ToughButterCup

Yes @ProDave it is a different technicality. One brought about by the time it took for the wheels of the LPA to grind. I have a significant level of sympathy with the LPA and the person applying for PP. The orignal refusal of PP seemed to me to be spurious: there's that bit of Appeal-based legislation which says that decisions must be consistent. 25 meters North of this person's land is my place, and from the documentation, it seems that mine is more 'visible' than his planned house , yet he was refused. Micropolitics in play there, I suspect. And what does the LPA do about someone who is prepared to destroy the caravan they bought by building a house inside it? I mean thats the kind of thing @pocster would do innit?

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. This is worth the read, it'll put a smile on your face. Remember yer man who hid his house behind bales and then took the bales away revealing a palladian mansion with all the bells and whistles? Well this is the West Lancs version of that. Humble, gritty, adds a few interesting twists - but essentially the same. Sit tight. Full references at the end. Not 25 yards away from our site lies a caravan in a field. Not any old caravan: a transforming caravan, a magic caravan which used to be one, but now isn't. How do I know? The Inspector (very nice man) says so ( '...on the balance of probabilities ...' ). The occupier of the caravan in the field applied for PP, failed, appealed, failed, got an Enforcement Notice for his troubles , appealed and well - judge for yourself. He was living in the caravan pending the award of planning permission: but that was denied at Appeal. The ensuing Enforcement Notice was also Appealed but that Appeal was quashed. But why? Well, what used to be a caravan isn't one any more. Ya wot? See, he blocked it out FROM INSIDE. Built some foundations, and blocked the thing out from inside. Built a bathroom living room and kitchen. But for all the world, it looks like a caravan. Except in winter when you can see it better (no leaves) The bog window is now filled with breeze blocks, the bottom of the caravan sports - you guessed it - breeze blocks. Try towing the caravan and '... in fifteen seconds ...' this caravan would self destruct. So its now a wee hoos ( as @ProDave and the Scottish brethren would say). And since the LPA didn't demonstrate the Enforcement Notice was quashed. So, to sum up, what was at one time a caravan ( using the legal definition of a caravan) was made into a house during the 5 or more years that this little saga has been going on. Moral? If ya can't take a joke don't ........ https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/ViewCase.aspx?Caseid=3241296&CoID=0

Any number of them here

Screws are bigger in Lancashire.

The thing about having male children visiting the site is that the phrase; "Got a (...) old fella ? " means that, in the next few minutes petty larceny is likely. Yes @JFDIY , many of my key - precious even - tools are partly painted in lurid, embarrassing colours, or wrapped in electrical tape. That reminds me, the site hoover is still Missing Presumed Dead, as is my Birmingham Screw Driver, ( crowbar) and several screwdrivers- you know the ones you've carefully stolen from other sites.

How are you with the noise of half a dozen ducks pecking the weed off the water line at 5 in 't morning?

Duhhhhh... Slaps own face hard many times. Warra friggin eejit, wood, trees etc. Thanks @JFDIY

Yeah, ? that's right - I can hardly feel string wrapped round my left hand : and wierdly, the string that I can feel when its wrapped round my fingers, feels like it's on the back of my hand . Thats because they took the skin off the back of my hand and wrapped it round the stump(s) and glued the skin to my palm. I genuinely have hairy palms.

Thats me told then innit ? I'd hate to make that @Russell griffiths angry..... What a bloody good idea @Vijay . Thanks.

| have yet to find a way of sorting this out ..... all you experienced builders will have sorted it won't you ? Somehow? Cheaply, quickly, easily? I find myself using the chalk line when I don't need to use it simply because its easy to use and much easier to store . I am ashamed to say that, on a few occasions now when the tangle is too creative, I just order a new line . Anyone found an easy quick way of storing builders' line?

I found that the light from the rocker switch on a standard socket is enough for that job .... Needs to be ON, though I found ?

Thats what I wanted to hear, and thanks for the nudge @Temp It's on a switched fused spur of its own , so even I can operate safely. Now all I need is a bad weather forecast for a day. (Indoors Only jobs list) Thanks @dpmiller if only for the name to search for I mean who'd'a guessed DPST Illuminated Mains Rocker Power Switch indeed..... After I've fitted it, whassa chances she will take any notice of the red light being ON ? .... ?. Not going to stop me trying, though.

