ToughButterCup

Try JQuery and HTML with a bit of CSS. A morning's working on it will see significant progress. The JavaScript will rub off on you on the way past.

@JanetE, I have a file of notes taken from EB and BH, so I copy the relevant stuff here (from @JSHarris I think...) First the basics. There are separate HMRC forms for receipts where the VAT is broken out as a separate figure and where VAT is just included in the total price. HMRC will accept spreadsheets that look like these forms, and have told me that they are happy if there is an extra serial number column at the left. I'll post copies of the blank spreadsheet versions we used later, once I've cleared all the data out. HMRC need the receipts to be ordered in the same sequence as they are entered on the form, which is where the additional column is useful, as you can pencil a serial number on the top right of each receipt to more easily keep them in sequence. I found that we had loads of till receipts, rather than A4 printed receipts, and there are two main issues with these. The first is that they are heat and light sensitive, so keep them somewhere cool and dark or else they will fade. The second is that they are a pain to try and keep in order, so staple each one to the centre of a sheet of blank A4 paper. This then allows the serial number to be pencilled in the top right corner, makes them a LOT easier to handle and allows you somewhere to write notes regarding ineligible items and then write the calculated VAT or total price figure down. The latter is important. You need to go through every single receipt and check that there are no tools or other ineligible reclaim items on it, and if there are you need to mark them, recalculate either the VAT (for a receipt where VAT is given separately, or recalculate the total price (for a receipt where VAT is only included in the total price). The receipts need to be in date order and must contain evidence that you are the purchaser (so your name has to be on it, and for a till receipt this may well just be the name on the card used - so take care to use a card with your name on it). The receipts also have to have the sellers name and their VAT number. You cannot reclaim VAT from a non-VAT registered seller, or if the receipt doesn't have the VAT number on it. This latter point is a pain, as I've found several online sellers who fail to put their VAT number on the emailed receipt. In each case I've had to contact them for evidence of their VAT number, but things would have been a lot simpler had every original emailed receipt had the VAT number on it to start with. If I were doing this again, then I'd start by keeping better control of the receipts from the moment I received them. In the case of emailed or web page receipts, printed off, then I'd have checked straight away if they had all the correct information on (my name, suppliers name, VAT number, date, etc) and asked the suppliers to correct any that weren't in order. I'd also have started stapling till receipts to sheets of paper to better be able to file them and keep them from getting faded, torn etc. On some of these I'd have made pencilled notes on the attached paper that better described the items. B&Q, in particular, use a very abbreviated description on their receipts which makes it challenging to work out what the items are. Finally, I bought a lot of stuff via Ebay, at a good price, but virtually none of it has an eligible receipt. Many of the sellers are probably not VAT registered, but even those that are very rarely give a receipt with their proper company name and VAT number on, so unless you are saving more than 20% by buying on Ebay items may well not be the bargain they seem.

Advice Please! A triple glazing rep (Gaulhofer) is due to call tomorrow. And I don't want to look too much of an idiot when talking to him. So what should I look for, or ask about? I know the basic stuff about his brand of windows, like the figures for the glass and frame -they're all within the range for PH - if they weren't the rep wouldn't be calling. I need pointers towards what I should look for in terms of manufacture. I'm conscious of the recent thread on windows and security, so I'll ask about the relevant standards. But to be honest with you, at the moment, to me, windows are windows are windows. But I'll be spending a good chunk of our budget on them. .....Not a time to get it wrong.

According to my son, it's the weapon of choice in Morecambe.

I'm bumping this thread out of pure self-interest: our windows order date approaches. My lads partner is a CSI. I'll talk to her and see how much information I can find out about gaining access through windows: and strategies for making it harder. It might be that she can tell me more about how thieves cut themselves on the way in and out - but it's worth a shot innit?

Pin heads are small places. And self-builders have been know to err on the side of being assertive, @Mrs H. May I suggest a way into this market; a way which has low barriers to entry, and might be worth a little bit of investigation? I am willing to bet that there isn't one self builder who isn't welded to their computer - without the Internet, we'd all of us keel over and scream - it would hit us right in the bank balance. The Internet can be seen as part of the Gift Economy. Consider the many online channels you could employ to give some advice and assistance. Think about what types of support you could offer online (have a look at say, Emplaw, the Employment Law website as one model) There are many models; have a stand at the NSBRC in Swindon, attend self-build shows all over the place. Offer to give seminars and talks to self-builders. Link those activities to a developing Social Media strategy, and get yourself known on line as well as in person. Build a reputation for connecting with customers. There are lots of good media companies who run free courses on how to build an online presence. A few thousand pounds will see the job done well. Or you could look at a few small companies known to you and copy the Social Media model they use. For next to nothing. Whatever you choose, I wish you well. Ian

Credibility as a professional. The term Professional has a few interpretations, but the reassurance given by PI is a major factor in people's understanding of professional status. You can be a poor architect, and still have PI. At a slight tangent, @Mrs H, let's say an architect is removed from the register: would the now was-an-architect's PI be invalid?

