Ralph

Now that we have most of the scaffolding down I'm quite pleased with the look of the house and I'm thinking that I don't really want a big white ASHP sitting against the dark cladding. I was under the impression that you were not supposed to cover the external unit as it had a negative effect on performance, colder exhaust air getting sucked back in etc. I've found these http://www.heatpumpcovers.com/ which claim to be tested and approved by Mitsubishi and others. They only seem to be available in New Zealand but I could make something similar from left over cladding. Any thoughts, good idea or not?

I'll take a look at that thanks, I would never have thought of using that.

Hi all, We're looking at what to use to finish of the external blockwork between the cedral cladding and ground. The ground is quite wet so we'll be putting in drainage and probably finishing with gravel or slate chippings. There is also insulation board to go against the block work but I'm not sure what to finish it with. The builder is taking about using what looks like Eurocell soffit board in a dark grey and I'm looking at some flat cedral cement board. Any thoughts? Thanks

I don't know about anywhere else but here building control are not coming out to check anything. It's all videos and photos. I think you'll be fine.

Genuine questions to the people who voted for brexit, how do you feel about no deal? If the option back at the referendum was stay in or no deal would you have still voted to go?

Once it's been gralloched and skinned it's easier but it's still a lot of work. You should also tell him to look up warbles and not to panic if he sees them.?

Thanks, just choked on my coffee reading that one.

The online videos just do not prepare you for the scale of the job, especially with a red. At the moment it's stupidly cheap to buy a carcass from the estates, around £40 for a hind. They've not had many people paying to go on shoots and they still need to cull.

I think people tend underestimate the work it takes grow some of your own veg never mind be close to self sufficient. As for meat I butchered my first deer this year and it gave me new found respect for the skill and effort trained butchers put in.

From what I hear it's a combination of backlog from lock downs, ports being short on space due to the volume of PPE being stored and some of the larger builders stockpiling materials for next year against Brexit issues. They can't get the empty shipping containers out of Europe and back to China etc with the ports jammed up, the UK causing the biggest problem.

There was a Guardian article last year that was talking about £66,000 profit on each house. That's net so after all the overheads of running a company etc. Spending an average of £31k per plot and £112k on the build.

Sad that Jeremy is not about, he always struck me as a very decent human being. The amount of effort he would put into even the most basic question was impressive, occasionally overwhelming but always appreciated by me.

+1 on this. It's surprising how many things that looked good in renders and mock ups at the start of the project looked wrong when standing in the room.

With us it seems to be about £35 m2 for a good tiler.

Have you asked them about price increases for 2021? My builder has mentioned rumors of real hikes in material costs for next year from other frame manufactures.

I think they have it covered Where we are unable to obtain third party consents, the design and terms of our contract with you may need to be revised and you will need to meet any associated additional costs that may be incurred by us or such third party, arising from but not limited to: Land rights · Legal and other professional fees and expenses incurred by us and any third party in connection with securing the required land rights; · Wayleave fees levied by third parties to process wayleave agreements; and · Costs associated with any compulsory purchase or necessary wayleave applications, which may have to be submitted under the Electricity Act 1989. Timescales and costs for determination of a compulsory purchase or wayleave consent will depend on the specific circumstances of the application. An application for a compulsory purchase or necessary wayleave does not guarantee a positive determination. The decision to pursue a compulsory purchase or necessary wayleave remains at the sole discretion of Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution plc. One of the other issues is that they will not do anything, including talking to the landowner of the new route without is accepting the new quote.

As suspected SSE have given me the brush off. "all projects are subject to wayleave approval". They said they had one when they took our money but turns out they don't. Also because the alternative route crosses our stream we apparently need to put in concrete landings on either side for the ducting to connect to. I'm waiting for the specs but I'm assuming it's going to costly, everything seems to be with this project.

I've started off the complaint process so we'll see. I'm not holding my breath.

100% In our old cottage during winter we would have the oil heating going and I would still be chucking wood into the burner like a stoker on the Titanic.

Thanks, that would be really helpful. I can't recall that on ours but I'll check ours as well.

I like the idea of arguing that the contract was entered into, their mistake etc. Thanks for that. Apparently the 25kVa is only slightly smaller than the 50 so they think it will be a no go. Also they have discovered that while they have a wayleave for the transformer they don't for the required cable splice on his land.

Sorry this is a long one. So we were all set to get our electricity connected to a transformer in our neighbours garden. It's been an epic back and forth with SSEN but we had paid the £5k plus asked ( new transform etc) months ago and thought we were done. Neighbour was ok as he was told the transformer was only slightly bigger than the existing. It then turns out it is going from a 16kv to a 50kv Neighbour understandably kicked off because he's going to end up with an eyesore in his garden. So SSEN decided that as we were using ASHP the existing 16kv should be fine. Everyone is happy, we may even get some money back, all systems are go! Now they have changed their mind again. We do need an upgrade and now it's coming from the farm down the road. Because this is 300 more metres away the cost of cable has cancelled out the saving of not upgrading a transformer. We are now an extra £800 plus to SSEN on top of extra to contractors for trenching. While it's not catastrophic it's p*ssed me off no end. So apart from moaning on here to get it off my chest can anyone suggest some arguments I can put to SSEN to try an claw some cash back. Thanks

I've dropped you an email directly

There is about £180 million worth of PPE contracts that have been handed to individuals with some sort of link to the tory party. It seems if your sister is a tory lord or you're a mate of Cummings you can restart a dormant company with no trading record in anything and win millions worth of contracts to make PPE. You don't even have to deliver anything.

To be honest I don't know the exact figures we're using a central contractor. I believe it's about £15k for the roof and coming down to the first floor. The house is15m by 6 but one gable end is glass and we have reasonable amounts of glazing on the first floor.