Day 3 - X marks the spot

First job this morning - the digger removed the hedgerow from the boundary between ourselves and next door.  This will be replaced by a new fence and also provides a wider space on the new driveway.

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As I was leaving for work, our builder let me know he was hoping to put the footings in on Friday.  Today, I had to arrange the the 10 year structural warranty insurance and site insurance.  Both of these insurances are non-negotiable with our self build mortgage.  At each major stage of the build, the insurance auditor signs it off - on top of a check from the local authority building inspector - and then the Building Society will release the next set of funds.  One of the stages is for the auditor to check the footings before concrete is poured and this meant only two days to buy the policy and for them to get on site.  I was getting quite worried about this until our builder phoned to say he had rethought it and was going to concrete the footings next Thursday, so the auditor has to come next Wednesday afternoon.  Big sigh of relief!

Mum and Dad's footings are going in on next Friday as well.

Some good news - the land registry have finally completed the land split paperwork and we are awaiting it to arrive with our solicitors.  Once this is in place, the mortgage can progress - until then it's the bank of Mum and Dad! 

All day on site, the land has been cleared on our plot at the back and the team have been working hard to try and achieve the required levels.  We had a visit from the building inspector and our footings have to be slightly deeper than first estimated due to the conifers on the side of the garden (who actually chooses to plant conifers!).  The assessor then came to mark out the site of our house with blue x's and it's huge!  He was really impressed with the plot sizes and said that we easily fit two big houses in them.

In addition, the drive is now in place with most of the hardcore and you can start to see the size of Mum and Dad's plot as well.


It's all starting to take shape and it's really exciting.

Mum & Dad's plot from the back