Bozza

Would it be possible for you to dig a trench where I’ve marked in red. And supply conduit etc. that would involve SSE having to run the two supplies down pole A and through your trench to pole B (on neighbours land). To keep neighbour connected. Then take your supply in from that point. So your suppling a route fir your supply and a route for neighbours. as such SSE quote would be for a couple of engineers for a day and the price of the new cable runs. To do the trench conduit is cheap, as is sand. Mini digger & driver few hundred quid. Then you could approve a wayleave for SSE running neighbours supply underground along east & south perimeter of your land through your trench. Thing is regardless whether you can legally tell them to remove their equipment as far as I can see this option would give everyone what they need and fir you at a much lower cost.

So my experience with SSE was excellent. Like Peter I had oversailing cables & two poles. These only supplied my property, not a third party, and to have one pole removed and the overhead supply converted to underground from the second pole. This sounds like what you needed and it cost me a nominal sum less than 2k most of which was refunded because I pulled down & disposed of the unwanted pole myself. Your main problem though is the third party supply/pole(s). Not something that I experienced but I do recall from my own research some utility suppliers do have some legal rights to place equipment, and keep equipment on private land, and lawful processes via Wayleaves. But also landowners do have some rights to have equipment removed. My research was via Telecommuncations Act as it related to getting Openreach to remove third party phone lines from said electricity poles. I expect the electricity suppliers (DNOs) will have relevant legislation in terms what they can and cannot do. You won’t need a solicitor to identify your rights (or lack of) it will be detailed in the relevant legislation which you need to research. The Wayleaves officer will tell you which Acts apply in your case. Bottom line is that they (and you) will have to follow the legislative process, whatever that is. If the Wayleaves officer is claiming you cannot be specific in which equipment you wish removed ask him to highlight the relevant section that says that. Something also sticks in my mind (but I’m not certain) that the regulators require utility companies have to have fixed prices for work eg per metre to run a line etc. To prevent overcharging. I seem to recall seeing a price list but that may have been Openreach as opposed to SSE. I would imagine your first option of paying them to reroute underground is probably them doing the trenching. If you do the trench yourself you will save a lot off their quote. A lot. If you post a copy of the SSE quotation siteplan this may assist us in providing advice,

I’ve used Facebook marketplace a lot, mainly to sell building related stuff. We all end up with things that are too good to throw away. Someone will want it. My tips for selling are: You’ll be amazed at what generates a lot of interest, and what doesn’t. It is free to advertise. provide lots of pics price sensibly. I’ve seen people try to sell a £1000 wrongly sized made to measure door for £900. What are the chances of a buyer wanting that precise sized door for 10% cheaper than retail. don’t advertise too many items at once. I’ve had 5-6 enquiries for certain items. If you try to sell 10 items that’s a lot of messages to answer. respond quickly to enquiries

Thanks all. Other quotes coming in. First bloke not VAT registered and unwilling for me to supply materials etc as work around. Will await and see what others quotes say.

Sure no problem attached below with /without bead so you can see both. I see you are in Angus. You’re welcome to come & see mine, when travel is allowed.

We have these Rationel windows. Lots of them. Lots of fixed panels plus some of their window doors. And their exterior doors x 2. They are excellent. I have attached a pic during recent snow. Couldn’t tell I was cold outside, temperature wise. And we don’t have a vestibule. I did look at Nordan liked them but the Rationel beading etc was less ornate more streamlined. Didn’t get a quote just went for Rationel & pleased I did.

46 metres of 1m high post/rail/vertical slat fencing, including matching gate section. Quoted £2k from reputable installer supply & fit. Thoughts ?

Downstairs. Per attached L shaped WC. If you don’t require shower downstairs put pipe work / removable wall in hallway cupboard fir future shower. This design gives you a big walk in cupboard downstairs. I also like spacious hallways. I also have living and kitchen dining either side of spacious central hallway with direct front door. I do regret not having having vestibule especially during inclement weather. Upstairs. Square off master bedroom and make study a bit wider. You’ll not notice much difference in the master as it’s still big & square, but this will stop the study feeling like a corridor. hope this helps.

