ToughButterCup

Excellent points Gary and @SteamyTea Could I just add one further aspect for potential self-builders to consider : optimism bias. A few years ago @Jeremy Harris ( the self-builders self builder ) wrote ( in a post started by @SteamyTea ) about the notion of optimism bias here He goes on to argue ( in the same thread) I would add that not only are we self-builders - that is people who are actually working on their build - likely to be optimistic by nature (?), but we also tend to solve problems by Doubling Down . And doesn't every self build have a good few times when gritting your teeth and JustBloodyDoingIt is what's needed. Doubling Down is not the only strategy we use. But I accept that that it's in some other contexts an over-worked term these days Doubling Down on effort and commitment has served many of us well : O Levels > A Levels > Trade Qualifications > Degrees > Professional qualifications > Doing More with Less > looking after parents > grandchildren > Nothing's Too Much Trouble .... until suddenly it is. Doubling Down doesn't work any more - because you just can't. Force Majeure. The point I want to make is that the self-build pathway is not only financial. It's not just about cost. And the problem solving strategy that you've developed in your professional career (Doubling Down) won't necessarily serve you well in a self-build. Which is another reason why BuildHub is such an excellent resource. The ability to share a FooKoop with interested committed online colleagues is invaluable

Loads of help on YT and Instagram.

Welcome. Your application has been turned down. Join tje club. Loads of us have been through the same mill. In good company here....

By buying the property to which it was joined (with the flying freehold)

Welcome. I see you're an apprentice joiner : excellent. I need one to finish the trickier bits of our cladding. You can hold the ladders. M6, Lancaster, left and then first left, I'll put the kettle on. Whets your Day Rate by the way? Ian 😄

Send them a photo: ask them what they are going to do about it. Something similar happened to me recently and I told them. In the ensuing kerfuffle, [x] blamed [y] blamed [z]. Whassat godda do wiv me I asked? Its your problem. Own it. A complete new ( in this case) set of shelves was cut and built from scratch - and more carefully packed (this time). We were told to keep the original set of shelves. If you need a spare shelf, 'Oim yer man'. Talking to a mate who's in the 'trade' - many companies are insured against this kind thing. Polite, persistent insistence is what's needed here: if you can get someone involved in the mess to laugh about the process, all the better.. Make them own the problem.

It's the simplicity I like best. I'm building a south facing stone wall at the moment 4 feet high by 25 meters long. Debbie is planting herbs that do well in full sun on the bank next to the wall. I wonder how many panels I can get in there just like you've done ? And shunt the power generated there to a largish battery in her potting shed nearby : that should secure Senior Management Team buy in. Then we can get all those damn plants off the south facing kitchen window sill. 'Nother sleepless planning night ahead then Ian...... Thansk very much for the post @JohnMo

Jesus @SteamyTea, T shirt and flip flops yet?

I'm impressed. What about ( for example) wind-loading on those John? I'll dig around in your posts about solar PV now ......

An early girlfriend of mine found it ........ (series of annoyed expletives deleted in advance of publication) to reverse into an empty double garage. She it was who confidently told me she had topped up the water in the radiator in my VW Beetle 🥶 .... Left Hand Drive split rear windscreen. My God I was cross.

Phhhhhh, jealous or what .... Vertical ? Never ever seen or heard of that. Photo ?

At this time of year I always look for signs of encouragement - and one way is to look for the edges of Spring. Snowdrops, bird song, backbirds scrapping, buds beginning to swell a little. Walked put my myenergi thingy and saw the charge light lit up and 0.01 kWh ' in the bag ' First time this year I think. Spring is round the corner

@SteamyTea , I agree with you: it's easy. Put as much insulation in as is sensible. But just the look of the text of your post fills me with dread. I mean it's take a good few years for your insistence that there is a meaningful difference between KwH and kWh ..... to get through to my innumerate skull

The number of times I've fallen at this hurdle.... The damn button often both invisible and inaccessible , so you're on the floor on your back, chewing and spitting back the cleaning ladies' leftovers (OK OK I know but no longer care) , house tomcat licking your ear with inappropriate affection - job done in haste - Only then to watch a smiling SWMBO gently press the <Reset> button and everything clicks into place.

