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Agree, which is why I'm looking for a more passive/structured system that he can look at when it suits him rather than be bothered at random times during the day. This should be possible once his other project(s) start to wind down and he is on site here more often. One other thing I'm looking at is Trello. It looks like it does all I think we need and, after another discussion with the builder, he seems willing to look at other options.

Email and WhatsApp seem popular. I prefer email as it is much easier to sort, forward etc. WhatsApp good for sending site photos. The desktop version is useful too. I don't think you will find your ideal system. Try to resist frequent contacts as they can get ignored if it is several times a day. Can you do a meeting / phone call maybe twice a week and send a note of what was discussed / agreed?

We've experienced a high failure rate of small DG units with narrow edges to suit narrow window bars in our G2 listed house (hardwood casements, sash and doors). If going that route I'd suggest check on guarantees and ask around for customer experience over the medium term. Our CO is pretty reasonable - like for like work, email conversation only. Changes to any detail put in listed consent (no charge) with drawings and a sensible rationale - been no issues. Good luck!

Fair enough 🙂 Our customer was an Econutter who was eeking out every last watt. Eventually, even he only adjusted his array twice a year. End of October and end of April from memory. In the first year he changed it daily; his panels faced slightly east of East of South, if he laid them back in the late afternoon he captured a few more rays before the sun set. Like I said, 'Econutter'. You can afford to play if you are retired I guess! These days an automated single axis tracker would be easy to set up, though

That could be a bit of a challenge. Quite some time ago I was involved in a large litigation against a big company and some relatively new law (as in it had come into effect only about 12 years prior so case law still maturing). Part of that case involved debating whether the use of 'may' in the legislation actually meant 'must' or 'shall.' And if legislators and judges don't even know the meaning......

Look for the nail !

Trouble is the ideal angle really changes on a daily basis, even an hourly basis if you wanted to be really fussy. I just have around half my panels at 45 degs and the others vertical. Also have 2 set horizontal and they generate nothing mid winter. Complication added, really depends on export limits if it worth changing angles (and if you actually get paid). We are limited to G98 exports, so even in February we get plenty of clipping in the middle of the day if the battery is already fully charged. So no benefits for me, having the complexity. Simple fit and forget

2=-cos(π)-(-cos(0)) So at each equinoxes.

Only if your flow temperature is stupid high. Long outdoor pipes benefit from lower flow temperature, aim for a max of 35 and you will be fine. Then you will be fine with 25mm insulation.

well done Geoff, not that far from the finish line, just as it warms up for the rental.

build a sled if you have loads to do? a sled and a hardpoint saw is what i used.

Would his lads not read it, they would need to know the difference between Will, Must, Can and Shall. We have two diaries, one for stuff that needs to be done, ordering, bookings etc, the other is the EHO (environmental health office) one that must be filled in daily. The last 4 chefs we have had have ignored it, they no longer work for us. In my experience, when it comes to getting a message across, I mention it constantly, I bore my co-workers to the extent they just do it eventually. I do make the paperwork as easy as possible to fill in i.e. day of week and date, rather than either day or date, saves the retards having to think. I put a pen nearby as well.

where shall we do this.

They can often be at 4m centres.

On the graphic that displays my 'obstructions' there is a quite large area behind the antenna that shows as a problem. This is because it is mounted on my chimney at about 12' up and the house is the obstruction it sees. This is with the antenna pointing north west which is apparently where the satellites come up over the horizon from. I would imagine my signal is handed off to the next one in line before the slightly behind obstruction becomes an issue. I do have a hazel tree partially in the way to the low left of my line of sight but it does not show up as an issue on the graphic. In practice none of the above is a problem 99% of the time. I think other factors are what cause the very occasional buffering in the evenings.

It's an interesting proposition, certainly. I've just looked at the company details and as it happens I've met one of the guys involved in this, but at this time it was in another company name - ecomove, which sold e-bikes, e-mopeds, e-scooters etc. in Bristol and has now changed its name and purpose I suppose. It's a small company carrying quite a lot of current liabilities. This is not necessarily a negative, it would just depend on cash flow of the business and the likelihood of being around if and when you want to scale up or you had an unfortunate warranty claim - and we know lots of much larger tech companies that do u-turns on products leaving customers in the lurch, so it's a risk for everyone. Good luck to them I say, I hope it does well. It's certainly something that's piqued my interest.

Like a great deal of what the state provides in this country these days. Lots of encouraging words and 'plans' But very little apparent provision. Yes i know that Openreach are a private commercial company but the vision is the governments and they are not great at delivery.

You could always look at a design that allows the array to tilt at different angels for summer / winter. We did this for a customer many years ago and it made quite a difference to his outputs - he kept daily records, and after 2 years had worked out the optimal time of year to adjust the angles which was a 30 minute job with spanners twice a year. I can't remeber the details of the frame we used but I can see it could work well with scaffold tubes as it would be easy to create a pivote around the poles.

It has landed on the concrete. That's better than some.

If it is complex, your average builder won't use it.

Already emailing and WhatsApping and that works ok but still seems clunky. Email is fine but doesn't tend to get looked at much while on his phone on site during the day. WhatsApp gets seen more often but isn't really conducive to longer messages (in my mind). And with both, although they record everything, you end up scrolling back and forth trying to piece together the invariable mosaic of information. I'm trying to find a system that will keep all information on each topic in the same place, that we can both add to, and that we can also highlight red/amber/green status and when things have been closed off. Yes, it's finding the sweet spot between ease of use and usefulness for the task. A whiteboard would be fine but doesn't work if he's away at another site for a few days. similarly, I've thought about a diary/logbook of some sort but that would mean the builder finding a pen and sitting down to write stuff! I did. His response was 'whatever' which was far from helpful!

Looking good. You're doing great.

I bought a Topcon rotary last year. Invaluable piece of kit.

Just came across this. Anyone else seen them before? With a 5 year warranty seems a vale for money way of getting storage. Can link 5 units together. Needs some extra bits to provide critical circuit backup. https://eco-recycle.co.uk/product/mcx-5kw-energy-storage-unit/

Think I need to lay down in a darkened room.