ToughButterCup

? Me too dad.

For a few moments, yes. Longer, no. Look at the treads: they are rounded square in section. Half an hour on those and your feet will hurt. You need treads that are angled so they are level when the ladder is set at 4:1. Hire a scaffold or a tower.... please.

Doctors say NFN - Normal For Norwich, my daughter says its the most beautiful city, the map says its in the middle of a desert with wind in it, drivers say it takes an age to get there. Whatever, welcome!

Unfortunately not ... but what a fantastic place to be building Good luck! Ian

Welcome. For starters, let us help you with that issue .... Oh, by the way, is it true what they say about Norwich?

Hello, Remodelling: how about some before and after photos ? Ian

When this lockdown finishes - serious pub session ?

Write.

No. A bad argument is just that. But micropolitics matters. Exactly this is what we have done. Our house fits in like a supurating thumb wound on a manicured hand. I live on a chocolate box row of local-stone built 15 Century cottages, and slap bang on the end of that row is our new house: a sharp, modern wood-clad passivhaus (ish) design. One '... opinion former ...' Councillor actually wrote in her objection , that the proposed house would '.... spoil my Sunday morning walk ...' You couldn't make it up. Local Councillors one after the other visited us and asked why we were not building in exactly the same external style as the rest of the row ( 4 isolated houses) My reply? It takes a hundred years to replace trees. A few million to replace stone Four years later, that (spoil my walk) Councillor's own chocolate box house has two Tupperware built houses squatting on what was her cabbage-patch size garden. I had to restrain myself from objecting to those houses on the grounds that they would '... spoil my Sunday morning walk ...'

@Pete, stop posting kitchen porn. God, you've even left the quadruple dose of Viagra on the kitchen surface man! GedaGripMan.

And I thought I was being unkind when I had the same thought.

So why don't we? Ease ? Brevity?

Exactly Peter. The term is opaque. It seems to me that the vast majority of self builders and every single architect I have spoken to , all cite a simple(istic ?) measure : square meterage. And @SteamyTea has a point when he says it is a poor measure. But at least its consistent in its inaccuracy. I think the argument he might advance is that cost per square meter is a cloak under which a good deal can be hidden. Rough but ready?

A few people have been talking about their build costs recently. ( @ProDave , @nod, among others) All of them use the cost per square meter measure. When I used the same measure in a comment on an unrelated thread, I got a one word answer as to why the measure was poor . ' ...Geometry... ' That one word answer sparked my interest (as do many of the author's posts). I poked around in the list of RICS measurement methods, and bumped into this document about valuing individual new homes. I'm aware of the conflict between value and cost. But the point made in the introduction to that document talks about the need for consistency of measure : what the teaching profession might call working towards formal units of value, rather than informal ones.. Geometery has to play a role in deriving build costs. But so do many other factors. And geometery can be complex : square meterage , simple. Is cost per square meter despite its simplicity the only practicable cost measure? Or are there others we should consider?

But usefully so ...

And @Paul Leigh, there's your starter for 10. Look for developments that (at the time they were suggested) '... look completely at odds with ...' . @the_r_sole 's repsonse seems negative. It isn't - it's extremely valuable : its the issue that, once addressed, will get you a few steps further on your way to Planning Permission. Persistence . Good luck. Ian

Exactly. Could I suggest you do your research before you talk to the architect. Unless yours is a planning specialist (as opposed to an ' educated artist ' - as some on here would have it ) . He'll be up for the challenge on your purse. If you research thoroughly first, the challenge to your purse could well be smaller. Innit?

There's often a similar planning story - different sticky issue. The answer is to research the gonads off it. The end in mind is to be more informed than the planner about There is a duty of Consistency in planning . Here's a link to a beautifully well written blog with the search results for Consistency in the planning context. As you hint, other houses have been allowed. Start there. Go into every salient detail with an eye to getting a clear picture about what openness has meant in the recent past. Go to those locations, look at them - assemble a clear body of evidence and then make your own mind up. Also, do an internet search search for Consistency in the planning context. There are many articles about it. The aim is to know your stuff about (local ideas on) openess far better than the planner to whom you are talking. Be able to back her into a corner with facts and precedent: don't make yourself an easy target.

@nod will be along in a minute.....

Vorsprung durch gute Kuechen!

Welcome. And in one short phrase you summarise why your drive is - shall we say - iffy .

Ooooof.... Ask a southern German (Blum hinges) ; same thing. Ask an Austrian and get a smack in the mouth. Same kind of thing as Candian and American or Ozzie and Kiwi.

Firstly, welcome. Your question is one of compliance with the regulations. Locally ( the Wild Wild Lancastrian North) compliance is called Enforcement. Talk to your local Enforcement (Compliance) Officer. Please remember we are not legal experts here, we are merely interested (nosey) reasonably well- informed busybodies. I say that because I would not want you to embark on a project just because we seem to be in favour of an argument you advance. Give 'em a ring. Whats to lose?

I bought £5000 worth (KwikStage). Sold for almost as much as it cost. Over 4/5 years. For us, no-brainer. If you are in and out in say 8 weeks, not worth it

Nolte. Rich fella like you can afford it..... (no German spoken: just trashy musak) . As I understand it, they supply many other manufacturers.