ToughButterCup

What on earth does ...subordinate to the main dewelling house ... , and .... genuinely subordinate .... mean ? If, as @IanR above hints, subordination does not refer to size, then where is subordination defined - or explained? Except - I suspect - in the mind of the LPA Officer. I smell an easy Appeal win too.

What does the product guidance document say?

Can't you just hear the LadysThatLunch table talk.... " Ey, hev yoo walked parst that dredful heys ... yoo kney the won thets being bilt ? "Oh ya ... I mean just think of what its doooing to heys prices. Dredfool. Go round your locality with a camera and Photograph every site that has scaffolding up for as long as , or longer than you - and ask whether the LPA has made similar requests of those sites Tell them firmly that the '... potential ...' that they identify has absolutely no basis for complaint in law. Nobody is being harmed. Nobody has lost money. No injury has been caused. Everything has the potential to cause injury. If I had had those points levelled against me, I'd appeal the decision, and if the appeal is denied, I'd wait until the day before they take action ( probably six months later) and then start work on doing the absolute minimum: If needed, get the HERAS sorted out. Thats it. Fookem PS, presumably the cars would be OK if the house had been built - so why is there concern now? Know what, .... I'm quite cross on your behalf.

Can you let us know what the Council have asked you to do, and post a photo of the site as it is at present (not an old photo) please? That would help us help you. The council are only saying that they intend to ... we will consider ... what they should ask you to do. That hints at the possibility that all they are doing - at present - is thinking about it. I bet they haven't been anywhere near the site. But now they can reply to the complainant saying that they are dealing with the matter. And possibly that'll be the end of it. In a similar situation, I'd wait for the letter detailing what they want you to do and by when (make them do some thinking) go round other sites and photograph the mess that's there respond asking them how your 'mess' is worse than the images of other sites and wait for the response ONLY THEN ask for a meeting require an itemised list of the works required At the moment there's a high likelihood that an LPA official (Enforcement Officer?) is merely doing the minimum required to get the issue out of the IN tray. Understandable these days....... Make them 'fail' you.

We are not expert Planners (or if one of us is, she is - sensibly - keeping it quiet). In my considerably inexpert opinion, there are sufficient ifs and maybes in this case to warrant expenditure on a professional opinion. I follow your logic. You need to find out from someone who knows the extent to which a garage can be considered part of a Dwelling House - and not merely ancillary to the enjoyment of that Dwelling House. One way of finding out for yourself would be to review similar Applications and developments in your area. The LPA will have a database of applications you can review. In this kind of -what appears to me to be - finely balanced question, I would always err on the side of caution. What is to be lost by asking your LPA?

Iterate. Start somewhere - anywhere in the cycle. Ooops too expensive. Replan But that means we can't [...] Replan Oh look, I found a really much cheaper way of [...] Replan @Onoff does one of his brilliant posts and that makes you Replan @SteamyTea 's latest screed of numbers and thoughts makes you realise you haven't thought about [...] Shit ! Too late, con't replan But with a bit of a compromise (replan ) we could [...] @nod posts his latest build numbers and you get depressed because he's a Whirling Dervish and you aren't ( me neither ) Argggghhh, runin' low on money ... Replan And then you get to DIY MAX. Welcome to the club baby! Eight years in to our build and the iterative cycle is much smaller, and less consequential now than it ever was. But it still happens every day. Start anywhere at all. Just start.

Look at the General Binding Rules carefully. If you meet those regulations then that's doing it 'by the book ' Our BCO could not have been less interested. Annoying to pay for a professional's disinterest. But hey ho.....

Ok, fair enough, but don't buy a second-hand car from him or anything that looks vaguely like glass , especially if the glass has footprints on it.

Then the bill sent appears to me to be a try-on ....

Good. But, were they needed ? In other words, were you given prior notice that they would be needed? If not - 'Please Go Away'

Don't bother. We haven't. We've given them an outside 'hut', it faces downwind and is out of the rain, put a soft, easy-dry lining in. Result - an initial yodle or two, followed by resigned feline fury : now they put themselves to bed as and when. Keeps the murdered rats, voles, mice, bluetits, wood pigeons at bay. Result. Don't let a woman near the decision-making process. Just Bloody Do It. Sexist? Yes. Too old to care. It's brilliant being old.

Is the email a spoof? And, if not, ask them what 'Extra Services' actually means ? And, impolitely , ask whether this bill come out of the Inspection Company's arse ? Because if it did, tell them to write to you giving a detailed quotation and ask them to outline the policy that allows them to charge beyond what they initially quoted.

