ToughButterCup

You and your builder have a professional relationship, not a theraputic one. I'm almost (but not quite) sure the remark was made out of kindness - but '...cannot let (you) live .... ' is inappropriate. Pay, Wave. Move on.

And yet , currently, you can't get a 'White-Van-Man' for love or money. @nod , in our sector , are individual traders (White-van-man) safe? Or are they similarly exposed?

The one time you don't want a swearword filter because - after seeing that - swearing is entirely appropriate. Fekkin ' ell. Poor owners. I bet they feel like they've had the stuffing knocked out of them.

Thats quite hard to achieve. Topsoil is often too 'rich' Keep back some poor soil and small crushed stone as a topping. We've had poor results so far, so I'm hoarding clean stone and remnants of sharp sand in an effort to duplicate the poor soil in which many wild flowers grow. Anyway, best of luck! Before and after photos would be good ?

For us, on 'Made Ground' , (spoil from an old clay quarry) , the answer is yes, its OK. A 4m high bank over a little more than 100 meters length. No geotextile , but far too many nettles, brambles rampant, some builders' rubble mixed in, trees at the bottom of the bank . I suspect the trees drain the bank a good bit. Where our children used to scramble up the bank - or badgers burrowed into it (and now rats have taken over) , we 'got rid of' a few telegraph poles and let the animal excavations collapse in their own good time. The bank is now a Great Crested Newt reserve: we let it go wild most of the year. Then knock it back a bit at back-end: or not if I forget .....? Pinning it pro tem with geotextile and getting some ground ivy in quickly might just be what you need.

Smarting yes, but sensible it seems. In this case (above), a good dose of Emotional Literacy all round might well have reduced the issue to more manageable proportions.

The number 20,000 hours is a research-based number. Expert status - irrespective of discipline - is usually achieved within that time . I'll dig out the reference if you want. Charge like this (our architect's charging schema)

Emotional intelligence The earned respect of your peers The ability to work well with tradesfolk The habit of listening first Technical flair based on no less than 10 years practice (20,000 hours: includes postgraduate level study) Clear pricing structure : one that does not refer to percentages of a nebulous value (eg. 'contract value')

A very warm welcome.... Yours is the most asked question on BH. The question of cost underpins almost every post here, even the technical ones.So the very best advice we could give is to suggest you waste an complete week or perhaps more reading BH. If you do it in a focused way it really - honestly - will repay the effort. In the first year of reading BH , we avoided bills for at least £17k ( by changing the pile design for our house based on advice and links included on BH) Please though, do always do your own Due Diligence. We are not experts, just hard-bitten , nosey little tinkers ..... Best of luck Ian

Go on - gizza clue ... for the non-card playing BildHubbers

As to number of blocks, I couldn't tell you. But I can attest to the value of a timelapse camera installed on site. Incontrovertable evidence is worth a lot of money.

I got the same type of response from a the builders of some flats in Lancaster: right on the riverside by a main road to Morecambe. I told them that, if the builder hadn't got the issue sorted within the week, I'd have an advertising-type banner made up so that all the commuters passing by could see what sh1te service the company was giving. Monday morning the banner was up for thousands of people to see: the local press were due to come round later that day. Lunchtime Monday work started on the repair. Banner cost me £50. The best £50 I ever spent.

Could you please post the complete text of the Decision Notice? It would help us give a more focused answer.

Don't make the mistake of allowing VAT to be charged.

Hello, welcome. I've just about finished our ICF - you know 'finished' as 90% done, 10% left to do - and that 10% takes shed-loads of the work. Decided on your ICF yet? Enjoy the planning phase - all the fizz and excitement - keep hold of it, it's a very valuable commodity.

Just quickly @Mike_scotland , I think the lack of response here is because many here (BH) have read the extended discussion about wind - I think we talked about it last year sometime. Have a root around in our database. I seem to remember it will work, but the conditions have to be very favourable indeed for payback to work. Like, say, Shetland where every other farm seems to have a wind installation of some sort. I'd love to install a wind turbine: I just really like the idea, but.......

Yes. There are two ways to do it: right and wrong. @livingthedream could so easily become @livingthenightmare. How much research have you done? I ask because I don't want to go over legislation that you already know about. Here's a pointer to relevant help on Permitted Development

Yes. Wasn't it @Jeremy Harris who wrote about Optimism Bias ? .... ( looks up the reference) Yes! here Uncomfortably close to the truth in our case. We're in the fortunate position of ( @epsilonGreedy -like ) DIY Maxing , so our monthly expenditure on the house rarely exceeds our monthly joint income. (Cos I don't work that fast) As so often @Dudda is right we (I) was naive and took on far too much. But now we seem to have settled into a semi-comfortable routine of just-bloody-doing-it , with periods of pure terror (next one soon : second / third fitting the MVHR on my own) juxstaposed with hmmm-thats-quite-like-a-job-I-did-earlier . So, Head Down @rse Up Go. Yes @AliG , debt out of proportion to our income would get to us both too. Thats the tragedy - the break-up - not the goddam house. And I bet the friggin' stairs wouldn't pass Inspection by the BCO there either. Want a quick peek? Here (googlemap)

Thank you very much for doing your own research before posting here. It helps us help members in a more focused way. Just checking; In addition to the research you've done, the excellent advice given here and by others, have you looked for similar applications on line in your area? read those Decision Notices really carefully ? looked at how those decisions may be relevant to your case? I ask because in discussion with relevant 'others' it is as well to know the local decisions in some detail. It makes you less of a target. Better put

Yes, video and photgraphic evidence has been taken. The guy who owns the field was not best pleased when he came round to see it all in 'action' as it were. I feel like this neck of the woods has been kicked back to 1950s France Maman: Gaston! Ca pu la merd ici hein? [Mother: Gaston , it stinks of shooshoo 'round 'ere] Gaston: Beuuuuffff [ Gallic shrug tr. I don' giveafooketyfook]

Just a quick update, more for the record than anything else.... Its been raining a drop or two over here so our neighbour's open cesspit is overflowing more than normal. Ever resourceful, he has found a way of getting rid of the excess foul human waste on his land: he pumps it into his neighbour's field.The problem is solved by a small pump, pushing the slurry up the hillside and into the field. The field onto which the pump discharges the slurry slopes down to a land drain, which in turn runs into a pond - the one that our children filled with Great Crested Newts over 30 years ago. Environent Agency to be updated tomorrow morning. I'm thinking about all the pathogens in which the owner paddles every single day. It kind of beggars belief. I mean I know that sunlight, bacteria and oxygen will sort out the problem in the end, but pretty soon the land will not be able to take much more. I wonder what the current Biochemical Oxygen Demand is? Must be through the roof.

Thank you very much for doing some of your own research before posting on BH. Just in case you haven't managed to read it, here is the latest updated guidance This page is the one to which the Planner may well been have referring in her advice to you ; its the bit about Since your application appears at this remove to involve what might be considered as affecting the external appearance of a building, (handily, materially is not defined) the planner has - probably correctly - advised you to withdraw and amend your application. And thus, is saving you money .....

Correct, but forget the issue. Our BCO was not interested. Neither are we.

Yes. Provided that it is installed within the guidelines provided by the manufacturer. I had the exact same problem, and it has been solved in the exact same way. Installed by a reputable plumber with me in the room at the same time. I've thrown the guidelines away, so I can't be sure to remember the details - but I do remember one thing : we have to avoid using a rotary rodding system. So, once a week, a drop of dilute bleach, loo seat cover always down, objects that could by accident easily fall in, stored elsewhere.

Two BH members knocking lumps of one another: how about helping @CotswoldDoItUpper instead ?