ToughButterCup

In addition to @Russell griffiths point above, it took 7 of us to place this window - and, once placed, fitted it with four strapping lads. 3mm spare all round. I lost more sleep about getting that right than any other single issue.

Climate control ?

It was dug down to 'Refusal' . ( Can't remember what the setting was - or who specified it) But the piling company would not quote until they had that report. In addition one of their lads came out and did a thorough site survey ( digger > 3 m down> jump in > grab hold of the clay and feel it) I asked for one 8 meter core - which they did for me FoC. 2 meters (?) of it was topsoil. And the bottom was very sandy wet clay with bits of gravel ( ground down sandstone?) in it. That bit of information was key for our SUDS submission. Another use for the soil survey for the BCO company. (when it came to it, the site Inspector wasn't in the slightest interested.) We dug a pond and ducted our roof water to it, knowing that (since we are on a slight slope) that we could dig down outside the pond and let excess water overflow into that sandy / gravelly bit of clay: and from there into the GCN-laden pond a few meters below our garden level. This morning there are 8 or 9 GCNs feeding on hatching WhatEverTheyAres trapped in the surface tension of the water in the pond we dug. Our Tomcat is eyeing them suspiciously. Can't wait for the splash.

Same here. But wet play-dough. Here is one core. Height 'reads' from right to left. Top to bottom sequentially . You can see the topsoil on the right. The very last bit to be laid out is top left. As you can see, it's full of water.

I've done a series of posts about our piling saga. Google or use the site search for piling and my screen name. I too had quotes in the 10s of thousands. And after a lot of research the whole job - 64 of them - cost 6.5K. I don't want to raise false hopes. But piling seems to me to be a sector which is fuller than most of mis or incomplete information. Most houses (I think) do not need piles. In brief we used 'Ground Improvement Columns', approved (indeed suggested by) our SE. (Tanner's in .ie). The piling process took one day, top to bottom, marking out, one day, pre-survey, one day. It is worth putting the legwork in to research the issue thoroughly. Town And Country Vibro. They're online and are (were) very professional and efficient. And good humoured.

That post @martjulie made me wince for a moment or two. Either there's someone with a truly massive bladder in your midst, or there's a Jock in the family. Pheeeew.

Yes. It's been open all day for the last month. The other unexpected but massive advantage is that it stops teenage door-slams dead.

I'm wrong.As usual

@TerryE made this point to me - in person at a meeting - years ago. (5?) I took his advice. Now, thanks in part to us visiting a series of local PH houses and the absence of money we ; made our windows bigger : less worried about heat loss installed £50 worth of pure joy : an oil-filled radiator from Aldi ( after reading few posts by @SteamyTea bought the cheapest 'solid' little radiator for one bedroom installed electric underfloor heating in both bathrooms and until recently had no MVHR. That is for the last 4 years no MVHR. The key is as @TerryE says : visit. PM me if you're driving up the M6 - visit anytime. One much ignored aspect of heating and warmth in a house is -- the perception of warmth -- . It matters. SWMBO experiences warmth differently - and I understand that is a common phenomenon. And I expect that we will both feel the cold more acutely as we age.

Restrictions ? Yes Crazy? Within reason - almost The most difficult windows for us were those that are about 300mm wide : the issue was manufacture of the windows, not how to insert them in ICF. (In our case Durisol).

'... requires ...' indeed ! Do nothing. Let him do the work.

Quite. I would not dream of asking others if they were appropriately insured.

Here's a direct answer to the title question https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/16/energy-bills-for-uk-new-build-homes-higher-due-to-poor-construction-standards-analysis-shows?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

we decided to use The lighting sector seems overfilled with ' designers ' , and people who have no qualification in design ( let alone lighting design ) and think that the more they charge, the more seriously they ought to take themselves. At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.

Builders' Merchants are a minefield for self builders. Here was my take