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Well that was an unexpected surprise. We just had a signed-for delivery arrive. I wasn't expecting anything, and then had a slight panic attack when I saw it was from HMRC. Big bundle of docs, so assumed they were just returning the invoices, but turns out it came with a letter confirming they'll be paying in full within 20 days! A few notes: We moved in around Christmas 2015. It's taken us far longer than I'd ever thought possible to get things signed off, and I was convinced we'd be going to appeal as a result. We were upfront about the delay (i.e., we put in the correct moving-in date on the form), but did not give any explanations or excuses. The application was filed at the end of October (about 2.5 months after issuance of the completion certificate), so it's taken almost 4 months to get the decision. We had some oddities - a few invoices in the name of trades, an invoice in the name of someone completely random (something bought at a trade counter - our guess is that they made a mistake and used the last customer's account?), some cash receipts for cheaper items (each under £100, I believe), and one weird invoice for bathroom stuff that combined the amount owing and deposit paid in a difficult-to-fathom way. We put a brief explanation on each point in the covering letter. All invoices were accepted, which surprised me a bit. We did have some decent expenses in the months leading up to the completion date, which may have helped paint a picture of the work being ongoing. There were, however, periods of a year or more where nothing happened, so certainly there's nothing to suggest that the work was continuous. In any event, the money is nice, but not having the stress of a potential appeal and tribunal hearing is even better! I do hope this is indicative of a change in practice at HMRC. I genuinely feel for the people who lost significant money as a result of HMRC's behaviour.

Yes, a transformer would be needed. Would cost more than bringing the LV across the road.

Because when you are pricing for a fixed price ALL the unknowns are from the ground up Once watertight the materials and Labour can easily and accurately be calculated The cream

It is just under a year since this last post. The main change that I have made to my system is to add an additional RPi 4 running a standard Home Assistant install with the InfluxDB, Grafana, NodeRED, Mosquitto broker, and Zigbee2mqtt add-ons. This is a pretty standard Home Automation use-case. The RPi which runs the CH + DHW control has been stripped right back to a base Rasbian + MySQL + NodeRED. This is integrated into the HA system using the main MQTT broker and a bunch of topics, so the user interface is done entirely through the HA. Quite honestly my current RPi3 + 2 × ESPs is overkill as the entire CH + DHW system would fit happily on a single PiZero, though I would still need some custom glue to drive the SSRs. If I were proposing this setup to anyone else, I would also suggest dropping the SSRs and switch to a standard passive distribution box (the sort that my electrician would understand and comfortable wire), but with separate SonOff power relays reflashed with the Tasmota firmware, which would enable the HA system to control these directly. The SonOff power relays use a HF152F-T relay which is rated to 16A and can switch the 2.88 kW Willis resistive load for long durations. IMO, this circuit is a more robust design than the corresponding SumAmp control circuit, for example. The great advantage of this sort of approach is its cheapness and robustness. The major downside is that the homeowner needs some level of IT literacy and minimal computing skills to configure and to use it.

