Roger440

Theres not much of a sweet spot. Anything thats ex company or ex hire are a lot of money. Anything older seems to disappear abroad. Older stuff here, is hard to find. They do come up, but you need to be on the look out all the time. Plus of course the market is rife with scammers. Also, if going for older, factor in it probably will break down. If you are hands on and practical, mostly not the end of the world, but if you need to pay every time, the cost and delays will quickly render it a false economy. Im on my second Kubota KX61 (which was £5k, Mostly because its got no cab or roll over hoop). Which as it happens, broke down mid job yesterday. Got it fixed this morning but lost 6 hours productive time with the rain closing in. It also broke down a couple of weeks ago, and desperatley needs new tracks (steel). Im nursing it as tracks are mad money. And one of the rams is pissing out oil But it was cheap, so no real surprise.

The best builders merchants would be one i dont have to interface with. i am amazed however, that the world seems to have mostly passed them by. As Alan said earlier, the online activities are mostly woeful, lie about stock, no idea when they can deliver etc etc. The in store experience exsasparating. How much is anything, really? Im my world and many other sectors, if you dont have it, and cant deliver next day, you are not really in the game. Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, someone, probably one of the big boys, (with a big distribution/delivery network)will realise they can clean up by getting their act together. Charge sensible prices that are what they are, deliver next day, and be transparent about your stock. Bit like screwfix, but bigger. In the process they can just close the doors at the braches and concentrate on being efficient distribution points. Cant happen to soon. Whole industry needs dragging into this century. Im still amazed no one has jumped into this space, but im sure it will come.

You think £8k to run a cable down a pole and across a lane isnt "gouging"? Grant, not as outrageous as mine, but hardly reasonable. £8k to connect, so you can pay for electricity. Like going to a petrol station to fill up and getting charged for pump installation.

Can you imagine getting a spares catalogue , materials directory and trouble shooting manual from your average UK house builder!!!

I think that is maybe to miss the point a touch. Their way of working is to cover all the bases and have solutions before they ever set out to the job. They wont need to "fix things up on site". Ive worked with a fair few German companies over the last 30 years. Whilst they are not all perfect, they have a very different outlook and approach to us. In most respects, a better one.

i wish!

I bought a tracked electric barrow, Google mule. Got to say it's been fantastic. Will shift 250kg over almost any terrain, certainly places I'd never have got a wheelbarrow. As you observed, pricey.

Ref your last paragraph, I'd suggest you don't do that. In the event if a flood, your wall will never be able to dry out. So you will have damp inside. Any suggestions or ideas that you can keep water out to the extent the structure stays dry is a fantasy. Water will get in, and definitely into the cavity. I speak from experience. Personally, I'd have had no insulation at all below dpc level in a flood prone situation.

It's crazy isn't it. How are you supposed to know ahead of time, the exact details of everything you will fit to the house. Anyway, that's the least of your worries. Wait until you get the quote for connection.

Lets say you could just bulldoze your house, how could that ever work financially? I did some very loose numbers on mine. It would cost for a similar sized dwelling at a basic level circa £300k. Probably a good deal more. The current house, whilst a thermal disaster in many respects, is, essentially sound. Value, circa £400k. If it made any kind of sense financially, id do it tommorow. But it doesnt, and as far as i can see, wont, ever. Yes, id have a better house, but not £300k better. Whilst planning is clearly, currently a block to such a thing occuring, even if removed, it would only ever be a niche thing for people for whom, money is no real object. So, dont understand your thinking here.

As more and more money hinges on epc rating, at least in the rented sector, the more corrupt it will become. Now that BCO's have at least some responsibility for what they sign off, epc's are, essentially, the weakest link in the chain. Its a market, that has no meaningful oversight. Just like building control has been for a long time. Pay money to the right person, get the result you want. And save 10's of thousands.

What Dave said up there ^^^^^ What i did. You cant win against government.

