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It’s been a while since my last blog post and over the last 5 weeks the basement contractors have been busy and have finished the basement. Well, the external walls at least as we still need to build the internal walls and put the block and beam on top. It’s looking really good although it is a bit reminiscent of a prison with all the concrete and 3m high walls (not that I’ve been in many/any prisons that is, it’s just from watching movies). The groundworkers are back on-site tomorrow to carry on with fitting the external EPS insulation, backfill and the rest of the foundations for the above ground arms of our property. Here’s a sped up time-lapse video of the entire basement build. 3:40s long so it shouldn’t be too onerous to watch. We had one hiccup with the basement construction when the digger driver decided to turn the cab a bit too close to our existing house and crunch into the wall causing a massive horizontal and vertical crack. Luckily it was a room we use as a larder that is attached to the main building of our existing house but I still wasn’t happy especially when the main response I got was “well, you’re going to knock it down anyway” and “it’s only cosmetic”. Like that’s ok then ?. Anyway, they resined helibars in place to sure up the walls and, even though it doesn’t look great, I am at least happy that it won’t fall down before we knock it down. Apart from that, all is well and we’re happy with the basement and the progress so far and are looking forward to next week to see some more progress. Here are a few photos of the finished basement (although it's a lot cleaner now they've finished, I just don't have any photos since that happened! ?‍♂️). the sunken courtyard: During the basement build we had a road closure of our single track road to allow UK Power Networks and Southern Water to install our new 3-phase electricity connection and water. A road closure is a very expensive thing as the local council want their pound of flesh to pay for administration and notification of the road closure. So we had to pay for this twice. But, I managed to persuade both utility companies (actually Clancy Docwra for the water) to work under one road closure at the same time. Unbelievable and anyone I’ve ever spoken to has said “yeah, good luck with that!”. So, if anyone ever doubts that you can get utilities to work together I am proof that it’s possible. I will be getting a refund for the other road closure (that's about £2k saved thank you very much) which is a very nice bonus. UKPN came and dug the trench across the road, Clancy then put in their water main, backfilled a little and then UKPN put in their cable and then Clancy backfilled ready for Clancy to come along the next day and tarmac it. All done and dusted in 1 1/2 days. Very organised and efficient. I was suitably impressed. Here are some photos. ? water main being laid: now the electricity (in ducting): multiple utility companies working happily together (who'd have thought it?): our connected 3-phase head: Both water and electrics won't be connected until a long way down the line but at least they're in and that's another potential headache out of the way. Thanks again for reading and, until the next instalment, it’s goodbye from me.