Hi all, I've fitted an F7 filter to my mvhr system, which uses a nuaire xbox95wh1 (very basic unit, but bought very cheaply, £350 as new, as an incorrectly specified installation) The whole thing has cost less than £100. Here are the key points of construction, results and next actions. I hope this is helpful. I'd also appreciate any further info you may have to assist with the next steps, as below. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION https://info.nuaire.co.uk/IandM/671686.pdf The system has 5 extract and 5 intake ducts, semi-rigid ducting, external vents being on the gable end of the house. THE PROBLEM To try to eliminate wood and coal smoke pulled in from my neighbour's woodburners and open chimneys. I firstly researched the commercially available units such as this: https://www.blauberg.co.uk/en/blauberg-cleanbox-nox-carbon-polution-pollen-indoor-air-quality-filter-box-for-heat-recovery-ventilation-systems and this https://www.airclean.co.uk/indoor-air-quality-filtration/indoor-air-quality-filter-system/ but they appeared to be vastly overpriced for what they actually are, so I decided to make my own, initially using a g3 and f7 filter, as here: ASSEMBLY G3 prefilter and F7 particulate bag filters used: https://www.addfiltration.co.uk/12x12x2-290x290x45mm-g3-grade-2-deep-dry-glass-panel-filter?search=g3 https://www.addfiltration.co.uk/12x12x12-287x287x300mm-4-pocket-12-deep-f7-grade-synthetic-bag-filter?search=f7 bag Total cost inc postage, around £20 I used an F7 bag filter rather than a panel filter to increase the interval between servicing. The enclosure itself was fabricated using tilebacker board, as it's robust, light. cheap, easily cut, and impervious to moisture. Much better than mild steel, plywood, MDF etc. https://www.jtatkinson.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/11068/s/multi-pro-moistsure-tilebacker-s-e-1220x800x12mm/ cost, about £15 I used angle brackets to assemble the enclosure, which was then sealed with silicone sealant. Total cost about £10. Removable filter access panel was fixed using these, as I had some lying around https://www.powertoolsdirect.com/forgefix-cavity-wall-zinc-speed-plug-4-5-x-35mm-bag-10 150mm duct flanges from here, about £10 delivered https://easyhvac.co.uk/index.php?id_product=155&controller=product Total cost around £60. Significantly cheaper than the above, although it does not have an activated carbon stage yet I designed the enclosure to fit in the loft under the roof, so it's an interesting rhomboid shape. Ive also provided for inclusion of an activated carbon filter stage within the enclosure, should it be needed. I used f7 rather than F8 to keep the pressure loss within reasonable limits, my thinking being that I can replace the F7 bag with an F8 at minimal cost after seeing how the NuAire unit handles the pressure drop. I have removed the existing filter media from the MVHR intake filter, ensuring that the edges of the filter frame still have the original G3 media present to prevent internal leakage within the MVHR unit. RESULTS 1) The filter still allows some smell of smoke to penetrate, although to a significantly reduced degree than previously 2 ) OK Intake flow rate been achieved despite the increased F7 filter resistance, although as expected the intake fan speed had be increased to maintain airflow as before. The MVHR clogged filter warning has not been activated, therefor the system must be working within its design parameters, ie the fan is not seeing excessive load. 3) Increased intake fan speed has resulted in increased noise level. This noise level is still very low, but any further increase, say to accomodate f8 and/or carbon filter may become unnacceptable for sleeping NEXT ACTIONS 1) SMOKE/SMOKE ODOUR I may add an activated carbon filter, using media such as this: https://www.calgoncarbon.com/products/ap-4-60/ I'll make a tray with seive material in a an open frame. i've already included supports for such a frame in the MVHR enclosure I may also experiment with an F8 filter to see which solution gives the better result at the lowest pressure drop. AND/OR I may substitute the F7 for an F8 bag filter. Does anybody have any experience of the effectiveness or otherwise of F7/F8 for smoke particles? 2) NOISE The filter is fitted before the MVHR, so I may seperate the G3 and F7, and move the F7 filter stage to post MVHR, this will probably eliminate this noise issue, and allow for further fanspeed increase if necessary. I also wonder whether the MVHR fans are better at 'pushing' or 'pulling' the air. I'd appreciate any further info on this point if there are any experts out there 3) Further down the road, if the carbon and/or F8 filters prove to have to much resistance for the stndard Nuaire fan, I'm thinking that maybe an additional intake fan, seperately housed, immediately before the MVHR, would overcome this problem. I've not researched this as yet, so I have no idea how to specify such a thing to produce the appropriate pressure and flow at minimal energy consumptiion. I hope this is of use. Any info or comments you may have, especially on the fan'pushing vs pulling' aspect, or the implementation of an additional fan would be greatly appreciated

Plumber is on his way we isolated it. I have no idea how long this floor has been wet for as it's not a bathroom in regular use and to be honest it was only as dropped something I noticed it. I'll be insisting at least half the floor is taken up and the plumber can be paying for it to be relaid.

Ages ago I wrote a spreadsheet for doing what-if comparisons to see whether it was better to invest in more insulation in the walls, roof, floor, fit better windows and doors, or fit a better MVHR system. Others have found it useful and I've been reminded that I've not re-posted it over here, so here's the latest version. It should be self-explanatory, you fill in the cells with your wall, roof/ceiling and floor areas, add the areas of each door and window, put in the U values for each and, if you can, get hold of the met data from the met office for your area (the data in there is for West Wiltshire, right on the border with Dorset). This isn't a thorough modelling tool, it just looks at heat loss fairly accurately but doesn't take into account heat gains, although there is a crude way of doing that by drawing a line across the seasonal plot at the point where you don't use heating and you can very roughly assume that anything above that line will be heating. Please feel free to ask any questions, but bear in mind I wrote it back when I was designing our house and haven't used it for a couple of years. so I may be a bit rusty. Heat loss calculator - Master.xls [edited to add latest version of the spreadsheet]

I think that it may simply not even be legal to quote you a VAT exclusive price if you are a consumer, or even if as a business not make it clear. Yes, I'd say he is in breach as a civil matter, but also quite possibly guily of fraud and various consumer protection laws also. But IANAL. Offer to let him cancel if he refunds any costs that you have incurred. Do not let him start otherwise, as in breach and not from your pov being trustable. Rgds Damon

Don’t use him, simple.