Hello, and welcome. I have a quotation in front of me for our foundation. Looking at the detail I can already see a couple of minor errors: I already have the GeoTextile we need -deduct £280- , we don't need the MuckAway services (because we are on a slope and can handle our own surplus soil) deduct £960, I'll dig my own land drain, deduct a few hundred quid. As Jeremy (@JSHarris) says above, discuss price changes on a regular basis. And that means fostering a good working relationship with your contractor. Please keep the questions coming! Ian

Exactly right. Get your spreadsheet out. Network.

And I have an excellent architect. Registered, tame, polite, gifted, sensibly priced. Can I suggest you 'waste' time on BH? Ignore the brickbats about your discipline. They are slightly relevant - but no customer is going fully to report their own shortcomings are they? So tales of difficulties with architects are unlikely to be objectively reported. The board contains ample primary evidence for your research. Few come here and tell us what they got right; most are asking for help. Very few posts go unanswered. So how can you tailor your service to people like us? Listen. Read your customer. Connect. Build trust. Explain simply. Signpost self-support. Offer further engagement as required. Principally, connect.

This is all far from easy. Preparatory work is almost never wasted. Some basic considerations (forgive me if I write about an issue that has already been covered) What's the end-in-mind? How will that be financed? How soon do you want the work done? How much time do you have to run the project? How much and what type of support do you have in place? I am always amazed by the level of commitment and energy shown by BH members - many of whom do a full time job. There is a core of BH folk who are old codgers like me: retired, recalcitrant, pig headed, determined. We have time. We are probably not too fussed about schedules, and likely can finance our way by selling our current house. Some are more fortunate than that. And we are unlikely to be building to sell and move on. Many combine standard 'normal' family life with self-building. Energy levels off the scale, fantastic personal organisation, significant technical understanding and experience, and a network of mates 'who-know-how-to' [...], loads of grit and determination. How they do it, I honestly don't know. Some do it serially. Guessing between the lines (let alone reading between them) it might help at this stage to write a simple cash flow forecast, set a budget, ask for fee proposals (for example some or all of these: SE, architect, architectural technician, solicitor, building planner, soil survey, topographical survey, ecology survey) and then take some decisions. At this stage forget the Builders' Merchants: too early. There is much to be gained by networking both on and offline. Read the PP with very great care. How with the foul drainage be sorted out? No off mains drainage no house. How long has the barn been on the market? Why? Ian

Thanks for taking the trouble to start this post. Mixing theory and practice is an interesting and particularly useful approach - because it helps us decide why not to do something we might reasonably be expected to do. I am toying with the idea of piping cold water only round the house - to three sinks, a shower and to a SunAmp PV. Heat will supplied by under-sink heaters of some sort Why? Simplicity. And because of standing heat loss, lack of space, lower cost and maintenance. In a house built to almost PH standards, electric underfloor heating and a high spec MVHR system means that there isn't any requirement for water-based heating. So to address your final point directly, would it be possible to consider cold supply only in the overview, pease?

No, it's not normal.

The job requires tests to three piles. One has already been done. (11 tonnes on a single 4 m pile) The hydraulic jack needed failed between tests, so there has been an enforced delay. Your point about transport is EXACTLY correct. I wrote a carefully worded Traffic Managementment Plan, and sent it to the TCVibro. They outsource their transport. I am not sure what happened, but the rig arrived on a low loader with a fairly cross driver. He needed a good deal of reassurance and charm to bring him down from his annoyance-induced high. As luck would have it, Daniel Cowley -our Groundworks Company- was there as the rig arrived. Daniel had brought his 16 tonner, dumper and other gear (by sheer chance) on a bigger low loader than the one needed for the 42 tonne piling rig. Daniel's brand of no-nonsense plain talking to the driver was a significant asset. It was then left to me to do the soft stuff: bacon butty, coffee, drive around several exit routes with him for reassurance. For the return trip, I am trying to arrange that the company rings me before the rig sets off. At least I can meet the driver a few miles out on the A6 and we can agree a strategy in relation to unforeseeable hiccups - like people parking in the lane and going for a walk blissfully unaware that a piling rig will be passing a few millimeters away from their brand new Ferrari. By then, of course, it won't be my problem. But, no need to spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar, eh?

