patp

A neighbour recently paid to have a new 3 phase transformer so we hope to dodge that charge?

Ouch!

Anyone know what sort of connection charge we might be looking at? We are approximately 60m from the road where there is a 3 phase supply which is what we are having installed. Want to go bathroom shopping but funds are getting tight.

I want a 1500mm bath as I am vertically challenged. On an internet search these come up https://bathroommountain.co.uk/hyde-1500mm-freestanding-bath?parent=v5002&gclid=CjwKCAjwjJmIBhA4EiwAQdCbxkluG8Ul6ztRjeyVpgQZLARcl03nPhTGiknDnSk9tjVOnPo1xaCn_hoCPecQAvD_BwE#fo_c=3625&fo_k=665f913de415fce2b70865e1901e9a06&fo_s=gplauk How do you get access to the waste etc when needed. Someone suggested that you have to place them on a plinth. Is that right? I like the slipper baths but do not relish cleaning underneath them!

Looks great! You probably already know that wildflowers like poor soil so subsoil is ideal for them.

There is a bamboo that does not spread. I will try to look up the name of mine as it has been in its spot for nearly 30 years with only minimal spread.

Screened off areas sound the best bet. Trellis and pergolas at strategic places. All very annoying when you want light into your house though. There is an ivy type plant known as "Mile a Minute" that is very vigorous and will ramble over a trellis or pergola in no time. I wonder if anything could be done with lighting? Perhaps some lighting that points towards the offending twitchers and so makes it uncomfortable for them to look in your direction?

If it is anything like our dealings with Anglian Water then good luck! They do not give "quotes" just "estimates". The estimates are not detailed and, when you go to an approved outside contractor, AW move the goalposts to make the "estimate" loaded for the parts that the contractor is not allowed to touch. When I mention contractor they were extremely difficult to find and were very reluctant to waste their time quoting due, no doubt, to previous experience of losing out to the shady practice of bumping up the price of the AW side of the estimate. Even took them to the Ombudsman who was not interested in the middle of Covid.

Eeeek! We have dropped the ball in project managing the tiler to come and do our tiling. We will be ready for them on Tuesday! Have been told six weeks by one with a good reputation around here so perhaps I should feel lucky?

There are lots of costings being thrown around in this thread but no one has used the running costs of an ASHP where solar power (or wind/water) power is part of the equation. Surely an a heat pump powered by solar must be cheaper than fossil fuel powered systems?

https://www.forbo.com/flooring/en-uk/commercial-products/flotex-flocked-flooring/flotex-sheet/flotex-naturals/bfrpbw

Take a look at what used to be called Flotex flooring now supplied by Forbo. It is carpet but not as you know it. You will see from he website that is sold as a contract floor covering. I have had it in my house/s for nearly fifty years and never ever seen any wear and tear on it. It will burn of course. They tested it in lorry loading bays and post testing put a 21 year guarantee on it. It used to be called Flotex 21. My only problem with Forbo is that they aim it at commercial use and so the patterns are not as house friendly as they used to be. You used to be able to get terracotta tile effect or just a multi random effect. I have, at the moment, wooden plank effect which every single person who comes into the house thinks is wooden planks until they try to slide their shoes or walk on it without shoes. https://www.forbo.com/flooring/en-uk/commercial-products/flotex-flocked-flooring/ctbual?gclid=CjwKCAjwruSHBhAtEiwA_qCppgL2DG8oFWU-tRb79FnzSWeUUwkpp_-4n8_uXYA7_isY1rvWkVO6DRoCAtAQAvD_BwE

The house cost Circa £850K so not, I would say "cheap". As to the build quality, the developer had a good reputation amongst all the trades but who knows? They do have a lot of glass and those high vaulted ceilings.

Do think about solar panels if you are going down the route of ASHP. The new development next to us is having a turnover of buyers due to high electricity costs on their ASHP designed heating systems.