It took numerous conversations with Ekey and Internorm themselves visiting today (as we didn't get the door directly from them it was an eBay find) to reset the thing and sort out a dodgy motherboard but it's working! Not bad for our ex showroom door. Note it's not the one with the motorised lock rather this is separate and key operated. We were advised the fingerprint lock is fine on its own but if we were say going on holiday for example to use the manual lock as well as the fingerprint sensor. VID_24370106_231730_800.mp4 A big thanks to @Onoff for the Din rail and advice as the transformer we located close the floor.

As expected, an email from Wolesley to say they don't have it and can't get it. Why sell me one online then? Had another look at Midsummer Wholesale, thought their pricing was steep when i had a quick look previously but what i hadn't done was log into my 'trade' account! Logged in today and found the price is better than anywhere else I could find so i have now ordered an 8.5kW Ecodan ASHP & 300l pre plumbed cylinder at about £4900 before tax which I didn't think is too shabby. Wait time - 84 days! If anyone wants to use Ecodan ASHP I suggest you get your orders in sooner rather than later.

Very much the case, unfortunately. The classic issue arises at the interface between one trade and another: so the brickies will blame the guys that did the foundations, the window installers will blame the brickies, the plasterers will blame the chippies who built the frame. I don't know how you manage this, other than making sure each trade coming onsite knows what quality of work is expected upfront, and checking that quality as each stage finishes and before you make final payment, so you can get issues sorted before the next trade turns up and starts complaining. More than one BuildHub member has suggested taking recommendations from people whose work you're happy with. The other way around would actually make more sense: have people recommend the trade before them, because they know who'll do a good job that'll make their life easy! Shame houses aren't built in that direction...

You will always get that regardless of who is overseeing your build A PM won’t take responsibility for defects A main contractor will take responsibility for his subcontractor s Perhaps a good route for your build You will pay a premium for a MC to hand over at watertight though

https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/eiq-12wminv/electriq-eiq12wminv-wall-split-air-conditioner?refsource=apadwords&mkwid=sTq41ApBF_dm&pcrid=316375285866&product=eIQ-12WMINV&pgrid=60291385853&ptaid=pla-446815102020&channel=googlesearch&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIodGs_r-A7wIV8IBQBh2LDAtCEAQYAiABEgJ-Y_D_BwE what about one of these?

I agree you don't need a full time project manager but it's essential that someone with good organisational skills is part of the team. That could be you, a builder, a project manager, a site foreman or just a good all round trade you can trust. That person should ideally visit the site first and last thing to make sure people are turning up on time and not disappearing early and make sure everyone has what they need for the next day or two. You want to avoid trades turning up then having to go off site to buy essential nails or whatever because it turns into an hour coffee break you are paying for. It would be easy to discover that nobody has ordered something or you are short on materials , find they are on 2 week lead times and then loose a good worker because they have nothing they can do in the meantime. These are project management skills.

"but it was statement that UFH will make it command a higher price - even though he has been told it won,t work' If you had bothered to read the post I was replying to, I was merely pointing out that profit doesn't come from solely making the build cost cheaper, because if it did I wouldn't be on here trying to find out whether UFH was a viable option. Nowhere did I say that I wanted to install UFH regardless of opinion because I will get more money from it. Yes, UFH would be more desirable, but the cost to install it is a lot more than rads so I can't be doing it just for the moeny. I have clearly stated in a few posts now that I came on here asking what the general advice is as to whether it would work or not, and I have heard most people's constructive comments that it wouldn't work without a good level of insulation, and as such I have taken that advice onboard and will be installing radiators instead. But to reply to my posts making comments like yours is completely unjustified and unreasonable. Honestly, if you have nothing constructive to say, don't bother saying anything.

First of all No one needs a project manager to build a house Unless it is enormous What would he do all day He will have contacts But only do the same as a main contractor Ring round and see who is available If you want speed a main contractor may be the route for you But will cost Though not as much as having a PM sat around the place There are some good brickwork contractors that will take on the masonry and put you in contact with the groundwork’s they normally use

Thank you Peter.

