Ralph

Tesla are impressive but I think they are still making a lot less cars than the top 10 or 20 producers by volume. Change management seems like a nightmare in the older behemoths. That's a good point, QC in some of these companies was already suspect.

I'm working with automotive companies at the moment and there is also apparently a massive shortage of basic electronic components like ceramic capacitors and resistors. We’ve been trying to buy new ovens and the likes of AO have about 55% of their lines out of stock.

Thanks, ours is apparently refered to locally as the Stealth House.

Thanks, it's cedral on ground floor and standing seam steel on first floor and roof.

The only thing that bugs me about our Rationel windows is the way that a slider is made up from a two pane door and a fixed window. it means that the frames across the sliders don't match up. Those in the picture are 4812 x 2088 . The middle triangular pain is 1603 x 2013 to the point

There's slow and there's slow. I'm going to measure flow rate for Fohen tech support later today but I reckon it will take over a minute to fill a mug.

Second what @joe90 writes. We are on clay and it's a pain to deal with when it rains. Getting rid of stones and improving soil takes a lot of work so do try and keep the pressure on the developer to sort it out. You may also find all sorts of things buried rather than taken off site.

Does anyone have a Fohen? Ours was installed at the weekend and the boiling tap comes on like it's got a prostate problem. I thought that the boiling tanks were pressurised so flow would be better.

Not so much project management but a lot of advice. The management of the contract meant that when the builder would invoice for a phase the AT would inspect and sign off that x amount of work had been done. He also tended to know most of the trades in the area and who had a good or bad rep. I also think the point above about value engineer is a good one. The architect and AT continually pushed back on us when we suggest things, trying to keep us on budget.

We had an architect for the design then an AT in the same practice for the technical aspects and the contract administration. Both were good at what they do and we’re happy with their end of things. AT was particularly good on calling bullshit on some of the things that the builder wanted to do that I would maybe not have picked up on. Not cheap but I would do the same thing again if I were ever insane enough to attempt another build.

No expert but I would be a bit wary of not having gutters (especially here in Scotland) and I'm not sure how you would finish the edge of the roof. We used standing seam steel and kept the gutters quite tight under the roof. I don't think they stand out too much.

Zenith compact laminate for us. Good price and seems to very hard wearing. Was a pig to to drill through for a tap, really hard stuff and when you cut it the edge is very sharp. I did see white corian in a show room, it looked stained and scratched, salesman said they had works party and that was from wine glasses which was surprising.

I have had this cheapo one for sometime https://uk.apemans.com/collections/trail-camera/products/apeman-trail-camera-h60 It's been out in all year round on our site and we've never had an issue. Picture and video quality is decent enough for the money. Poison is a bit cruel for me, we are currently using live traps for mice and letting them go in some woods about a mile away.

I totally get that people want to lie to themselves (and therefore everyone else) about the true build costs. Especially if you have justified the project by thinking that self build is a cheaper route to a house. Also where do you stop when including associated costs? Land, preliminaries, build mortgage, marriage counselling, regular medicine (bottle of Macallan)? The difference between my lowest, build only and highest, everything I can think of, is probably 40%

Actually that could be the simplest way, I will give it a go. Thanks

Good idea, that would avoid any slipping mishaps. I'll see if I can borrow some scaffold.

Good point, I don't have an acro but a piece of timber and a trolley jack might to the job.

As you can see from the photo we have a couple of steel stair tread plates bent down, we think it happened during the welding and the fabricator did not notice. I'm thinking of having a go at bending it back to true myself, we're having trouble getting the fabricator back on site. I don't know if putting heat on it then whacking with a mallet is a good or bad idea. I don't want to make it brittle and the heat may well make a mess of the paintwork. Any thoughts on how to go about it?

It might fly but again boarding it may be seen as temporary. Think I'll just have to spend the cash.

That's the other thing I realised last night, painting. I am starting to think a tower may be a wise investment.

It's fitting some pendant lights. I was hoping that all light bulbs could be changed with a pole and a sucker but now we have these things it's a different story.

We asked that and they said anything obviously temporary would not pass, mainly due to the external balcony.

I have to admit I'm not keen on ladders of any type. I'm trying to avoid having the whole rigmarole of a scaffolding tower for a 10 minute job. Outside jobs I can lean the ladder against the wall which is not quite so bad.

I need to get a step ladder that will let me reach the apex of our vaulted ceiling which is about 4.5 meters. I'm looking at these combination ladders that would also let me use it fully opened out to reach the guttering at about 6 meters. I'm a bit confused about the safe working heights and being able to actually open the ladder out in the livign room. Any thoughts on the correct size to go for? https://www.ladders4sale.co.uk/product/hymer-light-trade-combination-ladder-with-stabiliser-bar/

I will check Buildzone thanks, GSI said no as we had started. I'll give them a call, thanks.