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Do you have a friendly neighbour that you can run an extension cable from, make it worth their while and give them a few quid, generators are a last resort.

My builder had never used ICF before this build. He is doing a brilliant job. He had a few hours on site training/discussions with a seasoned local ICF builder. It is more down to the builder who has 30 years experience and has a positive "can do" attitude imho.

My take would be you still owe them £5000. Make it clear to them that if they try and pursue this e.g. through the small claims court, that you will counter claim all the additional expenses you have incurred due to their delays, mistakes and incompetence, and your counter claim will be for more than their final bill.

Andy. No wonder this is causing grief. Here is a suggestion. Mull this over even if just to rule this idea out. It seems like you are getting run ragged. The following suggestion is based on tactics used to deal with say a home warranty provider who is using the fine print to avoid addressing the issues. Take a step back first. Get yourself a "street wise" Stuctural Enginneer. Get them to site for a day.. yes a day and expect to fork out £800.00 -1200 quid. Seems a lot but the SE will spend a few hours thinking time after they have left site.. not that bad. The SE will look to see where the frame is non compliant..and everything else that they can see or even if they "get a smell" they will look at that too. Once an SE is instructed to examine everything..it means anything else that may count as a contributing factor.. they do.. no prisoners! For example the SE will look at all the nail edge distances, plumbing of the frame, the roof trusses, the load paths and how this missalignment of the dormer may be changing the load paths and if the supporting walls are still ok. The ground levels, how the kit is sitting on the founds.. odd stuff that may not seem directly related to the issue.. damp proof membranes, vapour barriers.. tile batten spacing.. the lot! The reason for this is that all these other bit's an bobs contribute to what SE's call "robustness" and this forms part of the design codes. Also, if the say trusses are not sitting where they should be then questions get asked, for example are the connections still ok.. again are the tile batten spacings still compliant with the tile specifications.. it's a big can of worms to defend! Make no mistake if you are an SE and you are instructed to survey a timber frame.. well that is what you do! You don't muck about! The secret here is that once you find a non compliance that impacts on the structural safety of the building you have them over a barrel. What you then say is.. hey you may be quoting me the fine print but you have supplied / erected an unsafe structure. This cuts to the chase as if your SE say's it's not safe they have to do whatever it takes to fix it.. if it goes to court.. the SE stands up and says..they provided an unsafe structure and by that time the HSE will have been notified also, so too they will be chasing them. What I can say is that once you nail them on the structural side they are often keen to negotiate. The next step is up to you. You can try and negotiate a settlement yourself or you can instruct your SE to "have a chat" with your TF supplier. The SE will not "do a deal" on your behalf in terms of the fabric as professionaly they can't compromise on safety. The SE at this point acts as an independant person. To explain. An SE has a duty to public safety, you may sell the house but the liability rests with the SE long after you have gone. However, by acting independantly they will often use some back channels to reach encourage settlement that is equitable. They may for example say to the TF supplier.. well if you don't play ball with me I'm going to recommend to my Client that we get a QS of like mind to me.. no prisoners.. and the bill is going to go up. My Client just wants it sorted and quickly..they are not seeking to punish you but if you keep digging in they may take a different view! These are thing an advisor can say but you as a Client may not be so able to do. Andy. Quite often trusses may not be "quite where they should be" Not all of the trusses will be fully loaded so sometimes you only need to remediate a few, maybe one or two so it's not often a case of the whole lot needs to be taken down. The key here is to find the big stick to bring them to the table and quickly. The above is one possible way of achieving this. Ideally.. resolve it quickly, settle and not spend time trying to get your money after you have moved in. The moving in should be fun and if you have this hanging over your head it kind of spoils it? Lastly the supplier will also be expected to pay any SE fees you have incurred.

Jack. "It will never be commercial while I or any of the other people currently involved with the site are running it." Delighted to read this. Is there any merit in letting folk know what you need in funds + moral support + members own time to keep BH sustained? Yes BH have gone Ltd but I can understand what might drive that.. If you look back on the history of BH it seems to me like it started with a few enthusiasts all wanting to share knowledge. It caught on in a pretty big way. These founder members have put in a huge amount of work. I think to myself.. how is this to be sustained in the long term. It would be a sad loss if this body of knowledge and annecdotal evidence of folk building / renovating etc their own homes was to be lost. It is in fact a historical record! It would also be a disservice, not least, to some of the founder members that have been lost or just moved on if BH were to fall. Jack.. yes the advice on BH must have saved folk a fortune at times.. so 5% is a good ask! .. you won't get that quality of advice elsewhere for free. I ask.. how may we help?

Switched from Bulb to Octopus in June on a two year fixed rate. Just checked and it would be an extra 6.06p per unit if I moved onto the same contract now. I seem to pay silly unit prices compared to other places in the UK. I've been collecting loads of sticks over the course of the year and now got enough to heat the house over the winter.

