Faz

I would run a million miles away from something like this - they have hit something that has sent them down so you don't want to either spend the money to find out what it was or faceplant straight into the same problem.

Bodge something up mate - their bod will come back with other ideas on species and the like and then just plant what you like. Highly unlikely they are coming after you on this one to be fair. Get the box ticked and move on mate.

Treated timber is about the only thing I haven't burned yet. I haven't had any on site yet anyways. My only issue here is setting the Fen on fire - we are all on peat here... It did go up on the first fire but I doused it and subsequent burns have had no effect. On this one it is each to their own - I generally sit in the camp that it is better to ask forgiveness than ask permission (especially being out in the middle of nowhere) but if you want to pay to cart it away to be burned / buried elsewhere as you have shifty neighbors / want to then that's the answer.

Have to say this doesn't sound unreasonable. Have you got other quotes coming in as that will tell you the answer

You will be wasting your time and money - fires and skips are the way forward - the more fires the better! Proper old school. I am at the second lift for a scheme of 3 and haven't had a skip leave yet.

There is 'green' and there is what you actually want - I was going to install a gshp - we have a 1/2 acre plot. The drawings came back and they intended to cover every square inch with the ground loop - no trees or bushes in our garden then! I binned the concept and dashed to gas! It is not going to need much heating tbh so f*ck it. Instructed Solarcrest for the MHRV though - they have done one for us before and I can't fault them.

Those look fine mate and the pricing isn't bad either for small orders. Once above damp you can drop to 3.6N if you want but with coursing blocks it doesn't make any difference really - buy whatever is cheaper!

You want 7.3N concrete coursing blocks mate (brickettes) for the inner cavity wall below splash. Better and cheaper. You can use 3.6N above as required.

If the firm you are using to screed is any good you won't need any - this is my finished screed - nothing required on top of that.

This is the ufh loop going into my house late last year - like I say - 250mm isn't worth worrying about mate.

Rearranging the loops to avoid the 250 mm gap will be fine - it won't result in a cold spot as the concrete slab will conduct the heat across it. Kingspan Optim R is the best floor insulation with the least thickness but I am not sure you can get it in really small widths (and you can't cut it as it is vacuum sealed).

This all brings back to mind when I worked at Railtrack back in the 90's - BRPB lost lots of land due to garden 'extensions' and then adverse possession - we had a load of lapsed garden tenancies in Kentish Town running up to the 12 years (the rent was like £10 a year ffs) - no response to any letter from a single resident - ooops - ordered the contractors in to put up a railway fence - they used to have 180 ft gardens - when we enforced the boundary they dropped to about 20 ft (this was on about 50 houses) - you would not believe the sh*tstorm that ensued - it actually did end up on national news. Didn't back down though.... And they had to live with 20 ft rear gardens as we didn't regrant the garden tenancies.

I am in Northern Cambs and know a use an architectural technician who will do the submissions for not much more than a couple of hundred I imagine - PM me for details.

Pretty lame I know in comparison to the above but all I can muster is sticking 2 holes through the side of a lorry with the forks when offloading a pallet which was loaded too close to the sides. Mind you - the aggregates lorry (thanks Mick George) demolished the front corner of Plot 2 yesterday...

Well...I did do it myself so anything is possible ?. Leaks were all in straight locations though. Anyway - for peace of mind I will be installing the water pipe to the plots as a single run. Can't go wrong then.

It is indeed just a rather meaningless piece of paper - just try to get them out to do anything past the developer indemnity period. We still have Premier Guarantee trying to get us to do stuff 6 years after handover - so much for the 2 year developer indemnity. This after charging a £250k premium on that scheme! We are about to draw the line so we will see if they stick their hand in their pocket....

We have done a fair few through Build Zone and they have been pretty good - they have a bit of a faffing process at the time of issuing the cover note but, other than that, I can't complain. The use Stroma as their warrant inspectors (you will also then use them for BC) and they are spot on - my next BCO visit is tomorrow at 10 but I am looking forward to it! These guys are useful to engage with.

It is the management experience that counts mate - they are not looking for you to be slapping down bricks but being able to organise those who are in terms of safety and quality etc.

Completely possible mate - my 310 m2 house is going to go up for about £340k - halfway done already. Includes mHRV and lots of stone but then I am running the job, driving the forks and doing all of the jobs outside the main packages myself (been doing the cavity closers today for example) and there are another 2 plots to do through my company which gives a bit of scale for pricing (although my house represents about 45% of the total site build).

Didn't have it on mine but, then again, my company is a rated Premier Guarantee and Build Zone developer even though this is a self build - go figure. Interestingly my self build premium was half of the other 2 which are commercial plots. Maybe stick down some credible b/s that sounds good - a lot of this is just ticking boxes with the underwriter.

Our site temps are all in 20mm MDPE and we have had 4 leaks. We are taking our supply from a neighbor and his 25mm joint (5 years old or so) has just started to leak. I think the O rings in the joints are the weak spots. Like I say - best to avoid below ground joints if you possibly can. The pipe costs F/A in the scheme of things.

25mm MDPE pipe is fine mate - I would suggest that you run a straight pipe from the meter to your internal stopcock with no connections - MDPE joints tend to leak in a very short space of time.

Either some damp in it or a faulty box mate. Either way a new breaker is in order - had the same issue on my site last week - the power kept tripping (we bunged next door £500 for the temp feed) and had the sparks out - his breaker was full of water. Ooops. All good now though - need my tea at 7am!!

I would have thought you also need to look at the tax position carefully. With a Limited company it will be liable for corporation tax on any profits (19%) and then you will be liable for personal tax on any dividends (up to 38% - this all totals to about 50%). Building services will be zero rated for VAT but VAT will be chargeable by suppliers and this really does add up if cashflow is a potential problem. An LLP is another route to investigate where the company is effectively neutral for tax purposes and profits will be taxed according to your personal status. LLP's can be VAT registered. As with all such things, everyone's circumstances are individual so proper advice from an accountant is best taken up front.

Or you can create a recess for the curtain track in the ceiling.