ToughButterCup

I know I have committed theft, but I thieved it fair and square so ... This is part of the image from the linked article above. The average Lancastrian would call this a Tarred-Out-House Oh, go on then, a FookinShitHouse....

Thinking that (local) Planners care about your planning application Neighbourhood objections Listening to idiots on the Parish Council citing invalid objectings to your development. Waiting for a planning application Decision Notice Failure to plan in sufficient detail Architects designing what they want , not what you want Charlatan trades folk. Trades who do not answer the phone, or return your call in a timely manner Weather Changing your mind about important stuff after you have started building your 'dream' extension Any trade that does not do what it says it will do, - on time - on budget - on specification. Invoices with so little detail that even a saint would become suspicious Builders who charge VAT on a self-build supply and fit contract - and who will not be told that domestic clients are not charged VAT Not having a sense of humour Welcome by the way! That'll do for starters. Waste time on BH. Time well spent.

Ok, here goes. A bit of context first. Ferdi refers to a wedgie above That may well be about my efforts at putting in joists. I was doing soooo well, and then this happened .... With a bit of luck that should send a sip of tea through yer nostrils ...

I wish I could remember the name (and be able to reference the post) of the member who on encountering similar problems to yours, wrote that in his experience as a senior exec of an international building company , the self build sector was (I remember this bit ) '... the most dysfunctional (sector) I have ever experienced ...' Honestly, you are in excellent company here. One creative, positive way of using the delay is to plan in ever greater detail. And that bloody reminds me SWMBO changed her mind again about where she wants shelves and electricity sockets. Shes only had 4 years to make up her mind. I'm 68, and still find some jokes hard to take.

How to put this gently? Your experience is common. Normal. Sorry, but there it is. Don't be annoyed with yourself, I would guess that more than 50% of us have all had the same experience. Annoyance goes with the territory. @Ferdinand will be along in a minnit to put it more elegantly. Ian

Same situation; slightly different build up to it, but essentially the same. That forced a parting of the ways and , to cite @epsilonGreedy, DIYmax. 4 full years on, still not finished. The key thing: can't emphasise this enough is a supportive partner. The stress she has had to endure is significant: it's the powerlessness - the lack of control - which is so jangling. Especially when professionally we have been used to technical excellence and delivering to high professional standards and tight budgets. But never once have we regretted parting with the builder.

Exactly. Which is why the micropolitics of Planning matters. It really matters.

It is nowhere - and that's one of the factors that contributes, I think, to a Stuff-The-Planners approach. At that location, think desert with wind in it. Others who live there follow Planning regulations I sure . But if everyone in a remote location felt they could build without hindrance, many would. That road over the moor is stunningly pretty (when there's no mist and rain). Walkers regularly get lost on the ridge paths (in this case it might be The Burnley Way) - before you know it, you are in some steep-sided valley and completely disorientated. It's lonely, can be moody. And living up there means high dependence on neighbours. That in turn means strangers are viewed with more than a quizzical eye. I can quite see where the "Well aaahm jus' gonna fookin' doit, sod em" comes from. The point made by the Planner (in this case and in general) in terms of sustainability (the development is in an unstainable location) seems to me to be weakening. For those whose job is desk-based, we can all (even there) now connect to the Internet and get our food delivered.

Coming down off that ridge (via the Long Causeway) into East Lancs, its easy to imagine why the builder hoped to get away with it. The valley is deeply incised, full of hidden almost secret nooks and crannies. Beautiful. Living right next to someone who is doing the exact same thing - he built a house INSIDE a caravan (the Inspectorate are on the case) - the common aspect seems to be to the desire to shut out the rest of the world. I have some sympathy with that desire. But not quite enough to condone breaking the law.

Vee do Spoonerisms insted..

'S German innit.... wadja expect ? Vorsprung durch Schnellerarbeit (High speed work)

I painted it as a favour.....?

