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Yes apologies I meant that labour costs could be zero rated but my wording was poor. I will amend so as not to confuse!

Sounds sensible if your almonds have gone astray ?

Believe me @zoothorn I have been thrown into the world of DIY kicking and screaming. I never intended, envisaged or wanted to do it but sometimes needs must. I’ve spent hours staring at a bloody wall hung cistern (work of the devil those things) wanting to smash it with a hammer mostly. Slowly I’m getting to grips with it though and I can now get the plates off and back on again in 10 mins. Took bloody ages to start with so there is light at the end of the tunnel. And believe me you are more adept at this stuff than me.

There are also a bunch of things that aren’t covered in the HMRC form where people have had success in reclaiming the vat. Boiling water taps for example. If in doubt have a browse of the topics in this forum and if you don’t see what you need start a new thread and ask. There is never a dumb question here.

PS - no hijack, fire away. The mods only get their knickers in a twist if you put something in the wrong forum ?. Even then it’s easy to move ?

Yes but it’s a bit more complex / quirky than that, so fitted kitchens yes, integrated appliances no, apart from a cooker hood. You can claim for an aga that contributes to heating but not one that doesn’t. Hard floors yes, carpets no. VAT on trades if they bring their own machinery even if it’s hired, as in machinery with operator can be zero rated, but hire equipment on its own, no. Scaffolding erection costs (and dismantling) zero rated, but the hire element, no. Etc etc. Essentially any vat on labour (or full supply and fit) CANNOT be reclaimed. It has to be zero rated at source if eligible. Suggest you read the HMRC guide and claim form end to end as you really need to understand it at the start of the build not at the time you need to claim or you can end up losing out potentially. HMRC Self Build rules Well you could do that I guess but surely your own money is better in your own pocket / bank account than sitting with HMRC? You do risk falling foul of process and HMRC refusing your claim. That’s not likely if you have ticked all the boxes but your question above leads me to believe that you haven’t read the HMRC claim process from start to finish yet and believe me they would be delighted to refuse your claim if there are any anomalies at all. I would also suggest that windows are quite early on in the self build journey and you may be glad of that cash later on (HMRC took 20 weeks to pay my reclaim from submission).

Lol, trying to live in chaos when you are self building is never fun and generally goes with the territory. Washing up bowl, boiled kettles etc. It’s like camping, but a good motivator to get things sorted ASAP.

You are going to need to keep those batteries charged and ready to use. If you get into difficulty with plumbing etc you won’t want to wait until the end of the day to post the sos photo.

Motivational chat Welshman style = grow a pair! ?. Tough love ... Why can’t you just practice cutting the mosaics? Via some old or cheap ones to start with if you don’t want to wreck any.

@Nickfromwales some confidence building motivational chat needed. Help @Onoff with his mosaics or this ain’t gonna get done in the next decade! ?

I did this too with the company that did the screeding as despite me telling him it should be zero rated the invoice came through showing standard rate vat. He wasn’t happy but said he’d come back to me if HMRC had a problem. Never heard from him again.

If it was 2 separate invoices and the windows were ordered first and the fitting agreed separately then in theory you could. I imagine they aren’t supposed to if it was all agreed at the same time but if your question solely relates to the reclaim then HMRC aren’t able to ascertain from a completely separate supply invoice that the fitting was done by the same company unless the invoice mentioned this. The question is why would you want to do this however as you will be paying the vat up front when you don’t need to and will need to wait to reclaim it.

Do you have any sockets behind those cupboards? If so you’ll need to get those extension boxes before you get the sink back in probably.

What will your reward be I wonder ... ?

What I said above then. Shitting it ?

That isn’t @JSHarris‘ concern tho. He’s saying that the cable will react with the insulation whether or not it’s switched on and will melt. That would put the shits up me personally as the last thing I would want to do is take a risk that involved electric or fire, but maybe that’s just me. Cables and insulation You say that your house is a 20 year DIY disaster but slowly but surely you are addressing that. This job being a case in point as rather than just tarting up the kitchen with a new worktop and sink you are doing a proper job by addressing the one of the big issues in the house which is the lack of insulation. And you are doing a decent job so far too.

We used the Leyland Contract emulsion for all rooms bar the kitchen / utility where we used Dulux kitchen. Only did 2 coats and it’s been up for years and is still ok. Having said that the Leyland Super Leytex is about the same price per litre so you may as well get that.

Feel free. Just think how good it will look after a few glasses of vino ? ?

I would be happy to help come and paint if you need a hand with that. Can’t do much else but I should be able to do that. Worth looking for paint offers and buying the paint in preparation as that will be vat reclaimable.

He’s clearly naval gazing ?. Mustering up Dutch courage to do THE most visible part via plenty of beer and diversionary tactics ?.

Well at least it was a typo and you're not deranged / delusional .

A SE plumber wouldn't get out of bed for that ...

£1200 surely?

Valid Advice hopefully Taken onboard ...

People don't tend to forget easily if they feel they have been wronged. And something that you feel might be the right solution at the time (especially if you have little knowledge of the subject matter) may not be the end of it if later further issues occur that you might relate back to the original work, or if the issues are with the same company. We all have bees in our bonnets about certain areas of our build for sure. Things that eat away at you until you are able to move on and let it go. T'ain't easy though and takes time!