We have a heated bathroom mirror. Its excellent. But there's one little thing I'd like to improve if I can / am allowed to. Heres trhe mirror... Its the switch for the de-mister that concerns me, this little fella; Its hidden from view (tucked in behind the mirror surface on the right hand edge). And so if anyone switches it on by accident - and then doesn't switch it off - it remains 'ON' for extend periods. Because there is little need for the demister function we rarely see mist on the mirror anyway. So the heating element can be on for extended periods, and nobody is the wiser. Short of taking the switch out, is it allowable to fit a replacement illuminated switch (if such a thing exists) ?

Mmmm, I can just see you lining up a lass's nails using a laser so the stripes can be correct to less than a mil.....

Zer iz nussing rong viz being a Hun. Vot ver you sinking about making zat comment Gary??

Time lapse camera. Can't be challenged.

I learned about Clearance Holes. After splitting God knows how many thin bits of Larch. Here's a calculator for you, just in case you have the same issue. Thats the trouble with lack of knowledge: you don't know what you don't know. Unknown unknowns ....

That's a harsh thing to have to do. We did the same. We refused to pay the final invoice of £8000. That caused ructions. They subsided the moment we sent them filmed evidence of extremely unprofessional behaviour to substantiate our claim. I bless @Stones for his advice - years ago - to install a video camera . Actually worth more than its weight in gold . I made sure I got witten agreement to take video images of everyone on site.

"Friends Romans and New Buildhubbers, Hail Gluttons For Punishment! Blame the honorable children not, for they Come not to steal away your hearts But to play in the brick dust and make mud pies To discover the sharpenss of your tongues and chisels. Let them work their mischief, let them work the whacker plate Let them lose their milk teeth on your hammers And let your parents have the twins for three weeks every month. (Apologies to both Bill and Bowdler.)

What did you both understand by perfect? Wood is, well, wood. It moves. That's why I think that @nod uses metal frames.

I think, however we get there, the answer to the question asked by the OP is; ... yes, but do so with great caution... for all the reasons given.

Due Diligence, for the first bit - doctor's note for the second.

Exact same tactics used here. In one instance, they kept that kind of behaviour up for five weeks. Yes, 5 weeks. This is a list of some of the stuff I had to resort to...... Find a landline or other mobile to which you can have access - one where the account isn't linked to you. Make sure that the phone shows its Caller I/D. Then - from that phone - ring first thing in the morning between 8 and 8:30. If there's no reply DO NOT leave a message. Ring until you make contact - as far as they are concerned, callers from that number might be a new customer. Find out who else this company is working for locally. If there's any scaffolding on those sites look at the scaffolding banner. If it's a small local company (not a national one) ring the scaffolder . Fish for information. In our case the scaffolders also had a tale of woe about the company (non payment). So they took the scaff boards off one weekend. He was paid by 10:30 on the Monday. Find out where the groundworkers drink. Go into that pub. "You coming round tomorrow then ?" Don't pay. It's horrible having to do all that kind of stuff. But it's their behaviour that has caused you distress. Taking appropriate - but lawful - steps to assert your case is a must. If you can manage to do it with a grin, so much the better. Self-building is a School of Hard Knocks -

Broody chickens are: they seem sometimes to be in a parallel space time continuum. But ' normal ' chickens are as switched on as you can get. By turns calculating, venal, aggressive, determined, excellent memory, observant. Ours learned to get the best worms they had to be first IN the digger bucket as I dug holes. And that a bucket full of clay is a waste of time. And as for sowing grass seed on open ground... They like tea too.

And so who (or what external processes) is / are kicking arses motivating them? Quiet, polite, assertive, simple. Either they make progress or don't get paid. Or be exploited. It happened to me: it's horrible. The day I cut down the company's advertising banner from the scaffolding and sacked them all was not a day too soon. Should have done it much earlier. The alternative which I would now consider - were I to self build again - is to go round being really bloody nasty, picky, critical, demanding, snide until they saw that I meant what I said. Time for a shot across the bows. Delay payment until there are some results. And pay two weeks in arrears from now on. That'll flush them out. All prompt payment is doing now is financing laziness.