newhome

The surveyor came out 3 or 4 times to my build. Didn’t spend long here but took a few photos. Then sent a report at the end saying things like a certificate was needed for the gas boiler (no mains gas in the area and the boiler he took a photo of was electric), and that the PV panels wouldn’t be covered by the warranty (no PV here, just solar thermal). It was a while ago but I think I paid something like 2.5k plus about £130 for an indemnity fee because the foundations had already been laid (we bought the plot with the foundations) so the build was counted as ‘started’.

Thanks. Which is what I meant by ‘who is liable’ when it’s a real self build without a builder because that implies that you are responsible for the standard of your own work for the first 2 years (unless self build warranties are worded differently).

I thought the way that the NHBC policies worked was that it was up to the builder to pay out in the first 2 years? Not sure if that’s the case with a self build warranty. I have to confess I have never read mine.

My surveyor from Buildzone travelled from Wales! Maybe the issue with Scotland is that you can’t have private building control inspections incorporated into the product so there isn’t as much of a market for them in Scotland, especially if you don’t need one to secure a mortgage.

The issue with a structural warranty is that if the company goes out of business (as happened last year or the year before with one company) lenders quickly remove them from their approved list. And who is liable if it’s a real self build with no builder contracted to build? I always wondered who would be liable in that scenario. Does anyone actually know someone who has actually had a pay out from a self build warranty or defects remediated?

Well I wouldn’t fancy breathing in the fumes all day. I guess the dog would die first ?. Don’t want her to act as the canary though!

Generator is here. He says I can’t run a kettle etc or it will trip. He asked if I wanted it inside. I said won’t it be noisy and stink. It’s not very noisy he says. I asked him to put it outside anyway and it’s noisy and smelly. Guess everything is relative ... T minus 45 mins until the power goes off

Indeedy, but I’m with the guy on the video Steamy posted, tomatoes are not all the same ??. And having drunk proper coffee for a few years despite not being a bean snob by any stretch of the imagination (I tend to buy them from Aldi) I no longer like the taste of instant coffee when once upon a time I drank instant coffee all the time.

To be honest sometimes it depends what the tradesperson will agree to. You really need to agree the VAT rate when you engage them because some won’t reduce or zero rate (for a new build) the VAT even if it’s clearly eligible as they just don’t want the hassle on their VAT return. Perculation test is a bit of a grey area in truth so see if you can get the VAT reduced to 5% but accept that you may not. There was a similar discussion here:

Nope! So security conscious they won’t allow tethering. Yes I’ll speak to the neighbour about sorting her fish if they’ve left before the generator arrives as I have a key. Typically they are in 4 different rooms!

My De Longhi bean to cup (does cappuccino too although I don’t often use that function) is 6 years old and has been fine but I don’t drink much coffee (1 or 2 cups a day max) so it doesn’t really get hammered. Personally I prefer a mild Starbucks coffee (which proves I’m not a real coffee drinker I guess) ?.

Having checked the letter the outage is actually Wednesday and power will be off at 9am until they finish the work. Hopefully on again before it’s super dark outside. No idea re the generator but they said that they would leave it at the front door so guess I can trail a lead through the letterbox as I don’t fancy having a door or window open all day. My neighbour has 5 tanks of tropical fish and I know she’s been on at them to ensure that she has an adequate back up supply. She leaves for work early though so if they are only dropping the generator off on the day I don’t know how that will work. I won’t phone in sick as I can work off the mobile at a push, but it’s not very convenient as I can’t do everything I need to on there.

I hope they still are! Not heard anything since the guy offered it over the phone since the start of Sept.

I can’t even get to some of the plugs. Am I better to switch everything off at the CU unit instead and just leave one lighting circuit on and then switch the rest on gradually once it’s back up and running?

Buy an electric heated throw. An absolute game changer when it’s that time of year when you feel a bit cold when sitting around but it’s not really cold enough to heat the whole house.

My electricity supply is going off on Tuesday. Do I really need to unplug everything? No one does when there’s a power cut of course. Typically they are doing it now when just a couple of weeks ago the weather was much warmer. They are supposed to be providing me with a generator as I am working from home and need the router and power to the laptop. Can I run a kettle from that or a 3kw heater? Here is the info they’ve sent me.

Not really. It’s 17 degrees in here today but the electric is going off on Tuesday all day for emergency repairs up the road or something. I wasn’t going to put on the UFH for the heating to then be off for ages and have the temperature drop down again. They are supposed to be lending me a generator but god knows how that will work out. I need to power the router and the laptop so that I can work from home. If it can also power a 3kw heater I may put that on.

20 degrees downstairs and 18 degrees in the bedroom. I haven’t switched the heating on yet though so it’s a bit cooler than that but not that bad.

You can’t use the DIY Housebuilders’ reclaim scheme for this since this is only for houses you intend to live in. As @Mr Punter says you may be able to reclaim the VAT if you are VAT registered but please take professional advice.

Welcome. There is a guide to the VAT reclaim scheme in a sub forum within this forum that is available to regular posting members.. You generally need a certain number of posts to access it but maybe one of the admins @PeterW or @MikeSharp01 can allow you to see it. If they do then you can view it here. The first few posts explain most of it. it’s written with a new build in mind but much of it will apply to a conversion too. The main difference is that for a conversion any labour or supply & fit arrangements will be charged at 5% instead of zero rated as new builds are. If your conversion meets the rules you can reclaim the 5% through the reclaim process, and you can reclaim the VAT on materials (note that it’s for materials only) purchased yourself. I think there are some other things to consider with regards to croft land and the position with VAT. @Thedreamer has just finished a new build on croft land and he may be able to advise on how the reclaim regs are applied in this scenario as I’m not sure. In terms of how to prove that the property hasn’t been lived in for 10 years or more maybe you can get a letter from the council confirming that the house has never been subject to council tax due to it being inhabitable since before council tax began? That would be my first port of call anyway. I don’t see why they wouldn’t be willing to confirm that in a letter since you will be providing them with council tax revenue at the end of the project.

Yes I would have tried to sneak it through too. I would only approach HMRC if I had a scenario that needed clarification that might impact the validity of the entire claim. For an individual item I would have just put the claim in. We have seen cases where some people have been successful in claiming for certain items and some have not.

Says they are in stock here: https://www.hydeparktiles.co.uk/izen-black-chevron-mosaic.html

So whatever they say goes, even if the rationale is full of holes. Why are we not surprised! ?

They go on planning docs and if they’re not sure about something they will ask via letter. They have been known to use Google Street View however.

National DIY Team SO970 HM Revenue and Customs Newcastle NE98 1ZZ Don’t bother with the phone as they have a habit of giving incorrect advice and later say that they have no record of it. Something in writing is the way forward.