AliMcLeod

This is the downside of the Purple Bricks model - its fine for the 90% where things go by the book, but step off the standard process and things fall apart. On both our last sale and our last purchase, the other party's solicitor used Purple Bricks and our solicitor had nothing but frustration with having to deal with them. I've heard a few times that when they've got a large workload on, they won't even look at a case until its close to reaching the documented closing date. Hopefully you won't have this experience.

The second to last (blurry) picture below just shows a drip of water at the bottom of the TMV.

I noticed yesterday that the pressure gauge on my manifold was low (around 0.75 bar) - the UFH been off so its not a like-for-like comparison, but it was around 1.75 bar back in March. I then noticed a very small leak when turning the thermostatic mixing value (I'm trying to work out the best set-up for this house - i'll do a separate post on that). The leak only seems to occur when turning the TMV so its not a critical thing to fix, but would like to get the system pressure back up. What's the right way to do that? I'll try get some pics off my phone to post.

The seller and the buyer will have to agree how monies will be transferred to pay the additional stamp duty. Funds provided to solicitors as part of a house purchase have to go through money laundering checks so they will have to be clear to the solicitor(s) what is happening and make it clear to them that there is nothing underhand going on here. For the reasons that @Alphonsox gives, it would also be advisable for the loan to be written into a legal agreement, perhaps as a preferential loan which takes precedence in any estate management should the worst happen to the buyer. And, assuming the eventual owner of the sellers house will be the mother, when her house does sell, the additional stamp duty (3%) will be refunded (although there is a limit of, IIRC, 36 months) so some funds could be repaid sooner if that house sells quickly.

My experience (and i've heard this elsewhere too) is that the quality of service you get from Purple Bricks is almost exclusively mapped to the quality of the individual who is covering your area (I believe they work in a similar fashion to a franchise model). In our case, our local agent did not even turn up to an arranged meeting and then never returned any calls. Others we know had better luck in getting listed but the pictures they got were no better than you could take on a 5+ year old phone. I've seen local houses sitting with PB marketing boards for months, only to be removed and replaced with estate agent boards a month or so later. In the end, we went for a high-street agent we'd used previously, paid a bit more (0.75% commission) but within 3 (working) days of it going on the market, we had 3 notes of interest (a Scottish thing where people lodge an interest and are kept updated on progress) at which time we set a closing date (a date offers should be submitted) a few days later and accepted an offer over the asking price. I think PBs is a great model for selling houses in certain market sectors (I'm not sure it works for the top end of the market), but I'd check for feedback on your local agent before signing up with them.

In my experience, this will end up in a number of those wanting to come back with a partner for a second view - might be an idea to build that into any deadlines you give people to submit their bids.

Isn't that the other way about in that the plot owner is granting the right of way to Railtrack. So, the plot owner is the grantor of the servitude to Railtrack, who is in turn the grantee?

The interview is nearly 7 years old.

Just wondering what you guys use to access the ceiling areas (eg, painting, access to velux etc). Do you have really tall (platform) ladders or has anyone invested in a domestic/internal scaffolding system?

Yes, should have made that clearer - dividends are paid from profits after corporation tax. But, it could be more tax efficient if you're both intending to stay in employment and you'll both be tax payers. Corporation tax is 19%. I'd put a spreadsheet together with both scenarios - expected income, expenses etc and see what comes out.

Have you discounted setting up a limited company? It need not be as onerous as it sounds. I'm not sure what the tax status would be of getting a personal asset (the house) into the business (the business could purchase it from you at market rates, but with no assets, that may be something from the future - and you'd have to check how that impacts your personal tax circumstances. eg, capitals gains), or it could lease it from you (again though, this would be additional taxable income for you). You could set yourself and your wife up as shareholders in the company and you can both withdraw £5K dividends each year (less any other dividends you earn elsewhere). You can also pay yourself/wife a small salary too, if either of you are under the basic rate (or even upper rate) threshold in any one year. All income could then accrue in the business and you'd put expenses through the business too. Corporation tax would apply to profits each year. From the figures your talking about, you'd not hit the VAT threshold either. As always, however, best take professional advice.

Any licensing issue with that approach? I'm not sure anyone would get found out, but worth pointing out the slight risk if it does exist.

