Temp

I'm sure spray foam done correctly is very good but Im not sure mortgage companies recognise the good from the bad. That will probably depend on the roof membrane. Is it vapour permeable or not. Remember another reason for the gap is to allow the membrane to drape so it's not pushed against the underside of tile battens. That's to allow any water blown under tiles to run down and not pool above the battens increasing the chances of rot. Sometimes the gap can be eliminated if the membrane is vapour permeable and counter battens raise the tile battens off the membrane.

Do the title deeds from either property say who is responsible for maintenance of the wall/fence? They can be sent to you by email for a few £ each from the (real) land registry website... https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry Normally the responsibility for a retaining wall belongs to the property who's land is being retained unless there is something else in the deeds or in writing. However if he successfully claimed for damage to the wall that probably means your insurance company believes your fence damaged his wall ... Eg the wall is his. I think you need to check the title deeds and possibly any planning permission he might have obtained in the past. Do they show a new retaining on his plans? You might consider writing to the insurance company asking them for details of the previous settlement with the neighbour. Was it conditional on him repairing his wall? How wide is the gap between your building and the boundary? Do you know how deep the foundations are of your parents house?

Ideally get all the pipes in the floor but that sounds difficult in this case. It looks like you could run the basin waste in the floor if the trimmer doesn't go too far to the left? As fir the shower.. Are the joists deep enough to put a hole through them? Otherwise is it possible to drop down from the trap through the floor and connect into the stack on the left below the joists. I guess that would mean boxing in the room below.

We went for lots of loops but think we over did it. If building again I'd keep separate loops for each bedroom and each upstairs bathroom all on individual programmable stats. It can be nice having a warm tiled bathroom floor even when no heat is needed in the bedroom. I'd eliminate/merge quite a few loops downstairs. People leave doors open and the MVHR probably helps balance out the rooms. We have a manifold and freezers in the utility room which keep it warm without a loop.

If you are using a builder it's normal to subtract any agreed retention (5-10%) from each stage payment so you arrive at the end still owing this agreed amount. At least that's what my QS said.

I can sympathise. We bought a plot that already had PP but it still took me a year to get PP for what we wanted. At one point we submitted revised drawings and didn't hear anything for 4 weeks, then they told us the conservation officer had quit and we would have to wait until they hired a new one to get a response. After a year messing us about we discovered a letter they had sent to a previous owner of the plot that said a house like the one we were proposing "might be better" than the approved design. When we produced that letter in a meeting there were red faces and bosses were called into the meeting. They gave in but still took another 8 weeks to issue the grant. Actually building the house was easier than getting PP.

Bit of expanding foam to fill gaps.

Some LED drivers come with a remote control device allowing brightness and colour to be changed. Needs the right type of LED strip. The one we have remembers the settings when the power is switched off so you don't need to use the remote often.

Personally I wouldn't overlap. I think there will be too great a risk of movement. In addition I don't think much sticks to pressure treated wood. I can see water getting trapped under the tiles in contact with the wood.

I think planning departments send documents out to a third party to be converted to pdf? Earlier you mentioned there were objections. I would read them all looking for those that are valid planning objections. Most won't be. If there are any you can address by making simple changes perhaps consider doing so.

Wait for the electrician and talk to him. I think the downlight Co is talking nonsense. Where is the LED strip going? The LED driver will need to be minimum distances away from wet areas and possibly hidden away in the ceiling with 24V wiring to the strip. I have three 230V LED downlights and a mirror with LED strip back-light all on one switch. The driver is built into the back of the mirror.

Assuming this is for a new house.. If you buy them you have to pay VAT and reclaim it later. If the builder buys them they should be zero rated to you as well as his labour. Make sure his quote doesn't say "Plus VAT". If you buy them you also get to keep any left over. If he buys them he may insist any left over are his (dubious).

Normally ASHP is a supply and fit item. Eg The installer should zero rate both the ASHP and their labour to you. So there is no VAT to reclaim. Same as you do for other trades that supply materials like the electrician. If you are buying the ASHP yourself then yes you can reclaim the VAT. I would add a note to the reciept stating that there was a design change to use ASHP rather than an Oil Boiler.

You can't normally claim for outbuildings but see this post which suggests it might be possible depending on what the outbuilding is going to be. The idea is its not really an outbuilding, just your house is in two parts... Might be worth amending the plans to replace "workshop" with "Home Office"....but I'm not sure if there is a fee for that. Is your Home Office going to be for business use? Then it can be reclaimed through the business if VAT rated? Beware that might trigger business rates? Capital Gains Tax? https://yorkshireaccountancy.co.uk/blog/tax-implications-of-building-a-home-office/#:~:text=Running Costs%3A VAT on expenses,ready-made office is reclaimable.

+1 Just make sure you can prove you have given the builder opportunity to rectify. Typically that would be a letter sent "Signed For" giving him a final deadline of say two weeks or you will find someone else and take action to recover. You can only claim for legitimate costs so ideally make sure the quotes are only for things he should have done. Don't include any new work, changes etc. Keep those separate.