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This is a very important and valuable thread. There are a couple of additional things things that may also be helpful. When I completed my Proposal Form for Construction Insurance, I had to complete the following questions (among others): So, I ensured every contractor/ supplier working on my site had a written contract (some very brief, depending on the scope of works) and had the appropriate Public Liability Insurance cover in place. I insisted on getting a copy of the Policy Schedule, to ensure that it was current, BEFORE they started any work at site. Failure to comply with either of these questions may have invalidated my insurance Policy in the event of an incident. In fact, I did have an incident which was dealt with by the subcontractor and it was not dissimilar to the one experienced by @newhome but I did not have to make any claim on my insurance. I created a template that I used in my enquiry documents or in a letter/email, prior to a contractor working at site- very simple, as follows: Can you please confirm that you have a minimum Public Liability Limit of Indemnity of £2 million? This is required to maintain my insurance cover on my Construction All Risks Insurance. Also, please send me a copy of your PL Insurance Schedule for my records .

Last weekend we had the structural engineer out checking the ground. Having dug the pits the structural engineer has confirmed that the ground is suitable for building on

I only really started just after Christmas and today I finished it. A little quicker that another famous forum member. Strictly speaking it's not completely finished as I have not found the right glass screen to go between the shower and the bath. More pictures on my blog at http://www.willowburn.net/ look for the entry "main bathroom complete"

Thought it might be useful to detail an accident that happened on our site during the main construction if only to prevent others from having a similar issue. I'm sure that we must have done some things wrong here, but there were others to blame in this tale too, and the events that unfolded seemed very bizarre to me. We used a registered scaffolding company to hire the scaffolding from and this was erected in August 2009. It was used for several months to do all of the main construction work and then towards the end of its time here someone fell off it. We used a particular builder to do all of the timber frame work, he supplied his own workers, and we paid him (and only him), in cash as he requested. We never paid any money directly to his team members. Towards the end of 2009 he sent a new guy here to do some work on the soffits and he arrived along with one of the regular team (the boss wasn't on site that day which wasn't that unusual as it was often just members of his team). The OH was living in a caravan on site at that time so greeted the 2 guys, one of whom he knew quite well as he had been working here for several months. He offered them tea and bacon rolls as he tended to do most mornings and went into the caravan to sort that out. About 10 minutes after they arrived there was a shout and the new guy had apparently fallen from the first level of the scaffolding landing on his arse (see photo to see the height of the first platform for reference). His co worker hadn't seen him fall and nor had my hubby who was in the caravan at the time. He was lying on the ground so my hubby called an ambulance. He said that the guy then got up, staggered to his car, put on his hi vis jacket and hard hat and sat in his car. When the ambulance arrived they suggested that he shouldn't have got into his car, and that they might get the fire brigade out to remove the roof in case he had damaged his neck. The guy refused their help at that point, said he wasn't having his car wrecked, and drove home. My husband reported the accident to the scaffolding company whereupon the owner drove to the site and attached an insurance certificate to the scaffolding dated that day. He said that the scaffolding wasn't signed off to use prior to that date even though it was hired back in August, several months before and had been used pretty much daily. Clearly he hadn't insured the site as he should have done. Health and Safety came to the site too and declared that some 'clips' were missing from the scaffolding, and put a notice on it declaring it not to be used. The scaffolding company came and put the clips on and it was then signed off as able to be used again. Apparently later that day the guy who fell off went to A&E and declared that he had hurt himself badly. He then engaged a no win no fee solicitor and took himself off to Australia to 'convalesce' or so he claimed. We reported the accident to our insurance company, and stated that the worker had been supplied by the contractor who was erecting the timber frame, and the scaffolding was supplied by the registered scaffolding company. The first issue we had was that the builder denied having supplied the worker. This left us with an issue as our insurance company said that we couldn't prove that the worker came via the main builder, and nor could we prove that we hadn't employed him direct. The scaffolding company collected the scaffolding and put themselves into liquidation meaning that the no win no fee lawyer came after us. My husband had to make statements and years later it was still going on with any settlement the insurance company was prepared to make reducing as time went on. It all seemed quite bizarre to us however that it was our insurance cover that was being claimed against when there were 2 other parties involved. In hindsight we should probably have taken a register of every person on site and who they were supplied from, and required every worker to sign in when they attended. We possibly should have known that scaffolding had to have an insurance certificate attached to it, but we believed that hiring from a registered company would have meant that we were completely covered as they would do the right things. Ironically my husband had refused to hire the scaffolding from anywhere other than a registered scaffold company in order to comply with H&S, but ultimately it did us no good!

