OT, more than likely...

[Catman]

Still cheaper to build than buy IMO (which might well be as flawed as ever)

[Catman]

Well it varies. I have at least three sorts, but two of them aren't accepted round here.

[Catman]

Roughly half (probably rather less depending on the size of the rooms and their function) of what you'd pay for it round here. Which point were you trying to make?

[John Williamson]

CORELDraw, I've got, ExtraCAD I've got, but I can do the drawings a lot more quickly manually, as that's how I trained. I know someone with an A0 inkjet who can print from pdf files, as well as someone with the same size photocopier.

The initial workup, I can do with one of the 3D programs they sell at PC World for a fiver, then work it up properly on a drafting machine, which I've got somewhere round here.

Mind you, five grand in architect's fees on a small bungalow is a bit steep, I would have thought. It's the sort of design I've seen drawn up in a couple of days before now, including the site visit.

No problem doing that....

Add in the audio cabling I'd like, as I plan on doing some audio work that I'm having trouble doing now.

Still, for the size house I'm envisaging, a single wifi aerial in the centre will give me plenty of signal all over, though CAT5 in conduit is handy to have available for when I need real network speed. That's what I've got here, and it works fine, running next to some rather expensive SCART cabling. It'd all work in nicely with a cupboard to hold such things as a rackmount file server and patch bay.

PPPPP is the mnemonic I use. Unlike the guy that built the place I'm in now, where the sink drain freezes solid every time we get a decent frost. Oh, and *never* run the drains under the floor slab....

True, but it's not something I need, though it is impressive. I'm not trying to sell a design to anyone, and I can do a good enough pen and ink rendition to sell a garden to a client in a few minutes, once I've done the working drawings.

'OW MUCH!!!!!????

I'll find out what the current architects are using.

I can "see" it roughly now. Gimme a while to work out the details.

There's a lot of "Construction to satisfy building regs" and "Size to fit available space" on the drawings so far.....

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ex of land price?

And what was yours?

a decent plot to build is upwards of 100k.

[Rusty Hinge]

You're not doing it roight.

Dew yew mearke sure your plot is heavy claay. Git a heavy harse with big hooves - Suff'k Punch or one loike thet.

Tearke topsoil orf an area - the laarger the hus, the laarger the area.

Mearke a troff noine inches by noine inches in secshun and as long as yew loike. It shud be divoided intew tew fut secshuns with short planks thet slot intew the trough. Tew mearke things easier yew mearke one side removable.

Now git yerself sev'ral bearles of strore and hev them cut intew short lengths. Then - and not before - git a skipload of cowshit.

Run watter on the claay, throow on some of the strore and then sovel on some cowshit and walk the harse rund until the claay, strore and cowshit are pugged intew sloshy stuff.

Shovel slosh intew the troff and tamp it down, and leave it tew set. Turn out blocks and stack under cover, with airways betwin, tew allow them tew droy.

Repeat, until yew hev a girt deep pit, and enough blocks for yore hus.

Shud yew be unearble tew git a harse, a cement mixer will dew, but yew dew need a couple of big rund stns - not quoite bulders, but big, so as tew pug the mixture tergither as the mixer turns.

The blocks will build the worls (though these days yew dew need a cavity), and yew build them before they are roightly droy, yewsing claay and cowshit mixed tewgither as mortar.

The blocks hev better mechanical and thermal properties then any other man-mearde building material according tew the South Norfolk Planning Department.

The cowshit boinds the clay and as it drois, it expands, whoile the claay contracts. Learter, the cowshit decays, leaving the clay full of minute airspearces, mearking the blocks foine at insulearting.

The only droreback is thet yew must not let the blocks git wet. Whn I proposed building with clay lump, teh Planning Dept Inn Spectre said: "Now thet's the sort of development I like tew hear of."

Outside worls are yewsually rendered - but the mistearke many pearple mearke is tew de it with cement. It wunt stick: yew needs Worlcrete or similar. Then it is parnted with pitch.

My present cottage is red brick, clay lump and flint - cool in summer, warm in winter...

HTH

[Steve Firth]

Simply not possible for one of the rooms unless that room were to be made stupidly small. Planning restrictions prohibit the sensible solution of building a "tower" to one side of the house providing a stair case and two en-suites.

[Steve Firth]

Since I don't know where "round here" is, what comment were you expecting? I suspect however that you missed the "excluding the price paid for land" part, since labour rates and cost of materials tend to be a constant. I also suspect that you are talking about the sale price, not the build cost.

"Round here" which is probably a bit more upmarket than your "round here" a property of that size with appropriate grounds tends to sell for around £1.2M - £1.4M.

I was providing an answer to the question that was asked. You seem to be acting like a ponce.

[Steve Firth]

The one I'm building is in boulder clay rubble and brick with walls at least one metre thick. I'd not go making automatic assumptions about what others are building or how, myself.

[Catman]

Not at all

">>> It will cost more than you think and far more than any armchair pundit >>> imagines.'

Merely trying to understand how your (frankly sounding great) cheap priced 5 bed house will cost 'far more than any armchair pundit imagines'

Clearly I got the wrong end of the language stick.

[Steve Firth]

Perhaps you can point to where I made such a claim? You might want to actually engage your brain before replying.

[Peter]

[e-mail] (Steve Firth) wrote in news:[e-mail]:

In the spirit of a dimly remembered school playground, I am moved to chant: "fight, fight fight..."

[Steve Firth]

We've gone through the same number of "fixer uppers". Sold up at the depth of the last recesssion and bought the current pile for a huge discount because no one could see past the neglect.

Yep, and in general providing that it's structurally sound fixing up is a good option. Where it goes wrong IMO is when people ignore the basics and start on the decoration or when they either don't have the experience to do their own assessment or where they won't pay a professional to do it.

[Sn!pe]

Six to four on, Filthy. Any takers?

[Rusty Hinge]

Nah - have you ever seen 'Claws' Catman in action?

He's no pussy cat!

Oh, as you were...

[bobharvey]

It used to be a single loud cry of 'bubble' when I were a boy

[0] Not 'bundle'. That would have been an invite to join in.

[Catman]

I don't come to the shed to fight :)

[Skipweasel]

IRTA I do not come to shed light.

[bobharvey]

They do say you make the profit when you buy, not when you sell.

[Owain]

And things cost 20% extra after that, because of the VAT.

Owain