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Done. The survey is about risk. Some thoughts on this.... When we set out I thought cost or technical issues might be our biggest areas of risk. However it turned out to be dealing with third parties... Planning Permission is known to be hard to get but I expected any difficulty to be due to issues related to the design of the house. Instead our 14 month planning nightmare was due to was staff shortages in the planning department and general incompetence. We eventually got planning permission for a design virtually unchanged from our original proposal. Cost me a fortune in Architects fees, air fares, hotels and hire cars as we were living abroad at the time. The water company probably represented our second biggest risk. We needed a water main diverting. Unfortunately the way the rules work and the way the water company costs jobs virtually forces you to use them not a third party to do the work. They don't give quotes only estimates. In addition we found their workmen horribly inefficient. Turning up without equipment etc. Forgetting to test water samples leading to weeks of delays and a bill about £3k higher than estimated. Really wish I could have used another company to do all the work. Heaven help self builders if water companies are nationalised and get even more inefficient. Supplier failure/bankruptcy. We had one supplier go bust but fortunately we didn't loose money as we hadn't paid yet. Have heard of others not so lucky. Some form of Escrow system for self builder would be welcomed by many.

Pretty sure you don't need hundreds of Alexa compatible bulbs, you must be able to use one Alexa compatible dimmer to control a room full of standard led bulbs.

I wouldn't use regular GU10 downlights for such a large area. There are bigger LED downlights and LED flat panels capable of >1000 lumens.

My Dad always jokingly ask "where's my 100% discount", sometimes the person at the counter would say "sorry I forgot" and knock off whatever the standard trade discount was.... But that was the days before computers.

What is it you want to buy? They can't zero rate materials. Not allowed unless they supply and fit.

Or glue two layers together top one wider than the bottom. That way only straight cuts.

Never used leveling compound myself so can anyone else comment on the issue of surface laitance? Or is that only liquid screed?

Not actually sure who makes venturi showers (of the type designed to boost the hot flow). Ideal Standard used to make one called the Trevi Boost but I think its out of production.

Two different things... 1) Aerated Heads - suck in air to make a low flow rate feel larger that it is by adding bubbles. 2) Venturi Heads - try to improve the flow from a gravity fed hot using energy from the mains pressure cold. I've no experience of venturi heads. Aerated heads don't really do it for me. I'd rather have a full pint of beer than one with a large head on it ? PS: Aerated heads also use a venturi but it's to suck in air instead of hot water.

A shower head cannot improve water pressure over that from the supply, All a shower head does is trade off pressure for flow and change your perception ... a) With no holes in the shower head you would get best pressure but no flow. b) With lots of holes or one large one you would get no pressure but best flow. In between there are a range of possibilities. Shower heads with a few small holes tend towards a) where as big rain type heads tend towards b). A "good" shower generally needs adequate pressure AND flow rate, a combination that may not be possible from the supply. In which case improvements to the supply can be made (fatter pipes, pumps, accumulators depending on the cause). Before going down that route measure the static pressure and separately the flow rate (in L/Min) with NO shower head connected. If they are both good then it should be possible to find an acceptable shower head without needing to improve the supply. Some/many heads have restrictors or restrictions in them that effect both perceived pressure and flow. Some can be removed some not. In one case I took apart a shower head and drilled out a hole in the swivel ball to reduce the restricting effect it was having. Last time I looked a few advertiser's on Amazon mentioned they had removable restrictors. Some heads also have filters in them that get blocked/scaled.

+1 Just a heads up... Some water companies try to charge vat on things like diversions or work off site in the road, claiming they can only zero rate work on site. This isn't correct. VAT 708 has a section 3.3.4 that covers.. and there are other words in that section that cover "works closely connected" with the construction of a new house which is pretty open ended. Worth a read.

+1

Dee, silly question but how do you know it's heating when it shouldnt? The evidence you have for that may help diagnose the problem. When the heating comes on unexpectedly at the wrong time go to the controller and check if it's calling for heating or hot water or nothing. My guess it will be calling for hot water not heating and the diverter is sticking allowing hot from the boiler into the heating circuit instead.

According to Talk Radio today a significant percentage of the population think the recently agreed deal is the final deal that will govern our long term relationship with the EU. They don't realise this is meant to be the easy bit that only covers the transition period - which is now only going to be 11 months long (according to Boris).

A lot of new bricks are porous. I once filled a bucket with our house bricks then filled all the space with water. They fizzed and popped and absorbed the lot. Next day almost no water in the bucket and individual bricks felt really heavy. A new chimney or rebuild should have a DP to stop ingress through damp bricks. https://www.labcwarranty.co.uk/blog/how-to-ensure-your-chimney-is-constructed-correctly/

Best me to it.

+1 to getting someone in. I hire towers for outside painting as I don't have storage space and rental towers are usually decent quality. Shop around as rates vary a lot, haggle. Some places have good weekend rates. Remember to ask for a price Inc vat and delivery/collection. Don't underestimate how much work it is to erect a tower and get the platforms into place. They are awkward and heavy. Definitely a two man job.

Perhaps but if there is a leak why get the key holder to struggle with the stopcock hidden under the sink unit if it's possible to turn the water off outside. When you get back from holiday perhaps get the builder to improve access to the stopcock by moving it higher up.

Yikes. Is it a three storey house? Wouldn't get me that high on a ladder (and I used to fly gliders). I'd be using a scaffolding tower then a roof lader.

Have you got a key for the valve in the road/water meter? Screwfix and Toolstation probably sell them for under £10 but I haven't looked.

Eclisse pocket door frame kits come in two thicknesses 100mm and 125mm. These are the thicknesses of the finished wall not the frame. So for a 100mm thick wall the metal frame supplied is 73mm thick and you use 73mm thick studs elsewhere in the wall (and above the door pocket). https://www.pocketdoors.co.uk/unique-features/

+1 No stud required. The plasterboard screws to the metal pocket door frame using self tapping screws. Think some came with my door kit. Do not replace with longer or over tighten these screws because if they go too far in the sharp points will scratch the door first time you open it.

PS: If you have soakers you don't really need lead on top of the tiles at the sides of the chimney. Although there will be an apron at the front. My guess is that some time in the past the lead was replaced or repaired by someone who didn't really know what they were doing.

My money is on a lack of lead soakers. It looks like any rain blown under the existing lead can go sideways then down the side of the chimney if there is no soaker under there. If the lead had been a few inches wider you might have gotten away without them because of the profile of the tile. In fact the other side (left hand) on the chimney might not be leaking because on that side the lead might be lapped down the tile profile. Soakers go under the tiles and deflect any water going sideways out onto the tile below. They are fitted before the tiles and the stepped flashing that you can see. Skips to about 2 mins in..

Here are the forms you must normally fill in to claim the exemption. You don't need all of them. See the 4 steps described at top of form 7 part 1. Some people have lost the exemption by not following the 4 steps exactly. Note some things must be done before work starts and some after construction is completed. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200136/policy_and_legislation/70/community_infrastructure_levy/5 Note it says "before commencement of the development", that would be the commencement of the PP.