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Be good to get him to detail the pricing eg prelims, foundations, demolition, brick / blockwork, floor, roof structure, roof covering, elecs, plumbing, plastering, carpentry, kitchen fitting, decoration and tiling. You can easily see how much of each is complete and pay accordingly.

Many site plasterers put on thick coat on and go over it with these silly quick skim floats or shine with plastic The job pictured was a 60 bed hotel that we lost out to another company I had three tapers there for five weeks sorting it out It all needed redoing really

+1 What I used. Hotels etc use it to help stop things getting grubby and cut down on cleaning time.

Have you checked _both_ title plans from the land registry and compared them with the OS map? Ideally you want both title plans to agree you are right. Unfortunately title plans are not really definitive unless they show the boundary in relation to a fixed feature like a building or old tree. I'm not so sure about that. If the neighbour hasn't formally claimed it yet then I don't think he can do so now because the law on adverse possession was changed a few years back. These days the real owner is notified of any claim and has two years to object before they loose it. If I'm wrong then you can scupper his plans by offering to sell it to him for "a nominal £1 subject to contract". Ask him to accept in writing then immediately back out of the deal. Any subsequent claim for adverse possession fails because by accepting your offer he has accidentally agreed you own it. Regardless of the ownership issue he may have obtained a right of way/passage over some of the land.

Depends - where in the UK are you and are you in a conservation area ..? That will affect what you can do.

I lapped ours over BC said I could cut a slit later If need be Onsite they are pretty keen to leave a minimum 25 mil gap

Don’t know about retrospectively but when we built our last house we weren’t allowed a bay window because none of the nearby houses had them!

the roofers I used just lapped it over and then cut a slit with a knife. You can feel the breeze from inside.

Not quite. The zero rating of everything in the case of "Supply and Fit" only applies if they are fitting "Building Materials"... From VAT 708 Para 2.2.. Later in 13.6 it states.. So I would argue it IS a building material under 13.6 and he should zero rate it to you.

Another project long in the making finally completed today after finally managing to find some more boards yesterday. It's a timber ramp, built as a permanent structure, so hopefully it won't get shot down by building control. The sloping part is made with non slip deck boards while the flat part is standard deck boards. The flat area at the top of the ramp is 1.5 metres by 2 metres, way more that the required 1.2 metres square. I was conscious that a structure like this could be prone to rot, so the area under the ramp was dug out, so the joists are not sat on the ground, but supported by a number of posts concreted in. Where the grass adjoins the ramp, a sacrificial strip of wood has been attached, spaced off from the joists and the soil / grass only touches that, not the joists, and the gap between them is filled with loose stones. The slope of the ramp is a lot shallower than it could be, I basically took the length I had available and made the ramp that long to make it a gentle slope.

Two different building BC where impressed with it One tried to lift it Both had to concede that it did indeed qualify as a DA All be it temporary It was on the non fire the following day

If that's the case you need to prove it formally in a planning application, his report clearly states it's much larger than adjacent extensions, if that isn't the case then you can disprove that, thus my suggestion to give the report to a designer and address the reasons for refusal, it's not about what's fair or not, it's about what complies with current planning policies

Ours just asked me to add 100 mill bumpers and make sure the platform in front of the door is level both ways Should sail through

I don't think you have said exactly when it was fenced off or did I miss it? From what you say they haven't made a claim for adverse possession or it would show up at the land registry. Take a look at the land registry "practice guides" on adverse possession and see if you think the current owner has met the requirements so that an application could succeed. How long has he lived there? A claim for adverse possession requires land to be fenced off, with intent to possess, "to the exclusion of all others" so gates or gaps in fences can matter. If a land owner gives permission for someone to use land then possession isn't "adverse", so a claim for adverse possession could also fail for that reason.

@christianbeccy as you say, just have a chat and find their point of view, if they get arssy then decide if you want a fight, they might be perfectly ok about it and you may get the other price of land, nothing to loose having a friendly chat.

I did ? ... and Cornwall Council told me categorically that a time limit condition cannot be discharged, so I'm satisfying myself with the fact that I have evidence (dated photographs) approved (by Stroma) that I can put under people noses should they poke them in ?