Oh dear, oh dear oh dear. 🤐

Hello, welcome. You have noticed that we are a group of self-builders haven't you? You asked for honesty. As written your post appears to have been written in haste : if we are to help you, several statements need explanation; Which data leads you make that conclusion? Maybe you looked at CITB data. (reference please?) Is that broken down by County? Does that data also tell you how many are leaving the construction sector (hypothetically - none -) ? If thats the case, then, in a roughly stable market, there's your answer. There are next to no new jobs because nobody is leaving the industry (except the jobs of retirees who the company feels need to be replaced) . What evidence do you have that there is a decline in new entrants to the sector in your county? If the CIBT data you cite (reference please?) is taken at national level, why - or why not - should your County follow that trend? Why might it buck that trend? Are there any National Level funded local build projects? Construction staff are sometimes recruited from out of the area (Aufwiedersehen Pet). Has something similar happened in your area? OK, thats a bit far fetched - but locally, there's a massive boom in West Lancashire around the A6 corridor south of Lancaster but North of Preston. There's a noticeable increase in lads (and lasses) wanting local accommodation Monday to Friday.... you try getting a B+B locally here .... Weekends, no problem. The word '....Council...' needs explaining. And a Councils involvement in recruitment. If the jobs are there, folk will come. If not, they'll leave. Hence my emphasis on entrants above. Locally , five years or so ago Wyre Borough put together a plan which addressed our supposed housing needs. The process, long-slow-painful-NIMBY-Etc. resulted in a 8 point Local Plan (Here's the link to the Master Plan) Nobody - but nobody - locally who has anything to do with building is short of work. In my pub, a WhiteVanMan comes in with five jobs on the go and leaves with 3 more. Why should a (local?) Council have anything to do with that process? Except for putting the local Planning Framework in place. And we all know what a mess that is a national level. Even dear Old Mikey admitted that the much trumpeted initiative (to build 300,000 homes a year) was a step too far. Councils are strapped for cash and each Planning Officer has too much to do. But who isn't trying to do more with less? On balance, I think you might be best served by looking at your very local building scene, and by reading the national level press.

Hello. Thought of ICF ?

Thats the first place to start. Drill Hole Cheap glass fiber inspection system ( phone + cheap cable) Poke Look Wince. Plan Repair.

It's a Fools Errand. Thats why on this a particular task SWMBO is sent - so that when she returns, scorched by the heat of her own worthiness ( and having spent a King's ransom on [... unnecessary sh!te .... ] , I can get my own back saying ". Ah, mmmmm, that won't work ... I'd have thought that was obvious ... dwahling .... " And try not to sneer while saying it. Even's up the score a bit

I think the paragraph you quote is fairly standard. It is common for Planners to remove PD Rights apparently without much thought about the consequences . But in this case, they have given a reason for their decision. (Often they don't give a reason) The answer to your question ' ... Now does that read as no [...] ...' is No. It means that you'll need to apply for Planning Permission. That's all. The quickest way round problem that is to look at similar Planning Permission applications and see what the Planners decided to permit or refuse.

Yes, but you (we Build Hubbers) ) have to cope with the consequences. (Well, you fitted the last one - whassa difficulty this time ?) On the one hand we have to get the damn job finished (for me 8 years and a few to go) and on the other it's often the fine detail that makes the difference between an expletive-ridden job, and disconnect - replace - reconnect, done. Hence: Knowing why you have NOT done the job as you might have been expected to do it , is more valuable than doing it the first way that comes to mind. Because sure as Hell, some fatherless putrescent gadfly will sting you with; "Well, ya should've dunnit this way [...] " Thats been said to me so often that I now have a reply ready : "Well, I'm not you am I - here's the tools - GetOnWithIt " and make a cup of tea to 'Calm Down Dear' F%ck'em.

Can I suggest that you get a more detailed brief than she has given you because; How can you know when the TV will finally give up the ghost ? - 2 to 3mm could then be a problem for the replacement TV How do you cope with 'dongles' that might protrude a bit past the edge of the TV? Yes, the sound will be affected. How much is another question . If needed , where would a soundbar go? It's either hard to get family to engage with design issues - or very easy: you'll be given a precise spec. But in this case I suspect (as in mine) a ThatsYourJobMate approach. Until it isn't. And thats infuriating. Because I've needed to undo / redo all sorts of stuff. I mean six - yes six (6) - bloody extensions in use around the house FFS. "Where would you like the sockets dear?" "Thats your job innit" The only way round it I've found is to say - yes, I'll design it for you if you give me a set of images of installations that you see and like. I've come to hate some of the proprietory image search apps that she favours. If yours is anything like mine - you'll give her the 3mm gap (with a flourish and smile) and then you'll get "But what about [...] . I would have thought that was obvious. " Not showing a reaction to that technique is an acquired art.

Snake Oil .....

... and the reason why you bring us all a warm smile every time you blow a fuse.

@SteamyTea 's tendency to brevity sometimes needs explanation. Here's more information on the matter than you could ever need ...