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Chance meetings, research and no fear of being nosy have stood me in good stead for many years and it's proving no different with getting a house built. The 'dig deep' thing was bothering me, mainly the thought of having to go down 2m over the entire footprint of the build and the cost of all that muckaway, as well as the risk of it all turning into a giant, muddy swimming pool during the process. I will freely admit that up until about 10 days ago, the thought of having to get piling included in the build struck terror into me due to what I perceived as the potential cost and complexity involved, all down to my own ignorance about piling. As a new comer to the world of self building, the only thing I'd really picked up on in the past was hearing about remedial work to houses that were falling down and the huge amounts of cash involved. I'd already had a mooch around this site to see what I could see on the matter of piles and had a look at @recoveringacademic's blog and his comments and rapidly lost my fear but not my trepidation over costs. I also had a visit to the build site of another BH member who has been very helpful and encouraging. It was a spontaneous visit as I was really, truly just passing by his site on the way to my own, but his structural engineer was there at the time so I stood quietly by and ear-wigged, as you do, and then one thing led to another and we started chatting about my site and my clay dilemma. The upshot is that the SEs were really helpful guys and I'm engaging them to design a piling system to support my MBC build and overcome the risk of both lateral and vertical movement that my site is very vulnerable to. I'm also having them design the drainage system while they're at it. They will liaise with the architect, building control and the timber frame company and make sure that my build not only gets out of the ground but stays in the same place once it's done. I've never had an issue with professional fees as long as they are ones that are genuine and add value to a project. In this case, it will be money very well spent and a huge weight off my mind. How best to approach the drainage plan had been vexing me for the last few weeks, particularly as my clay soil means that soakaways don't function. One thing that I think may be worth mentioning is the combination of the passive slab and a piling system. The soil beneath the building is not just highly shrinkable clay, but also very dessicated thanks to the long term presence of a few trees and a super thirsty hawthorn hedge. Although these are all now gone, their long term potential affect on the soil will remain for a long time. In particular, the risk of heave. The piling system will keep the building in place, but does nothing to stop the swelling of the clay directly underneath from pushing up and breaking the floor of the new structure. The SE started to talk about a suspended floor to mitigate against this. However, a few days ago I read a BH discussion where @JSHarris mentioned the issue of an airgap under a passive slab having a detrimental affect on the insulation of a slab so was able to say with some confidence that I wanted the slab to rest on the ground, and my reasons why. The SE was fine with this and all the gubbins under the floor will now include a layer that is a honeycomb structure with the face of the cells resting on the ground so that if it does expand, it has somewhere to expand into without damaging the slab. The helical piles are part of an impressive system - no piling mat, no excavation if you don't need it (I need some to make sure that the floor level of the house is level with the ground), super quick to install and little vibration. This will save a huge amount of time and money compared with digging deep and a far more elegant solution with the dangers of heave solved as well. In all, the cost of the SE and the piling won't cost me any more and it may be somewhat cheaper. The time element is important, too, as the lesser amount of excavation will be much speedier and keep me on track for the main part of the build to take place from end of May onwards, assuming everything else is ready. The cherry on the cake was put in place this morning with full discharge of all the pre-commencement planning conditions. All in all, a good week.

But also His learning curve shouldn’t be at your expense

Thanks! It does feel like a big step forward now. Heating finally working properly on Monday for the first time EVER thanks to BH's @Nickfromwales and @PeterW who were total stars, and the final completion certificate on Friday. Just some relatively minor bits and pieces left to sort and I finally feel like I might start to tackle clearing out the garage now. It's been a heck of a long road after the purchase of this plot in 2009, and a lot of rubbish stuff has happened since then but finally I'm almost done. Older, wiser, but by some miracle it hasn't put me off giving it another go if the circumstances were right. I would just be much more involved from the get go, oh and build a house half the size!

So what swayed you to take on this 28 year old builder?

