Pegging out

February 24, 2006 | Leave a Comment |

James MacQueen, Hughie MacLennan and Jon Howarth will meet coming Monday, 27th of February, to peg out the exact location of the house. By doing so they will have a pretty good idea of the extent of the excavation work left.

Hughie will take up the remainder of the groundworks as of week 9: digging the trenches for the electricity and water.

James and Jon will work on finalizing the budget. During our meeting in November 2005 we discussed some changes that influence the final price of the house.

Jon also had contact with Scottish Water and it will cost us another £850,00 to have the roadworks done to cross the B884. There’s an optional DIY approach and not go through a certified contractor however you then have to pay a yearly insurance of about £90,00. We’re still chewing a bit that one. This is one of those things that nobody tells you about - not even Scottish Water while they have the drawings in their possession - and suddenly popup for attention. So, if you buy a plot of land, check whether you have to cross roads for connecting your services!

But to stay on the bright side of things: May is now definitely coming closer - only two more months left now - and the whole thing is slowly taking shape.

Posted by roger | Filed Under Groundwork, House Project 

Status week 7

February 15, 2006 | Leave a Comment |

We received some new information regarding the connection of water and electricity.

Electricity: There’s now a red peg visible on our plot. The red peg is marking where the electricity pole goes. The electricity company will drop off the cable for Hughie to install between the pole and our house at the end of this month.”

Water: The water connection will be the actual pipe running to our plot and a standpipe needed for building water. This pipe will be removed again once the building has been completed. Jon will discuss with James about the precise position of the standpipe.

Furthermore we decided to fence off the plot where it runs along the B884. The fence will run from the plot at Skinidin 17 to the plot at 15 Skinidin and will fall back a bit where the access road is. The access road will be fitted with a fence. We’re still thinking about installing a cattle grid, although this has no priority yet. The cattle grid should keep unwanted wandering sheep out of the cultivated part of the garden.

Posted by roger | Filed Under House Project, Plot development 

Progress

February 3, 2006 | Leave a Comment |

Last Wednesday (01-02-2006), Jon discussed the remaining groundworks with Hughie MacLennan.

What remains to be done is digging the trenches for the mains water connection and the trenches for the mains electricity connection. Hughie will bring over his digger by the end of the month and prepare those trenches. One important thing we need to cover: we have to cross the B884 and that work needs to be done by an approved contractor.

Jon will also inform the Utility Companies that their services need to be connected by the end of this month.

Furthermore, Jon will visit the plot together with James MacQueen, our builder, and mark out the location of the house. From that they can identify any excavation work Hughie has to do to prepare for the foundations.

It’s a good thing that after a couple of quiet months things start to move again!

Posted by roger | Filed Under Groundwork, House Project