Next try
March 19, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
Tuesday 21st of March Jon and James will try again to peg out the exact position of the house. The earlier effort was seriously hindered by heavy gails, rain and even hail in which Jon even lost his measuring tape.
As mentioned earlier, there appeared a mismatch between the distance from road to house according to the approved planning documents and the actual distance between the house and the road. By now, the Highland Council planning department has confirmed that the map shows the correct position and that the measurement on the map is not correct.
When the house location is pegged out, Hugie can finalize his digging.
Phonecall
March 4, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
On Thursday 2nd of March I had a phonecall with Jon to review the latest developments:
- Pegging out the exact location of the house showed an inconsistency in the drawings. The drawings showed the distance between the house and the road was 81 mtr while it actually was close to 70 mtr. Jon informed Archie about this and he’s getting back to the Highland Council to verify this probable error. The actual pegging out was further hindered by a severe gail with rain and ice during which Jon lost his measuring tape.
- We will go for the certified constructor to do the works to carry the water connection across the B884. This requires an additional £870.00. The alternative is that you an insurance perium of £90.00 per year. Either way is a very expensive (pun intended!) option, but at least with the first one you’re over and done with it!
- The pegging showed that Hughie has to do some addtional digging. He will start this by today or Friday and also start on the digging for water and electricity.
- The electricity company is a bit reluctant to already install the cable as groundworks are still being carried out on site which could damage the cable. Jon is working this out with them further.
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.
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!
Status week 40 - 2005
September 26, 2005 | Leave a Comment |
As of week 40 Hughie has finished the road and cleared the building site. The next step is digging the trenches which are needed for the water connection.
Hughie created the road by digging “borrow pits” A borrow pit is pit from which he extracts rock (huge boulders for the road foundation and smaller pieces to create the road surface) which he uses to create the road. Once the road is completed, the soil taken to create the road will be used to fill up the borrow pits again. Within a 6 to 12 months, the borrow pits will all be covered with grass again.
Check the pictures below with the site plan where you can clearly see the access road running down on the right side of the plot (looking at it from the B884) and sharply turning left towards the house site.
Cut of first turf!
September 22, 2005 | Leave a Comment |
On Wednesday September 7th at 13:52 PM Hugh MacLennan’s digger put its teeth into the turf of 16 Skinidin for the first time. With this event the development works have officially started!This event was logged on a digital camcorder. Hughie and Pam made this occasion extra special by bringing along a bottle of Champagne, to celebrate afterwards. According to good British tradition, Pam saved the cork, cut it and put a coin in it for good luck. We really appreciated this a lot!!
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Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys