lizzie

When at the new build I dont have a great signal inside the building. I am surmising that this is something to do with the huge levels of insulation as outside I have good reception. In my rented house I use a vodaphone signal booster as mobile signal is rubbish in this area. I only realised how good the signal booster is when it packed up this week! Is the answer to poor mobile reception inside the new house going to be a signal booster? Has anyone any experience of this?

@ryder72 I guess that means my bora with recirculation is not eligible? If so not a surprise I didnt really expect it and its fair enough, vat for construction materials and built in essentials I can understand that is a sensible delineation. Im planning to use a vat consultant and they have a link to a company that handles appeals to HMRC rejections on items whether or not they put the return in. No win no fee...keeping that in mind if I get any rejections.

@daiking I fully intend to use the ‘old’ kit to clean up first at new house, currently have an industrial wet and dry one in use there too so my Dyson will enter service into a pristine space ...and keep it that way.....don’t hold back on the broomstick LOL I’m used to it?

As someone with a serious lung condition I pray that the powers that be will soon ban the evil WBS. I can get away from car fumes to a great extent but not from neighbours with these awful WBS belching out fumes and contamination entering through house vents etc. It makes me really ill in my own home and I cant get away from it.

Hi Marie and welcome. Great place this - all these lovely chaps help us girls through the maze of self build conundrums.

This thread prompted me to look at 'my dyson' on the website........I have a lot of Dyson products LOL. Upshot is chat with lovely Dyson people and I have ordered a replacement stick as by the time I pay £99 for the service call (including parts) on the older ones I'm half way to a new one with warranty and 40 minute run time...plus special soft tool for hard floors..........I am not plugging it in at this rented house its going straight to the new one I will manage with that b awful shark until then.......I don't want my lovely new Dyson contaminated with rented house dust! New Dyson also had option of Black or Gold wand ......one for the girls.......they know their market!

I have 2 Dyson cordless sticks one upstairs one down- both have developed the same fault at the same time in their life cycles - may be I need a new battery. Whilst pondering Dyson problems I was seduced by the new shark duo, my friend has just got one. I have bought one (Argos circa £320). It is great because it stores without the battery in situ if required so does not need to be plugged into a wall socket in can fit into a cupboard with the the handle folded down. You get two batteries and a separate charging station so wont run out of power plus the filter arrangement is easier than Dyson - all great BUT it is no where near as good as my Dyson sticks for suction and dog hairs and is heavy and cumbersome by comparison. Could be a white elephant as having used it for a few weeks I am looking again at getting my Dyson sticks serviced or replaced ready for move to new house. I love my Dyson sticks so convenient so light and easy, used them at least once a day every day for years. Hardly ever use the Miele cat and dog or the Orek (this is a fantastic upright vac no 'tools' though just straightforward all floors upright) as its such a faff getting them out and plugging them in and my heavy old upright Dyson got given to my nephew when he got his first house. Got one of those old Vax machines (20+ years old) and a Henry lurking in the garage somewhere. Personally I wouldnt use either in the house these days. Technology has moved on with hepa filters etc. I seem to have a lot of vacuum cleaners LOL!

Can you tell me exactly HOW you contacted RM I have tried 3 different methods and every time they say only the council can inform them of a new address. I even tried arguing it is not "new" and has been in use for 2 years and they still said the council must inform them before they will add a new address to the postcode database. @ProDaveAt hole in the ground stage we wrote in to the GIS officer at the local council asking approval for our proposed house name (we dont have a number) and he approved and gave us the street address agreed it with RM and registered it with RM - the address we got is slightly different to the actual on the ground address as RM do not put in private roads only the main road which our private road runs off. Its no matter we got an approved address and postcode and council registered it with RM, easy and no fee.. No other way to do it RM will not register from you only from council. Your local council should have a street naming policy that covers it. Thats in England, may be different in Scotland.

