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Hello folks, finally about to start my new build in Aberdeenshire so thought I would try and document it. I’ll do my best to keep it updated. It's been a long road to get here but the builders are due to start very shortly so the site has been stripped ready for them. Electricity is due to go in mid July, Scotframe kit in August and water will be getting dug in after herst. Below is a photo of the site plan so you have an idea of whats happening. Couple of photos to show the progress so far Site fenced off Sept 2018 Clearing the entrance and making a road in/turning area. Site strippped and ready for the builders to make a start. Next will be the sub build and electricity connection in a few weeks. I'll do my best to keep it updated but I normally forget to take photos

By way of an update to this, and as some BH's suggested, we phoned up a week ago and yesterday two bins turned up.

Thanks all. Our farmer neighbour arrived yesterday with his handy digger and his 7 ton jcb to help us pipe the ditches either side of the proposed driveway. Unfortunately his bucket clipped a tree or two and they fell over It was a field maple so almost a weed. It was, we estimate, about 60 feet high! There are a couple more that might as well come down as they will be on the Southern boundary and, so, apart from being a worry in high winds, will cast a lot of shade and deposit a lot of leaves in the Autumn. None of this will probably show up on an aerial survey as it is all adjacent to a dense copse of trees on the other side of the lane. While all this was going on a local developer called by to chat and noticed that in our garden, that we are leaving, is a Weeping Willow. It is planted next to a natural pond on the new boundary between the old house and our new plot. He recommended that we remove it ASAP. He told us he failed to do this on an early development and was made to put in 3 metre foundations because of it. We were aware of problems with Willows but thought that we were far enough away. We decided to measure anyway. Good job we did as the root spread bridges the boundary between the two properties. Such a shame because it is beautiful and a real feature of our existing garden but we cannot risk it. Pretty tired last night and more to do today.

These arrived this morning from @Temp. The one one of the left has a couple of springs built in to help it grip on the shower screen. An extra 0.5mm seems about right to give a little play and space for glue in the slot. The springs work really well to hold it whilst glue and screw happens. In the next pic the tape is to give the iPad an edge for focus. But I think I am 2-3 mm out on the screen to slope dimension for the screen to be exactly right, so I will re-measure carefully before pushing the button on the stronger version made with the other filament. That points up the value of a prototype. As it happens, my bathroom fitter brought his invoice 2 hours after the parcel arrived; he was impressed. Ferdinand

All electrical work falls under Part P (which essentially requires compliance with regs) but only installation of new circuits, replacement of consumer units and/or work in a special location (near baths/shows, in swimming pools and saunas) are notifiable. Extending an existing circuit is therefore not notifiable (being outdoors used to make it notifiable but that changed in April 2013).

I went thIs morning to Sheffield to collect my booty from the second of these sales, and it turned out better I am glad to say. I bought these 3 x kitchen mixer taps for stock for refurbs. and these bathroom counter taps incl. a spare plus a waterfall bath filler for my upstairs bathroom redo in Sept. Total paid including the rather hefty charges and VAT, was about 35% of retail, which is OK but I would not want to pay much more in an auction. I would go again, but I am only 45 minutes away. Ferdinand

You could daisy chain back out of the existing light if that route was acceptable - saves ugly JB's. You may need to knock out or drill for a new gland to do it neatly, most lights come with suitable holes/knock-outs for this. As for routing cable, the cable could be buried in your render but make sure it stays within prescribed acceptable routes, i.e. straight between the two lights etc. I don't think I would use SWA to be honest, unless the cable is going to be at risk from mechanical damage. Only you can answer the question on your ability to fit them, are you competent? From the questions asked I guess your not, with all due respect, particularly electrical minded. If you feel you can wire them up properly then go for it. As for notifiable or part P... if you can do a suitable job just do it! As you are adding to an external circuit I would say yes it is.

Rub with a dry bar of soap and polish off with a soft cloth.

We are in England so may be different but we needed the access sorted...level path/driveways, we didn't need the final surface on though we just had compacted binder on the drive ready for the resin and concrete slabs outside doors waiting for the tiles. Inside we had all heating and ventilation working, bathrooms and kitchen installed and we had to provide the gas and electric certs. I dont think we have the habitation cert here its either signed off or not as far as I know.

That is the difference between planning completion and building regs sign off. Building regs may be impacting on the landscape plans where paths and gradients are required.

