ToughButterCup

Welcome. Especially so to someone from my clan's own county. As @SteamyTea hints, 'eco' is a tricky adjective. But do not be put off from your determination by the dismissive comments about planners above. Being seen to make an effort in ecological terms is no bad thing: even if there's a range of opinion about what that actually means. It forms part of the mood in which planners make decisions. Our architect knew that our planners were very keen on ecologically sensitive design. And while the arguments presented above are technically correct, the micropolitics of an application matters. While discussing our application in a In a public forum, one local councillor openly said that; "The reason this application will be accepted is because of its eco-credentials" I ignored the comment at the time. There's no way of weighing the accuracy of the remark. Except that it was made. As to digging a test pit..... Get the test pit specification. Hire a digger. Enjoy making your own. Great fun. Good luck Ian

Hmmm, the first idea is excellent, but really hard work to sort out. In relation to your second idea maybe a guide on how to search for content on BH ? Internal to the site and on google or other search engines? Part of the 'trouble' (wrong word probably) is our preparedness to answer the same question time and again. It is curmudgeonly to say to new members - go and look for yourself .... Its easier for the new member to ask (quickly), and for us to answer (just as fast). Tinternet is about speed - information grabbing - and just enough and no more than needed.

And every last bit of information they need is already here, just waiting to be read. 😕

I could not agree more. In any self-build, there's a huge pressure to get-it-done, so you can ' freeze-the price ', 'lock-in-a-good-deal ' , and move on to the next job of which there are too many to contemplate. Among the most unpleasant pressure sales tactics I've experienced is : ' I thought this was a done-deal ' when it very much wasn't. And to my eternal shame, I didn't have the guts to push back hard enough. How many purchase decisions are there in any self-build? A few thousand maybe? Of which maybe 10 or 20 are so expensive - great care is taken. If you've only been robbed a few times with smaller purchases, I think you're doing well. But you are right @SteamyTea : it still rankles

Welcome. Not even started and you've discovered a fundamental of self-building: everything takes longer than expected or reasonable or normal. The only way I coped with that annoyance was to redirect the stress caused into planning in ever greater detail. And still I wish I'd done more than I managed. My signature line is the heart-felt, God's honest truth.

When in Rome, do as the Romans. Ditto Australia.

Think of your customer. All Matters Reserved gives the most flexibility. And your workload: quicker, cheaper.

This site is very helpful. It summarises the issue accurately and links to further resources. A goldmine for you .....

Tomato, tomaydo, potahto potayto, Bosch, DeWalt, Durisol, Izodom. Customers are responsible for their own purchase decisions. And everyone needs to do their Due Diligence. Thoroughly.

Here's a start. Network: with the emphasis on work. Look at the South Lakes (SLDC) planning site and review the applications which broadly match the size of plot that you have to offer. Look at the reasons for refusal and acceptance. That will give you a good steer as to what's acceptable and what isn't - but most importantly - in each case - why. Back a few estate agents into a corner. Listen. Ditto local Councillors who have responsibility for Planning or who have been on the planning subcommittee. If they're anything like ours, look at their own record of building locally. Include Permitted development in that search too. Garages can easily be re-jigged as houses. Go and listen in on Council Planning Committee meetings. Look at who says what and research those people thoroughly. What's the politics of it all? What's the micropolitics of it if you can wheedle that out somehow. Know who is selling what land locally and where it is. Talk to local builders. From memory, there are a couple of key builders up here aren't there? Look at houses with scaffolding outside them. Who is the contractor? Look at the Local Plan. SLDC have a very informative mapping tool. Yes, it's a lot of work. But it will lead to informed, evidence-based conversations. You are much harder top fob off if you can say why you want what you want for reasons you can evidence. Nobutt a steep larnin' curve is 'iss bildin lark, lad. Or alternatively, take up golf. Good luck. Ian

Festool 18V cordless : couple of Bosches - now much abused (one 18, one 12 V) T Bar: NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT . Thanks Screw extractor? Yes, but its been nicked Link to a decent T Bar manual driver please ! Is this what you mean?

