinnerboy

2010house - take note

stephen_k wrote: »

the planners technically sought to "clarify" our submitted answer to their request for further information. However their "clarification" request totally changed the goalposts for our planning application and to all intents and purposes resulted in a second request, resulting in, what may have had the same planning application number, but was in reality a new application (totally changed house design). As I said in my OP, the first request for further information sought to ascertain what planting we were going to use, and that we were going to be primary residents in the house, with a note regarding the height of the structure (not an instruction regarding the height but an advise note at the bottom of the page), we answered this request and dropped the height of the roof. The second "clarification" then instructed us to change the house design completely. This was totally out of the blue and went against the advise received at 2 pre-planning meetings. .....While you may be under the impression that the planners can only seek clarification on the RFI this can amount to a total redesign...

2010House

Good to hear all the advice and what the normal route is when FI is requested. I'm looking at the options at the moment but I'm definately going to have to concede with the entrance to get the 70mtrs either side whether that is removing the ditch around the bend or moving the entrance down in the site.

Regarding the height of the house I'm looking at reducing it to storey and half or move it down the site, or worse case scenario, to change the design to dormer or bungalow. If I have to change it to a bungalow, I'm wondering if I could get a copy of neighbour's design built in the last 2 years, can my architect put in this design, with no changes to the designs at a small charge? I've been given this advice but I don't know how this actually works.

Sinnerboy, what does culvert mean?

RKQ

Stick to your design till the planning meeting, then show alternatives and negiotate. I think copying your neighbours design is crazy and totally illegal!. If you must prove a point then come up with a design of similar width, length and height but don't copy it. ( If you liked your neighbours house originally you would have retained his Architect!)
I would advise a height reduction before a total new design. The Planner may think its too high, thats a fair opinion, whats your opinion? Whats your argument? Hove you taken photos / levels of neighbouring properties? Are there many two storey houses nearby?
I think you should talk to your Architect. Sight-lines are not negiotatable. The entrance must comply with road safety.

2010House

RKQ, Thanks for that, I'm hearing all this "advice" which I don't know is allowed or not. Everyone becomes an expert when giving me advice!!!! Yeah, I can see that at storey and half would bring it in line with one hugh house nearest me which is lower than me. That I'd be happy with cos it would mean no serious change of plans. Apart from 1 bungalow in the area, the other 5 houses in the area are storey and half and 2 storey. I'll wait to meet with my architect to do a site survey before the council meeting to disucss our options.

muffler

2010House wrote: »

I'm hearing all this "advice" which I don't know is allowed or not. Everyone becomes an expert when giving me advice!!!!

You asked for the advice and got it but you dont have to take it you know.

A lot of people here have offered what I would call decent advice in response to your qeuries but maybe you would be better off talking to your own architect rather than wasting peoples time here.

Im a bit annoyed at your attitude.

2010House

Sorry Muffler (any anyone else) who I may have offended, I am talking about advice I'm getting outside of this website. This website is giving me more "right" advice than anywhere else. Originally I said being a girl with no construction experience or knowledge about building a house, I still don't. So I'm very grateful for the advice I get on this website. I stepped out the lower site last night and will be going for a different entrance which will give me the 70mtrs sitelines and this might allow me to leave the plans as it is. I will then be opening up a new entrance for the landowner in the old site for access.

sinnerboy

2010House wrote: »

Sinnerboy, what does culvert mean?

in simple terms - fill the ditch in after you have placed a big concrete pipe in it

usually 2 foot wide but if you fit one in, use 3 foot

the pipe can block ( tree roots can choke it for example ) so build a man hole along your boundary to help un block it if you have to . if you boundary is quite long -- 2 manholes

your boundary line will normally be accepted as running along the centreline of the ditch - so you should be ok to erect a fence there - after agreeing with your adjacent landowner

a true culvert is box shaped not round - if you use these - they will give you a nice flat surface to bolt fence posts on to

muffler

Thank you for clarifying that. I assumed by the wording of your post that you were getting mixed advice from people here which would certainly not be the case.

Water under the bridge etc