G and J

Presumably the stripping is in the quote? And scaffold? Our solar is only on one side and in one block, but it took longer than the other side to do, and the roofer came before the solar was installed to help the solar guy set out to make sure he could do best job of setting out the slates. In the end for the same m2 the roof with the solar in was 50% more cost in labour than the roof without.. does your quote take into account working around the solar? If so I can see that adding significantly to the work. We also do not have any roof windows, or valleys. All that said your quote does seem high......however others may chime in.

Hi, yes we did (had to chk, photo attached)...our main roof is 40 degree pitch and we have an attached single storey at 30 degree....just checked 1 1/2slates alone were just shy of 800 ex vat. Other question, does your roof need stripping before they start?

Ours is a new build with in roof solar, in East Anglia. The solar did help with the cost of the slates (same size as yours, cupa gallegas 39), but it is quite fiddly to do a good job around them. One cost of slates that "caught" me out when pricing was the slate and half for the edges...they were about £7.00 each and we have 3 "edges", but they do finish the roof nicely, so worth it. Also need to allow for ridge tiles, eaves kits and membrane etc. Having said that, our 130sqm roof (includes the 25sqm where we have solar) cost just under £16ķ ex vat, split 6k labour, rest materials which we bought direct. That excludes scaffolding.

Echo buy good quality. We've just left a house with 23 year bi-folds, loved them BUT they faced the west (lovely views) but as they aged, when the wind blew across the plains of East Anglia they were both drafty and deflected and they weren't quite 2m. They were however top hung

Hi Jill, we're a bit thin on the ground....would seem more sensible to do after Christmas? It would be good to keep the ball rolling, but a bit more light in the evenings will help. If your around though, before the next meet, pop your head in if you want, there most days.

Such great progress and blog. We are at least few months behind this build and I (J) am using it as a bit of a touchstone. Couldn't agree more on the points quoted above, they really do help, including people being happy to make recommendations for follow on trades and offer advice. Also of course, as mentioned, keeping people updated on progress (or delays!).

Uk power networks charged 9.4k to bring supply 10m from pole to our boundary, all trenching done by us on our site. Big chunk if that was the cost of the road closure, even though was on our side of the road and the road was never actually closed. Cadent charged 1.7k to remove the gas supply. Neither cost was welcome We have water, just need to pay to connect back to drains

I'm cheap, oh so cheap, but not quite free. But J and I are available on the 11th so it’s game on!

My bedtime is 21:45 nowadays so no danger there from my point of view.

“Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.” You too huh? Depressing, isn’t it.

Well as you asked so nicely @Alan Ambrose how about the 11th.....can't do this week as screed going down. Would still need torches if want a site visit as minimal lighting available!

Thank for all this guys. It’s a long run (over 40m) so the Doncaster cable option works out rather more expensive so I’ll go separate. Neat idea for my EV point at the front which is a very short run. I've ducting going in that can take the Ethernet cable anyway, and I like the idea of keeping it away from the mains cable. I’ve found a source of single phase coloured cable - however my sparky is back earlier than expected and tells me to use 3phase coloured cable to save money. I’ll do what I’m told for once.

Thank you Andy. That’s helped enormously.

At the bottom of my garden there is a man cave and playing with the online voltage drop calculators it seems I would be ok with 6mm but I may go for 10mm to be sure. What I can’t work out is if I need a two or three core cable. I’m finding it confusing as they don’t seem to have insulation colours that I would expect. What do I need?

Are you talking sh*t? (Sorry, couldn’t resist that!)