First, I would think about my own skill set, and the existing demands on my time first so I could make a rough guess at how much time I have for the build , DIY and - or supervision. Whats your time budget ? Want it done pronto, or can you wait? Trades: The key issue (other than Due Diligience) is the hidden networks which exist - normally trades people usually only work with people they know. And if your luck matches the stories we hear on BH, be sure you can take a joke. Contractors: simpler. Does their price suit your budget? Apart from doing Due Diligence, thats about all you need to know.

We are in the middle of a selfbuild, money is tight and not really got a time frame to stick to. But I’ve found that trying to get anyone to come is very difficult, if you use a project manager then they will have all the contacts and will organise everything very efficiently. But it’s gonna cost you . regards James

Well done. Mine was posted 3 weeks ago, I have tracking information to say the package arrived and was signed for but so far no communication. When I can muster the enthusiasm to battle with their call system I will be phoning to see what is happening.

Good news - it must feel good to get that out of the way!

Yeah thats the ones, you get a kit like this with each toilet to properly fix it: https://www.toolstation.com/rawlplug-wc-or-bidet-side-fixing-kit/p71320 Just don't sit down on it in a hurry if you catch my drift, as the only thing holding it where it is, is the silicone bead to the furniture!

It's with furniture so the plumber really needs to come and sort it out. Well the plumber can pay for that!

Ground floor? Does the video show the bathroom floor? Is that floor covering a plastic laminate stuck down on the hard screed floor? Are you saying immediately after flushing the toilet you see water droplets pushing up between the floor section? Is there plumbing in a room above?

Check the easy bits first, connections to taps / toilet cistern? if its not an in wall cistern, check the threads that connect the cistern to the toilet bowl.

OMG I feel for you. I guess the flooring needs to come up...

You will need a conveyancer then, as the title to your property is being changed your mortgage company needs to consent to the change. Even if that wasn't the case, I would use a conveyancer. Land is a valuable investment and the law in this area is riddled with idiosyncracies. Not worth risking getting it wrong imo.

I don't necessarily think that it is, I am splitting the title at the moment on my property and you need to fill in a TP1 form. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/registered-titles-part-transfer-tp1 I have a conveyancer doing the work as there there is a mortgage on the property and there were a few rights that needed to be put on the new title. However i drew up the LR plans, which the conveyancer checked and was happy with. If there is no mortgages and no tricky rights to deal with I think you can do it yourself. If you are half decent at CAD you can even do the plans yourself. Be warned the LR is taking a long time splitting titles / land exchanges.

Lots of the installation guides use silicone spray and I thought that was more for ease of installation. I've also heard of people using vaseline. But as Joe90 says it could make for an annual ritual.

We are going to have an aluminium band around the bottom of the house with the render/renderboard above it So no render at ground level. Our house is the same, the slab is at ground level, but we have a stone base course then the render above it.

I've heard to smear the brackets with silicone grease.

Yes, plastic guttering does tend to “creak” and I find it very annoying! but I found that it’s mostly the guttering being too tight in the brackets and the creaking is it’s not sliding within the bracket when it warms up or cools down. What I do (and have done on several properties with success including my self build) is to shave a little from the gutter with a Stanley knife where it sits in the bracket, only half a mil or so, I even do it on the back side in case it can be seen from the front (OCD). My guttering is black, mostly full length and south facing and even during last years short heat wave I suffered no creaking at all ? just had a thought, perhaps spud peelers like this would do a good job. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainless-Steel-Potato-Peeler-Fruit-Vegetable-Spud-Speed-Slicer-French-Cutter

Hi and welcome. The collective here will try and help. A good start would be to post some pictures of your downstairs manifold, a general view showing all the pipes and anything else close by and then some close up ones of things like pumps, flow meters etc. then we can talk you through some tests and observations to make. It does sound as though you have had some incompetent people so perhaps mention your rough location and someone might be able to recommend somebody competent near you to have a look.

Wall plate is a continuous timber at the ends of the room where the joist ends connect eg instead of cutting into the inner leaf. Joist hangers would be used in conjunction with the wall plates Why? Most will be surface mounted and boxed, but can be dabbed over. Usually not as the dab would be quite deep. Same for pipes and cables, chase and bury in strategic places, but cable chases would be back filled with parge and plumbing chases would be foamed to insulate the pipes from their surroundings. Yup. Air will travel through switches and sockets and into the chases. The stupid questions are the ones you didn’t ask. “Apologise yea’ not.”

As mentioned, developers don't have to test every property so that figure may not even be for your home, just one like it. That means that yours could in fact be better or worse. The only way to know is to do a test on it.

