ToughButterCup

Start anywhere in your planning. It just doesn't matter where - because everything is related to everything else. I know the feeling: you don't want to forget one thing on which loads of other things depend (Dependency) ... Here's a definitive - as in too detailed for most people

@Valentina, this thread makes for difficult reading. You are going to have to be assertive and determined to get your VAT back from the contractors. The last they they will want to do is admit and have to correct an error: and then repay you. Just a quick nudge: I 'feel' the likelihood of you needing to move in before completion. Do have look at this

No, these days nobody (except the self-interested) can miss the discomforting display of venal self interest. I'm annoyed at my own passivity about it. Back in the 70s I (we?) would be back at Grosvenor Square singing sweet lullabies to the relevant MPs, Politicians and Members of the HoL . Now - I'm too self-interested.

It doesn't involve walk-on glazing.... should be fine

Here's an illustration to help answer your question Our design could not have been more different than the 'chocolate box' row of 18th Century houses further down the lane. How did we get it through planning? Listening hard to the planner, compromise and careful attention local micropolitics. Finicky, delicate work.

Supply and Fit - on a newbuild - is Zero rated. If you are a Domestic Client and you get charged VAT, and you pay it for a supply and fit contract, then you will have to claim that VAT back from the supplier. Read this (full post here) Read the Guidance Notes on the VAT reclaim form

Uncluttered space creates calm. But behind that calmness is a real determination to create that calm. And thats hard work. A constant self discipline to - for example - put things in the dishwasher rather than next it, put shoes away rather than kick them off on the way to the shower, put newspapers in the rack rather than leave them on the settee, put stuff away all the time. I can't manage it. But when I do put stuff away (Saturday mornings only) I feel better - organised. For about an hour 😕

Thats an impressive kitchen. And impressive self-discipline. Scandi innit.....

Our supplier provided a detailed drawing of all the valves and pipe work needed in our installation. You might find that your supplier has a website which details all the bits and bobs needed in your installation.

The times we've heard that sensible bit of advice here....😶

Just remembered this about What They Dont Tell you about owning a digger

You 'bin lookin' in the showers then Clive?

Hmmm, spose its better when you cough innit......

Phhhhhhhhhhhh, Thought it was only me ..... catastrophise almost anything these days

Are they three-pin or simple jacks?

By regarding the 'cretin' as your neighbour. As of value (even though you don't think he's worth a fart in a cullender) That ( '...its probably built this way...') is where he /she is. Its a starting point. What single thing do you think you could do to bridge the gap between you? Break the 'job' into really small bits. Just a tiny thing .. maybe a smile, a cheerful 'good morning'. I'm sorry but I haven't got the time to go into much detail. May I suggest you do a bit of reading on Conflict Resolution (Here's a search for you to look at when you've got time) Tiktok do a great series of videos on conflict resolution too

@pocster : hint: the Ad where grandma finds her daughter's best friend buzzing away happily in her daughters handbag (switches it on, puts it to her ear) - with the teenage grandchildren all agog, watching and listening - with interest - for once . Come on lad , rise to the occasion.

In haste: you will find several posts about this issue on BH. Short answer - HMRC is consistently INconsistent. Some have got a second claim approved, some not.

Thats not the main question - very far from it. The problem is much deeper than that. The key issues here are attitudes to problem solving, and having sufficient humility and emotional intelligence to work with other people: difficult people by your own description. Lets see if I've got this right. Two groups of people, who don't get on with one another, are in dispute about a wall. If nobody does anything at all, over time, the wall will collapse. If nothing is done about that, you will lose some benefit from the land. Now, there is a choice between; Do nothing Argue the matter in the courts Rebuild the wall yourself Rebuild the wall with your neighbour The first choice means everyone loses The second choice means everyone loses and everyone pays a lawyer's mortgage for a month or two. Third: you spend some money and time, probably less than a lawyer's fees. In the third choice, you get a grip of your own emotions, and start to build a relationship with your neighbour. Little steps. Over time. And in maybe a year or two, you might just be able to agree to work on the project together. Maybe even share the cost. Who knows, you might even make another friend. It'll be hard. But you'll be proud of yourself. You'll have achieved something rare. A victory in the fight you have with yourself. For all of us, that fight is the only fight worth having.

A local garden centre has a retaining wall of around 1.5m , holding back a plain earth bank behind which (3m away) there's a pond. They dropped some new timber railway sleepers end on into a trench, lined it with plastic, a French drain, some 20mm gravel and back-filled to the top of the sleepers. Cheap as chips. Carnforth rail yard has (had) many thousand of them - various lengths - stacked neatly - bet the job cost less than £5000. Delicious smell of Creosote. Your design @ProDave would be better, but more expensive and a bit safer maybe?

You aren't the first and won't be the last to post similar problems on this board. In all of the discussions we've read here, one thing is clear: carrying the weight of a grudge for however long diminishes everyone involved. All because of a few square meters of land - that won't even be noticed a few years from now.

But they are what you've got. Many of us on BH have problems with neighbours: it's normal. You've identified the issue as a problem. may I suggest you re-frame the issue as one where - despite how you feel - you try and work through the problem together. Or spend the money on putting it right. Or ignore the problem.

@pxr5, reading this thread, I'd suggest designing, costing , and then build it. Watch that cost disappear into the total bill. Reclaim the VAT if indeed you are a Domestic Client (CDM 2015) and not a developer. Problem stopped dead in its tracks. Just play it straight. Photos help us help you.

Anyway @lyy, what strategy are you using to find a plot? Loads of folk on here have faced the same issue. Maybe we can help?

Good morning. Congratulations on the longest (almost empty) message ever posted on this board. I suspect your cat stood on the <Return key> before you posted your message.