ToughButterCup

Government Services (any services) involve making judgements. That means applying a decision making process. People make decisions. And errors. Erroneous the outcome might be, but it's still a service. Errors are normal. Hence Risk Analysis.

And how long does the average applicant take to obtain Planning Permission?

And someone forgot to test the seals at the temperatures that were to be expected on the 1980s rocket launch (Challenger 1980s ?) On that cock-up, people died. Whatever the discipline, thinking systems through properly takes talented people lots of time to get things right. And everyone makes mistakes. Its just that some fooketyfookups are more visible than others. And its great fun kicking Local Authorities. Newsworthy. Try underfunding your business to the extent that LAs have been over the last decade or more - and then see how many wheels fall off your wagon.

The is such a thing as leaks which , although actually a leak - isn't leaking visibly. In other words a leak which is not-a-leak? So the word you are looking for @Pocster is - yet - Its good fun messing with your head. You seem to take it well.

No. But pay something - I'd feel like £200 is enough. List the problems in detail. Get a (proper) estimate from a builder on how much it'll cost to put it right. Not just a 'sound-of-air-being-sucked-through-teeth quote' ( Because the original builder will think you're lying) Show that estimate to your 'builder' Negotiate. The workmanship is dreadful.

No, you aren't. Don't confuse disappointment with failure. The one thing you can't do is un-know the idea that's walking hobnail round inside your head ( and will do for a long time yet) . Nobody can take the idea away from you. Not even you. Our place was built 35 years after the initial intention to build took hold of us - a mere 10 of those years actually building the fabric of the place. ie. a 25 year wait, a 25 year ruminate, a 25 year marinade, a 25 year itch So you are NOT a failure- yet. Plan.

Yeah ... right. 🤔 I give you 10 days at the best Next build being planned I bet ....

A picture is worth a 1000 words - helps us to help you....

Morning. ...daunting...? Naaah. 'S easy. Just start somewhere and keep going to the end. Easy. And if you need some walk-on glazing, you'll soon know where to go. Brizzle. Just note my signature line eh....... You are very welcome

Bugger. Yes. Whats it called?

No. It took me ages to work out that the only thing that matters is focus..... focus on the leading edge of the bucket. Vertical or not doesn't matter. Grading is the one of the hardest skills. And 10mm gravel is far harder than 2" stone. Good luck.

Exactly. The course you refer to is about ticks on a permit - required not by employers, but their insurance company. I'm ten years in to digging with a digga. The biggest single revelation came from the difference between a cheaper digger (that I had bought) and using a different (hired) machine - but one with proportional controls. Suddenly smoothing a dug-over surface was easier: inching a heavy weight more accurate : knocking a fence post into the ground a breeze. Old, cheap machines teach you in the same way that a student-bought car teaches about driving. It's 'hard work' switching the windscreen wiper on and off when there's drizzle but no rain. Slack gearing and slop in an old digger makes everything harder. But it teaches. So @Alan Ambrose you are right, you will. By the way, I had a succession of mates all coming round to 'play' on my digger. So I set them some challenges ( because they'd ruin any real work) - pick up a garden gnome was fun. In a weird way

I couldn't agree more. The right tradespeople who are - trustworthy, open, experienced and handle communication well make the difference between a hard slog and getting on with it. It's finding them. And there's your time budget ... ticking away - the most silent of thieves

Not a bad estimate of what has happened to us - stretched over ten years. But we have the house of our dreams. (nearly) 🫣

Your project (any project) has four main aspects (sometimes called 'pillars' in management speak) Scope, Time, Cost, and Quality The only one not mentioned above is Time. Your question is this doable is YES. Stretch the Time aspect above and you can do anything.

The problem is not the plan : its the word 'best '. Best for whom? You? The buyer? Both? Only you (both?) can decide. The process of making that decision is difficult and requires lots of work - lots more than I had ever imagined. Because - I have learned - people 'see' things in different ways. Not everyone is comfortable with a plan. Not everyone can understand a 3D plan. Not everyone bothers to read words on a page and think about them. Some can only say whether they like something when they see it for real for the first time. Some like images from magazines and can say 'I like that ' . Some can point at a display at an exhibition and say 'Thats for me' , but be 'unseeing' until then. One way to start the decision making process is to list the things that you do not want.

We were initially very enthusiastic. At the same time as our enthusiasm for them we were - daily - driving past an eco- garden on a University campus (in the North West) Two (3?) small student shelters were constructed next to the eco-garden. The shelters had sedum / eco-friendly roofs. That was four years ago. Initially oooohs, and ahhhs. Now look at them: tatty, patchy, tired, un-un summat or other. Sightly is the word. Once fitted, they need work. Still we have our Newts to keep us scorched by the heat of our own worthiness.

Access is the issue , not the mass. Thinking about it it, inexperience is the issue. People like @nod and @Onoff wouldn't have made the mistake of needing 6 tonnes of MoT1 - along with 30 paving slabs for her greenhouse, and a fused SWA spur for the heater in said greenhouse and a water supply next to the door of the greenhouse - when ( get this ! ) I've ducted the rainwater off the roof to our pond - and 110 pipe carrying that runoff water runs past ( albeit underneath ) the front door of her greenhouse. @jack, @TerryE, @ProDave, (I'm sure there are others) all warned me many times - past a certain point : don't change the design Gently nudging SWMABO ( She Who must Always Be Obeyed) - her response is "How do I know what I want until [.... a whole series of excuse have been employed over the years ...) " I hate that word - until- Looking at it positively: I've not renewed my gym membership. I'm sweating by 10:00 every day recently. 😑

... and perhaps The Who blasting away (Baba O'Reilly). Its the image of that concrete pier that puts a smile in my mind. 4 tonnes of MoT1 coming up this week and a 50 meter round trip from delivery point to where its needed. Well, .... Its only Old Age wasteland .... innit

You already have the resources needed. Your eyes. Make the time to: Look. Stare. Notice. Take loads of photographs and submit the results to the boss. She'll tell you. The most important thing is knowing what you do not want - and more important than that : why not. Go through that exercise ( and it's not easy ) and the brief for your bricklayer writes itself.

Yes, sarcopenia comes to us all, eventually (well - not @Pocster) Resistance exercise is important to slow the rate of decline down. But pushing a heavy load which wobbles because I'm travelling too slowly is the problem I'm trying to solve: not just lifting the dead weight

If only I (we all) had but one job to get sorted. That's precisely the point.

What a vicious nasty post. I'll set the camera up now. 😁

I'm after recommendations. Please. Loads on the market, they ain't cheap. Anyone got one. Apart from storage (they look eminently nickable to me) what's wrong with them? I'm not the Virile Squirile I used to be...

I've found that running suitably edited Chat GPT feedback in DeepSeek (and vice versa) - while remembering to keep the interaction private - can be useful