Redbeard

Perhaps explain briefly what a rough experience you have had before, and invite communication right from the start in the case of any doubt whatsoever. Not so easy, I appreciate, if you are not on site, but can they get you at short notice on your mobile to clarify any uncertainties, for example? Absolutely agree with @saveasteading re a dwg. Am I, however, right in remembering that you have only general, not detailed dwgs? Even an agreed scribbled (annotated with dims where applicable if not to scale)sketch can be invaluable in lieu of a detailed dwg, as long as the context is clear and understood.

...and is there somewhere for the water collected by the French Drain to go? A main drain? I'm guessing a soakaway would be too close to the building (?), though I have no idea of Scottish regs.

So where does that leave you? What's the fix/work-round for the Cemex stuff, and what are you going to use instead of the lump of 'clod'? If all orders are detailed, in writing, then wriggling out would arguably be difficult. OTOH total inactivity/failure to engage works for recalcitrant contractors all the time. Also, it just occurs to me that any 'obvious' description, especially in a product name, probably has to be queried. You said '...there is a clue in the name 'Easyflow', but maybe there simply isn't! 'Oh, we call it that, Sir, but it's stiff - and does not flow easily - when we think it should be.'. I am not sure I'd have queried that either, but it's a Life Lesson... Keep us posted on the next steps and, I sincerely hope, the success thereof.

... and logic does not necessarily seem to apply, anyway. I moved to Churchill as the renewal premium from the last insurer was silly-high. After 2 years with Churchill the price creep was not insignificant. I looked on Compare the Market. The best balance of cover and cost (not identical cover, but v close) came from the company I'd left 2 years before because of their silly-high quote!

Many thanks for this @-rick-. What you say about the BUS grant sounds entirely logical but was not mentioned by the surveyor, nor picked up on by the sales team. As explained by the surveyor the issue was load, not eligibility for BUS. My view was simply that 3-phase because of elec showers would be (expensive and) mad, so if I have to physically remove or otherwise 'incapacitate' them before confirmation of order or the arrival of the installation team then so be it - I've still got a tap!

Indeed. Had a survey recently with a view to getting a HP installed. He asked me to run both elec showers (rarely used, and never together) and clocked 75A. He told me I'd need a 3-phase supply. (!) What neither of us initially clocked was that elec showers would no longer be required once we'd lost the combi boiler and gained a 300ltr cylinder. It took a while to get agreement on that. I had (not unreasonably) to confirm that the elec showers would be put out of use (in his view, removed completely) before the installation of the HP began. Apparently handing over a pair of breakers would not be enough!

Quick fix - elec shower, but if you are selling then the costs of compliance may outweigh any savings. Is it a pressurised cyl? If so I cannot see any obvious problem. For various reasons I have only ever used elec showers, though, so others with more direct (or indirect?!) experience may come in.

Agree with @Nickfromwales, but if you do still want an 'interim' solution what about the longest 50x50 sawn you can get - probably 4.8 or 5.1 x 2 with ply or OSB between, as 'quasi I-beams'? 2 x 2 will come in useful in its own right or glued and screwed as 4 or 6 x 2.

If I remember correctly, if the bottom step can become a 'landing' (length at least equal to the width of the staircase) then it can have a different rise. We did this when we had installed drainage membrane and insulation and a floating floor in a basement kitchen.

You could scumble it... Search 'wood grain scumbling'.

My Dad seemed to collect or 'attract' brace-and-bit drills. I have now inherited them. Like @ProDave I'd hate them to go to scrap but I have used one of them once in the last 20 years! @ProDave's pillar drill sounds like one I bid for at an auction nearly 50 years ago. I had £5. Someone else bid £6 and I did not have £7. Beautiful bit oof kit it was, with a big heavy flywheel. Again, not at all sure what I would do with it now but some things are, in engineering terms, just lovely things to have!

Fire Resistance.

Yes, but is there not a possibility, albeit small, that if the rust is not seriously serious, the work - in the form of 'under-pinning' via piers - could be done from below if the external access can be re-instated? OP and 'Leaseholders' Collective' - do you have any more info?

Oh yes, sorry, never meant to suggest otherwise! 'We *got rid* of the thermal bridges' in project presentations is simply a pet hate of mine, as of course they didn't!

This is the bit I had picked up on. Of course they may have filled in the stairwell, but the manhole cover suggests maybe not?