And I don't mean peter

When you are bored, and the sun is out, get some wood, old doors, copper and plastic pipe, some fittings and have a play. If you video it I am sure some of us will come along with suggestions. Then, when your house is finished and friends come around, you can say 'I hung that door', 'I fitted that crapper', 'That hole in the wall was me'. I have built boats in the past, but no one calls me "SteamyTea the Boat Builder", and I have fixed cars, but no one calls me "SteamyTea the car fixer", but one sheep!!!

@Hecateh, have you got someone you can trust to sit in on the meeting with you? Take notes at the meeting. Have an agenda (on paper). Construct the agenda carefully Stick to it. List the outcomes and deliverables for each point Send him a copy

Ok. As you like a deal Dave ( ) you can have the 300L HP UVC with the 3.3m coil for £875, OR, you can pay the £898 and Trevor will give you a £150 upgrade to the 4.5m ( iirc ) high recovery coil just mention who you are and the forum. The MyTub listing is NOT for a HP UVC, plus is more expensive for the equivalent that Trevor would supply if he was asked to provide that cylinder in that listing. They're just 3rd party re-sellers, and the mention of the HP coil in the description is just click-bait mate. I'm posting you a mini crowbar on next day delivery so you'll be fine to get your wallet open Watch out for the Kamikaze moths !!!

That's generally an Essex thing, fugly builders with well fit other halves...

Too late, I know, but when we first started thinking seriously about self-build, around ten years ago, the first thing I did was think about the type of house we would want, and do some research on that, the second thing I did was join this forum's predecessor, ebuild, and make a bit of a fool of myself by asking some pretty dumb questions. Luckily, that forum , like this one, highlighted lots of things I needed to consider, and the one thing that kept recurring was that there were potentially major cost risks that needed to be mitigated, and that builders/main contractors/project managers/architects were consistently poor at managing the price the client ended up paying. I gained the very strong impression, pretty early on, that managing the risk of going over-budget was going to be really bloody hard. That was reinforced by having watched every episode of Grand Designs, where busting the budget seems to be a feature of the majority of builds they show. When we found our plot, my main priority, bar none, was nailing down the prices we were going to have to pay for the various stages of the build. I probably put more effort into taking risk out of the build than anything else, and it very definitely influenced the way I contracted for every major build area. Our ground works contract was done to a firm price, against a very well defined specification, with no variations at all to be undertaken with out written consent and an amended firm price. The same applied to the water supply borehole, and also to the house foundation and erection to watertight stage, we had a detailed contract that included drawings and written specifications, with an agreed stage payment plan and the exact definition of the work that needed to be completed in order for that stage payment to be made. The roofing, fascias and guttering were also done to a tightly defined written specification at a firm price, as was the window supply and fitting and the solar panel installation. It was only when that work was completed that I changed to getting some of the smaller jobs done to a firm price, some done on a day rate, as by that time I had a better feel for the way the building industry works. The upside of this approach was that I knew what all the major costs would be upfront, the downside was that i probably paid a little bit more for the ground works as they included a risk contingency in their costing that they didn't end up incurring, but I'd heard so much about unforeseen ground works cost problems that I had already decided that the ground work risk was not one I wanted to bear, so would rather pay a bit more to get a firm price, with no risk to us. We did run out of money towards the end, but only because we opted to go for higher spec stuff. We went about £5k or so over budget on the kitchen, maybe £1k over on the bathrooms, about £2k over on internal joinery and at least £5k over on the landscaping, partly as a consequence of the unforeseen actions of a neighbour cutting down a 30ft high hedge and creating a major privacy problem. We also incurred an additional cost of around £4k to £5k in trying to keep a neighbour onside, which, with hindsight, was not a good move at all. All the over-spend (around £17k to £18k), plus around a year of delay caused by problems with the borehole, meaning I did a great deal of work that really should have been done by the borehole company, ended up being paid for by saving up money each month from my pension, and doing the work as I could afford it. All told this added at least two years to the build, which itself increased cost, as we have been paying Council Tax for over a year now whilst I slowly finished off some of the extra work.

