Alan Ambrose

This was for Means of Enclosures - the plot already has a full set of hedges, fences etc and had these before we bought the plot. And Tree & Hedge Planting Scheme - as before with some fruit trees we planted before we got permission. A waste of everyone's time and resources.

As usual the LA and private equity (Apse Capital in this case) are taking the ... mickey. The LA will spend 10 mins on this.

>>> bringing the thread back on track You didn't realise that BH is a kind of free association club?

>>> Large box of latex/nitrile gloves and innumerable rolls of kitchen towel to wipe up any extra as soon as it appears. I did watch a professional mastic guy last summer - he didn't get it anywhere except where it was meant to go.

Yeah, although it should have been the simplest install with a pole in the verge outside boasting fibre - OR are the slowest of all our utilities. They don't even seem to have any kind of scheduling system: I've heard 'I should have some news next week' about a dozen times now. UKPN are the most cumbersome - the scale of the resources they waste is impressive.

I think your local DNO will do a free visit to make a recommendation / give you some options. There are a lot of factors - age of supply, existing earth arrangements, availability of 3 phase, distance to main LV junction - that we don’t know. If it was me, I would want to future proof by getting a fully kosher connection now, probably running it into a permanent kiosk on the edge of your plot. There a bunch of discussion on the forum about installing new power connections.

Well there’s the CIL law https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2010/9780111492390/contents and your own council’s ‘interpretation’. I can’t see any harm in actually asking your LDC’s CIL people. If they say it’s no problem, then you have that on record. My local ones are actually fairly helpful and responsive.

FYI - you can put your own materials into the free version of Ubakhus. For the sake of 10 mins work, it would be worth running the condensation calcs there as a start.

>>> mice I spent an uncomfortable couple of days last summer - because it was all upside down / bending down / on my knees - putting in ss mesh in around the bottom of our cladding to avoid another mouse incident... Seems to have worked, so far. I should say that this is in a barn conversion that I didn't do. However, knowing that now, I will be 300% careful on that point with our new build.

Or if you can get to both sides - drill a hole and insert a bolt?

>>> If you scale that up to a self build you'll find that as per my previous post it equates to about a 15% saving. I think it depends on the circumstances a lot: if you have a well-paying day job, then it makes more economic sense to employ someone else at a lower rate. There's a NI saving as well, that's maybe another 20%. I agree with the economics that says the builders get the crumbs (unless you're clever, say, at getting better PP than the plot was sold with). The landowners get the profits. I have a mate who just does up houses by himself and only occasionally employees someone to help out. He's been doing that for maybe 20 years. I guess they live day-to-day on the wife's salary. A refurb takes 2-3 years. They live in the refurbed houses when they're done and then added to their rental / pension portfolio when the next one is ready. That's it. No employment taxes for him to pay, no capital gains taxes until they sell a rental property - so that's efficient tax wise . And I guess it suits him lifestyle-wise.

BTW this is the method I usually used to figure IL drop - read the manufacturer's drawing into CAD, calibrate against a known dimension, mark up the drawing ... and read off the number: From which I finally figured out - that that's too much for my application, duh.

OK so then maybe the OP's question might be: where do you buy quality brand drainage on-line?

And while I'm in a bad mood :). Why-oh-why don't they include invert level drop for every damn piece of plumbing - sometimes they have every dimension but e.g. below. I know I can figure it out, but FFS.

>>> The quality can be very different esp ease of connection. This is for exactly the same part number e.g. Osma 4D922 IC base (including VAT): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Underground-Drain-Inspection-Chamber-Manhole/dp/B07L7WQ35Z £45 https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/450mm-diameter-chambers-and-lids/osma-450mm-universal-inspection-chamber-base-straight-channel-and-4x110mm-branches-4d922/p/712243 £154 with my 'trade discount' Now 450mm standard brand ICs should (at least in my mind) be very common and therefore fairly priced. Try, say, a 450mm IC to fit 300mm twinwall - cheapest I found was £300 + VAT.

I think that for e.g. big SWA by the m then you may need somewhere else. TLC seems OK to me. I’m battling with drainage atm - some standard OSMA IC bits - Travis wants £150, Wollesey wants £300 ffs, on-line sellers at £35. What’s that all about?

