newhome

Yep! I have a built in vacuum but always use the cordless machines that cost a lot less as they are much more convenient. I never saw the point of a built in vac TBH but it was one of the things hubby wouldn’t compromise on, and I don’t think he used it once! I’ve never ever used it downstairs. The hose for downstairs is still in its box in the garage. Still, I might get the vat back with any luck! ? The garage door rule is interesting as you are not allowed to claim for the electric motor but some doors like the one I have won’t work unless they have a motor. I haven’t been able to claim for the door anyway (no garage on the PP) but it would be a pain if you’ve bought it as a single unit and want to claim I imagine. You also can’t claim for blinds but mine are all integrated into the windows so I have been able to. The other interesting thing is when you buy a timber frame kit supply only it will include a certain amount of structural design time for the timber frame but I assume that HMRC doesn’t reduce the claim by a proportion. I say assume because I haven’t had any money from them yet so it’s a journey of discovery!

I believe that Agas have to be solid fuel or oil fired, or designed to heat space or water so the electric ones might be a struggle to get approved maybe, and a range cooker wouldn’t qualify I think.

+1 for Method liquid soap. Very occasionally they have it on Amazon at a crazy price, like £5 for 6 bottles. I’ve bought 2 lots at that sort of price.

Ha ha, don’t you think that’s why I wrote that, so someone would bite . Marmite. Love mine. Wonder if there are uk sellers who buy pipe from such factories though and rebrand it? I didn’t know my solar thermal panels were Chinese until @billt told me.

I didn’t think mine was worth buying TBH and 2.5k seemed a lot at the time, but as my build took far longer than expected and circumstances changed meaning that I will almost certainly sell up within the 10 years after completion at least I have the comfort that I have a piece of paper if needed. Well almost, because this thread reminded me that I needed to provide them with the completion certificate to receive the piece of paper. Paying for it is a distant memory TBH so neither here nor there now. The house next door doesn’t have a warranty (purchased from a small builder), and nor does it have a completion certificate either as it happens (unbeknown to them until I received mine and the council mentioned it). They have a mortgage on it so clearly the mortgage company didn’t want to see evidence of either. I imagine their 10 year period will start from when they finally get the completion certificate even though they have been living there for 10 years already.

Would need to be a bloody small screen tho if it’s the walk on glass I’m thinking of!

Here’s a link to a site manufacturing pipe in China for info. http://m.sunplastpipe.com/multilayer-pipe/astm-f-1281-standard-en-iso21003-standard-ce.html The following suggests that they supply to companies who wish to sell with their own branding? Markings on the pipe Customer's logo can be stamped If reclaiming the tax is important check whether they will supply something that HMRC will allow otherwise the cost differential is less. And if you do order via the original link it appears that they will accept a ‘best offer’ from feedback received. Worth an enquiry to ask for a free sample maybe? iPhones are made in China

Of course it won’t consistently happen. This is a voluntary forum not a dictatorship

But @ultramods has clarified the point he was making which is to provide a structured approach to documenting individual self builds containing data, reasons for choices, and other useful info.

Me too. BuildZone offers their warranty retrospectively I believe so you have to decide whether to take a cheaper option now or take the risk that you won’t need one but accept that it will cost you considerably more later if you do.

Personally I think it's a great idea. I would certainly have benefited from reading such summaries before I started my build I'm sure. Everyone will have their own idea about what good looks like but it needs someone to take the first step. I'm sure you have time to draft something before your build starts in earnest .

Your idea - first dibs on the first draft to you then - chop chop!

Still difficult however when threads run to many many pages, often taking a life of their own when they go off topic, so how does anyone find the answer? My nightmare heating thread ran to 38 pages, and @Onoff's Boxing In is on page 65 although that one is more about looking for the meaning of life I think . It would be useful if you could tag the entire thread as answered but then tag the actual post(s) containing the answer too thus letting someone go straight from a to b whilst cutting out the noise in between unless someone wants to read more. I don't think you can tag individual posts though can you?

That was pretty much the stage when we moved in too. One room finished to live in (kitchen / family) and 1 bathroom (downstairs shower room ). Nothing else was habitable at that stage. Still beat living in a caravan!

That looks nice! The Mrs is happy, you got a bargain, and I'll wager it's still fitted before a certain Kentish Man's shower . What's next on the list in terms of the build?

Looks good! Has that come in more or less on budget? I guess the info I always find useful is how far from budgeted costs something comes in at and if there is a variance what caused that. And yes, the weather has been amazing here. You really struck lucky with that.

We don't have private BC up here (Scotland). I had a warranty through Buildzone and their appointed guy came out 4 times I think. He was here for less than an hour each time I believe but I wasn't here for 2 of the inspections. I know that for the first inspection my hubby was worried as he thought he would be really picky but he just wandered round for a bit I believe. He didn't seem to pay much attention to detail eg in his last report he asked for the commissioning report for the oil / gas boiler (it's electric and he has a photo of the clearly electric boiler in his report!) and says that any damage to the PV panels is excluded accompanied by a photo of the ST panels (I don't have PV) that he has labelled 'PV Panels'. I asked him to clarify something he had written in his 3rd report and got nothing back at all and gave up after a couple of emails. The cost was circa 1% of the actual build cost.

I think the ‘workbook’ idea as @PeterW puts it is a great idea. Trying to do more with the data here to summarise, recommend, help troubleshoot or whatever from the huge range of posts on here would be a huge undertaking. Everyone has a different build, different ideas, needs, challenges, budgets and tastes so I think that using tags, searches, and maybe encouraging people to summarise their builds more in a sort of lessons learned style may be the easiest approach. It’s certainly much less labour intensive for the admin team. If you wanted to mature the lessons learned approach a little more rather than making it completely free form you could perhaps provide a template to facilitate this. This could be completed at the end of the build or during as a living document as people have addressed and overcome their challenges. Contributors could also be encouraged to link to content on here that helped them move forward. It would however be reliant on contributors making this commitment and as always you will have those that will and those that won’t. C’est la vie. The blogs and posts on here are great but there is a lot to wade through to get to the punchline, and that’s on a forum that has only been around for just shy of 2 years, so any attempt to encourage summarisation by the OP (or other members if they so choose) may be beneficial.

Not the 3 girls in a bed that get you going then?

+1. How very sad that people visiting somewhere like Skye would be worried about a TV! Having said that I don't really watch TV. Last time I switched mine on was for the Olympics in 2016 lol. I watch a few things via streaming on occasion, or iPlayer so provide a note of websites where they can get content on their laptop etc (iPlayer, ITV Hub and the like) . With Wifi they can get whatever they want on their own device. I would say don't stress about it. Put something basic in if you must and make clear that is what is provided. Job done.

Yep! My old Redrow house being a case in point!

Mine too! Hubby’s laptop was Windows 10 and I hated it so haven’t ever bothered with the upgrade on mine. Work is always a million miles behind anyway. We’ve only just moved to Windows 7 from XP lol.

Why would you not worry about items you couldn’t see? If they have an important function they are surely just as important whether you can see them or not? Form over function? Plus things you can’t see are often more hellish to correct later if there is an issue.

And here is just the thing to complement that! ? https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B074P3F7JL/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1525987374&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=toilet+light&dpPl=1&dpID=51hSF7zH6uL&ref=plSrch

It says in the blurb that the house was still under construction when the retrospective permission was sought but that the owner pressed on and completed the build and occupied the building in the interim. Retrospective permission was applied for in July last year but they only made the final decision this week. This photo clearly demonstates the issue. The decision did also say that excavation was a condition of the planning permission to enable the height to be achieved as per the approved plans.