jack

If it's shown as not encroaching on the boundary, then their objection is speculative nonsense. I'd write a brief reply pointing out that the plan agrees with the boundaries on the ground, and that the house will be built as shown in the plans (i.e., within the boundaries). I can't see how planning can do anything other than ignore the neighbour's objection.

Yes. On many ASHPs you'll need to enable cooling mode via the control panel. It isn't always in the user manual - ours (Panasonic) came with a slip of paper in the box with instructions for how to access this mode. A dehumidifier would be overkill imo, but sure, you could run a small fan if the condensation worried you. I only have our cooling on during long hot spells, like we had in the south east last week, so I'm not concerned about long term damage from condensation.

Odd. If they aren't disputing where the boundary lays, and your site plan shows you aren't building over the boundary, what's their basis for arguing otherwise? Do they provide any explanation?

15 degrees. Admittedly we have concrete floors, but when it's been on for a couple of days it's borderline uncomfortable spending too long walking around in bare feet. Very pleasant when you come in from the heat though! I've never seen any beaded condensation at this temperature. The worst it gets is a breath of condensation on the metal UFH manifold. Nothing on the floors or other pipework.

Bear in mind that the toughening process is a little unpredictable, and toughened glass will occasionally fail due to heat, a sharp shock, or occasionally even spontaneously. I'd argue that this isn't the place to save a few quid, and in any event, I doubt the cost for laminated and toughened glass is all that much in the context of everything else you're spending.

No. In the end we decided to use that cupboard for something else. Anything that needs drying is just hung up in the shower next to the cupboard. The way I visualise it, air being pulled in through the narrow slot under a door will tend to swirl upwards and mix as it enters the plant room. We left a pair of studs without noggins in the shared wall between the cupboard and the plant room. I'd been thinking about having a low power extraction fan high up in the plant room, which would push warm air down between the studs into a grill low down in the cupboard. In practice, the plant room is uniformly warm. It has all the UFH pipes passing under it, and our UVC, so it's very warm in winter, even at floor level. If I were to use the cupboard in the way I'd planned, I'd just put a low-level grill and leave it at that.

I always say it feels like walking into a large stone church or a cave on a hot day. There's a very different (better!) quality to the coolness compared to air conditioning.

This. Look at the massive variability in estimated heating requirements that different companies will give on the same property. It isn't the tech that's the problem, it's the industry.

He was actually doing really well I thought, until he said this: "On a good day we're getting a COP of around 3, say, if we're lucky, maybe 2". And then apparently when it gets cold, the COP drops to 1. I turned it off at that point. I think the real issue with heat pumps is the fact they're being pushed and funded, which means the usual cowboys and idiots are being attracted into the space.

Discharging sewage onto a slate base with minimal topsoil cover? I suppose your garden will grow well!

I definitely thought they were a lot more expensive, but it's been over a year since I last looked. That said, I don't think this is true: The cheaper Flir one is only 80 x 60 resolution, compared with 320 x 400 for the one linked by @joth

To be fair, it's still June. No idea what he has on the go at the minute, but perhaps he hasn't ordered any steel since May?

Just had a conversation with a builder friend last night and he's been told exactly the same thing. He's also seeing monthly price rises in some materials, typically of the order of 10%. Steels have gone up 80% for him over a few months. His usual oak supplier wasn't able to fulfill an order he recently tried to make until January.

Good luck!

That's awesome news - I remember the feeling very well!

Congratulations!

Welcome @Jon D!

Not sure what they supply now, but at the time I signed up they offered a Fritzbox! of some sort. Pretty well regarded, and I had no issues with it for the short time I used it. However, I took the opportunity to upgrade all my hardware while changing broadband supplier, so I now don't use the supplied router. Not sure if I have some sort of signup code I can share for a discount - let me check.

I moved from BT to Zen internet a couple of years ago and have been very happy. I ended up with them over A&A based on price. Both are well known for their high quality service. We lost the internet a while ago (found out from the guy who came out to repair it that one of our neighbors had cut through a cable with a hedge trimmer!). The communication with Zen internet, from reporting the fault through to its resolution, was excellent. I know from previous issues that BT would have been useless in this situation. I'm sure the fault would have been fixed as quickly, but the communication would have been terrible, and I'd have found that frustrating. I think I pay £30 a month for unlimited FTTC, plus the cost of the landline. We're some way from the cabinet, so we only get about 30-32 meg download speed. They offer a faster option but we're too far from the cabinet for it to be effective. Still, we regularly have three screens streaming media at once without any issues.

Yes, but on a fixed price job they're wasting their own time by travelling in the middle of the day, and had they planned ahead, they'd have spent less money on materials (maybe quite a lot less) and hence had higher profit. This sort of behaviour is a perfect counter-example to the "rational actor" so loved by economists. But of course, you're right that it's the customer who pays in the end.

I believe @Bored Shopper and a couple of others (@joe90 maybe?) have used one of the specialist DIY VAT reclaim services and had good results. Not expensive, from memory.

Also, if you supply materials, you're responsible for replacing them if something goes wrong. I have no issues with people marking up if they're expected to be responsible for them. Even if they can get a refund from their supplier, any parts failure will need time to rectify/replace that they won't be able to get back.

Also, a lot of trades aren't sourcing stuff weeks or even days in advance. I regularly witnessed trades finishing one job, then having to go out in the middle of the day and buy stuff to start the next. Had they thought ahead, they could have grabbed stuff on their way in rather than making another trip, or even ordered online and gotten it cheaper, but they didn't seem fussed. I assume they also get stuff cheaper from the big builders' merchants than anyone walking off the street would manage. I used to get frustrated about always having to ring all three of the local BMs for pricing every time we wanted something in a hurry. It seemed completely random who'd give us the best price on any particular item, and the difference was often 20-30%, even though we had accounts with them all. At least with online you got to see exactly what brands are in stock, and get clear upfront pricing.

South East. It's fine, it's just good to have another option to look at. I can install them myself if need be.

Curtains are another option we're considering, although blinds seem a neater option. I couldn't immediately see which Luxaflex model/type you have on the Love Your Blinds or Luxaflex websites. Are they from the Duette range?