Definitely try and find someone he's worked for before. Any reviews out there? Consider stage payments and keep track. Eg at halfway you should have paid him less than half. You could consider hiring a QS to do regular valuations of the work done and pay accordingly but that might be expensive. At least it stops him arguing he has done more work than he's been paid for Get him to quote for any changes before agreeing he should do them. Get him to list what he's included if not already provided with the quote. Compare that list with other quotes for missing things. If you are buying the kitchen has he included fitting? Costs associated with Building Control Approval? Missing stuff is a sign of inexperience and/ or a future bill.

Thanks for the update. I guess first thing to do is have a friendly chat with them if that's possible. Do you actually want the land back or would you be interested in selling it to them? If they get all upset then you should write to them more formally asserting ownership keeping evidence you wrote and they received it. If they put their property on the market write to the estate agent an ask them to contact the new buyer as well. You might also check if you have legal cover included with your house insurance. It can be hard getting the insurance co to pay for a case but they might take it on if its clear cut. In theory you can remove it without permission under common law on "abatement" but be careful. If he later proves you are wrong it could get expensive. It sounds like the neighbour owns the fence so if the fence is damaged in the process then you might find yourself on the wrong side of the law for that. If he calls the police they won't be interested in the land dispute, just in the criminal damage to his fence and any breach of the peace. If you go this route best do it while he is away on holiday and get the new fence up at same time. You should avoid having to go to court if at all possible. I think legally they have created a trespass for which the remedy is an injunction, but where the trespass is small courts have been reluctant to issue one. Going down the legal route.. If friendly discussion fails I suspect the next step would be to agree to some form of arbitration or possibly a solicitors letter pointing out his liability for costs if loses.

That's not correct. For a normal 2 storey house the only internal door that would need to be fire rated is a door between a garage and the house.

Cable restrictors are used on hotel windows and high office windows. They don’t allow the window to fully open unless removed for fire egress. Option ..?

Wow, what an opinion based on my one contribution to this thread! To set some context, it's a large plot (1 acre) and I know a lot about it's history as it has been in the family for some time. We are boundary neighbours to 14 properties. I have a historic plot plan and have instructed a recent land survey. This was done for many reasons, not because we suspected any land loss, but what it uncovered were 2 instances of fairly substantial loss by way of 'shonky' fences that have crept in at some point in recent years. Nobody has attempted to formally claim the land and I'm not trying to make a grab for anything other than what is legally mine. One of the 'fences' is a run of chicken wire cable tied to some trees that was put in as an attempt to keep foxes and deers from crossing the gardens. The house belonged to my late Grandmother, who was a highly intelligent woman, but in her final few years was very compliant to requests from her many neighbours. In one instance (not this one), a neighbour knocked on her door to notify her of his desire to put in a fence, being in her late 80's at the time, she had no interest in hobbling down the garden on her zimmer frame to check his desired line, so just allowed him to get on with it, which he did without any clear proof of the boundary line. It looks like there were a few instances of that. So, @Big Jimbo, I didn't get what I paid for. This wasn't revealed until a proper survey took place, as it is a complex plot. If you read my original post, my question is more around what quantifies a claim for the land. There is not a substantial fence and we could argue over who planted the hedge, so what else stands in the way of me claiming what's mine and informing the neighbour of my intention to install a fence on the boundary that was established from the survey? I'd be willing to bet that, at this moment, the current owner of the property has no knowledge at all of what their predecessor (intentionally or unintentionally) did. The square building with the cross is my neighbours garage, it was built on their original boundary line. Just beneath that is the measured fence. I'm not discussing the dog-leg part of the fence (there's another mainly irrelevant detail to this story), but the section to the right of that which is about 5-6 feet off the boundary line and tapers down to 2-3 feet over a length of almost 100 feet, so a fairly substantial chunk. Ignore the magenta line, it's a reference point. We, understandably, didn't suspect this when we bought, why would we? But why does that mean we are any less entitled to it?

Are there not conversion kits to allow you to fit am intumescent seal? Would this do it in your circs?

That does not fall within the date window afaics. So no. https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/all-planning-permissions-extended-until-april-2021 F

We will - he's a bit difficult as it is techinically his fault: "forgetting" that our house has a garage, missing hte point about the door at earlier stages and then with a great surprise re-discovering the garage (which as been on all plans from Day 1) and kicking a fuss re door. But naturally, who wants arguing with a BCO a step away from completion? .. Anyway, as always, appreciate the Forum Wisdom

The thing is, if that drawing is what's been priced there's a huge amount of assumption required by a contractor to price it up, so it's no surprise that you've got a lot of variation - in the market at the moment I'd be very suspicious of a cheap price, maybe sit down and go through what they've priced and the assumptions they've made before you agree it, it could be that you expectations aren't the same as the contractor....

