newhome

The current billing is as automated as I want it. I take a reading every month, it creates a bill. Simples. The ‘man’ that comes to read the meter (never seen one to confirm sex ?) leaves a card for me to do a self read and enter it on a website so no different to me taking my self triggered reading. No one has been in the house to read the meter here in years. With Scottish Power being one of the most hopeless companies I’ve ever had to deal with the thought of them automating anything further when their website and app is just appalling is frightening. This is their amazing app. They can’t even get the text sizing right!

There is still no smart meter developed for my setup. Long may it continue. It says For example our installers may not have reached the area where you live, your meter type may not be supported by a smart meter equivalent yet or your property type may have some physical barriers preventing a smart meter install such as poor signal strength. We are however committed to installing a smart meter to every home and small business by 2020.

From what someone else said on here autonomy is an issue there too resulting in delays. The cost of the plots vs the price of the ready for sale homes there don’t stack up either. There’s a good overview of what it’s like in this post. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/9242-grand-designs-at-graven-hill-starts-tonight-on-channel-4/?do=findComment&comment=158926

Get the grim reaper to do it ?

Sadly we didn't think about that until too late! Had a nightmare getting a modern tap that was low enough that the window didn't hit it! Cost a bloody fortune to get one that I liked lol but it was still a compromise as most of the ones I liked were too tall!

Well initially you get a self build insurance that covers you whilst you are building the house, but if you are talking about afterwards an insurance company will assume that any house that has been signed off by building control meets the standards necessary to insure as long as it's not made of something they won't insure (not all insurance companies will insure out of the ordinary constructions and those that do likely put a premium on them). TBH a new house (in theory) is likely to be much less of a risk for an insurer to take on than something built a zillion years ago when there were far less safety standards about.

The astroturf has changed since we bought the ex Crufts stuff. We had the earliest version when they changed from real carpet to astroturf. Must have been something like 2003 ish from memory. I actually went with my hubby to choose the surface for Crufts when they swapped from carpet. We ran our agility dogs on samples of a variety of different Astroturfs along with Mary Ray who tried it out for obedience, and chose the longer piled 'premier' turf as the dogs slipped less. As always however things change and new things come along and about 3 years ago the surface changed to Juta Grass that had been used at the World Championships. So it's different stuff these days. Not sure if they still sell it off afterwards. It's a different company so maybe not. Juta Grass

I wouldn't assume that everyone who works in client services doesn't know what they are doing anyway as many of them are very experienced. I actually wrote something related in an earlier thread and on the basis of what you have done I think you are covered. I think you have taken reasonable care and not misrepresented yourself so job's a good un . It's mortgage rather than insurance but I would assume that similar disclosure clauses apply.

I think you’re covered if you have it in writing.

Yes, anything to do with insurance is worth checking. The Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 requires a consumer to: "take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation" It’s really not worth the risk of failing to declare or check something that could affect your cover.

Seems good enough to me. Write back and thank them and confirm your understanding that you can go ahead without issue and to let you know if you haven't understood it correctly. It does sound like they won't have an issue though. If it's an extension you're doing rather than a demolition / rebuild I don't think the reply you've got is that unusual TBH. Do check your insurance though.

This came up before and I asked my insurance company. They weren't bothered whether it was DIY or not. I don't have PV but I have ST and it was installed by an 'approved installer' (had to be to get the Energy Saving Trust grant) but AFAIK it was pre the MCS scheme. Must be quite a few early adopters in the same position. This is what I wrote before.

I used sand under my AstroTurf (as most people do I believe) and it was fine with dogs. My dogs (I had 9 at one stage ) weren't on it 24 x 7 but I used to spray it with Odourfresh on occasion and that seemed to sort out any issues. A hose end sprayer is perfect for that. I use Odourfresh here for spraying the patio area where the dogs go now. They're not allowed on the lawn here as one of my 2 dogs digs the lawn making it even worse than it is! She never dug the Astroturf . I also use Odourfresh in the laundry when I wash their beds, pretty much anywhere I want to freshen up as it's a disinfectant as well as a deodoriser. Odourfresh, Some people use diluted biological washing powder in a watering can to clean their Astroturf although I haven't tried that (guess it might work for patio areas too), and there seem to be a load of specialist cleaners now but I haven't tried any of those. Artificial Grass Cleaner For some people moss and algae seem to be an issue but we only got a tiny bit of algae in one corner in winter where there wasn't much sun. Using an algae remover soon sorted that out. Never had any moss. The odd weed used to grow in the astroturf but I'm talking a handful a year, not the millions that seem to appear in my gravel and are a never ending job to address! There are a ton of posts about Astoturf and dogs in the Facebook group linked below as many people with dogs have swapped to AstroTurf, mostly to avoid the mud issues in winter. Our Astro actually came from the main ring at Crufts. Crufts used to have a deal with the company they used whereby the company would supply new Astroturf to use at Crufts and then they took it back after Crufts each year and sold it off at a discount. I think we got a third off the normal price. Link to Facebook post As others have said however the key to success is in the prep. Don't cut corners on preparing the ground before laying the Astroturf or it will end up an expensive mess.

Could you get a quote to ‘watertight’ and then look to see what bits from first fix onwards you could do yourself as those will be the bits that you are more likely to be able to DIY? Maybe you could offer to do some of the labour to get to the watertight stage to keep costs down.

I think your garden would look good with artificial turf @lizzie but you need to embrace the look of it and not constantly compare it to real grass because otherwise you can’t make it work for you.

I would have used AstroTurf again but the OH wanted grass. It’s me who has to look after it now though. I don’t mind the mowing too much, it’s the weeds I have an issue with really.

I got turf laid but I don’t think it’s the best. 3 years since it’s been laid but it’s quite weedy and some of the grass is quite coarse so I don’t think it was the best to begin with. I tried to reseed a few bits of it last year but I clearly didn’t do it right as none of the seed germinated. Might have been the seed I used I guess ... I think that artificial grass looks ok in the right setting, especially with a very modern house.

I had artificial grass at my previous house. It was trouble free compared to how long it takes to mow the lawn and keep weed free. Much more practical for my dogs too, especially in winter. Bees are attracted by plants IME. I have plenty of bees here but buzzing round certain plants, not the lawn.

See here: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/6851-a-guide-to-the-vat-reclaim-process/?do=findComment&comment=115961 There is a ‘certificate’ noted in that post that you can use if they ask for one. Refer them back to VAT Notice 708.

Yes that’s correct. Easier for @Triassic to get the whole lot as a supply and fit and thus the whole lot zero rated. The only reason they can have for raising two separate invoices is if you ordered the windows separately and left the fitting to be decided separately.

Circa 10p for heating and 15p for everything else.

Wasn’t an option for me as the self build insurer refused to extend so I had no option but to find cover elsewhere

Problem is that anything out of the ordinary will fall into manual underwriting and they will always load the premium as they won’t want to take additional risk without it being worth their while / covered against loss. They may also use a reinsurer to mitigate the risk of some higher risk areas so you will be paying for that too. You could look for FLEA cover but for the sake of a couple of hundred quid or so I would just bite the bullet and get proper insurance. It should (in theory) only be for a year or two surely?

Similar thread on the go here:

You’ll be getting arsenic in that cuppa if you’re not careful ? ☕️