I opened a houzz account thingy to help with interior design inspiration/ideas/products. Don’t know if I was doing something wrong, but I found it complete rubbish. If I recall it try’s to match your needs with local suppliers sort of an automated yellow pages.. Nothing near me if I recall and was basically electronically junk mailing me irrelevant stuff. As I say it could have been user error on my part, but also because I’m not in a big city. I unsubscribed. I’m assuming you are a trade looking at registering with them? Facebook seems to generate a lot of business for trades near me.

+1 re screw piles . No More Digging etc. I’m currently researching same as we have tree roots. Screw piles were quite pricey so looking at DIY options

I’ll pm you

I recently replaced my temporary kitchen. My temp kitchen was installed to get a temp occupation certificate, to allow my builder to handover the house to me and for me to occupy then self fit the proper kitchen. As there were minimum cubic metre storage requirements I made sure I found units that were cheapest to achieve the min storage requirements. in the end i went with IKEA carcasses units without doors. I did find the IKEA legs expensive so used cheap ones from toolstation but I’ve got a funny feeling the IKEA leg proces have reduced to a sensible price. IKEA do cheap worktops too, if you are really trying to keep costs down you could always go without unit doors. Depending on what your priorities are - look or cost.

Have you consider likes of www.jail.co.uk who do made to measure cupboard doors in mdf, and oak veneer, the latter which could match in to your oak stairs. I once priced up making my own under stair door MDT door and found by time I did so it wasn’t much more just to buy a proper one from them, and certainly a lot less work.

Nice one. Do you know it’s market value -v- build cost.

One option for you may be to keep the smaller size just but future proof the house for future easy extension should you wish to make it bigger. for example assuming it’s a concrete foundation, perhaps pour an extra 15sqm at one end of the house, at nominal cost at the build stage, and hide it under a deck or whatever. Make sure you have a layout that lends itself to adding on easily even plan terminated pipe runs etc so if you do wish to extend you could do so very easily. I have seen roof areas above garages done like this - built in a way that lends itself to easy future conversion. With my build I had the choice of a bigger build lower spec, or a smaller build with better spec. I went for the latter as my build is to live in not to sell.

During the summer if the neighbours is in the room above the garage he will see your ASHP and hear it if his window was open, assuming it would sit above the height of the hedge. I would just check with him beforehand. Would also check with ASHP manufacturer that having it raised wouldn’t invalidate warranties or prevent servicing etc.

Just buy shaker doors & don’t put handles on. I’m just finishing off fitting my handless kitchen from DIY kitchens. Luca handless range. Fantastic quality for the price. If you are able to compromise - another +1 for DIY kitchens.

Graham, I’ve just moved into my self build a few weeks ago. I’m near Westhill. Happy to help.

Just paid £250 for my AT. £643 way too high unless a massive building.

I was £15-16k for 23 windows and front/back door. Windows same product as you, but supply only no VAT. That included several fixed panels, six 2.1x.0.9 window doors, 5 full height windows for upstairs. No big sliders though. It will take a team of people to fit them though, they are very heavy windows. I’ll pm you my quote Steve

Thanks guys, sounds like there will be settings to address this. I’ll not touch anything for fear of buggering it up and get the installer into get it sorted.

I’m not sure about the pump setting the engineer (over the phone) did mention that could be an issue and may need to be adjusted (down?) From tank ? I think so but so loud difficult to pinpoint. Certainly to right side of equipment as opposed to expansion vessels top left. pic attached. thanks Peter

New Ecodan ASHP system. Pre plumbed unvented mains pressure water heater. Attachment is noise from water heater during evening when no hot water being used and central heating quite low. Engineer has got me to turn off frost feature thing and increase bar pressure to 2. Tonight I’ve turned off whole system, so I can sleep as like trying to sleep in a ships engine room. any ideas? also, and is it me or is the FTC5 controller, and the whole system incredibly difficult to understand? Struggling here.... IMG_0785.MOV

My build is AB32 not passive, but efficient eg 3g windows and ASHP. Give me a shout if I can help in any way.

The company that built my house did a design and build service that I went with. What that involved was basically me designing a house and them drawing it. As a result I do have some design regrets mainly that the house is a bit vanilla and I feel I have some layout errors that an architect would have picked up on. If I had my time over again, if I’d found a reasonable priced architect that understood my likes and dislikes, I would have gone with an architect. If you like his/her portfolio, the price sounds fair, and you get on I would go for it.