ToughButterCup

Exactly the same issues in The Fatherland. But ... 2026 is predicted for the start of newbuilds in Oranienberg: they say the infrastructure will be in place by then. Hmmm. Off to Berlin soon. When there, I'll pop up the road and have a look. My god @SteamyTea, do West Germans hate - and I mean h a t e - the taxes raised to support infrastructure projects in the former East Germany. Altogether too close to the North-South divide here. Fertile ground for the Hard-Right AFD.

Aha! Thats interesting. What's the transmission issue then? People not liking OH power lines? Because there's skin and hair flying in all directions about that in Germany too. And as so often in Germany it's about the human health aspects of exposed power lines.

Just north of Berlin, a pretty (if notorious) little town (Oranienberg) has just told the Federal Government that they can't supply any more connections to new houses. That may well have to do with the way the East Germans did nothing to improve or maintain the infrastructure for 35 years. They say it will be 2026 before they can supply electricity to any new houses. And there was me fantasizing about buying cheap in the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) and doing up some of those achingly beautiful old houses there. Inviting @Pocster to advise. 😬

What does your site insurance say? MT site. No phone call to you. He visits. Its blowing hard, raining too. He slips, falls on a rusty nail, gets sepsis - which is and remains undiagnosed - and dies. Who is liable? You? The answer to that question is the easy - if formal - way out of this one.

In other words, Dunning Kruger. @saveasteading - when talking about this to students (The less you know, the less you know that you don't know) , I found that they had to think hard about how to 'read' that dictum using the comparator - less...less. Since I also had to find a way to teach them good written style, I found positivity worked better hence; ... The More You Know The More You Realize You Don't Know ... Realising the essential truth of that is a bit depressing. AA Milne comes to mind. The six year old seems stuck in Dunning Kruger's jaw.

No. He accepted your request to work in good faith, and (as related above) had every right to assume that you were satisfied with his work to date. Because '....I rectified all these issues myself ...' And the matter was not discussed. You didn't get a quote (or an estimate ) . It feels like neither of you wanted to talk to one another. Cost : £367. Lesson learned - 3 estimates from three plumbers - Due Diligence Cheap at the price. Yes, I can hear you say "Well you try and get three plumbers round here then.... " Ok, just the one ESTIMATE and a clear understanding that if the work isn't up to snuff ( ... because you have been rectifying issues yourself.... ) a snagging retention should be negotiated. Pay him for the parts, and for (say) half the outstanding balance. Just like @Temp says: managing people is harder than the work.

How many posts have @Temp's observation as progenitor? Can I suggest a slight tweek - The worst bit is managing people and communicating with those peoples networks. I watch German and French TV. Currently Brits are buying property and doing it up in France (see DW TV on YT for example). - fewer in the former East Germany. No matter how skilled the - now expat - british builder , they all report the same problem: they find it hard or impossible to break into local, established builders' networks. Its the network that matters. Because the network can (and does sometimes) over-rule the individual

I thought these photos might interest you ..... the first one taken a few minutes ago The slider in the kitchen has been open all morning - right hand side of the image is to the North, and thus the Winter Garden is in wind shadow (wind NW) , but in full sun (it was raining when I took the photo) There is a 2.5 meter overhang for a 'veranda' shown here earlier in the build. We call it a Winter Garden - yet to have anything in it , but won't be long now. SWMBO intends to fill it with - knowing her - a jungle or as close to that as she can get. There's one episode of Grand Designs where Kevin WotHisFace showed a similar design, but he calls the area a Breeze Corridor. The look of triumph on Debbie's face was a picture. First time she'd ever been 'on trend' she remarked.

We have both ICF and stud partitions. Consider the comparative cost of running services through both - during the build and in the future. You know: for the times that SWMBO flutters her eyelashes and announces that - after all this time of planning and thinking about it and living with it - she now wants [...xyz...] moving from there to to right over there. Because -now- it makes sense. Just thinking about it makes me need one of @Pocster's biscuits

Budget constrains us too. ( @Redoctober ) 3 years living in an also air-tightish house, no MVHR. Double sliding windows (4.5m) fully open every day the wind direction allows - no point in MVHR or air-tightishness for that matter. Once the air temperature is above 15 the slider is open all the time . So the MVHR - when fitted - will be OFF for 4 months of the year. We also sleep with our suicide windows open (glass door with glass Juliet balcony) Still sucking my teeth a bit about the expense of MVHR . But we know we can wait for prices to come down and performance to improve. The comfort afforded by Passivhaus design is very noticeable - we still pop round into our 1800- built cottage nextdoor. More for the pleasure of a roaring open fire . The contrast - the unreactiveness of our build is the most noticeable thing. SWMBO makes a simple point: why buy MVHR when it's not going to be used for half the year? She listens politely to the answer. Smiles, and looks away.

Damn. I'll have to switch the CO2 system for my fish tank off then. Anyone need a load of sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid ? Anyone? No?

I can't answer your question directly, but I can point you to a post that @SteamyTea made yesterday . Here Summarising part of the programme above, what matters most is the quality of the surface onto which the sticky stuff is applied. '... brick and other masonry...' to me means rough and possibly crumbly(ing). Solve that issue - make the brick and masonry smoother - and primed to accept glue, and I think you have the answer. @SteamyTea ? You probably listened more carefully than I did.....

We're having a pop at high standards of practice. Someone who's taking obvious care. Probably not a very nice person to live with - pernickety, picky, - but he takes care (Yes I know.... 'he') I want him on my next build please Gary. Got his contact details? I'll pay 20% more for that sort of attention to detail.

I bet very few people do the area / price calculation. But when you do so 🫣 BTW: How @SteamyTea ? Without incriminating yourself ......

Welcome. There is a bias on this site towards problem descriptions. Posting about success is more to be found in the blogs. Here's a link to what's been said (on this site) about the term " optimism bias "