BoKlok Blog

I realised that this job was going to be a bit different back in May. I was sitting at home in Buckinghamshire, munching on my cornflakes, when something on the TV caught my eye: it was MY SITE! On the BBC!

In some ways, this job is not so unusual . There will be plenty of construction managers running timber frame projects around the country. But how many of them can say that their next visitor on site could be ITN or the BBC? How many would want to? Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I'm really happy because this is the first BloKlok & Live Smart @ Home development to be built in the UK and it's one of my schemes.

So far, things are going OK. I won't lie and say it's been easy, but we're on track. There was the small matter of Japanese Knotweed to deal with which, as any of you who have come across it will know, is a bit of a pain in the neck. We had to dig the stuff up, stockpile it and spray it to keep it dormant and then we'll bury it - 5m down. And then, of course, there was the perennial challenge of moving services - electricity, gas, water and live sewers. You can programme all you like for utilities, but lets just say it's always a little bit hit and miss as to when things happen and how long they take.

At the moment we've got piling and brickwork for the substructures going on. The idea is to get two foundations ready for early September. The timber frame contractor erects the frame on one foundation and builds the roof on the next ready to be lifted in. I want to arrange for the roofer to install the single ply membrane to the roof while on the ground too - it's safer and quicker.

My top tip for timber frame? Make sure you get your subcontractor agreements sorted early on. Timber frame goes up quick, so if you don't gee the rest of the site on and keep up the pace you slow down to traditional speed and lose all the advantages. You wouldn't want your project manager calling up saying 'We need the joiner next week' when you hadn't even put the contract out. Would you?