The pain unites us. That's why almost all of us are here. Getting grief from @Pocster or @Onoff or if you are really lucky @SteamyTea only serves to lighten the load. Don't believe me? Try drafting a post with the terms 'walkon glazing ' or 'killerwot hours' or 'bathroom tiles' Then sit back, watch and join the fun. Easy. Welcome Ian

Yes. And here's what we've done..... This was all build rubble. All of the planting was done by SWMBO. I can't stand gardening. We are surrounded by GCNs - loads of them. 15 at least in this pond , and many hundreds in the 2 ponds either side of us. We named the house Salamander Cottage. Can't beat them? Join them then. The pond is fed by the rainwater from both our roofs, through a rain-garden - here's what happens during a recent thunderstorm .... The water is ducted off the roof into a sand bed - 4 tonnes or so of sharp sand - that is over-planted with water loving stuff. If there's enough rain this happens ... The rainwater pipe terminates under that concrete planter. and a few minutes later Next stop - the pond. The BCO could not have been less interested in our SUDS compliance if he had tried. But we have a healthy population of all sorts of aquatic creatures. And vast numbers of dragonflies - no idea why. The key issue for you is Planning and Sustainability . A similar 'process' simply explained in your Design Access Statement is one of the keys that could help you unlock your Planning Permission Cost? 4 tonnes sharp sand 20 meters of 110 foul drain pipe 5 tonne digger for one day Pond liner Some planning time Visit to RHS Manchester show to look at practical examples £500 max.... maybe £600 Hell of a laugh doing it: especially the grandchildren. Not sure we'll ever tell the parents what we actually got up to but during the digging out but it rained hard that day ......... among other things they got to push their grandad into a pond. No photos .....

The only reason for doing any more survey work is to assure risk reduction. And the only question to ask is - of those to whom you will pay money - who will require further evidence, and in what format do they need it? For example no foul drain, no dwelling - Percolation Test (aka 'Perc Test') Structural Engineers (SEs) suck their teeth - a lot : more even than plumbers - Ground Condition Survey (aka Have some cores done) Bats? GCNs? Lesser Spotted Uninhabited Barn Dweller? Stage One Desk Exercise ( aka Ecology Survey) Wince and bear it. Sorry. Ian

I suffer from that after a skin full and a kebab

Move. A house isn't a home if every time you look at it and its surroundings, you see issues that you need to placate. I mean you might as well have the MIL next door.

Ugh.... analogous problem here. Bottom line? Keep your soft and smelly stuff to yourself. Why? If they are like that about this issue, they'll be like it about everything else. Evidence? See posts above and almost every post on BH about shared resources in this context. Look at the garden dig as an opportunity to ..... And ++++ when you sell and you are (still) in dispute about it you'll need to declare it ++++. We have shared drives, poop processors and lawns now twice in our life. Each time - initially - all was sweetness and light. Then someone moved out..... Change eh? Everyone hates it. Frame it as a positive.

Yes. One wall collapse. Two hips replaced. (6 months apart) Every day now I look at errors that were made because I was in so much pain Family disaster(s) - no more than average : but significant and on-going A few very poorly behaved trades folk. Run out of money .... and still there. Self building is a test of character. When I'm down - which is once a month or maybe a bit less frequently - I remind myself of much harder tests that I survived and (more importantly) failed at. But learnt from. Make sure you have a support network. At the very least you have BuildHub. Head-Down-Arse-Up-Go.

Welcome. The good is just as valuable : but harder to write about. Easy to 'sound' smug. Give it a shot anyway. Love your screen name Ian

Thanks @Marvin. The idea of a 12volt PV panel coupled to a pump appeals. Both bits of the water feature will be placed on the south-face of the house: so plenty of opportunity for PV. But everything I have read about PV pumps and water features is that - to the limited extent I have read about it - they tend to be fairly weak. We have outdoor A/C available a meter or so away. Sketch diagram to follow soon. Might you have pump specification or maybe a trade / product name please?

U 2 don't know when to stop do ya? Phhhh, (Good idea) 😳

I remember a video of a very gifted Irish architect ( I'll look it up later) who built his house out of containers. In planning terms, the issue of local vernacular is quite important locally - may not be where you are. For us, it was a useful lever in securing Planning Permission. PS https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/grand-designs-architect-offers-his-shipping-container-home-for-auction-to-help-the-homeless/34297141.html

Welcome, That was exactly our brief. We used ICF (won't mention the name because it triggers some here) and clad the build with (now) contraband: Siberian larch. It fades to a colour similar to local local barns: '... the local vernacular...' Good luck with the build. Ian

Really? I trust you @Onoff, but I'm going to do a little experiment today. A little competition as it were between some Sika Resin stuff I have leftover and CT 1. Thanks for the image - brilliant idea - @Pocster, I'm going to CT1 a naked Barbie to the RSJ on the water feature. There's one in the kid's toy box upstairs That'll light the feminist fires among Debbie's lecturer mates when they visit and have their girls-who-lunch meetings. Mind if I tell them it's all your fault? Second thoughts I'm dobbing you in anyway.