Yes @MikeSharp01, it was a baptism of fire. And I do remember the thought that 'nothing-will-be-as-bad-as-this' when the the rig engine shut down for the last time. Swiftly followed by the thought that this board is full of cautionary tales, and full of support for people who have been through far worse. I can see the rig from the office window: sitting there putting many tonnes of pressure on two piles. The first test completed yesterday, showed that a single pile took in excess of 11 tonnes on a wall that will, at most, need to take 4.... serious engineering indeed. The SE's PI must be expensive eh?

I can't wait to sell mine. It'll mean I have done the job. It'll be a gut wrenching sign of success. God I love that little thing.

That's a generous description. I'll take a few minutes tomorrow to jump up on the rig and take a few close up photos. It looks like a lot of hydraulic gubbins are needed to grasp the probe in the first place and then shake the living daylight out of a tonne of stone plus the weight of the probe - and ram both four meters into the earth (6F2 to. 38 of a meter) . The ground visibly bulges like a bow wave around the probe as it descends, perhaps bulging by 50mm sometimes more. I'm told the power plant is an 8 litre beast.

That's a very flattering comment. Thanks. It's an issue that needs to be addressed. How do we make the complex simple? Online stuff needs simplicity at its core.

You see before you an extremely relieved person. 64 piles in, done, dusted, testing happening now. I'm trying to remember when I was so nervous for so long.... and can't. Tucked up warm and comfortable on our bed, and lying in the crook of my knees, the cat growled - he's never done that before - a car had parked outside the house and stopped at stupid o'clock. It was the pile driver chappie arriving a day early. Swiftly followed by a 42 tonne rig.... thus; and before you could say 'That's Big', this happened The piling probe (called a poker) that sits on the front of the rig looks like this Big innit? So how does it work? The rig picks up the poker (heart-in-mouth-stuff), and when positioned correctly, vibrates the poker into the ground to a predetermined depth: in our case 4m or less if refusal occurs before that point. But the trick is to tip some stone into the hopper at the top of the probe. Pull the probe back up a bit, reinsert the probe (into which more stone flows), compact, and do that a few times until the pile is made. Now, this thing vibrates. A lot. So for fun I did this with a bowl of water and some Vimto. Cos frankly, it worried me.... there's a water pipe running very close to 4 of the piles (2m) Not much, but it's hardly a scientific test. Town And Country Vibro set up a wobble meter (forgotten what it's proper name is) which is connected to a modem so the Head Office can see how much wobbling is going on. For comparison I went up to my office and had a look at my wobble waves there. None, or almost none. That did absolutely nothing to allay my fears of bursting the water main. We had prepared properly, though, thus; Man was I relieved when the vibration stopped. No leak, No fountain, no bill from United Utilities. That's not going to stop me taking photographic evidence of the pipe and pit when the road plates come off on Monday and it gets back-filled. Only to bump into a cliff-hanger on the last pile The probe had hit a glacial boulder smack in the middle and split the stone such that the remains filled the exact diameter of the probe. So none of the stone fill could flow into pile hole. Jammed. Solid. Four lump hammers and one sledge hammer all hitting the probe at the same time. Me hitting it as hard as an old codger can; which was a sight harder than the lads were. Too much invested in this pile.... Plop. Out it fell after 5 long minutes. Angels sang Heavenly music when the 8 litre engine stopped and the foreman jumped down. "Ya weren't worried were ya whack?" he asked grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Naaah" I lied. Ian

Grass was invented by wimmin to keep men out of the way for a few hour every week. I'm with you on this one. How many hours of my life have been wasted by grass? And I'll never get hem back

My God it was brilliant fun. Just fabulous. Its so stable and smooth. And easy to nick the track with the bucket teeth because it's got a quick hitch, and so the arm's that bit longer. The controls are exactly the same, except for foot pedals which makes spinning off (is that the right term?) much much easier. 37 tonner due to tomorrow with a stonking great big vibro thingy on the front; the contracts manager has promised me a go on it. It's their smallest machine. (!) And @MrsRA choses today to go to Copenhagen for a girls bonding session. When she could have had a go on the the piler. Oh dear. Never mind, what a shame.

like this.... Rig arrives tomorrow - a day early ! More pics then. Ian

Mine is on Saturday. We are just digging round the water pipe now and suspending it so that the vibration has less effect. Keep us posted! Ian

Smells like a bit of a try on? Care needed.

Mmmm, lovely. Except those that were from the compost heap.