bmj1

The fact that the whole floor feels cold suggests to me that you UFH itself isn't working as expected (I'm not worried about the gaps or hole right now - these issues feel secondary to me - let's get the floor heating up first). I've spent a bunch of time working on my UFH to get all 3 floors behaving correctly... A few questions for more context: (1) Flow temp of UFH What is the flow temperature of your UFH ? (2) What temperature is the floor itself reading ? Measure it in a few places You might want to use a thermostatic gun (https://www.amazon.co.uk/ABOHU-Thermometer-Temperature-Non-Contact-Measuring/dp/B0FGDBH472) - be sure to set the EMS (emissivity) to 0.92 to get an accurate reading (3) Has the UFH been commissioned correctly? I.e. actuators adjusted for flow rates and balanced Further context on your sub-floor build up (4) Insulation How much insulation is underneath the floor ? What material and how deep ? (e.g. PIR at 200mm) (5) Screed What screed did you use and how thick is it ? (e.g. sand/cement at 80mm)

Harsh even if true. I wish so many of the builders and trades people I have worked with had the humility to ask questions... That said, this clearly should have been designed by the professional team so asking the architect/se what their plan is here would be a sensible starting point..

Our mist coat was sprayed - no brainer

Hire in some dehumidifers for a few days and keep the windows and doors shut while they are running. Not a big expense in the scheme of things.

While we're on the topic, we ordered some bespoke internal doors. We had ~10 iterations of the drawings. On the 9th drawing, all looked good, apart from a minor issue on one of the doors. We requested this was amended and a 10th drawing was issued. On the 10th drawing, our designer reviewed the change and signed off the drawing set. However, inexplicably, the handle positions on another set of doors changed between the 9th and 10th drawing. And suddenly, instead of the handles being positioned for a double pocket door, they were positioned for a regular double door set (so both in the wrong place). Unfortunately, this all becomes rather shaky territory. A compromise is likely in order..

I fired two main contractors and ultimately took it over. It's not that big a deal. Check in with BC to see where they are at and what stage they next want to inspect.

I've also taking to doing most the plumbing myself. Managed to learn (with youtube) how to drain, flush and repressurise the UFH manifold. None of it is rocket science.

Just put up dust sheets if worried about dust - and crack on. Good to make headway with plastering as it takes time to dry out - which is your bigger challenge than dust control and hoovering.

Can anyone recommend one of these who operate down South ? Looking for a good contractor who can do the tarmac and resin finish...

I would ask for a copy of the quote and if I think it's high I would tender it out to a couple of others.

Slight side note: it's a funny thing but I saw this on my own project - a small fortune of windows sitting on the truck (held to ransom so to speak) - but nobody in the accounts team at the window company thought to ask for payment before the day of delivery !

I'm pretty sure we double boarded ours for stability

I should add that the project I referenced is a demolition and new build, so there should be fairly few unknowns if the design work is done right.

We agree. It's possible in theory, but a lot has to go right to work for it to work, and 99 times out of 100 it goes wrong.

For what it's worth, we're taking a different approach on the project I'm currently working on (it's a roughly £3m-£4m project) Hiring a PM/CM/QS team to run the project and subs PM/CM/QS team will be paid a fixed fee for the project (we have divided the project into set payment milestones also, to de-risk for client and keep incentives aligned: e.g. demolition, groundworks, etc) They will assist in hiring the prelims (site manager, welfare, etc) and oversee project on day-to-day basis. All subs will then be tendered and hired on fixed-fee basis (everything will be itemised and costed by QS) This means we take on the main contractor risks (and their margin also) - but still keep the tradies working on fixed-fee - which is the only way. Essentially, we are acting as main contractor. I've been talking to someone recently who ran a big high-end project on open-book with a main contractor (and they've done many projects previously), it's been a disaster. I couldn't recommend this approach or see it working unless the client is highly experienced with many years in the game and has a trusted partner to act as main contractor, and even then I'd be skeptical, the incentives are simply too misaligned (even if they don't appear to be).