The whitening toothpastes are better for more stubborn marks. There's a charcoal one seems to work well.

Best read up on the law, I think. I own an air gun, perfectly legally, and there is no requirement to licence it. The law is pretty clear, any air rifle with less than 12 ft lbs at the muzzle is not a firearm and does not require licensing. The majority of air rifles sold in the UK are below this limit, specifically so that they remain free from licensing requirements.

The figure to use in the calc above is the 15 kW maximum, with an assumed supply voltage of 230 VAC, so 15 kW / 230 VAC = 65.2 A. This assumes that the maximum load in the MIs for the cooker is actually 15 kW (worth checking, as it may be that the maximum load is limited in some way - our induction hob has a rated maximum load that is lower than the sum of all the rings, for example). Applying diversity gives 10 A + (65.2A x 30%) = ~ 30 A. This is the current to use when selecting the cable. Next the cable table in BS7671 has to be checked for a T&E cable running across a ceiling, with insulation spaced above it, which is reference method 100 in this case. The table shows that a 6mm² run of T&E is just acceptable, with a rating of 34 A, but, as above, it's a very good idea to allow a margin, and the next cable size up is 10mm² T&E which would be what I'd use (and is actually what I did use for our cooker cable).

I agree, the worst they can do is make you plant another tree!!!, I would get on with it and be a good landowner and do “maintenance”.

Nothing stopping you doing ground work on land you own today, and widening of ditches for flood prevention is widely seen as good practice given the recent weather we have had ... So I’d be the good land owner and get on with that drainage ditch work, and errr any minor tree work that may be required to enable the proper drainage to be installed ....

Ask yourself what they could do if you took the trees out now. I doubt there's anything anyone could do if you just took them down now, whereas you may well find that if you don't you'll end up with having to pay for a tree survey and have restrictions imposed that limit what you can do in future.

I hadn’t thought about an old photo. DER THICKO. if you are happy they are not covered by a TPO or you are in a CONSEVATION AREA, then whip them down.

Aerial views are not very good. If you look at the pre build aerial google earth photos of our pot they were taken early in the day and the trees cast a long shadow. Unless you look very closely, it gives the impression the entire plot is covered in trees as with the low resolution it is hard to see where the tree stops and the shaddow starts.

We offered to plant more trees than we were taking out which were mostly Alder and planning seemed happy with that approach.

I made sure I felled the horse chestnuts that were going to be in the way before I submitted our planning application. They weren't protected by TPOs and although it caused a bit of minor annoyance with a couple of people at the time I remain convinced that taking pre-emptive action like this is the easiest way around what could end up being an expensive problem. In our case the planners did ask for a tree survey (there had been previous applications on the site and the trees were marked on the topographic survey) but withdrew that when I told them we'd felled the trees.

Hmm, I got it wrong then. ?

We bought a plot with lots of trees. Most of the site was covered in young saplings, with a few mature trees. Before we bought the plot, I secured outline planning, and made it clear in that planning application which trees would be felled (I couldn't fell them before the application as I did not own the land) I wonder if you should have a pause, perhaps even withdraw your present application, get the tree survey done, and re submit the planning stating clearly which trees will be felled. Then you will have a clear answer. Of course if one or 2 fell down before that happened ....

This isn’t a lot of help really, but I think you are a bit late they should have been removed before your application went in. A tree survey can be geared any way you want it, your paying, tell the consultant your plans and explain you would be happy to plant replacement trees, the Arb officials at the council probably want a report to back up that they didn’t object to removing them, if they where of significance then they should have had tpo on them already. If you get a site meeting with the tree officer, tell him you could have removed them previously without telling anybody but thought it was better to go through the correct channels

If they are not protected by TPO or other designations (eg Conservation Area), then legally you probably can (that is general info, not advice). However, you risk making yourself unpopular and the Council could turn jobsworth on you. That was one to do some time ago if you were going to do it. If you will need a tree survey, and they have not moved quickly to TPO, I would perhaps get a rapid opinion form a local Tree Man (ask him the questions whilst you have him out to visit about / quot for the tree survey). Remember that we are still in nesting season, which will stop your treeman in his tracks if there are any active nests. Or signs of bats. Then make your best call. One thing to remember, is that when it is gone, it is gone - and if you change your mind again, you will be the poorer.

Locally, (West Lancs) the problem gets sorted at 6:30 on Sunday mornings. The inevitable fine is factored into the cost. Simples!