I wish I could remember the name (and be able to reference the post) of the member who on encountering similar problems to yours, wrote that in his experience as a senior exec of an international building company , the self build sector was (I remember this bit ) '... the most dysfunctional (sector) I have ever experienced ...' Honestly, you are in excellent company here. One creative, positive way of using the delay is to plan in ever greater detail. And that bloody reminds me SWMBO changed her mind again about where she wants shelves and electricity sockets. Shes only had 4 years to make up her mind. I'm 68, and still find some jokes hard to take.

Ok so they can’t issue that under the rules on planning determination as they are obliged to ask for your approval in writing to any extension. If you have not agreed this then you have recourse under the 26 week rule for non-determination.

They have been sending such letters for at least 14 years as we has virtually the same reply to our full planning application..

Yep, totally appreciate that, but surely a better way to bring up concerns with the client is to have an open frank conversation about how the work is looking as though it'll end up costing your business, rather than showing it profit, and suggest a possible resolution going forward. Requesting that the client not only cut you in on, but backdate that percentage cut of some saving they have made through shrewd sourcing / purchasing sounds well off to me. Arguabaly, from that alone I'd be wondering how ethical they were.

Whether justified or not, they can probably claim 'covid' as a reason for delay, and that standard applications take priority. Non determination plea will get expensive.

In contract law (which I doubt this is), silence is not acceptance. Always worth remembering that when your builder suggests something, then just does it without your approval.

lovely that. klober do a similar one

How to put this gently? Your experience is common. Normal. Sorry, but there it is. Don't be annoyed with yourself, I would guess that more than 50% of us have all had the same experience. Annoyance goes with the territory. @Ferdinand will be along in a minnit to put it more elegantly. Ian

We had a discount code (we ordered them a while ago) and got them from https://www.dmlights.co.uk/philips_mygarden_bridge_anthracite~04XGZ?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqKuKBhCxARIsACf4XuEK7eiH8utwpiu89_rL4VXlQAGKOnpgid3gU8KfqiBZX2qdMdRT4bIaAl0XEALw_wcB They were also on Amazon too which is where I had the sensor one from for else than this but their prices of late shot up. The bulb they come with is the old style E27 bulbs but we replaced them with LED ones. I believe Philips do a newer version called Arbour but these don't have the option to put in a bulb rather a sealed unit but we wanted to have a bulb as it gives us the option of using Hue type bulbs in them at a later date. I'll update when we have the other 5 fitted.

Mortgage application has been approved as of this morning... now onto the legal process. Absolutely over the moon and that's an understatement! Ecology is on another level when it comes to mortgages!! A big thanks to the forum and it's members as you helped me get ready with everything I needed to make the application submission.

Not sure it’s usual but (at the advise of the heating guru on this site), I drilled 25mm holes in the blockwork walls level with the top of the insulation before it was laid, after laying the insulation pushed a length of overflow pipe about 300mm long through each hole and threaded the UFH pipe through that, saved congestion of pipes through doorways and gave more direct routes for some pipes.

Cut a slot in the block, insulate the pipe and preferably use conduit too, expanding foam round the lot and carry on.

On the friendly neighbour front, our electrician has offered to put a meter on for us if we need to tap into neighbour's supply. Haven't asked them yet though. Farmer neighbour has offered us a silent generator too.

https://www.concrete.org.uk/fingertips-document.asp?id=823#:~:text=The optimum thickness of a,for more heavily loaded floors. Is it bonded or unbonded? If bonded, then highest point of the slab + 25mm. Although if you're taking about arguing over 25mm on the height of a ceiling, it really, really isn't worth worrying about. It's a ... 1% difference.

Re the Graff. I would probably buy a free standing caravan porta poti and use that with the appropriate chemicals and take it to a public toilet to empty it until you get power. The cost and noise of running a generator 24/7 would drive me insane.

I bought a genny for my site but was lucky that it was connected to the grid “in time”. My plan was gas heating/water as @ProDave says above and charging a large caravan 12volt battery by genny for a while then 12volt lights etc the rest of the time. Most towable caravans have a 12volt cct fir when on a non power site.

How much power do you need? Typically a static caravan will have a gas fire, a gas water heater and a gas cooker. So your electricity usage in the short term will be pretty low. I would be looking at a few rechargable LED camping lights and then run the generator for only a couple of hours at a time condensing all your "needs electricity" activity into one time slot.

lay the slips so the block sits on them dead flat with the rest/beams. The beams crown on purpose as they are in tension, they flatten when the flooring/load is applied which is why they are designed and not just bought off the shelf and left to the end user to decide where to put them. Cant see you fromr photo but make sure you put DPC roll under the beams where they sit on the wall and the same with slips including any sleeper walls.

Be aware that back-to-back holes for faceplates might compromise sound proofing.

Isn't a simple look at the price of oil over the last 30 years enough to show that inflation has certainly not been excessive in this very actively traded market? Volatility - yes, but not the price. Or to put it differently : we shot ourselves in the foot (and are planning to do more of that) by pretending we can do without fossil fuels way too soon.

