ToughButterCup

Morning all. It's Friday! ? I smile to cover the embarrassment of not knowing what the cable that connects the LED strip to the driver is called. You know- I hope - the thin red and black stuff. Should it be solid or stranded?

Common sense always spoils a good story dunnit?

Hello: glad to have you with us. There is a kilt wearing contingent , they'll all be along soon.

You are in good company- that @Russell griffiths is famous for it.? For the MDF - use MRMDF (moisture resistant)

Knowing the despatcher well enough to ring and ask if any truck has a part load " left" . Yes I have to wait until Someone doesn't use as much as they'd ordered. But doing it that way saves everyone time and money

How does it compare? Takes me about 10 minutes to order the tail end of a part load ( half price), and a further 20 to chat to the driver, 5 minutes to wash up the coffee cups.

Welcome, I stopped bothering to calculate how much the combined advice of this forum has saved us when I got to £22000 ... and as for saving my sanity, well some say that's a lost cause. But simply knowing that to every single self-build problem, there's probably answer on BH is very reassuring. Welcome indeed.

Well well, well. You'll never guess what happened next ................... 10 minutes ago a guy from United Utilites Water came out and weighed the job up. I can't (well, shouldn't) report the language used, but he thought that the design was somewhat lacking in common sense. He agreed that a leaking packing gland in a valve was a foreseeable failure and that therefore the design I was asked to follow was not competent. The site was surveyed, marked up on the ground and a job logged inside 5 minutes. A few moments later I had a text notification that the job to insert an external stop valve had been raised . Lively discussions followed about Head Office people - in a wide variety of disciplines - not knowing what they are doing . The job might well be finished inside 5 working days. Result !Top Bloke! Lets see what happens next. Why oh why did UU try it on?

Ughhhh, what a tangled tale. The only defense I can see is -possibly- tiredness, and overtrading. Pressure to get the work done (I'm good at my job, but not the paperwork), and failure to appoint the right people to manage the paperwork. I'm so glad to hear that you have a solid background in dealing with this sort of issue: frankly its a relief. We sometimes get members who are not up to dealing with unscrupulous trading practice. BH has supported me too - saved me a huge amount of money. So its good to be able to return some of the help I've been given. Good luck with the rest of the process! Ian

@MaryM, I don't know anything about your previous experience of the building sector and invoicing: my knowledge was scant - until we decided to build. I hope the following doesn't patronise. Thus far we have had contractors present invoices as a bare number - no detail, no information other than an account number, contractors who simply dont do what they say they will and present a fantasy invoice, contractors who demand money for work done so badly that we've had to spend a good chunk of money putting it right. And lastly someone who - without good reason - presented us with a Letter Before Action using an out of date protocol. In each case SWMBO - because of her experience of local trades folk - put some lead in my pencil: in each case we have stuck to our guns - and on the basis of evidence ( video, time lapse images, photographs, meeting notes, email exchanges, and lists of unsuccessful attempts to make contact - phone logs) point out that the money asked for was either wrong, or unjustifiable. Its an unpleasant thing to have do - challenge someones request for money. But, as SWMBO pointed out, money paid off-invoice, or overpaid can be thought of as deducted from the amount of money we have left to spend on the kitchen. And There Be Dragons.?

One thing that any professional person dealing with this issue will ask about (or rather should ask about) is a description of what both parties have done to resolve the matter informally. If you can evidence that process, that will be helpful. Keep contemporaneous notes.

Modesty

They should give you a design. Once you have seen one you will notice them all over the place.

And when it comes to water ~ make sure their design includes a valve which isolates your property, and which you can turn off.

Welcome @Coops: yep, self building is, occasionally a wonderful laxative.

Who is your MVHR designer? They will be able to tell you.

I'd be fairly militant about that then. Unless there is a good reason for not having sent an additional fees proposal, then I would see that as an indication of lack of attention to detail. How much is being asked for: a few hundred or a few thousand?

Frost on our triple glazed Velux bathroom window too. It faces North, so the ice stays there when the sun comes out.

Thanks Dave, as ever, knowing exactly what to say is the key.

Well, silence has been the loud reply from United Utilities . So, I'm going to report a leak using their reporting system. Anyone care to Suggest a suitable form of words to wake them up?

Oh- shows how out of touch I am. This issue strikes me as analagous to the catflap debacle we had on e Build- What's more important pussy or post?

A personal Amazon - type Locker , then? Some of us are old enough to remember Poste Restant : for a fee you could get your post delivered to an office Where a nice lady would give me a sweet each time I went to fetch it. Ah the good old days...

@Marblox Here you are, as often is the case, B H already has the answer.

I, for one, would love to see an image of that.....

Have I got this right? Smoke only comes into the room when burner doors are open. If that's correct then there isn't enough 'draw' to counteract the downdraft. Lengthen the chimney to increase the draw.