Could I just add, that when you and your builder next discuss things, you ask outright if "there is anything else". I wish I could get away with, with my customers, what he is getting away with, with you. Dont feel daft and not post here, that WOULD be daft. Maybe let him know that this episode is being logged online with an audience of 1000's and you'd really prefer not to drop him into the bubbling couldron of boiling fat that is an online / social media slaughtering. That would make me poop my kegs. No need to mention where, as there are many hundreds of forums where you "could" execute such an action. Time to stop being a kitten and get your tiger claws on . Get weathertight and then get a fresh, firm grip on things.

I think you are being far too lenient with the builder. Ok, he may be young and inexperienced but he has decided to start a business and if he has underestimated that is for him to absorb and to learn from - not you. Having said that, I think you have been naive in not having a full breakdown of what was included in the fixed price that he was offering. However I would have expected him to be notifying you of any variances before carrying out the work. 45k on a 96m2 house seams like a massive oversight (that would be almost 50% overspend on my build) and i think you need to be firmer with the builder. Maybe even seek legal advice. Or if you are happy posting here, post the details of what was/wasn't/included in the fixed price contract. when PeterW was asking you about the window sizes I think he was wanting to know the total area of windows/doors for your houses as we could then tell you an estimate of what you should be paying for them. Also don't worry about upsetting him by posting details on this forum, remember this isn't personal, it's a business relationship and more importantly your retirement savings!

