ToughButterCup

Could you explain the comment about gaps, please @Adrian Walker, thanks. Could you explain; where the gaps occur, the extent to which the gaps are problematic, and if it is possbile to remediate the gaps? Ian

I think your post should be pinned.

Here you are: have a read . What you @Adsibob are experiencing is normal.

Search Durisol on this site.

Welcome, @Adsibob to the norm in this sector. Nothing in your post above is new here. Your gripes are understandable, and almost universal. A quick read of any post on BH with the word 'rant' in the headline will attest to that. I would have thought (I'm almost sure) that very many of us here also have that sickening clunk in our stomachs. We are all Domestic Clients and therefore at a significant disadvantage over Clients. Established builders are in the technical sense of the word an elite. Acceptance in their Inns of Court, Dreaming Spires, Operating Theater, Cockpit is just as hard as entry to a profession.

Exactly ! And why our newbuild has but two bedrooms. Grandchildren welcome - others can sleep on the floor

I love spare ovens because they work even when they aren't working. The stuff you can hide in an oven: pots, pans, left-overs (found some Christmas cake t'other day) . . . maybe not chocolate treats though

Ditto in darkest flatlands of the Fylde, West Lancashire . Where tattered Brexit and St George flags and warm beer are most common. And farmers who moan like there's no tomorrow... Ah'm mekkin proper mune fer 't fust tahm lad, proper mune.. He's a mate of mine. Can he hire me a machine? Can 'ee fook.

Quite.

Our entry-level Bosch makes me cross MODS please delete this thread. If SWMBO reads it, we're done for ?

@Adsibob, there you have it: @gc100's response sums up my experience beautifully. I get the strong feeling from your posts that you are bringing hard won experience in a professional context into your house build planning. Perfectly understandable. And it's infuriating that the building sector operates so - apparently - casually and - actually - casually sometimes. Its also common to find building wolves hiding in sheeps clothing. One or two have flirted with BH in the past too. I bet if your customers had to be like that with you in your business, you wouldn't last long. Welcome to BuildHub reality. We need the support and (technically) the Community of Practice that BH is Community of Practice

Talking to the same builders as me then? Its a shame for everyone starting out now: I feel really sorry for them all. I mean its not like self building is easy is it.....

Snap. (Well, almost - we started hoping in 1985) Welcome

Depends on the qualifications @harry_angel.... Very useful thread. Thanks.

Due Diligence. Look hard at things like CCJs. Pay by results , on itemised invoice and in arrears.

You have a way with words @pocster ... ?

No. SWMBO bought the land (then an orchard) for £1000. Took Gorgeous George to change one sentence in Planning Law ... in favour of sustainable development.... to make us believe we might have a chance. Honestly.

We started in 1985. Permission in 2016.

The legal distinction between Client and Domestic Client is explained in CDM 2015. There is also an extended discussion on BH here. An hour spent researching the difference will be useful for you. Apologies, in haste, at work....

Just in case anyone finds this thread and is thinking of door sizes in general, here's a link to loads of diagrams about door sizes .... I found the charts helpful to explain why I'd made the rough openings the wrong size. Nuvver lesson learned. ? Its Friday. Be Happy.

The answer is definitely yes. But to achieve that goal, in the light of the posts above, you will need to behave like a Client not a Domestic Client (CDM 2015).

Maybe put it slightly differently ... How's the labour supply these days? I think that it's the builder's role to assemble the team he prefers. He may well want one particular person - a good fast, accurate worker - but can't get hold of her / him. What penalty is there for project delays? Or better put, what incentive does the builder have for completing on schedule?

There ya go @flanagaj: I would - Just Bloody Do It - .

Yisssss! Posted just in time. Thanks very much. It takes me a-long-time-to-get-stuff-done. ? Sometimes that's a good thing eh? I agree. I have one year's worth of data now. By that I mean a year of looking most days, looking carefully when the wasps woke up, and more closely still in recent weeks. I took advice from a local pest control person and his take on it was that 10mm (our gap) was likely to be big enough to cool behind the gaps sufficient to discourage colonisation. He suggested I call him towards Back End for a thorough once over. His charge for a Call Out - £45. Anyone else, its north of £280. I'll have a cherry picker available then: should be interesting. I'll try and remember to update this post.

Of course we are. They have never gone down, and apart from a few well organised BH members (see above) , very few of us have come in ' ...on price...' (there are many interpretations of the term 'price') Grand Designs - ands other similar programmes - tendency to statistical manipulation annoys many of us. Now my approach has had to become: There is a way round this challenge : just find it and do it. If the casual converstaions I have with folk walking past our build are an indicator, there are many (BH guests I suspect) reading these posts who regard self build as a priviledge. And I agree. Mostly. To answer you directly: No, its not the wrong time to start a self build. Because prices are only one of the many challenges self builders face