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https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/professions-regulated-by-law-in-the-uk-and-their-regulators/uk-regulated-professions-and-their-regulators May not be what I thought you meant.

It's a strange situation. Architects and others on here may correct me. I'm a Chartered Civil Engineer. If I do a job wrong the consequences could be catastrophic... think building or dam collapsing. So one has to be qualified to be insured. But not registered by law. Meanwhile the term Civil Engineer is used by many a groundworker. Some are good of course. They could not say Architect though or would be in trouble. A Chartered Surveyor who helped our business in claims said only 3 professions were required by their charters to do what was 'right' for society* even if it meant going against their employer's instruction. Medical Doctor, Nurse, Civil Engineer. I've a feeling he said that Surgeons and Structural Engineers didn't have such a requirement either, and certainly not Lawyers, Surveyors, Architects. I've just paid my annual fees so can maybe find what I've signed for. I welcome correction.

& the current era as well, if the builders & architectural technicians I have employed are representative of today's building industry personnel.

All the built-in microwaves I see have a factory fitted moulded 3 pin plug.

Seems to remember that someone on here has that problem. If I remember correctly, they where having trouble getting the paperwork that shows what had been done and signed off. Can't remember who it was, or what was resolved.

A decent BCO whether public or private ought to be able to point out any objections they have to a detail which should then allow the designer to adjust that detail to bring into compliance. I'd find it surprising that they would simply say "no". The main issue of many LA's is simply lack of staff, when we built 2 years ago I used the LA for the sewer connection back into the site. The guy was helpful but pointed out there was just him full time and two part time contract staff to cover a huge mainly rural area. I used private BC for the house....

😆 Edition (of the regs). I'm curious of the reason too. Built in microwaves are more likely to be combination units (with oven as well) and microwaves are also relatively inefficient so they consume a lot more than the output power rating might suggest. But still, if it's not a combi then its continuous draw shouldn't be much different than a powerful kettle. (I can't think of a use case for a microwave that demands full power for more than a few minutes).

>>> I was thinking of appending an external socket onto kitchen ring and an external socket on to ground floor ring. Also a dedicated circuit for external lighting that combines both front and back. We have this in our current place - all as switched fused spurs. Proper outside sockets are fairly reliable, so shouldn’t be a problem. The outside BG sockets have their own rcds.

>>> Been 'a thing' since the 18th Century? I wonder what the logic is as a typical microwave is ~1kW and a Quooker is ~1.8.

I’m using Vantage based in Earl Soham, prob not so far from you. Seem good, but I’m not looking to them for advice (as above) and have solicited their views on only a couple of details.

I'm not up to speed with Scottish law but here you are unlikely to get recourse from any BC provider LA or private. Murphy vs Brentwood 1991 effectively blocked actions against LA building control and the later Zagora vs Zurich Building Control Services Ltd 2019 along with Herons Court vs NHBC Building Control Services Ltd in 2018 made any successful action against private inspectors almost impossible. You have to remember the inspectors job is to check the building complies with the law. It's not to advise you how to build. Of course you get helpful inspectors and others that are not, in the same way police officers differ in their approaches to the public. I'm not sure calling what is now a pretty highly regulated profession that involves criminal sanctions against those not properly registered, as well as having a publicly available list of persons entitled to be "building inspectors", a "gimmic". Please correct me if I'm wrong but the only other construction professionals that have to be registered by law are architects.

If its a combi Vaillant and has a HW store, it will begin with a "9", a standard Combi begins with a "8", a non combi system boiler begins with a "6" and a heat only boiler with a external circ pump begins with a "4".

You obviously need a local override. Less smart options exist (keycard switch that only provides power when the room is occupied, or 24hr timers that need activating on first occupation but both of these may lead to no hot water on first occupation). Depends on occupancy. If you manage to be near fully booked then sure. If it's intermittent then could be quite expensive for uninsulated huts.

Don't rely on a third party, cloud based system for remote operation, that will end in tears. As you can easily get a CoP of 5 from an A2AHP, simple thermostat is all that is needed. When the effective cost is 5p/kWh, it can be left running.

Agree with all the above. A2A + immersion. But also, make sure you put in some easy way to only have the heating active when let (but also that the cabin is warm/hot water available when the next customer arrives). Maybe the whole cabin supplied through a contactor that has some smart controller on it then sync that controller up to your bookings system. (Sounds complicated but probably not if you use something like https://ifttt.com/)

The internal leaf of masonry should be a continuous ‘layer’, so draughts can only travel through the cavity. What we’re seeing is typical ‘builder quality’ work for that era.

Cheap as in simple and cost effective? COP is 1:1, but you’ll be nearly 100% efficient doing direct electric > hot water via immersions.

Defo A2A AC for heat & cool, almost instant hit vs panel heaters, cheap to run as COP will typically be above 3. Unvented cylinders with 2 immersions, for failsafe, as you're letting these to fishermen and hot water is critical.

What is a cheap immersion?

If they are holiday lets, this^^^^

Spreadsheet 😂😂😂who’s filling that in ? I wear slip on boots because I struggle with shoe laces. I agree with the lpg bit, I would like to avoid all that agro really.

I recall my first foray into doing something requiring building regs, a timber frame, timber clad outbuilding. Council bloke said 3 meter trench foundations. I might have been a bit green back then, but that sounded like nonsense to me. On questioning, he said it was because of the trees alongside. (mostly Ash). I said, if i dig a massive trench ill be cutting through all the roots which will destabilise the trees. "Not my problem" was the answer. 3 meters or you dont build it was the message. Needless to say, binned him off and went private. Sensible discussion about what was and wasnt acceptable followed. As far as i can see, asking for deeper trenches is to absolve them of thinking, and reducing their liability, entirely at your expense. If i was doing it now, as you say, full plans route. Fortunately the previous owner built a massive shed thus neatly removing that problem.

In England i would say that 95% of houses are "not compliant" in some way or other. If every job that should have building regs actually did, the whole system would collapse in short order. Different when talking about new houses though.

My take is rather different. What do you havd and need by way of design knowledge, site control and construction skills? The bco is not your designer or clerk of works. So if you are highly knowledgeable or you have a project manager or main contractor who is, then you have the confidence to proceed and get boxes ticked as you go. The bco will check things that worry them, or that they happen to notice, then sign it off. Either LA or private will suffice. My own preference is private because they have been, in my experience, happy to be team players, whereas LA have wanted to score points.... and hated any answering back. Eg. They ask for the trench to go deeper, and I ask why. They don't know but always say that. But if you are not that experienced, and are sticking to tried and tested construction, then I would say use the LA. Also I'd say to use the full plans process where they agree the design before you start (compulsory in Scotland. )

I think you should break out a spreadsheet. If this is holiday lets, is it all year? Are they paying for the energy or is it included? All electric is cheap to install and maintain and hopefully you have 100A supplies. Forget lpg as expensive, inconvenient and higher risk.