ToughButterCup

Summary: Delay your project by one year. In that year, kill the wildlife. Then get the ecologist back. What sort of idiot posts that kind of nonsense? I'm not an idiot. But that is the truthful sum of my experience in three sentences. That is what happens locally: I have seen local farmers do that. I have talked to the ecologists who have worked on those farms, I have talked to the farmers. I know them well enough for our dogs to be on good arse-sniffing terms I have bitter experience of following the ecology guidelines to-the-letter, (I'm German - zero imagination in relation to telling the authorities to get stuffed) and watching a neighbour take all the information I paid for (£2500 worth of work) and apply it to his own Planning Application - then submit that stolen information (plagiarised?) to a different Ecologist, and get a recommendation for a RAMS (Reasonable Attenuation Statement - cost? a few quid) - whereas I had to spend about £6000 sorting it all out. Having thus raised my BP to 190 over 60, here's a reading list for you. I am not arguing you should kill any wildlife. Ever. Can't take a joke? Don't apply for planning permission.

If I've learned 1 thing on our build - it's question (or at least look very critically at) every damn thing. And for a non-builder, that's a massive task. Its having the confidence to challenge things that's hardest.

Our rainwater is harvested by our pond, water garden and water butts. All the water from the roof and road is ducted to a water garden, the overflow of that to a massive (5 tonne) underground sand filter. That overflow goes into the pond. If there's anything left over it goes into the water butts. The pond overflowed twice this year. It didn't make financial sense to use rainwater inside the house. The current arrangement saves a good deal of effort in the garden.

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Check the layout guy's work. Ours made two mistakes - each mistake was exactly one meter out. It took me ages to pluck up the courage to ask him back on site. I must have rechecked my measurements half a dozen times

OK, job number one tomorrow morning. I'll PM you then.

I have two Bosch inspection cameras (in one Bosch case), one video / still , and one a thermal version. It takes a bit of getting used to, but you can tune the thermal one to all sorts of targets. I can go ratting with it one night (20 meters) and fine tune it for window 'leaks' on the first story the next. Its a brilliant bit of kit .Bosch Professional GTC400C 12V Thermal Imaging Camera Just looked it up, I'm a bit taken aback by the replacement cost:....... I don't know how much it would cost to pack and send you them: I'll dig around tomorrow . Know anyone who's coming up and down the M6?

I'm not an experienced user: but I have seen that set up in Germany - air ducted from outside - then burned, and up the (old, lined) chimney. In Lueneberg ... Its common for German houses to have a basement, and so the post-build installation of a ducted air supply for a stove in the room above is quite easy.

Here, they start by killing the wildlife.

The whole sector could do with improved communication. A healthy dose of Emotional Intelligence wouldn't go amiss either. Every single issue we faced on our site was caused by failures in communication: builders being rude, my lack of confidence at dealing with poor workmanship, one plumber's mendacity was particularly memorable, phone calls unanswered. And builders (now personal friends) tell me of nightmare customers, pointless customer insistence on a wrong specification, non-payment, rudeness. Building Control Officers (not personal friends) tell me stories that would make anyone shake their head: corruption, backhanders - good old plain lies. Illegal behaviour: ecologists tell of farmers killing wildlife a year before a planning application. (Examples of all the above in plain sight from our own plot) Being barked at by an over-zealous HSE Inspector - small beer. And he would have expected the response he got because he's had worse.

Behave politely. Give @nod the chance to explain himself, politely apologise for the understandable but unwarranted intrusion, and then leave. I suspect that inspectors get more than their fair share of abuse - and so go in with both feet first and (not) apologise later. Which is why I thought that Gary should consider putting in a complaint: a shot across their bows might improve their general approach to people on worksites.

They do not have the right to access private property - without express permission. At the time, Gary was acting as a Domestic Client. Not a professional builder. The only way a mistake might have been made (by the Inspectors) was if @nod had not shut his HERAS gate behind him. HERAS is at one and the same time such an annoying bloody pain, and so essential.

You could tame, train and then store bats in them 🦇

You are correct. Tell them '.... I am a Domestic Client under CDM 2015.... Please tell me the name and contact details of your line manage so I can submit a complaint about your interference on a private site....' And then a cheerful Prestonian Bye Bye....

Here's a selection of videos for you to peruse, and maybe kickstart your own ideas. I'm looking forward to making ours -

Very interesting indeed Terry. Thanks. Ian

Does this question mean can the inverter divert power to the battery during the day IF the battery is ORIGINALLY set up to take night-time electricity ?

Thanks for that explanation @Radian

Provided you are a Domestic Client (thats really important) your project is NOT notifiable. Here's the definitive guidance. (HSE). For further reassurance you can also read this thread on this board (about CDM 2015) @nod's point about keeping the site secure is the key issue for you, I would think.

Here's a link to a good few spreadsheets for you to peruse. We're at the end of our build: the most important thing for us was to make the time to update the spreadsheet regularly: it almost doesn't matter which sheet you start with - you can adapt it to your needs as you go. But tiredness got in the way..... I wish I'd thought to create a spreadsheet that could be easily updated on my phone as well as on my PC and tablet. I should have made the spreadsheet simpler.

Welcome. Welcome also to The School Of Oh Sheet Too Late Now. 5 years in to the as yet unfinished build and I'm unpicking yet another school-boy error of my own making: one made 3 years ago : it has been quietly waiting to sneer at me for not having [ .... doesn't matter what it is ..... ] It will take two full days to rectify and cost me about £200 or so. I should read my signature line more often. 'Cos I'm not laughing now. Pub in an hour or two. Ask me then.

+ 1000%. In fact it's probably as important as the product itself. I'd ask your supplier what their re-supply situation is: for us with (spits hard) Durisol it was hard work.

Well, just round the corner from you (Lancashire) , I'm hearing that customers are pulling the plug on building projects if they have arranged finance recently on a variable rate. A good chippy near us is talking about the end of next year before he can come: and no drop off in sight. Another local builder was glad to be able to come and work for us replacing the chimney on our cottage as soon as the weather improves next Spring. Currently the picture is variable, but the trend is worsening. All of this is word-of-mouth: to be taken with a pinch of salt, therefore.

You might want to consider using acrylic render mesh behind the second coat of render - but as others have said, be guided by @nod. It smooooves out da bumps.

Remind them that they did our house (Salamander Cottage) which is 12 meters away from our other cottage, and that they put a vibration meter in; and that reports to their HQ in real time. Vibration was no problem at all. And this (below) is as bad as it got .... 3 meters from the piling rig while working (I used the well-known bowl, water and food colour meter)