The other way of looking at it: it's a unique, if expensive design. Coffee anyone?

Welcome. Lots of posts asking similar questions for you to peruse. Have a good poke around the site. To answer directly; £2 - £2.5k per square meter. Any architect should be able to tell you what local development costs will be - probably slightly more accurate than @ProDave and my responses.

Oh no they won't. They'll drop it right next to one of their feet. Tread on it, trip over it repeatedly, fall over it , grind it into the ground, look at it while drinking tea. They won't give a flying fookety fook about it. Not one. Not even half a one. (PS, Written with feeling - can you tell - , not to say annoyance, #ucking lazy bastards)

You sure its not just an orange-juice harvesting system - cloudy orange juice even?

Handmade bricks eh? Hmmm, where's Ed, ( @Construction Channel ) when you need him? Didn't he make some - as in his watchword 'How Hard Can It Be ' ? When we took our piggery down, we found that the bricks had been made by hand at our local brickworks. Couple of retired builders walked past , eyed the stacked bricks on the pallets: nodded at them and said "Tidy stack, tidy stack lad, 'ang on to um . " No, it was'nt @nod who said that (he isn't retired -yet) , but they each of them know how much a handmade brick costs. And Rollo bless his cotton socks stacked mine for me after I had roasted him for throwing many of them in the skip. Made him climb back in the skip and get them all out. And stack each one of them properly with love and affection. Well, his first stack fell over: he'd never looked at a stack of bricks before. Amazin' wot yoof don't look at innit? " Distinctly uncool Mr Simpson, distinctly uncool" "Lad, if I charge you for the ones you threw in't skip, you'd owe me money: as it is I've paid for you to throw them in, now I'm bloody paying you to take the foookers back out" "Okey, ya ... ... really? " He's now working for a builder.

I agree wholeheartedly ' ... God help their next vicitims ...' Can't emphasise enough the need to do Due Diligience on everyone - and that means everyone. Distrust social media profiles, they can be manipulated. As I found out to my cost.

Oh, in terms of running costs, when your neighbour nails your access gate shut, you can just stop paying the maintenance charges like we have. Free poo disposal all because of a flash of frustration and lack of self control on our neighbour's part. Couldn't make it up couldja ?

Yes, our deeds detail our access rights. And here's a photo of our lovely neighbour nailing the access gate shut. Because he wanted to.

The Planning process is public. And Planners have a duty to help their applicants make successful applications where appropriate - hence the conversation between your planner and architect. To answer your question directly: you can share anything as long as the information is relevant, evidence based and accurate. And the best way to do that is to reference it to existing documentation. The contents of conversations aren't relevant to anything except the mood of the application. Many posts here (Buildhub) attest to the difference between what Planners (and others) say as opposed to what they do.

Welcome. There are more questions than answers. And worse, there's a thing called Optimism Bias. I suffer from that a lot. Biggly. Too bloody late now though. Next question? Ian

The battery type used by 12v Bosch kit has two very thin connection sockets. Lucky that innit... Because you make an excellent point. It was pointed out earlier (last year ?), but your reminder is timely.

Where's the Polish lads ? They'll sort it. Oh, poo. Hmmm. Ummm...... Oooops, sorry MODS, just took my finger out of the dyke dinneye? I'll pop it straight back in. Get rid of them with one hand and then offer a (up to) £10k golden hello. Kudn' mek' it oooop cudja.

Exactly the same for us : they / we (8 of us) all pitched in to disassemble the delivery trucks curtain sider load bed to get the window ( a 4m slider) out. The Polish driver was going to do it (disassemble the curtain-sider) on his own. As it was, he'd already started taking it to bits at 6.30 am. " I wan get beck hom tonight " " Where's that?" " Warshva" " Wot, Warsaw? You driving straight back?" "Iz no proplem" Fookin great big grin..... followed by "Yeah: Tacho fooked , izzz goood " Where there's a Pole, there's a way.