I've just received my completion certificate for the extension that was built here (praise be!!!) but it hasn't been without its challenges as we didn't 'follow the rules'. I will note the issues I had below just to provide some hopefully useful info to others about the mess you can get in if you don't follow process. We didn't set out to deliberately ignore process but it ended up being the case. The background was that we purchased the plot (in Scotland) complete with planning permission and building warrant for this house. The PP and building warrant covered 2 houses one of which was already built and sold, and the builder sold us the 2nd plot complete with foundations. Once we bought it my husband wanted to change the house style slightly which included adding an extra single storey room at the back of the house, but the planners told him that they wouldn't allow it even though it would be allowed under permitted development once the house was built. So we made some changes to the internal layout only and the building warrant covering both houses was swapped into my husband's name. The timber frame company was asked to design the house to make it easy to add the extension at a later date so for example French doors were put in that could be moved to the new external access later, and a double door sized insulated 'panel' was put in that allowed a new internal door to be added easily later as it just required blocks to be removed and the panel removed. When the groundworks were being done my husband got the foundations for the new room laid and these were used as a 'patio' initially. The plan was that the main house would be signed off and then we would apply for a warrant for the extension. When my husband got sick he decided that he would get the extension built no matter what despite the main build not being signed off, and no attempt at reasoning with him would change his mind. He told me to apply for the warrant retrospectively later on but I’m sure he didn’t envisage that this would cause me as many issues as it turned out. So builders came out and added the single storey room at the back of the house . The only part of the build that he had no input to. His intention was that the racing simulator would be housed in it but that's still sitting in the garage ....... After he died and I finally got my head around completing the outstanding elements of the main build to allow the completion certificate to be issued I admitted to the council that there was an extra room here. I was told to submit a new warrant application which I did but it was then refused (although they still took the 500 quid) as there was already a warrant in place that wasn't satisfied and there couldn't be 2 warrants running. The council decided to make it an amendment to the existing warrant and although both this house and next door had SER certificates and form Qs issued for the main builds I was asked to obtain a new SER certificate from scratch for my house to factor in the new room. I tried to engage the original structural engineer who had provided the SER certificate and Form Q but he had left the scheme / industry and couldn't be located. I was then advised by a local SE to engage the SE who had been engaged by the timber frame company as at least they wouldn't be starting from scratch. However the SE said that the SER scheme didn't allow them to do what the council was asking. I've included some of the emails below as they tell the story better than I could articulate it. Here is the email the council sent me stating that the SE certificate was only required for my own house: It is worth pointing out that you only require a new SER certificate for your house including the extension and not the neighbouring plot. The neighbouring plot will be dealt with separately. The SE said that this was not possible and asked the council to 'turn a blind eye to the extension' in order to allow the main house to be signed off. The council said that they were unable to do this so here is the email the SE sent to the SER scheme. We have been approached by a Client wishing us to take over the SER from another SER Engineer. The original SER Engineer is no longer on the system seems to have left the engineering trade. Normally we would seek confirmation from the original SER Engineer that they were happy for us to take over the responsibility for their SER before we accept the appointment. In this case this is not possible. The matter is further complicated by the following facts; . There are 2 houses on the site covered by the same warrant reference. House 1 is built and awaiting a completion certificate. This cannot be provided until the form Q for the full SER has been provided to building control. The Form Q needs to be signed by the original SER Engineer. House 2 carried out additional works and applied for a warrant during construction. Their warrant application needs an amended SER to cover the additional works. . The amended SER needs to be an amendment of the original SER if it is all covered under the original Warrant. . The changes to the house include the introduction of a sunroom to the rear of the property. . Our understanding is that if we took on the SER we would; Need to take responsibility for both houses as there should only be one SER per warrant application; We would need carry out site investigations to determine how to design the foundations as there is no available information. This will mean carrying out investigations in House 1 which is complete and house 2; And we would need to carry out a full review of the designs for both houses amending the SER to suit the changes. Both houses have different kit suppliers and different calculations to be reviewed. It has been suggested by the Council that a new SER could be carried out for House 2 only. We believe this would be contrary to the SER system but any advice on this would be appreciated. We are happy to take on the project but we need to be in line with your recommendations. And the SER scheme's reply: We have considered your query and you are correct in saying that to provide a certificate which covers the design of house 2 only would be contrary to the requirements of the scheme as they are currently written. The Scheme Guide says in 4.6.15: 4.6.15 In exceptional circumstances this may not be possible (e.g. if for any reason the Certifier of the initial stages of the work is no longer available). In this eventuality the Certifier of the later works must not sign the relevant design certificate(s) unless and until they have satisfied themselves of the adequacy of all of the preceding stages of the work and the mutual compatibility of the various stages of the works. We realise that this requirement is particularly onerous in situations such as you have described and we are in dialogue with Building Standards Division to see if they would accept a revised form of wording. Until we hear back from BSD we are unable to offer any further advice. I do apologise for the delay in response to this query. The council repeatedly told me that the only needed an SER for my house and not next door, but also that the SER scheme was 'not very flexible'. My neighbours were also less than impressed that the SE wanted to dig up their foundations as their garden has all been landscaped etc. and they've lived there since 2008. And the costs mentioned to prepare 2 SER certificates for 2 large houses from scratch weren’t insignificant either. Weeks passed with no news from the SER scheme (I doubt these things ever resolve quickly), and the council threatened to cancel the warrant if things didn't resolve soon. I was left caught in the middle of a paperwork nightmare with seemingly no way of influencing the outcome. If I had found BH while this was going on I might have at least felt supported but it was just me caught in the middle of a nightmare at the time. Then suddenly out of the blue the council phoned me and said that they would treat the extension as a separate warrant (which is what the SE asked them to do from the get go). Here is their email to me. Further to our telephone conversation we have reviewed the file and feel that we can justify that the original warrant openings into where the extension is built was covered by the original engineer and therefore can issue completion on xx/xx/xxxxxx once the snagging items including the 2nd drain are completed. This leaves the extension which has been applied for as an amendment xx/xxxxx/xxx can be changed to a new warrant application (ALTEXT) For which we require a SER certificate to cover the extension only. I spoke to XXX who says that this should be able to be done by the end of the year for which we extend the application deadline too. The other issue is that the warrant XX/XXXXX/XXXXX is due to expire at the end of the month, unless the drain test can be arranged before then, we will require a further extension of £100 fee. So suddenly I had a way forward and by some miracle was able to get a plumber out to carry out the second drain test (the only thing still outstanding) within the 7 day deadline and the main house was finally signed off. Then the SER certificate for the extension was finally issued (but the SE company forgot to sign it hence the comment in the email below) and the council came and carried out the completion inspection and only required some minor things to be done as per the email below. Further to the inspection this morning I note the following: 1. The roof construction differs from the submitted drawings as it has traditional sarking boards and a breather membrane in lieu of OSB and roof ventilators. 2. The windows are not fitted with trickle vents – I appreciate the rest of the house has a whole house ventilation system, however there is no evidence this is connected to the sun room, therefore trickle vents will need to be fitted retrospectively. 3. There is an additional step to the patio door landing. 4. The signed SER is required. If you confirm by email that you are happy for me to amend the drawings to take account of items 1 and 3 I will do this for you and if we receive the signed SER certificate that will enable us to approve and issue the building warrant. Upon receipt of this you will need to apply for the completion certificate and I will need to check the trickle vents have been installed. So they even offered to make the changes on the drawings for me which was great. I think they just wanted to see the back of me in truth! . So all a bit of a saga and a warning not to step outside of process too much, or at least understand the possible consequences of doing so! I can imagine my hubby looking down saying it was 'character building'!