Take the max mortgage they can get over a reasonable term for interest rates....to age.70 perhaps longer term more tricky and expensive. May be tight for a year or two but if he is still working potential for a bit more income. Once house is done and they reach retirement age change mortgage into an equity release product so they have no outgoings and interest is clocked up and taken from sale proceeds when they die, equity release hopefully would raise enough to clear mortgage and they will have paid a bit off anyway during years he was still working. Will affect what they leave as inhertence but they will have a more comfortable retirement. Only if the numbers work of course, if he has a huge mortage then eq release would not produce enough to oay off mortgage and you cant have both. Worth doing some hypothetical calcs on line.

Every one of ours (3) were in the wrong place as were all the wastes for the basins and kitchen/utility we had more holes in our slab than my knitting! I would not want to go through all that again...we spent ages trying to do it - days and days - plumber came and finished it in a day- he did much better than we could do it.

@PeterW good prices your way!

Ditto Russell totally agree........ I would be in heaven to get that for £600! If there is such a man send him my way please I have about 210sqm of road to construct and tarmac plus our drive area....atm we have 2 years worth of stone sunk into mud its horrendous. I have lost count of how many tons of stone have gone on in the last 2 years trying to keep a surface. Solid clay here and its a nightmare. Best cheap quote I got for road - cash - and just one step above the travellers type job was 15k . Thats no kerbs either. Finishing groundworks at the mo (not road) Digger hire here £250 plus vat a week dumper £150 plus vat a week ...discounted rate as he got it on his account......roller ?? digger/dumper transport one way £75 plus vat. Operator £180 a day, labourer £80 a day (and thats cheap - previous was £120!) No half days available either. Not had the bill for last weeks muck away or materias yet. Those rates paid last week.

Check with the lawyer. ROW can often be restricted to just the existing property and so a new one would not enjoy the same rights.....without negotiation with landowner and no doubt a good few £££’s changing hands.

Ah guys I’m sorry the ppl I used for my ufh and mvhr are the Germans robbens frankische and are underfloorheating.co.uk the refs to being part of TP and selling sanitary ware puzzled me so I checked website.... saw its not the company I used. I have never used theunderfloorheatingstore.com Sorry!

yes in a sideways way. I used Robbens Frankische (german) for my ufh and mvhr and they operate on line in Uk as underfloor heating store. The UFH and MVHR design etc from their tech dept was excellent as was their rec installer. I have not tried their in line shop or had any if their bathroom kit so cant comment on that

@Ian yes please brokers details would be great thanks

this is our plant room...not yet finsished but main components in

Please not creosote the smell will be awful can’t you find a better treatment if it needs to be done.

Didnt we have a planner from Blaby join the forum recently?

No I dont they do one as far as I know. The sign off cuts off the vat reclaim too so need to make sure all is done by the time that ends.... plus I’m renting a house.....

To be fair it was probably me! I worked it out, and assured myself I think, everyone else was hopeful but guarded weather etc. Wishful thinking as it turns out but November/December was a difficult time in areas unconnected to house build.LOL

I used special plasterboard throughout the house as coming from a house with solid walls I was used to putting things where I wanted without worrying about special fixings, battens and noggins etc. Expensive board but as well as the extra strength you get good acoustic value too. My floor to ceiling kitchen cabinets and wall cabinets are all fixed straight into the plasterboard. I’m glad I spent the extra was worth it to me. http://www.roomsmadeforyou.british-gypsum.com/solutions/gyproc-habito.aspx

£369 for a quarter...was the same last Dec when I took a quarter on the assurance it would be finished by Feb.......think my premium for the whole year I took initially was about £650 so proportionately very hugh. C’est la vie!

Think you might struggle to get it all in a cupboard(s) if mine is anything to by! Will get a pic when I go to site. Its rammed full of stuff that I have no idea how to work....yet!

My site build insurance runs out on 9th March I dont anticipate sign off until end March early April. Very frustrating as have had to take 3 another months to 8th June grrrrrr I so wish I had taken 2 years at the start would have been much cheaper Has anyone used Buildzone for their insurance on building and contents once signed off?