If i put my cynical hat on, id say the government will force you to upgrade, but if you cant afford it, they will "lend" you the money, payable if you sell or when you die. The latter would allow the government to aquire the house. And sell it to "chums".

Thanks, most useful The below seems to be they key point. ie, 100A may be acceptable.................... Depending on if one can take workshop loads into account, depends which side of the line you fall. With an EV charger, a heat pump, cooker, shower, plus my workshopn inc compressor, one could easily calculate accordingly for a 100A supply. But i dont currently have all those thngs. Because i dont have a supply. I shall have to try and see if i can make progress on the single phase side of things. All that said, its probably acedemic as the supply cable almost certainly isnt big enough if we take the below into account. The supply id suggest is no more than 10mm2 cable. Its all rather complicated for the layman to challenge.

Dont really want LPG. Longer term, yes could move to oil for the shower. The compressor would be the primary load for three phase, with occasional, lower load devices as well.

3 x 80a would be brilliant. Except it makes no economic sense at all. Its like filling your car up at the petrol station, and them asking for £500 for the pump you used to fill up.

As per my thoughts elsewhere, i wanted a 3 phase supply for my workshop as i have some three phase equipment, and ideally, need a bigger compressor, which would be better three phase. Probably 7 to 10kw. However, their position on this is i have to pay for all the network re-inforcement unless there were three houses off the same transformer. But theres only 2. Theres simply no way im going to pay that much for a connection from a pole in my own field. Whilst im still debating this with them, i need to look at other options. Realistically, i have 2. Install a genset (with batteries), or upgrade the existing 240v supply from the existing 60 amp one to 100amp. I "might" get away with 80amp. but i might have to apply some selector switch so i cant run the compressor at the same time as other loads. The house has an electric shower and eloectric cooker, both on 30amp breakers before you even consider the workshop. With regard to the criteria you refer to (thanks for that) its a bit grey as its the workshop that tips it over. Its a workshop at home, for my own use, so "domestic" in nature, but obviously, has electrical demands beyond what most would consider "normal". So, i guess do NOT fall within the requirements. Would an EV charger pull it in to the requirements? Where are you finding these documents? Ive not found them.

Can you confirm that you were offered 100A please? They will give me 80, but not 100. They said:" National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) downgraded the size of domestic connections some years ago." Which i do in fact recall. If you were offered 100A, can you advise who you are dealing with. Im dealing with National Grid (ex Western Power) Its also not free for me, but not enough to get excited about. It just all appears wildly inconsistent.

Thanks for the info. Upgrading the existing supply (and installing a gen set) is my back up option. Hopefully it's just a fuse change. Though the meter says 40amp max!

I strapped a laser level receiver to the arm to help me with grading.

Welcome to my world! Logic and reason don't really come into it. Any opportunity to get the customer to pay for the infrastructure seems to be fair game. My quote was more than twice as much and it's from a pole that's 50ft from my building in my own field. Trying to reason with them, so far, has get me nowhere. I'm interested that they agreed to do a free upgrade to 100 amp though. I could live with that, as like you, mines a 60 amp supply. How did you confirm it would be free?

Loads. So many it would take forever. How does 1.8 million for three slow down ramps sound?

I'd beg to differ. Highest taxes ever, and the least to show for it. I'd say it generally isn't. It's completely out of control.

I think I'd be challenging that. Who's to decide what is "big enough"? Depends what you want to do, surely?

Paying tax is fine if it's used for the good of society. Sadly. That's too, a significant extent, no longer the case. I am therefore be fleeced or whatever other term you wish to use. As for taxing still more, fortunately I don't think any government of any colour are quite stupid enough to do that. All it will do is make poor people poorer (and colder). Those people simply don't have the capital to move to a heat pump. No matter how cheap electricity is. Fortunately for us, most people don't want to punish there fellow man. It will be a very sad day if that ever comes to pass. I find it sad the people want to do this.