It is sealed 3 times in effect. Firstly the tanking menbrane and tape laps up the wall. Tiles laid, and any gap between tiles and wall filled with grout. So that is already waterproof. The tanking tape goes about 3" up the wall. When the panels are fitted I kept the panels a couple of mm above the tiles (with a temporary spacer) and filled the gap full with stixall making sure it was flush with the front of the panel not sticking out. This is probably the most important detail to get right. When that was dry a decorative bead of white silicone using "corner tape" to get clean straight edges finishes it off.

The potential problems you have to look forward to isn't the relationship between you and the vendor, it's the relationship between successors in title, as the covenant will automatically pass to them if either of you ever sell. I can give an example from personal experience: In 1997 we purchased a house in West Sussex that had been built in 1959, by the husband of the widow that was selling it. They had bought the land from a farmer, not long after they got married, who eventually sold the surrounding land and then it was sold again to a company that built a caravan park on a part of it, and let the fields behind our house to another farmer. The vendor had built two extensions at the rear as their family grew, both with planning permission and building regs approval, so there was no issue there, but there was a covenant in the 1959 deeds that was worded exactly as your is - anything built on the land had to have the prior approval of the vendor or their successors in title. The vendor assured us that they had spoken to the farmer who'd sold them the land and he had given them permission to build the extensions during the 1960's and early 1970's, but there was nothing in writing with the deeds or any of the approvals. My solicitor wasn't happy, so got the vendors solicitor to write to the successor in title, the company that owned the caravan site and fields, and they demanded £5,000 plus legal fees to retrospectively grant permission for the extensions. Bear in mind that this company didn't even own the adjacent land at the time the extensions were built. This very nearly scuppered the deal, as the lady selling didn't have the money to pay the company that was effectively blackmailing her and our solicitor said it wasn't our problem, but the vendors, and advised we should just walk away from the purchase. I went to see the landowner (a chap called Mr Pratt..........) to try and negotiate with him, on the vendors behalf (she was an elderly lady, recently widowed, and was getting really upset by all this) and he told me that because I was creating a problem for him, he was now going to double the charge to £10,000. I spoke to our solicitor and he said we could get the vendor to take out a one-off insurance against any action being taken, but I was bloody annoyed at the greed of Mr Pratt. I wrote him a letter, on the vendor's behalf (signed by her), sent by registered mail, formally requesting retrospective permission for the erection of the two extensions, and telling him that unless we heard from him or his legal advisor within 10 working days his retrospective consent would be assumed and recorded with the deeds. He didn't reply, and ten days later the letter, and proof of receipt from the post office was included in our deeds, together with a letter from the vendors solicitor to the adjacent land owner telling him that he had granted retrospective approval by failing to respond. Our solicitor added a note that the 1959 covenant in the deeds was now deemed to be null and void, on the basis that no enforcement action had been taken. All told it added over a month to the purchase and a lot of stress for us (we were living in Scotland at the time and travelling down at weekends) and even more stress for the vendor, who had no idea that the old covenant could have caused so much trouble.

Pussy. Mines all in and done. You’ll be able to walk on it tomorrow so that’s a poor excuse.

I’ve had a few days doing the dabbing with my able assistant Still some bit to finish and build the fitted wardrobes Hoping to skim the upstairs out on Tuesday and Wednesday

Morning all, I finally received a draft contract the other day for the purchase of a self build plot. There are a few covenants within that I would like to share in order to get some second opinions from my fellow self builders. I am due to meet with my solicitor next week so haven't received formal legal advice yet - I have reached my own opinions but would like a sanity check so here goes: 1. "The transferee will not raise any objections to any planning application made by or on behalf of the transferors or the transferor’s successors in title in respect of the retained land" 2. "The transferee and his successors in title shall not be entitled to any right of access of light and air or any other easement or right which would restrict or interfere with the free use of the retained land for building development or any other purpose" 3. "Approval of plans: the transferee must not build or erect upon the property any buildings or structures or erections other than one private dwelling house and boundary walls and fences the locations, exterior, design, appearance, finish, decoration of which are strictly in accordance with the drawing and specifications approved by the transferor in writing (which approval in relation to finish and decoration will not be unreasonably withheld or delayed)" 4. "Alterations: The transferee must not: (a) build other than in accordance with the drawings and specifications approved by the transferor. (b) After completion of the buildings, make any alterations or additions to the exterior of those buildings or any other buildings subsequently erected on the property or to the walls, hedges and fences on the property. (c) erect any additional buildings, walls, hedges and fences on the property; EXCEPT in all cases with the written approval of the transferor and whose fees d those of its professional advisors in connection with the consideration of any such application, whether granted, refused or withdrawn shall be paid by the transferee" Any/all advice/opinions are appreciated. Thanks

That's my boy. . Ill add more in a bit ?