Make sure he has a grasp of accounting. We have only ever employed one "builder" as we have always either done the work our selves (several renovations) or employed a trade for skills that we did not have. The builder concerned completely and utterly confused me with his accounting methods to the point when I thought I was being fleeced. I would get reams of scribbled bills for the work undertaken less the amount paid. In the end I queried and queried until he gave up and knocked a couple of K off to make me go away! He was a lovely old, time served, country builder but I lost my trust in his honesty so could not recommend him to others. That is fatal for a small builder

As above you need to ask your neighbours etc. Social media is another source of help. There are often posts along the lines of "can you recommend a good builder" with lots of suggestions for you to follow up on. My builders merchant was very helpful once we got to know them. We are project managing our build so we opened a cash account and got lots of quotes from them which opened up avenues for us to ask about bricklayers/groundworkers etc. Once we had one trade on site we would ask them to recommend the next trade etc. We were also lucky to have lived in the area for forty years so could tap into the local grapevine. Good luck it is a very worrying process.

Will take a look at KB Kitchens. Thank you. Here is Scope - http://scopejoinery.com/examples/#bwg8/177

Sounds like a consensus for a utility room kitchen then. It is not huge as we chose to have a large walk in shower/toilet Might. Washing machine and tumble dryer and a couple of wardrobe style cabinets will fill it I think. Could, however make a camp kitchen just would have to buy a second hand cooker. Our under counter fridge and freezer should move with us until we decide what we want to do. I feel so much better for having put it out there and got sensible responses. Thank you.

We do have a fifth wheel caravan with a similar sized kitchen! We manage fine That brings me to another of my worries that everything will be too far away in this new kitchen. We don't really cook a lot and very rarely entertain. Our daughter and son in law are really the only ones we would cook for, anyone else we tend to take them out. While I don't need a large, posh, kitchen, I don't want to let this build down by skimping on it.

We have had a couple of kitchen designers out and they come up with pretty much the same sort of layout. The most personable one, with the most ideas, turns out to be unreliable by reputation (is often, ahem, "unwell"). I always get the feeling that when they see the size of the property, large bungalow, they think we have an unlimited budget. The kitchen was designed to incorporate washing machine and tumble dryer but we added a utility room so kitchen is quite large. 4500 x 5690. We could find the money to splash out but where do you stop? We have a great carpenter (has worked in Buckingham Palace) and he says he fits a lot of Wren kitchens but that we might like to take a look at Scope near Kings Lynn Norfolk where he buys his timber supplies. He says they are hand made. I know I am wittering on but our house is sold and we may need to get out in short order as there is a very short chain behind us and none in front. I feel I am having to rush into a kitchen that I am not really comfortable with. Should I just plod on looking at one kitchen supplier after another until we are homeless without a kitchen or should I bite the bullet, assume they are all much of a muchness, and just go for the cheapest/quickest/best salesman jobby? Another pia is choosing appliances that suit both of us. Most difficult is fridge and freezer. Himself wants a fridge freezer that has a large freezer, they come with large fridges and think that is too much for two people. I do, however, prefer the look of a the American style. Aaargh

This, as I struggle to coordinate plasterers, carpenters, brickies, electricians while wrestling with kitchen planning, having only a degree in life, is making me feel sooooo much better Oh, and I forgot about dealing with the sale of my home of forty years

An acquaintance of mine contracted mesothelioma from washing her dock worker husband's overalls. He is absolutely fine! My husband has plaque on his lungs which can, eventually, lead to meso. It may be that, genetically, he is not predisposed to it. The plaque, however, does come with its own problems and he gets out of breathe easily. There will be many, many people walking around with plaque on their lungs. His was only discovered when he contracted pneumonia and had his chest x rayed. He was a heating engineer on building sites where they would renovate old properties and cut out asbestos all the time to later sweep it up and dump it in skips. He is in line for compensation but, as my friend put it, there are no pockets in shrouds.

If you are observing a team that are punctual and on site every day and always doing something then I think you may have to realise that he was being ambitious in his estimate of time schedule. We are project managing our build and it is so frustrating when things get held up due to tiny problems. Most of us are having teams disappear or not answer calls etc.

Congratulations @James94

We are in the middle of ours now and it is scary how things are going. We always had a contingency plan though and it looks like it will be needed. In our case it is a once in a lifetime project that has come towards the end of our life and not through choice. As above - just get on and do it.