Little Willy says thank you and he’s just about got the feeling back in his leg from the drive south...

"and make sure that my build not only gets out of the ground but stays in the same place once it's done"..... Always a bonus . Great news.

Don't forget little Willy. .

Wow what a long road! Very well done getting there that is a massive achievement.

I wouldn't get anything done there - I'd stand and stare at the view all day!

Stockholm Syndrome .

Don't know about out of my depth - feel like I've got concrete boots on as well My son is an architect technician, he is going to come over tomorrow and go through it with me. He has also totally renovated a couple of houses himself so his experience is not all just on paper.

If I was in your shoes Hecateh, I would feel out my depth so would be looking to get some independent advice from some with extensive residential building experienced that could come to site and run through the plans and costs and sanity check things over. Maybe some with more Project Management experience could give guidance. Might cost you another £300 or so but you might be able to sleep easier at night. Best of luck! DD xx

How are you with a spanner and screwdriver. I have been waiting for this opportunity to post this up, it came with my immersion heater element. Safety first children.

A word I have avoided since I was forced to do a totally pointless project management course. There was a craze of changing nouns to verbs, I hated it, so shall sunset that one

Aha .. I had it down as the other. People spend less time in bathrooms than kitchens, so perhaps that is more acceptable? Half of my point is that extra noise may be acceptable to some people eg me and my handyman who did a lot of finishing type work while it was on trickle. Brst of luck.

Inch by inch

I doubt they'd be cheaper for me - I'm in Yorkshire - close to junction 36 M1 Going fo supply and fit so that's not really an option. Looking on ebay for other things I am trying - AND I'll be trying even harder once we are watertight He's coming back to me this afternoon with a breakdown of what he can do with the original price if we move out some of the none essential and add other ore important bits. I'll post on here what he comes up with.

Great minds - I was just looking up the details of the person I spoke to there when this all kicked off last year.

I would suggest you buy my book 'self build home...the last thing you need is an architect'. This is not a technical, 'how to' book, but a guide to make design decisions of must haves, wants, needs etc before the designer/architect's fee clock starts ticking. I am not knocking architects (the title could imply that), but exploring family-wide making all those essential and spatial decisions based on memory of the best and worst places you've lived in. No flim-flam or waffle and few pretty pictures to make you green with envy.`Email lofthousestudio@hotmail.com for details. I used to teach architecture and interior design in a school of Architecture and the book is loosely based on aspects of the course...Jamie

Where abouts are you based again? We use a company called tritec based near Braintree/ Chelmsford, Always busy but their prices are competitive I have found. Might be worth just asking for a quote. If you say you need it as cheap as possible they will probably help if they can. http://www.tritecwindows.co.uk/

I'd take a step back here and think about fundamentals first. If you haven't worked with them previously: Can you see his three most similar projects to the one you're proposing. Can he provide three names and contact details for references should you need them. Are they RIBA / ACA registered Will they provide Building regulations issue drawings, or just planning (the difference is enormous). WHich RIBA stage will they be working up to. What form of contract. Will they project manage. What form of construction are they comfortable with. Have they tried modern forms, or have only done two-skin masonry. Then if they haven't got nervous answering all those, move on to discussing your design. Hope it helps, and hope you get what you need.