I’m going to make a start on mine tomorrow Im going to build in three and hang Oak Vaneer doors on rails and kit the insides out fro Ikea

I hear you nick ? we are looking at a from scratch system . currently 1 electric shower - that’s it ? ; hence the need to upgrade . so a 500uvc with a 500ltr cold supplying it ?. So I have 1000ltr too hand ? so when any taps run hot or cold will that effect shower flow ? can the taps come off just the Combi boiler ?? ( oh yeah ! There’s a Combi there ? ) agree timed route / 3 phase is s dead route . Simplest is best !

The woods were full of people who had got there early and were camping. There was a cornfield next to the arena, and many used that instead of the official arrangements. I remember the field well, as on the afternoon that Quintessance were playing, I wandered off there for a pee, and came across a girl called Poppy. I would guess we were both "under the influence of pharmaceutical products", as I remember her wandering over to me, smiling, and suggesting that we explore "horizontal metaphysics". It was probably the second most amazing thing about the festival, with Barclay James Harvest, complete with a full classical orchestra on stage, playing at sunset being the most absolutely amazing experience. I still have their album I bought as soon as I got back from Weeley. I never saw Poppy again, and have no recollection of us talking at all. We just wandered off, smiling at each other, afterwards, in search of the next amazing experience.

After reading this I am beginning to favour the @ProDave self build workflow i.e. live on site and soldier on solo no matter how long it takes.

Wow First time that I’d heard of it

I reckon CT1?

By God,there are some really greedy,opportunistic,horrible b###ards around.

I measured the shower at our old house, an ordinary mains fed one with hot water from a combi boiler, It hasn't got a massive flow rate, but was a bit over 10 litres per minute, so 100 litres for a 10 minute shower. A big rainfall type shower could easily be double that, I think. Not all that flow will be hot water, depending on the incoming hot and cold water temperature to the mixer, but I used to run our hot water at 50 deg C from the combi, the shower would run at around 38 deg C and the incoming cold water was between 6 and 8 deg C, so perhaps 70 to 80% of the total flow rate would have been hot water at a guess.

Not much use now, but I included a clause saying that although we had provided scaffolding, it was erected and certified by MJ Scaffolding and all liability for them using it rested with that company. If they spotted an unsafe or changed part of the scaffolding then they should stop working on it and inform me, so that I could call the scaff company out. Only one company bothered to do this, and then only after a near-miss accident, and that was the solar panel installers. Everyone else who used the scaffolding just unbolted and moved bits, untied ladders and moved them, shifted boards around, you name it, and it was up to me to walk around each day to see what had been buggered up and then call the scaff company back.

Seems my neighbour's scaffolding has a tag, can't say I have ever noticed one before.

Clause 4 is real solicitor speak its the same close as we refused to sign eighteen months ago Our neighbour wanted to insist on a covenant restricting us from having more than one van I have two already and insisted we park the vehicles around the back of the house They park at the front Our solicitors advise was that covenants are very binding Even one sided ones Once they are on the deeds and we could find ourselfs having to ask permissions from new neighbors Should these ones move house We called there bluff and pulled out at the last minute Tge estate agent got involved and pointed out to the vendor that no developer would agree any kind of restrictions They reluctantly relented Oh they also insisted on heaveyly frosted glass looking out to there side Including our orangery We’ve put clear in

Hi all, ive been looking for a plot for a while, a builder that I know is selling a plot with full planning, selling one and building the other himself. i have attached the design for your comments, the problem I have is due to an expanded family I would like a 4th bedroom. My idea was to either turn the garage into a bedroom and en suite or the study into a bedroom and have the garage as a big study/play room i was thinking I could put in a separate planing application at a later date for a single garage on the boundary with other plot? any ideas much appreciated. Diolch Dyfed SHA-201-02 -Plot 1 -Proposed Plans and Elevations.pdf SHA-201-04(B) -Site Layout Plan.pdf