Thats easy. Anywhere in the whole build cycle is the answer. Every bit of that cycle has a precedent. How about a review of the sale prices of plots of land in an area that you favour? Lets say that you can't afford most of them, but there are one or two that with a bit of determination you might be able to buy. (BTW, that's a common experience here on BH - we waited for a generation before we could build) Then, imagine a design that you like. Look for planning applications for that type of house in your chosen area. Look at why those applications were accepted, or refused. Look at those that were accepted. Cost them. Now you have a savings target and a much better guess at how much it's going to cost overall. Waste time reading BuildHub.

Yes. Could I suggest you have a lot of reading to do, please. You might usefully start here.

You wouldn't normally know that - as a matter of course - would you ....

Look at the different designations: Freehold Land, Vacant freehold land, Investment Freehold site .... and then look the location up on Google Maps (or other mapping tool), you'll soon see the differences. ...

A few years ago @VIPMan renovated his beautiful Victorian terrace house in Lancaster. Have a look at his content. (click on his logo)

.... the plot ....

Hello, welcome. The first thing to advise is to spend a week or two reading BuildHub from top to bottom. There isn't one area referred to in your post that hasn't been covered in this discussion board many times over. Really - just put time aside for it and read. Start with the Planning Section, and the blogs. They are a gold-mine of information. Next. Persistence. I have a strong feeling reading your post that you are in a hurry - relatively speaking. You may just be lucky: but prepare for a long haul. Next Read Local Authority Planning websites. Look at planning applications, and pay especial attention to reasons for planning application acceptance and refusal. That should be about a month's work for you. Good luck. Ian

Don't tell me Gary, you've got to plaster that - or better still, tile it .....😂

You, my son, have a long history of telling me stuff about a few years too late. In fairness, the pipe has been there for a minimum of 35, maybe 40 years. '... should be sleeved... ' indeed. The pipe goes (for no good reason) up, across and through the wall for about 6, maybe 700 mm ... Interesting this building lark innit? Ya larn sum stoof on Buildhub duntcha... Thanks Dave.

Other opinions are available. Full disclosure, I have one: they aren't for everyone. Properly installed, they work as well as anything else. One person's expensive is another's cheap. Price isn't the only determinant of customer choice.

I've got a few like that. Put them in myself. I told her it was meant to be artistic. Didn't go down too well.

Our old house. Wall gets wet. No good apparent reason. Wall a few feet thick. Hmmm. Call a plummer. Very nice man. Very nice man indeed. Wasssis then? I ask Hmmm, he sez. Wall's wet he sez. 🙄 An hour later he saunters up and says: Seen a piece of copper pipe this thick before ? Naaah And this is where it was leaking No. I can't see the hole either. Buried a foot inside the (3 foot thick) wall. Why? Buildhub - why?

Add the word -yet- and I agree with you What a really interesting response. Made me think. I've only ever considered EI in the context of nurturing positive relationships between people especially when the contexts are or have become difficult. Do you have any references for me to read about the relation between EI and economic performance please?

Emotional Intelligence is taught in an age-appropriate way @SimonD : it's a required part of the curriculum. It just doesn't go by the same name. I used to train teaching students to plan , prepare and evaluate their own practice before qualification. Infants sitting on the floor, listening, turn taking, working in a small group : year 6 children taking responsibility for one or two children in a lower year group. How to act as someone's buddy; how to mentor and the difference between mentoring and supporting colleagues - all (still) part of the primary curriculum. The lone-tradesperson is a challenging role to take on. Because its so hard to get appropriate feedback: structured , accurate, informed , carefully delivered. And customers can and often behave completely unreasonably. But for some reason customers are always right. Thats nonsense. Well qualified, competent tradespeople need appropriate support. In a one man business, working on your own for long periods (as was the case here) is not a good environment in which to work. Not to miss out on the simple obvious answer in this case: he'd have been tired, piddled off and wanted to go home - found me as a customer a complete PITA, and thought: sod it here's some screws, he won't notice until I'm well gone. Correct. Repeat business - gone.