ToughButterCup

If you want a clear indication of a reasonable price , buy a copy of SPONS Architects and Builders price book. Yes its expensive, but it will save you way more than the outlay. It takes a good deal of effort to get into it: I can't understand why a self- builder wouldn't want to have an authoritative reference if a significant amount of money is to be spent. Its so helpful in so many ways.

Research research research. What's good for many, may well not be for Edinburgh. What do you mean by ... the total sum... ?

Management By Walking About. Keep it up.

Yes. This one is quite well known, it's called Lancaster co-housing. Very welcoming and helpful bunch of people.

And there's the problem. Got a table saw? Make yourself a free crosscut sled out of waste wood. Fun and free.

No. If by chance you do find something at that price, the cost of ownership will be high. A standard circular saw with a crosscut sled, and suitable PPE. You can make your own crosscut sled for a few quid. There a lots of YT videos showing you how.

You make an important point @Brickie. Avoidance is not unique to contractors. Trust is always hard-won. Is it any wonder we all spend more time than we are prepared to admit watching for tiny signs of commitment or disengagement from those around us? All the sharper then, when large sums of money wrap huge hopes for the future in a building project. @Brickie, a person who behaves as you describe isn't a customer. I'd see that sort of behaviour from a prospective customer as a lucky escape.

Yes. Just do it.

Waking up with a dry throat. Hmmm. Well, at least he rang you. Small consolation, I know but in relation to @LA3222's case, your lad's behaviour is one step better. And presumably, he wont get paid?

It could be Gary. Key word : '... could....' What would have been wrong in @LA3222's case with picking up the phone and turning could into is . Its not the busy - ness that's the problem. Its the lack of confidence in the ability to communicate well. Nobody trains contractors to do that. So the problem just keeps getting swept under th carpet. 'Cos all a contractor has to do to succeed is to stay schtum. You couldn't be more right - it's going to get worse. I looked round the site yesterday - I have about six months work ahead of me : DIY means self isolation dunnit?

I sympathise greatly. Simple non communication is common. Very few if any contractors have the skills needed to give customers difficult messages. Not surprising either because at school or training college nobody ever teaches communication. The focus is on the core skill of the trade. Just because you do it every day doesn't mean you are good at it. Communicate that is. Effective efficient communication is hard work, especially when things go wrong. Because then emotion clicks in. And that's super hard to strip out of the core task. So contractors over-promise, and take the line of least resistance. And shut up. To succeed in their terms all they have to do is nothing. And because that's so tempting, it's what happens most. Systems and people show themselves for what they really are - deep down - when things go wrong. When the soft and smelly hits the fan. You're better off not working with a contractor who hasn't got the guts or basic politeness to maintain contact.

Schaumglas, German innit? No bloody wonder it's expensive.

@pocster are you spying on me and copying my every move? Almost every time you post something I'm in the course of doing the same thing, or just messed it up and am starting again.....

Bottoms up then. Well, it is Friday.?

Or doesn't it matter - the way you put it together ?

Honest to God, it was easier in the old days when you only had one of this and maybe two of that. 3 Hours today fussing about GU10 downlighters (backbox) and their little quirks and foibles. And then match them to the right GU10 bulb of the right Lumen capacity, the right diameter, the right depth. Roll on 6pm, pub.?

? Dave. I'm trying to get it right enough so that my mate who visits occasionally - the roofer - the retired feminist - doesn't wince and clutch his withers when he sees my workmanship.? He has a series of one liners that would make even an Army NCO splutter..... tea spouting out of your nose type remarks.....

Thanks for that. I didn't know that the tolerance was quite so great. I spent an hour yesterday chipping out concrete all for a couple of degrees misalignment. Bloody German heritage....it's a curse sometimes

Don't underestimate the power of project managing by walking about. I did some but not enough. Had I done more my builders would have been sacked earlier. And if pigs could fly nobody would starve. Hindsight, brilliant innit?

Hmmm, now ya tell me ( ? ) Just found out that the Hansgrohe iBox unit that I have ordered has those check valves built in. It was a bit wierd to watch a Hansgrohe video in which one of their technicians tested the valve by stabbing it with a screwdriver : but then, that's our Teutonic cousins for ya innit?

Ditto. Worth every penny. Everyone, but everyone who comes to the house comments on our doorway. The BCO really loved it too. A generous door seems to help set the tone of a house somehow....

Pick axe, elbow grease, eye protection, gloves, toe-protecting footwear, sense of humour. Or ask @Onoff .... ? Ian

I want to pipe water for the shower in our wetroom through a ceiling void and down the back of the shower stud wall. That means its really difficult to install a double check valve near the shower. - Just inside the ceiling space might be feasible for me Ok, but wouldn't be convenient for many. Is it OK to install a double check valve some distance away from the shower unit? I'm thinking in a small cupboard just downstream of our hot and cold water supply? The hot water tank will be bout 5 meters away.

If it is that'd be a bummer for me. After a day on the concrete or smashing holes in a wall, my phone steadfastly refuses to accept my fingerprint. Yes @pocster that is a really nice door. There's nothing more welcoming than a really well proportioned door. Looks to me as if you're as scared of losing the keys as we are ...

I think I rember a post by Jeremy saying that it's just a long-winded faff ....