Maybe (a) either propose these conditions in the PP given by the inspector, or (b) ask a lawyer to prepare (or find an online resource to do the same) a unilateral undertaking or deed. Since this is a new one, I don't think it would be unreasonable to go back to the inspector and tell them that your solicitors have no idea what is wanted and to ask for an appropriate example doc .

That's a curious ask. If it helps any, my PP has these conditions invented by the LPA: 15. The home hereby permitted shall be delivered as custom and self-build homes in accordance with section 1 of the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 (as amended). Reason: To secure the use of the land for custom and selfbuild housing only. Biodiversity Net Gain The effect of paragraph 13 of Schedule 7A to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is that planning permission granted for development of land in England is deemed to have been granted subject to the condition (biodiversity gain condition) that development may not begin until a Biodiversity Gain Plan has been submitted to and approved by the planning authority, unless a statutory exemption or transitional arrangement applies (under paragraph 17 of Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Biodiversity Gain Requirements (Exemptions) Regulations 2024). Based on the information available this permission is considered to be one which will not require the approval of a biodiversity gain plan before development is begun because one or more of the statutory exemptions or transitional arrangements is considered to apply.

Thanks, that’s it. I imagine the Ravatherm is totally wrapped in dpm?

>>> Which door did you have in mind? The front door is good - just interested in the relationship between the slab, the supporting insulation and the brick plinth. Probably obvious, but I don’t remember how the plinth works with the door opening.

I’ve used Target in Ipswich for some small stuff and they were v helpful. They stayed open a few minutes late one day so I could pick something up (a cat scanner I think) - which was beyond the call of duty. You probably want the smallest 6m one. Easy enough to drive if you’re careful, but not great visibility, so you need a spotter. Picking pallets off a truck is a bit tricky as you need a coordinated 2D motion to keep the forks level. Probably easy if you’re a video game player. Tru7 is probably the most aggressive price-wise but a bit bolshy with non-trade customers. Worth a visit as they’re close to you and amazing to see their yard - millions in kit there - e.g. maybe a couple of dozen diggers of different sizes. Think Tru7 will supply drivers too if you need. You might have a local company that has older kit and is cheaper. I’ve used Toddys in Martlesham a few times and is a bit like that. p.s. figure the max weight and reach you need to select which model.

Actually, I think that £6.7K for 3P isn't bad, I would have leapt at that. Can you do some or all of the digging yourself (contestable work) - by which I mean get a one-man-band to dig it more cheaply? Re gensets, I recently bougt a Hyundai one which does 3P ~6kW for £1.6K new. Any size bigger than that starts getting a lot more expensive - then you're maybe looking at 2nd hand industrial sets which are physically quite big. They're all properly noisly even the 'whisper quiet' ones. By your calcs, you're looking at 13kW for the workshop. Unless you have big CNC, you won't substantially be using more than one machine at once. Also, the laws of entropy say that your power use all ends up as heat, so that makes 13kW for more than a few minutes unlikely. Also, 13kW is 17HP - that's a lot of big-arse workshop machinery - a bridgeport is still only 1.5-2HP. I think if you look at the average demand carefully, you may find some scheduling / battery time shift will make it all work. Failing that, suggest investigate 'contestable work' and ante up the funds - that's by far the easiest solution. If you have time on your side, you may be able to negotiate the amount - there are some good examples here on 't 'ub of people doing just that.

@NCXo82ike - if it’s any consolation, I’m finding UKPN laughable. I kicked off our install in January. It’s the simplest install of 5m cable from the verge outside our plot to our kiosk, just inside the plot. We’re on a single track quiet lane. Single phase only. We dug the trench and installed their special duct months ago. It should get installed in early August - that is 8 months later. They’re planning to close the road for 2 days for what will be a couple of hours work max. My most recent conversation: Me: I can’t think it will take two days - the whole route is already dug and ducted all the way to your mains cable and has been ready for months. Your guy on the ground has seen it several times, you really won’t need to start with an excavation team for 1/2 a day. UKPN: is the excavation already open? I advise you to fill it back in so my team can excavate it again on the day. Me: OK. (Thinking, I’ve inadvertently fallen into a major role in a play written by Kafka with help from Beckett, Checkov and Orwell.)

Yeah many thanks Paul, that was both interesting and fun to see everyone again. @LSB - you guys were missed. @zzPaulzz poss to get a photo of your plinth / ravatherm / door threshold detail - we need something like that.

I’ll be there @G and J can give you a lift if you want.