No comment on the costs, but that kitchen and utility layout isnt the best. E.g. look at the journey required to fill a saucepan and put it on the hob. Visit a kitchen designer before starting works.

You can fill like the pictures While joint cement won’t stick to paint Easy fill will If the area has been sanded first

£38k is still over £1000 a square metre. Does that include VAT? It doesn't seem suspiciously low to me. Does it include kitchen cabinets, floor tiling and so on? I know you didn't ask about this but I have to comment on the shown kitchen/utility room layout. Did the architect design the kitchen layout? Having seen numerous house plans where architects have put a kitchen layout on them, the conclusion I come to is they shouldn't be allowed near kitchen designs. In the utility room the washing macing is behind the door, as it is narrow, if you left the washing machine door open, the utility room for would bang into it. Indeed the front of the washing machine could well be 650mm off the wall by the time you allow for connections at the back leaving only 750mm for the door swing. You'd have e to go into the room and close the door behind yourself to access the washing machine. The washing machine should be directly next to the dryer to allow for the easy transfer of wet clothes from one to the other and also moving it away from the door. You would then position them so that the doors swung away from each other. Generally washing machine doors cannot have the handing changed but dryers often can. Does the kitchen plan propose a tall oven then a hob then a tall fridge and freezer then the sink? Or are the fridge and freezer under counter? That kind of up and down in cabinet height would be very strange. The dishwasher door opening across the cupboard under the sink is not ideal. I would have to think about it, but it just doesn't seem right. Do you need a breakfast bar with 4 seats right next to a table. My initial temptation would be to turn the breakfast bar around and attach it to the end of the table, but a lot depends on how you want to use the room. My personal preference is to put the hob on the bar island, if you can so you can look out into the room whilst cooking. Something like this

Hi @Steph188 they are having a laugh. "The mist coat will cover it" How do they expect a thin coat of paint to cover gouges, rough plastering etc. That is a much worse job than I was complaining about , in fact I think it is probably the worst plastering I have ever seen. We had two rooms that were a problem and one wall in another room. They were all replastered at no cost to me by a better plasterer.

Feeling pretty good about mine and my lad's plastering efforts in the bathroom now! How do they get it so thick in one place the level rocks like that? Was the wall boarding not flat to start with? I'll admit we did then make use of Easifill 20 and a Mirka sander: Whoever said spotlights hide everything isn't wrong! ? @nod, in the case of a badly plastered ceiling or wall that's been painted, do you have to take the paint off to redo?

LTP

It's not a reg I've heard of before but I'm always learning!

We open windows in summer to cool the house down, and hear the birds and the stream etc. And every room needs an opening window, otherwise where do you put a spider that you have just caught?

Here is mine. Height is 4 .5 meters to ridge. Bi folds at the bottom. I didnt want a chunky steel splitting the top and bottom section horizontally and it would have made the portal frame design redundant. The horizontal piece of steel used was as thin as possible and had a vertical piece of steel added in the centre to tie to the steel at the top and prevent sagging. This was clad in black aluminium by the window manufacturer to disguise it. Glazing was from a place in Middlesborough, and was 10 k less then my next quote. Happy to share details if required.

Awaiting our glass and ours is a bungalow.

Oh I don't know...turn over onto your front when the bath's draining and give yourself a swirly, gurgly treat...

Dogs Cats Children Avoid all these and your home will remain spotless!

Ring him up and ask him!!,! It would get my vote

When you are looking for your stanley knife. You left it in the gutter. Thank me later.

Its about 5*6m. The right hand door is my wife's quarter ?

No probs. Just probing the potential gaps in the OP. Have spent too much time providing too many not quite the right answers to slightly the wrong questions :-). In this case pointing out a possible circumstance. Wotsit Thingamabob and his Unknown Unknowns have a lot to answer for. (*) F xx * would remember but the 12 bottles from Laithwaites arrived today and they are now minus 2/3 of a bottle of rather nice rather potent red. And there is nobody here except me and the paperwork. The paperwork is now slightly tipsy. Allegedly. Anyway, there are two of them so they must be.