Normally there is some mixing of the supply temp to the UFH by buffer tank giving a lower input to the UFH. You can run the UFH at 50 but it uses more energy. With a mix of radiators and UFH and without separate heating control/circuits you are juggling. The system designer should help you out if it's a new system. Basically I'd imagine that your ASHP has a set water out temperature which feeds both rads and UFH so to get the best performance the system should either have oversized rads that can run at a lower temperature or some mixing to lower the UFH feed. UFH is normally set between 35 to 45 deg. If no system designer help is available then try setting the water out temperature back to 45 deg and see how it all performs. If all is well, then try lower still. It is normal for the ASHP to have weather compensation or water law as some call it whereby it increases the water outlet temperature in colder (Eg near freezing) weather.

My Geberit wall drain said 1 - 2%. With my wet room corner that equated to I think 14 - 28mm. I ended up at about 20mm so circa 1.5% and it drains a treat. I was worried that you would feel the slope when you walked across it. You don't. With hindsight I'd have gone 2%.

Sounds like nonsense to me. It doesn't get much heavier than my Tesla and it has absolutely no impact on the driveway. Mine still looks almost as good as new. I have found some small tufts of grass where seeds must've fallen into it, but other than that it looks clean.

Had mine down since Jan 2018 and, when cleaned, looks almost as good as new. Like any exterior surface, if you ignore it it will get grubby. Get a jet waster with the patio attachment and give it a scrub in the spring. Stiff brush or blower good for moving leaves etc in autumn. Use a reputable trade - quite a few chancers out there. My guy had the bespoke 'candyfloss' style mixer. If they're using bell mixers, run away. That whole area was laid in one day so no joins.

I used to go here as a child regularly shooting at a ace called the Gannochy, loved it. Stayed in the big hotel in town every time. Angus Glens are a cracking place to live. Love it here.

I am self building a holiday let and have sat on the fence when choosing what fuels the heating but working towards ashp now. Will have log stove also and a electric towel rail on a time lag in the bathrooms. With underfloor heating on ground floor and in bathrooms, even if I went for lpg or oil it would still take a long time to get up to temperture. On a steep learning curve like most self-builders.

yep, and this is making me reconsider our (I really should say 'my' as SWMBO doesn't really care and just wants the ****ing house built!) target U-values. I'm wondering if I should reduce the 80mm PIR to 50mm. this will change it from approx 0.12W/m2K to 0.15W/m2K and save quite a bit of money. so I'm trying to weigh up the costs and make a decision. but part of me is thinking I don't want to add more insulation at a later date and if/when building regs start to mandate <0.15W/m2K i'd rather our building still conform so maybe just go low now and not worry about it in the future.

It's been a while since I last updated this, but we're slowly making progress. Since the completion of the roofing in November, we've mostly been cladding, the joiners fitted the doors and windows, we boarded the inside and last week the cellulose got blown in. It's reassuring how well the house retains the heat from a small portable heater, unlike anywhere else I've ever lived! Bit of a delay in the cladding due to me underestimating both how much we needed and also how much we discarded (too much sap). Weather's made things a bit slower at times as well. Photos below. Cladding in progress (don't look too closely). The ends have all been trimmed and bevelled now but this is the only photo I have. The snow arrives, makes for cold hands when they're above your head hammering all the time. Boarding the first floor with OSB The insulation arrives. And disappears into the walls within a day.. Next up, try and sort the foul drainage as it's been a bit neglected, MVHR first fix and then ready for electrical and plumbing first fix.

The term "cess pit" is being used here, when I'm nearly 100% certain that there cannot be a cess pit. Worth clarifying, as a cess pit needs emptying every 2 to 3 months, as it's just a storage tank. They are pretty rare now, mainly because they are costly to maintain and because modern water usage rates mean they need emptying far more frequently was the case when they were initially used, tens of decades ago. I think it's far more likely that what was being used was a septic tank, a completely different system altogether, and one that allows the effluent to settle, the sludge to anaerobically decompose and the liquid effluent to drain to a leach field where it is supposedly treated by aerobic soil bacteria. A septic tank only needs emptying when the sludge level builds up, perhaps every one or two years or so.

When we lived in Scotland we had a pump station, as the house was at the bottom of a steep drive. It never gave any trouble in the five years we were there, and there was no spare pump, or alarm. I did lift the lid a few times to check all was well, and it looked as if changing the pump would have been an easy enough job. It was on a length of chain, so just needed pulling up, hosing down and replacing with a new one. An alarm and a spare pump kept ready to fit seems a good plan. I have a effluent spare pump and alarm on our treatment plant, as that has a pumped outlet. I can't see the point of a dual pump system, as that's like storing the spare pump in effluent all the time. I'd rather have the spare somewhere warm and dry, so you can be reasonably sure that it'll work when it's fitted.