And we can only speculate what that 'something' might be

Final payment not made. So far they have recognised all the issues and will keep you informed of progress. Might take a while.

I won't be camping in there until this one is sold so I have no problem with paying if I am living there. I do need to make sure it can't be classed as habitable although I think I am ok. I have talked with the officer at the council and she said to let her know when it was ready

The Pirate Bay is better than Netwflick/Amazon/iPlayer/Spotify put together, why would anyone want to take them down, they are only a listing to repositories for the planets creative content after all

On a more serious note, have you started to explore the legal paths open to you. I say this as in my experience, when someone starts to become difficult, they want out the job. Ask @recoveringacademic about this.

As above, I'd go for a full plans application, as it's damned risky to do a new build on a building notice and could easily cost more on rectification following a failed inspection than the costs of preparing a full plans application. I did all my own drawings etc and submitted the full plans application myself. At a guess it was probably a couple of days work initially, plus a few hours spent answering a few questions from building control. If it's any help. everything I submitted for building control approval as a full plans submission is here: http://www.mayfly.eu/2013/09/part-fifteen-the-site-is-finally-ready/ I didn't have to buy any software as I already had a copy of AutoCad, and have been using it for decades, and the design SAP was done with the free version of the Stroma FSAP software, which is fine for the design submission, as there is no requirement to use an accredited assessor at this stage, and the software isn't hard to get to grips with.

I have several of the Low-Carbon Tempras installed and I have not had any complaints about noise over several years, and when I hear them in 6l/s mode I do not hear anything I consider unacceptable. The only differences I can see is that yours is SELV the low voltage option and seems to be installed facing the end of a cupboard, but that should not make a difference surely since the airflow is not direct? Unless that tight corner is acting a# a noise reflected / amplifier. But noise is unavoidably a very subjective thing. Ferdinand

Thanks If it wasn't for reading on here about other FU I think I may well have done something stupid over this, I feel so stupid. He isn't a bad guy, just inexperienced, very young, and not really adult enough to fully accept responsibility although he wants to do the right thing so long as it doesn't cost him. Thank F he isn't on here

Don't beat yourself up! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. This site is full of accounts of lessons learned the hard way, and many of us will recognise that sick-to-your-stomach feeling. I'll be honest, I'm winging it a bit, and sailing way closer to the wind than I'm comfortable with. It sounds like that, for one reason or another, both you and your builder find yourselves out of your comfort zone, and that there's no real value in going back over who could or should have done what and when. Unfortunately, when it comes to budgets, maths is maths, but perhaps time for an honest appraisal of the situation and to harness the collective Buildhub wisdom to find a way to work through it and get the best bang for the remaining bucks!

I’m guessing that the internal walls are all stud partitions, which are quick and easy to build and the materials that they are built from are inexpensive If any of them are block they would be included in the main structure

Ok so take a deep breath... Lots of knowledge and contacts on here - use and abuse ..! Soffits have to go on before the roof and are part of the fascia so they should be part of the roof. £10/m should see those done from Eurocell just up the road. Windows and doors can come from a whole host of places - just push him for quality !

