ToughButterCup

I couldn't agree more. But @vivienz how would you solve the problem of the Attention Deficit Disorder suffered by those trades folk who, once paid on time simply refuse to be contacted? Or when eventually contact is made, and a start date agreed, don't turn up. And when met by accident in the local supermarket tell bare-faced lies about turning up to do £1300 worth of follow up work '...on Monday...' Everyone has scheduling problems. Everyone. But it seems the emotional maturity necessary to face talking to customers about low-level job-juggling is rare for some in the building sector. My argument is that with the 90% of decent trades folk, paying on time is 'right' . But for those whose personal standards allow them to simply ignore a customer mid way in a job with two phases (supply and then fix), then not paying is the last resort. It's the only thing that would hold (in this case) his attention.

Thats an advantage for those of us who put dark coloured tools on dark surfaces

Welcome. We could do with some creative accounting on our build. What's your day rate? Ian

A very reassuring Welshman will wake up from his mid-afternoon snooze soon.

''' ... I think that the next big brain task is to get to grips with SPONS ... Its no easy task. But (you're) worth it.

.... Also in the meantime, I'm still waiting for sign off from Natural England to get the roof off the house and deal with the bat summer roost. ... Tell us about that, would you please? Lots of people have the same issue. I get the feeling it's dealt with differently across the UK, and possibly differently across the UK by individual ecologist . Despite official protestations to the contrary.

Fair while ? I'm German. Fair while is not appearing in my translation app. Be more accurate Englander!

Oh, so many of us. Do a bit of ferreting, a bit of quiet fireside reading. It's fun.

Lets make this easy @jpinthehouse but painful. Forget the stove. Just a bit of research on this site will save you the expense of a stove. I know, I know, it hurts. I love them too. Ian

That the kind interpretation. Debbie agrees with you. Thing is, trades get the bulk of their repeat business from farmers round here. Hence the availability issue.

OK Ferdi ? Anyone else got a view? Do your worst

Wonky? Me ? Moi? Probably.

@nod. honorable, decent blokes like you are increasingly rare.

No, perish the thought: closer to a major war victory. And war Prime Minister. And drug-addict wayward scion.

Way back when I cleaned windows to pay my way round my first degree. After a year or two, things were going well. I was beginning to get a lot of top-end customers; including the landed gentry from West Oxfordshire. Think of the biggest, famous estates with big open parkland: the kind of place that you can visit and get lost on the estate. We did parts of his pad, and all his family's local houses. Tucked away, out of sight, pieds a terre with interesting architecture and decor. Very very interesting. A couple of times a year, I'd pop into the estate office and get paid. One year, however, I met His Grace at his (what I called) Passion Pad. and since I needed to be paid, I asked him to pay the bill. I told him how much. He pulled a roll of £20 notes from his back pocket, counted out about half of what I'd asked for, and told me he'd owe me the rest. I won't repeat what I said. That's beside the point. The next customer was the Lord Lieutenants house. Super bloke: one of the best. He sensed instantly that I was furious. So I told him what had happened. "He's frightened you won't come back, Ian". I have recently paid two trades folk in full as soon as the job was done. Between them, they've agreed to do another few grand's worth of work. Months ago. I'm frightened they won't come back. Should'a learned my lesson from all those years ago eh?

Have you worked out yet whether you are likely to be covering your clay with (say) MOT1? Our site is on a slight slope; we needed a piling mat: that is built up on MOT1. So despite lots of clay (alluvial till), in a real sense, the problem disappeared under 400 tonnes of MOT1. As soon as you step off the foundation build-up you can see the effects of the clay: bogged down Land Rovers and Great Crested Newts, waltzing to their hearts content.

I'm no expert in heaving or subsiding, but I am good at searching for sources of relevant information

So who won? Me or her?

Busy putting up our Kwikstage scaffolding. I've looked for guidance on build tolerances for scaffolding , but can't find any (scaffolder forums). SWMBO says 3mm on the horizontal diagonal in any single (2.44m) bay is fine. I say less than 5 is fine. Result: polite war. Am I dead? Ian

Hello Ian. You are very welcome. I think that members who could possibly be interested would want more detail......

We bought a digger with tracks. But I still lust after a JCB with front and back 'tools' It was the first machine I drove as a kid, learned the 'trade' made lots of (lucky) private mistakes in a field miles away from anyone's view: the farmer who got me clearing ditches would have been in jail for child exploitation and modern slavery these days. £1:00 for a whole week's work (1964. I was 11)

And this explains my mistake.... In short, lack of contacts.

That makes good sense. @DundeeDancer, you are not in a therapeutic relationship with this builder: you aren't responsible for pointing out poor practice. And he (or she) isn't going to bother about 2K.

Move on. That was then, now is now. Look forward.

Before I forget, here's a checklist for you