newhome

Yes it's advantageous if they will do that but there was a test case that determined that it was no appropriate for a scaffold company to offer free hire if their labour costs were paid for so they shouldn't remove the hire charge completely.

Only half though . The other half thought that you should save your money and tile up to the plinths and under appliances like the dishwasher. Moot anyway as @zoothorn needs his sink back PDQ and is only putting lino down anyway .

Good stuff! Now to get it all put back together!

Nail on the head right there! I can look at videos etc until I'm blue in the face but try to actually do it and I have 10 thumbs and no brain cells connecting them!

That sounds great @JSHarris. They must have a formal conversion course for someone who has done the full C&G qualification for a previous edition I would have thought anyway.

@Onoff's covering himself and giving you fair warning as to the dangers involved in electrics. Would be wrong of him to say 'give this a go' and then you go and electrocute yourself. I wouldn't worry about the socket for now TBH as it's on the other wall anyway isn't it? And get something sorted for that later on. The important thing is to get the sink etc installed.

Is that because you have metering for payment or because when you applied Ofgem decided that you qualified for a lot less than your installer predicted?

I have enough of a basic knowledge that tells me to leave it to someone with knowledge, especially with 3 phase. A death wish I do not have! That drawing above was ace by the way! I know you love your drawings but that one was one of the best so far!

That's a good deal if it's only costing 6352 to fit!

Oh I wouldn't do business with any organisation that peed me off that much either unless I had to. Can't swap from the horrendous service from Willis Towers Watson though as they administer my work pension. They are a complete joke of an organisation.

That seems like a decent quote TBH. Are they applying for the RHI payment? Your quote would seem to tick that box. I got a quote for an 11.2kw Mitsubishi Ecodan with an UVC that came in at £14,680 and although a larger ASHP it wasn't that much larger! @Stones has the model your in-laws are being quoted for I believe.

Where's @SteamyTea when you want him? He's always good at insulation subjects et al.

Have you asked on your local Facebook group? Quite a lot of recommendations seem to come from there these days.

Shouldn’t you put something under flooring anyway? If not this stuff what would be best for vinyl for instance as I think that’s what @zoothorn was thinking of using?

Ok thanks. What about something like this that is supposedly for concrete floors? https://www.ecohome-insulation.com/products/ecotec-floorfoam-insulation-kit

Thanks. I bet that accounts for some of my strangely high summer electric bill then (not as bad as @lizzie‘s). Must get the loft sorted as a priority then so that I can get to it!

It’s a pension hence the age 55 and relies on the government not changing the rules as they’ve done in the fairly recent past to change the age from 50. So a JISA may be a better bet, or if they are over 18 and you want to help with money towards their first home a Lifetime ISA. Big penalty for withdrawing early if not for a house however.

£800 in the summer ?. That’s a lot! Worth trying to find out what’s causing the high usage.

Worth it though?

Well that’s good news after all that effort! You will need the completion certificate to put the vat claim in and you have 3 months in which to send it.

I don’t have an issue with any particular bank. I just look for the best return. TSB have come close to p*****g me off enough that I will leave but I can’t be arsed in truth.

Ha ha, I don't watch the TV so don't have that problem. I did however switch a load of appliances off last weekend that had been left on standby including 2 large TVs that hadn't been switched on in over 2 years! I can't have a smart meter yet as apparently they haven't written the software yet for my 2 meter system. Given that they can't even get my bills right at present and continually blame 'the system' for it I have no confidence in them writing software for smart meters. I definitely won't be having one. I did consider buying one of these the other day however. Not sure how accurate they are however. Energy Monitor

You're marketing your current home or the new one? Be careful if it's the new one as the VAT claim is only valid if you move into the house yourself. You should be able to claim for the hard landscaping items regardless of whether the materials are laid at that point. Just because something is expensive shouldn't prevent you from claiming. You should be able to claim for the gates but not motors as these are specifically excluded in the claim notes.

This might be a crap idea but can you insulate under the kitchen cupboards? As in put Rockwool or similar underneath them? @Onoff? @PeterW? I know you can't insulate elsewhere on that concrete floor.

I have money in a fixed term savings account for 12 months. Personally I am not going to go for anything longer than 12 months as the additional interest doesn't seem worth it. I would rather take the return after a year and see where interest rates are headed then. I got 2.05% on a 12 month fixed rate savings bond with Atom Bank (down to 2% now). Has to be done via an app though, although I'm fine with that. It was very straightforward. I am now about to do another one but I will go for the ICICI one (2.02%) but if the application is made via Raisin there is up to £80 cashback. Those tie your money up for the entire fixed term however. There is a 9 month one on the market too with ICICI (and cashback via Raisin). As has been said, max out your ISAs either in cash (no risk up to 85k if FSCS protected - always check) or stocks and shares (obviously dependent on the stock market). That will be 40k used up and free of tax of course although the returns may not be great on the cash ISAs. I have 3 interest paying current accounts; Santander 123 account, Club Lloyds and TSB Classic Plus. Most of the interest earning accounts require a minimum amount to be paid in each month and a certain number of direct debits to be set up. I use standing orders to switch money between them to tick the minimum amount paid in box. My constraint is that I don't have any more direct debits so I can only have the 3 accounts. The Santander 123 account also pays cashback on bills so I put the 3 largest direct debits through that account. The other 2 accounts get smaller direct debits like the TV licence. I also use their monthly saver options. They are limited as to how much you can pay in each month but the interest rates pay up to 5% so I do them anyway. There are some better current accounts now but current accounts are more of a faff to set up so I'm not looking to switch. Nationwide Flexdirect and Tesco Bank offer options that I would go with now if I wanted to open a new one. Be mindful of the limits after which you will need to pay tax. It could determine where you stash your cash if you and the wife are in different tax bands. £1000 savings interest tax free if you are a basic rate tax payer, £500 if you are a higher rate tax payer (none for the additional rate taxpayers). The limit on tax free dividend payments dropped this tax year from 5k to 2k . If one of you isn't working (or earns below the personal allowance) and the other is a basic rate tax payer you can apply for the married persons tax allowance. I doubt that many people qualify for this on here, however some people might if they have given up working for a period to work on their build for example. It's worth £238 a year and can be backdated. Consider paying extra into your pension but be mindful of the annual allowance and the lifetime allowance if you have a lot of pension savings already. I'm not going to invest much more in the stock market this year personally. I've just taken the cash equivalent transfer value for my defined benefit pension and put it in a SIPP so that's enough stock market exposure for one year! That almost guarantees that the stock market will tank now! I had forgotten about premium bonds. Will shove some in there and see what happens.