I'm very sorry to read this. I don't have any really useful advice for you but I do know that most of us will have encountered similar issues during our build. Ours started during the groundworks when we quickly learned that whenever the guy doing the work made a suggestion of how to do something he was going to charge more. Luckily for us that became apparent pretty early on so we were guarded after that and mostly I just said no whenever he suggested anything further, or I negotiated a price there and then when I did want something he suggested. Not quoting for windows, doors and internal walls seems to be a massive con on the part of your builder though. It's like buying a car without seats or windows surely? Would never happen unless specifically quoted like that. I do hope that you manage to come to an agreement with this guy but don't be afraid to walk away rather than be pushed into something that feels fundamentally wrong. It does sound like he wants to stay and complete your build however so hopefully that gives you some leverage here.

Hi, would you be happy splitting out your costs to date and what he is asking for?

How could he price up your build, give you this total and not include Windows and doors and internal walls. Was there an amendment on the bottom of the quote that says this price doesn't include X,Y,Z??

Our resident shower guru who loves leeks will be along shortly...

I wouldn’t pay any of the exstra costs He should know that even if you had given him a verbal instruction Its not enough He needs a written instruction to carry out any extra work Fare enough if it is something like exstra concrete it isn’t always possible to have a discussion with the client But the exstras that you have listed Sound more like part of the original quote I would sit down and workout what you think that you owe him then email the emended figure and hold back the payment that was due Youve tried being reasonable and it hasn’t worked one company that I do a significant amount of work for hasn’t paid me October November and Decembers invoices They are currently refinancing Not sure why that should be my problem it I wouldn’t dream of having a rant at them He needs to remember that He is working for you Not the other way round Delaying his payment may remind him of that

Looks like a brilliant job all round, everybody learned something and @newhome can move on. To top it all given the Solar Thermal temp the sun must be shinning there, which just tells you that the sun does shine on the righteous, well some of them anyway. It is all somewhat tinged with sadness (not) by the fact that this thread will sort of slow down now and @Onoff's 'boxing in' thread will remain supreme, now at 55 pages I see. One might speculate if 'boxing in' will ever be overtaken for pages and while the job ain't finished it will continue to grow, for this thread we could look to use different metric and say that it has shown the measure of THE forum and didn't need, or take, 55 pages. Well done all.

Brilliant job, guys, great to see the team effort that went in to fixing this. As @jack says, a summary of the problems and fixes would be very useful for others encountering stuff like this (although I sincerely hope no one ever does!).

Will be leaving the technical speak to@Nickfromwales and @PeterW From my perspective: heating working in all rooms - tick! solar working - tick! rooms heating rapidly (as opposed to taking 24-36 hours to increase the temp by about 3 degrees) - tick! enough hot water to fill a bath / shower - (even the big bath) tick! extension connected up - tick! able to run hot water without the heating being on - tick! TS not emptying itself of hot water within about 30 mins without the boiler being on constantly - tick! Plus everything has been labelled to within an inch of its life. A magnaclean filter has been fitted, various new pumps etc have been installed. I have a new outside tap, the loo in bed 4 now works and various other things have been done, including them sorting through the endless pile of shite here helping me understand what I should keep vs things to throw away. Massive massive thanks to @PeterW and @Nickfromwales, and @PeterW‘s mini-me Will (who consumed his body weight in Tunnock’s tea cakes). I can’t believe that Nick and Peter have never met before as they seemed like guys who had worked together for years. These guys put in more hours to fix the things here than I could have imagined possible, fuelled by bacon, beer and coffee, and some good humour, with lots of banter. 7am and they are already up swapping some things over when they didn’t finish until gone midnight last night. And Will is going to come up again to finish the other bits and pieces here when I will finally be able to say that my build is completely finished. It’s been a pretty long haul after everything that happened here. Buildhub rocks! I could never have imagined when I initially posted about my vat claim 2 months ago that it would also be the key to sorting my heating woes and other unfinished bits and pieces.

Not heard of CRL, I ended up with Buildzone after getting a few quotes and reading the cover provided. The "top-tip" for saving money is to combine structural warranty with build control. The inspections overlap and, in my case, adding BC cost an extra £200ish instead of about £1k if bought separately. Buildzone have been fine to deal with as have their subcontracted inspector. I had to appeal some decisions and a remediation notice and, in the end, all was fine.