It’s amazing what a JCB and a telescopic handler can do in a day.

 So that’s the foundations finished. Just got to fill them with this mountain of hardcore now. Thank goodness for JCBs otherwise we would be here til Christmas. We have to get a move on. Just got the hardcore to put in, a layer of sand, the damp-proof course, 1500mm of floor insulation, the reinforced mesh, underfloor heating pipes, ducting  for the kitchen island and and pipework for the bath and shower then the concrete floor next week ready for the kit to be delivered a week on Monday. It feels as though we are actually getting a move on now.

  Who would have thought it, we are getting excited about a few thousand building blocks, but the end is in sight. We get the first lorry load of crushed concrete tomorrow. By the end of next week we will have a concrete floor, (hopefully!). All we need now is Scotframe to pull their fingers out and deliver the house kit.

 Before   DuringAfter   The building site elves were out last night. When Brian the builder left the site there were pallet-loads of bricks strewn everywhere. When he gets there this morning they will all have been stacked strategically for him to re-start building straight away. We stacked 450 blocks last night as well as leveling sections of the sand & gravel floor to the inside of the foundations. It is beginning to look good. A pity it will all be buried out of sight!

At last things are really starting to happen. Can you believe we are burying 3,180 concrete blocks and 165 tonnes of crushed concrete to get the foundations up to ground level. 

It’s been a busy week. We got an indication that our building warrant would be issued at the back end of next week (22nd August-ish). We have also paid for the kit to be built and delivered on the 8th September. So, after months of things crawling forward at a snail’s pace, suddenly it feels like things are happening. The images show half a day’s work for the JCB. We need to finish clearing the turf and topsoil away this coming week and set the house out in the coming week so we can start on the foundations as soon as the building warrant arrives.