Why not just make clause 4 the same as PD rights? They are designed specifically to allow unobtrusive development and additions, that shouldn't interfere with any neighbours, yet still allow sensible structures like sheds and single storey extensions (within tight limits) to be built. I'd suggest changing that clause for to read: "in accordance with the provisions contained within the Town and Country Planning Act (General Permitted Development) Order 1995, as amended at the time of any additional development" although strictly speaking the whole clause is redundant anyway, because of the restriction that will always apply under PD. The order is here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1995/418/contents/made and there is guidance on it here: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200187/your_responsibilities/37/planning_permission/2

Soft close lid. Start it on it's way downward, push the button and you have a couple of seconds to look. I did helpfully suggest that the flush plate did not have to go in the vanity unit, it could have gone on the wall above the vanity unit where it would not be obscured and would be so much easier to use. I got voted down 2:1

I think the flush plate is grossly over sized, but I also think the devious women folk chose it because you have to shut the lid just to reach the buttons. No it's not in use yet. No hot water tank yet (next big purchase) so only a cold bath or shower available at the moment. The panels were £104 plus VAT (which we will get back later) from Jewsons. They have a stack of samples so you can see the colours as they really are before ordering.

We didn’t see any consequences for the scaffolder, unless H&S threw the book at him with us being unaware of it, but I don’t think so. Well apart from him going into liquidation, although I rather doubt we caused that. I don’t think there was much wrong with the scaffolding in truth and the accident was pretty minor so maybe the H&S officer wasn’t that bothered, and I’m not sure that he was even aware of the irregularity in terms of the insurance. It still irks me that we were judged to be the party at fault here. Seems to me that the other parties got away it scot-free but both were guilty of deception whilst we were guilty of being niave. Self builders are more likely to be caught out in all sorts of areas due to inexperience, so if this post does nothing more than get people thinking more about the implications and consequences and thinking outside the box (as opposed to @Onoff‘s boxing in ) then it will have been worth posting. By that I mean conceptualising problems differently; and understanding your position in relation to a situation in a way you’d never thought of before. And use this forum for advice of course. Having H&S, solicitors, insurance companies, and the courts (we were served with papers by the Sheriff court), involved in any sort of accident on site is all pretty stressful and it went on for years.

Fit high flow gutters as standard. We've got 4 downpipes for a 250m2 build but two take prob 75% of the water. All seems good. If the gutter is level or only a slight slope the you could add another down pipe at the 'high' end - you've got the depth of the gutter to play with and it would work as an emergency downpipe.

They are there to provide resistance against horizontal loads (eg wind loads). Without them the building would collapse like a pack of cards.

High flow will reduce. As has been said use manufacturer websites

If you go onto the gutter manufacturer's website there are calculators for area of roof, slope etc which hen gives volume of water etc which in turntells you minimum downpipe requirements, but you've got to consider distances and gradients etc of the gutters too.

There are two threads which cover much detail including pics here. read both threads. and here Note that ABB are a distributor not the manufacturer, who are Grant Westfield as described on my thread linked above. The cheapest source I found were Big Kitchen Warehouse, who do free delivery with an order over £750. My 8 ft x 7 ft bathroom used enough panels that I only needed one extra for stock to get the free delivery. http://www.thebigkitchenwarehouse.co.uk/ourshop/cat_975511-Multi-Panel-Wall-Ceiling-Panels.html BKW were about 15-20% cheaper than ABB for my order. My trims were the correct ones but came from elsewhere. Prices are quite variable. If you go for the ones with aqua lock trimless joints there will be a lead time of a couple of weeks, but it will save you £15 to £20 per straight joint and look very swanky. You will need trims for corner joints. High quality sealant is also important. It is also quite variable on price depending on the design, and you can even get them done with a wall size enlargement of a photo you send in. Those are several hundred though spectacular. I have a shower room done throughout with these panels in a rental back in 2010, and they are pristine still. Ferdinand

Back in 1971 I went to a festival at Weeley, near Clacton, where the facilities were just a long deep trench, with scaffold arranged over it. One perched on a horizontal scaffold pole and held tightly to the vertical poles, trying desperately not to fall backwards into the trench. I found this website a while ago: http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/weeley-festival.html , and after a lot of careful looking though the photos found one that has me in it, not that it's easy to recognise me, as I had the obligatory shoulder length hair and no beard back then.

Sounds like a good quote

sounds cheap to me! and dont pay vat if you are new build....if they supply and fit it should be zero.

Re site insurance. The builders we contracted to do the foundations, and to build and erect the frame, insisted on seeing my "employers liability insurance" which is a part of the self build insurance policy I have. I don't recall any other self builder being asked to show that.

Surely if you don't flush there's no need to put the seat down?