There are lots of good posts here on different UFH pipes. I tried to research the topic, but things like the 3 different types of PEX A, B or C. Different oxygen layers Al or EVOH. Number of layers and mixtures of material make it a challenge to understand. Wunda do 2 types of pipe 16mm Hdpe-Al-Pex for in screed and 16mm Pert-Al-Pert for overfloor, both with lifetime guarantees. https://www.wundatrade.co.uk/shop/home/water-underfloor-heating-solutions/joist-floor-heating-pipe/16mm-hdpe-al-pex-pipe/ https://www.wundatrade.co.uk/shop/home/quick-shop/wundatherm-quick-shop/pipe-quickshop/16mm-pert-al-pert-pipe/ Not many suppliers are specific about their pipe being okay to go into concrete slab. I used the 16mm Hdpe-Al-Pex for my install. But my build is a long way from being finished, so difficult to know how to make recommendations about the UFH pipe. It survived the concrete pour and the ICF wall braces.

Worth having a grown up chat with the builder, away from other workers. Ask what is the problem really, and see if a slight increase will suffice. He may come clean that eg his workers want more or will walk. But if he goes into take it or leave it mode, best let him go, as it will happen again.and again.

sounds like the grinder does not have enough safety features on the trigger if you can just touch trigger and it fires up no way i could do that with my milwaukee one but yes batteries out when not in use solves it

sounds like your contract with them did not have enough detail in it at the beginning

Hi Peter.. yes pin! Ive got just about enough/ 2" to go in ground. It has a metal 2" tube ( & small mystery plate w' hole in middle in packet).. so I assume this is set in the concrete thingy area Ive got to do as last job. Anyway, all that time measuring until my brain hurt seems to have paid off:

Good luck, hope it all works out for you.

@SuperJohnG https://www.robinsonwirecloth.co.uk/online-shop/Soffit-mesh-stainless-steel-30m-roll-p49612077 Excellent product and SS staples. Spend some time getting the detail right.

......is keep water in place in water retaining structures, to close off a joint which might be a weakness. If you are building above ground, have a well-detailed damp-proof construction, and it is not a water tank then you should not need one. Or it is a simple bar across a flat door threshold to keep the rain out.

DO NOT CAP THEM OFF !!!! You will create a bomb if you cap that off and then heat it up.

I don't know if it has any bearing, but some councils are outsourcing services to other councils. I was reading a document about this somewhere on the internet, and some planning departments outsource all or some of their functions. Usually this is to the private sector, but sometimes to another nearby council. Factor in homeworking by someone having to do work for two councils, and that may explain how the document is wrongly headed. Maybe. Or perhaps your council outsources to a private company which handles several councils' work, and there has been a mix up that way. But I would have said that your contract, if it can be described as such (you've paid a fee, so a contract must exist, surely?), is with your local authority, so any decision must come from someone representing them. Even if it does happen to be the same person, you seem to have had a decision from an authority you have no contract with, over a property outside their jurisdiction. However, your LA may be obliged to put the technical errors right, but that won't necessarily affect the decision.

I doubt procedural errors carry much if any weight*. Errors to do with the GPDO, the NPPF and local policy do but many can be subjective. Harm outweighing benefits and all that stuff. * I know they might be required to correct them but they don't usually change an outcome.

Our planners made lots of assumptions that simply were not true and I was able to prove my case. I went to appeal and won hands down, did it myself and frankly it was easier than applying fir planning In the first place. The appeal officer even stated the planners were not abiding by their own policies. I know they are understaffed etc etc but (IMO) generally could not organise a pissup in a brewery ?‍♂️. (rant over ?)

Welcome to the forum. I know some local authorities share planning staff but never heard of them doing this over such a distance. The acts refer to decisions being made by the "Local Authority" so I would have expected their name on the decision letter even if some work was done by staff at another but perhaps I'm wrong. If its dated 2002 then technically it's too late to appeal as you only get 6 months to file one. Google found this which suggests errors such as the issue date may have to be corrected by the Inspectorate not the LA. https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/planning/318-planning-features/22731-the-finality-of-decisions https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/5/section/56 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/5/section/59

Here yo go @Onoff cant walk on it . But looks spot on ! Shame every trade busts my architecturally eclectic staircase ! . They must all be fatter than me .

Are the owners Russian?

It’s happening everywhere The Brickie that came on here a couple of weeks back and hacked all the corners off his work Is back working for the same bricklaying contractor He caused 5k in damage For those old enough to remember Yozzer (Others google) It was remarkably similar to a scene from boys from the black stuff He turned up at 3 on a Friday after it had rained all day Site manager said “Bit late to be starting “ Hammer and bolster in hand He just replied I’m sorry La My work I haven’t been paid Then proceeded to knock all the face brick corners off on a four block Mumbling sorry as he went The only glimmers of hope was when the skip guy appeared and asked him to move his van Which he did Then carried on knocking the rest of the corners off Site manger called The police and was told to stop wasting there time Afterwards he went in the site office and said Yoozs are all good lads and treated me right I’m sorry Site manager said did you see the size of his arms I replied that I was more focused on the two pound lump hammer he was still holding