The starting point for your negotiation could be that he'll have been making a "profit" using the flat rate scheme. So, if his hourly rate is (for example) £100 ex-vat, he'd (in a standard VAT-rated engagement) be charging £120 to customers, then paying £13.20 (assuming 11% - you'd need to check) to the VAT man, meaning a net hourly rate of £106.80. If you get him to zero-rate his invoice at £112.36, he'll owe the taxman £12.36 and get his net £100 per hour. He may well see that as a £6.80 discount on his hourly rate, however.

Actually, after re-reading the rules, I agree. I hadn't realised that zero-rated services were included in the flat rate turnover, so he would still be charged (presumable) 11% VAT. Section 6.2 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-733-flat-rate-scheme-for-small-businesses/vat-notice-733-flat-rate-scheme-for-small-businesses#section6 I'll edit my post above to correct it.

Removed - duff info.

The link i gave above has the formula.

Does this help? http://www.mathopenref.com/arcradius.html

I'd recommend a few more walls and a roof

Wow, just wow. Any recourse against the (now sacked) builder? And congratulations on the positive outlook. Not sure i'd manage to stay so calm.

I'm earlier in the build process than others, but I too have a folder system on my computer that works for me. At the top level, i have folders such as high level items such as Planning, Quotes, Site, Legal, Finances Then under those I'll have it split further. So, under Quotes I'll have folders called Windows, Flooring etc, then in those I'll have a folder for each quote. I also date mark the folders in the format YYYY-MM-DD Quote Name, so that I can then sort the folders by date. To track finances, i have a spreadsheet with multiple tabs that cross reference the folders/files. This folder structure on my computer is stored inside my Dropbox folder. This automatically syncs all the files across all my devices so I can access them (and edit them, where an app is available) on my iPad, smart phone and work computer. I find this workflow really works, and the ability to share across the devices saves time and, more importantly, the risk of forgetting something or losing information. With the Dropbox app, you can also store things offline so they are on the device even if you don't have internet access. It will sync to the latest once connected. You can also create folders to share with individuals. So, for example, you can create a folder and share it with your architect, or with one of your subcontractors. I'll add my link to Dropbox here - if anyone signs up via this, you'll get an additional 500mb over the standard 2GB space and I'll also get an additional 500Mb of storage. Admins, please let me know/remove the link if this is frowned upon. https://db.tt/K1Y7zsz3 2.5GB is not a huge amount of space, so you might need to pick and choose what you sync.

I too suspect you'll need full planning. You said there would be no change to the plans, but I assume the original plans had a front door to each property and you may be wanting to change it to one door. That would most likely require new planning. I also suspect a change from two homes to one would also mean a full application. You could ask the local council if you'd get away with a non-material variation, but I'd not be optimistic.

Hi Nathan, welcome to the board. I"m new here but the people here are really friendly and very helpful and knowledgable. I can't really answer your question, but no doubt you've already studied the marketplace, so I do have a question for you. What would such a project manager typically charge and how? Is it daily rate (in which case I'd be concerned as a client that there is no incentive to keep things on time) or as a percentage of the build cost (same concern, but regarding budget) or on a fixed price basis? I did smirk at your intro though - "Very proficient in MS Project" is something I see on almost every CV that have crossed my desk over the years. I'd be very concerned if a PM could not use that software. I would add that, as someone embarking on a self-build, if I was to hire a PM, it would be very unlikely that I would hire one without a portfolio of successful build projects. So, it could be that you have to look to do some pro-bono work, perhaps mentoring an experienced PM on other jobs.

+1 I bought a plot with full PP for a house that had 5 foot 2 headroom in front of an en-suite toilet and where you could not walk around the bed in one of the double bedrooms if you put a double bed in it. We had to go back to full planning. It also happened to show the high pressure 90cm oil and gas pipeline that ran through the border of the plot in the wrong location. I'd too would recommend going for a purchase with conditions.

Yup, i remember it being pretty stiff to too - had to give it a good grip (stop sniggering at the back!). Try fit the bits back together to see if it can be fixed. I first superglued mine, and it lasted another couple of months but then went again, so I got a bought a whole front cover from ebay - around £20 from memory.

Does the actual shower dial temperature control still turn by hand? I've had a Mira shower break in the past, but it was the bit of plastic that connects the front cover dial to the the main unit control that had cracked - buying a new front cover was a simple fix. It wasn't the same model as your pictures show though. There does seem to be a split in the outer plastic in your middle picture, but that could be by design.