Chris S

Wow, lots of detailed responses, thank you. I wonder if Harvey and Twintec merged? I noticed that Monarch's non-electric softener goes by a different name too. The next question is what price should I expect to be quoted by Harvey and what should I realistically be able to get them down to? I haven't contacted them yet I as want to be clued up with alternative options in order to get a good deal (!). I'd prefer to install myself as I'm fitting the kitchen and plumbing. Thanks

Thank you guys. Yes, I like the size of the Harvey and the pipe connection locations are great. Just got to consider the incredibly high price tag now! I haven't asked for a quote or demo yet (wanted to be clued up first) but see they can be bought for around £850 ish from other suppliers. I've also realised that I can cut a hole in the base of the kitchen unit so the softener can sit on the floor. That does open up some other options.

Good evening, I'm trying to find a suitable water softener that will fit under a kitchen sink. The kitchen isn't installed yet so I can't take measurements, but I think I have about 460 to 480mm height available. Plenty of width available and about 550mm depth within the cabinet. There are 5 of us (2 adults plus 3 young kids), with just the one bathroom and a WC. We have a combi boiler and supply pressure of around 2 bar. Total hardness according to water supplier is 350 mg/l (very hard). Would prefer a proper softener rather than a salt free one but realise they may be the way forward. I'm having a hard time getting past all the marketing waffle and finding proper product data, hence I'm turning to you guys for help! Any recommendations?? Thank you

Thank you MickD for your detailed reply. The Orluna One looks good but unfortunately is above our budget. I have a few different bulbs on order to test out, among which is a Philips Master. I'm interested to see if the 90+ CRI bulbs appear as bright as the higher lumen, lower CRI bulbs by virtue of the increased colour content. Also on the list are the Enlite Ice and Ice Plus, Bell Halo Elite and Osram Parathom lamps. Good point on the 400 lumen limit. Unfortunately this puts the Philips Master out of compliance (365lm) which is a bit of pain. 400lm does seem a bit high given the coverage of standard 36 degree lamps (i.e. you would end up with a very bright room) - maybe its trying to drive people towards wider beam angles? To be honest I've found this search annoyingly difficult! To get a dimmable 60° bulb with 90+ CRI over 400 lumens is not easy. It looks like the Enlite ICE Plus could be the one. As for dim to warm, I can't find that in any 60° lamps. Maybe 60° hasn't made it across all of the less common variants yet? Or maybe I'm just too fussy?! It doesn't seem like too much to ask though. Thanks again.

Ah I see. That is helpful thanks. I'm trying to get 1.5m spacing so thats 50% more area to light per lamp. We have roof windows and it is easier to fit lights around them with this larger spacing. I like the idea of increasing the overlap, so we could go above 60° if I can find something suitable.

Thanks for the responses so far Dim to warm has been around a good few years now but doesn't seem to have caught on like it was originally expected to. My wife and I prefer warmer lighting, and we are currently having a multifunctional room built (aka the snug), which will be an office and work/craft area, chill out area and guest bedroom, hence the desire for lighting capable of both light and bright and warm and cosy. There are of course other ways of doing this but we'd prefer to do it with downlights if we can. Thanks Temp. Is your 800 lumens for a ~60° beam angle or e.g. a 36° beam angle? Wider beam lights illuminate larger area hence need more lumens to achieve same intensity as narrower lights. Using this calculator from Banner Engineering a 292 lumen, 36° lamp produces the same lux as an 800 lumen, 60° lamp, albeit over a smaller area. I've looked there already but will try again. Thanks PeterW

Good morning, I'm looking for a specific downlight but can't quite find one that meets our desired spec. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction... Desired spec: - Fire rated - ~60° beam angle - ~800 lumens - ~3000K, dimmable to ~2000K (dim to warm, dim2warm, warm dim, soft dim, dim tone, warm glow, sunset dim...) - CRI min 80 (pref 90 ish) - Simple control - White bezel - Can install in 130mm wide void (above ceiling) - Not too expensive (pref £25 ea max inc VAT) Thank you in advance

Actually I should have mentioned this is for contractor works, not self build. Thank you anyway.

Morning all, We're looking at joint names all risks insurance for our upcoming building work (done by contractor, not self build). I've not heard of any of the names that appear in Google so does anyone have any recommendations of companies to use or steer clear of? The names coming up on Google are: JCT Insurance Ltd Plum Underwriting Sutcliffe Insurance Blackfriars Group Versatile Insurance Culpeck Insurance Services Thanks very much

Thanks Threadreamer. I hadn't read this post before my last one so this confirms our plan just nicely!

Thanks for all your responses. They confirm nicely what we understood so thats helpful when we discuss with him again tomorrow. We want to work with the guy if we can. He's an older guy who we get on well with and understand is a very good builder but not so good with the paperwork side of things. I think he genuinely doesn't understand VAT and leaves it to his accountant, but equally we don't want to pay VAT on labour if he's not VAT registered. At £86k ex VAT our build will push him over the threshold unless he wants us to pay for materials ourselves and/or pay a business partner. We'll find out tomorrow!

Thank you Russell. Its an extension (post edited). £86 grand + VAT is his quote.

Thank you ProDave. That is what we thought and its helpful to have you confirm it. Unfortunately paperwork is not his strong point.

Our potential builder is not being clear about VAT. He says he is not VAT registered but has to pay 20% VAT on labour through the CIS, hence has to charge us VAT. His quote added VAT to both materials and labour. He generally works on smaller jobs but has recently completed a major rebuild nearby (I suspect somewhere around £200k) and will hopefully do ours at ~£86k + VAT (assuming all is legit). Hence we figured he must be VAT registered assuming his business is above board. But when I asked for his VAT number he said he's not registered and doesn't have to be. So can he charge us VAT, pay it to the gov via CIS and not be VAT registered??? He also mentioned paying via his unique tax reference (UTR) but I don't think that is relevant. Thanks very much Edit: this is for an extension not a new build

I should add that it is an internal soil stack, which is boxed in. Thankfully their baththroom decor is quite tired and basic and the boxing is covered in plain white tiles so fairly easy to put right after the work.