To pile or not to pile

Before we started the self-build we had some exploratory holes dug in order to determine the soil type and whether piling would be necessary. This was carried out by the Chartered Surveyor from Russen & Turner (also Allied Surveyors). We discovered that we had a peat seam running 1m to the front and 1m to the side of the barn. In order to know for certain whether this seam ran beneath the footprint of the barn we would have had to carry out numerous more holes which may still have been inconclusive. We could also have paid for trial piles to be carried out but as this would likely cost at a few thousand pounds. Instead of spending this money and then discovering that we had to pile anyway, we decided to bite the bullet and put the money towards having the barn underpinned and a piled ringbeam constructed for the two extensions. If we had demolished the barn and had a piled ringbeam for the whole footprint it would have been cheaper - but we wanted it as a barn conversion!

We used Optima Foundations (http://www.optimafoundations.com/) for piling our self-build. We were very impressed by the professionalism of their director from day one. He came to see us in order to discuss estimates etc and arrive on the dot of the time agreed. He then went through our options and seemed to take into consideration our needs and our budget. This created an excellent first impression and was a key factor in us selecting them.

Having piling carried out was definitely not cheap, however we felt that without it we may have ended up building a white elephant. As it turned out the piles went 12m deep indicating that they really were necessary! If we had not piled and subsequently has subsidence then house insurance would have been unlikely to covered us. As it stands the piles would withstand a aeroplane landing on the house - let's hope we don't have to test that theory!