Pretty standard stuff. A few of us on BH use pumping stations; use the search box and look for posts that contain terms related to pumping, or pumping station or similar (put in the odd deliberate spelling mistake) Whatever you do (and the pun is not intended, but it's apposite) bottom this out before submitting an application. It is not uncommon for people to build without giving too much thought to their foul drainage because it stinks. And so place themselves in a world of soft and smelly stuff. It stinks not to think it through that's what. You have to follow the &nbsp;General Binding Rules. Take it to bed with you and read it thoroughly, read it on the loo, read it on the train, read it on the bus, read it on the beach, and be sure to refer to it closely when talking to company reps. That'll keep everything smelling sweet. Ian

Pump stations are used when the levels between the site foul drain invert level and the main sewer invert level are such that you can't use gravity. They also allow a smaller bore pipe to feed to the main sewer, usually 63mm MDPE, rather than the standard 110mm foul drain pipe. Cess pits are now practically forbidden for a new build; they are only allowed as a last resort, if there is no other foul drain option, simply because of the nuisance and cost associated with having them pumped out two or three times a year or more. A septic tank is the same - the Environment Agency are pushing hard (it was going to be made law, as it is in France) for all new builds that cannot physically connect to a main sewer to have to be connected to sewage treatment plant. A sewage treatment plant, unlike a septic tank, treats the effluent internally, usually via aerobic bacteria, so that the discharge is non-toxic and has a low biological oxygen demand. This makes the effluent from a treatment plant suitable for direct connection to a soakaway or a continuously flowing watercourse (with a permit to discharge). There are plans to register all septic tank installations and gradually force them all to be changed to treatment plants, because septic tank leach fields just stop working after around 10 to 15 years, causing toxic discharges to the land where the drains are located. This is a significant environmental problem in some areas, but the government have been dragging their heels over doing anything about it. I suspect that the Environment Agency, who will be consulted by the planners, will veto a cess pit connection, may well veto a septic tank, and will insist on either a mains drainage connection or a treatment plant, depending on how the treated effluent can be disposed of.

This is all far from easy. Preparatory work is almost never wasted. Some basic considerations (forgive me if I write about an issue that has already been covered) What's the end-in-mind? How will that be financed? How soon do you want the work done? How much time do you have to run the project? How much and what type of support do you have in place? I am always amazed by the level of commitment and energy shown by BH members - many of whom do a full time job. There is a core of BH folk who are old codgers like me: retired, recalcitrant, pig headed, determined. We have time. We are probably not too fussed about schedules, and likely can finance our way by selling our current house. Some are more fortunate than that. And we are unlikely to be building to sell and move on. Many combine standard 'normal' family life with self-building. Energy levels off the scale, fantastic personal organisation, significant technical understanding and experience, and a network of mates 'who-know-how-to' [...], loads of grit and determination. How they do it, I honestly don't know. Some do it serially. Guessing between the lines (let alone reading between them) it might help at this stage to write a simple cash flow forecast, set a budget, ask for fee proposals (for example some or all of these: SE, architect, architectural technician, solicitor, building planner, soil survey, topographical survey, ecology survey) and then take some decisions. At this stage forget the Builders' Merchants: too early. There is much to be gained by networking both on and offline. Read the PP with very great care. How with the foul drainage be sorted out? No off mains drainage no house. How long has the barn been on the market? Why? Ian

Some small watercourses are the responsibility of the LPA's now with regards to surface water management. Whilst discharge from a disgester will normally always be the EA's responsibility. Surface water discharge is then dealt with by the local SUDS guy at the council. In my experience you are only allowed to discharge surface water directly to a stream if both conventional SUDS are not an option and there is no suitable surface water drainage around the property. Then ... discharge to the stream should be limited to greenfield runoff rates. Of course this is superfluous for one property therefore see what you can agree with LPA / EA. You should be able to find out if this is under the EA's jurisdiction if it is listed as a 'main river' here: http://maps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiybyController?x=357683.0&y=355134.0&scale=1&layerGroups=default&ep=map&textonly=off&lang=_e&topic=floodmap#x=374881&y=400113&lg=1,2,10,&scale=1 Be aware however some very small trickles are still run by the EA so its best to check.