Alan Ambrose

It’s possible the materials were ones in the builder’s inventory anyway, so they wouldn’t have an actual receipt - at least not for this job. There are, of course, a lot of overages from jobs, good materials removed from old refurb jobs etc which end up as a bonus for the builder.

If I remember rightly, SAP is mostly a nonsense calc anyway with a black box algorithm and the ‘assessors’ are allowed to ‘assume’ significant details about construction. It would be much better if we used PHPP calcs which are, at least, open and transparent (well as long as you’re happy to trawl through German-language research papers). So you have a couple of options: + do as they say. + ask them to use the fallback default value first and see what the result is and whether you (and BC) are happy with that. Both of you may well be if the build is to a good spec and you’re not worried about boasting about your great EPC rating. + you can also do the psi calcs yourself using Therm or similar - at least to see how different the results are from the default numbers. Not trivial, but not hard either. BC may not accept your values in the official calcs (as you’re not an accredited ‘expert’) but at least it gives you some control over the situation (and you may learn something useful things about your construction also). Standing back, this often seems to be how these new rules get introduced: (a) industry organisations / academics steer government to introduce new ‘rules’, (b) a new little industry is minted to milk housebuilders by creating or supporting a new monopoly industry organisation that promptly develops a new accreditation scheme to fleece new wannabe ‘experts’, (c) often accompanied by an actual or virtual or contractural monopoly - often for a private equity company, Capita etc. At least this rule-making process and economic milking process need to be made a lot more transparent.

>>> to avoid the revenue being visible in his accounts for some reason Of course, one reason that small operators like customers to buy materials direct rather than have that ‘revenue’ going through the accounts is to stay below the VAT threshold of £90K. Perfectly legal and it gives them a price advantage in not having to charge customers VAT. Could that be true in this case? A lot of one man bands get a bit confused about VAT also.

@dpmiller >>> how/ why? Considering very few have an earth wire... Now that is a good question and I had to think for a sec. It revolves around this: (a) RCDs, RCBOs & most earth leakage testers measure the current imbalance between line & neutral, the balance is assumed to be from line to earth. This might be due to some leaky electronics, a damp or badly insulated line conductor or … a human touching something that’s at 230V and also earth. That’s why the RCD is there in the first place. (b) LED assemblies generate a lot less heat than filament bulbs, but they often still get quite hot and need to have heat sinks. Now materials that conduct heat really well but don’t conduct electricity hardly at all are fairly unusual and they’re not cheap. So, as we’re talking about cheap consumer items, there are compromises and the insulators are not perfect and they leak a little electricity from line to ground. Similarly, LED ‘transformers’ are usually cheap capacitative droppers, having to cope with spiky ‘dimmed’ waveforms (which puts the cheap pcb insulator under dV/dt ‘pressure’j. So, they leak a little current from line to actual ground. Similar argument a lot of electronics having to deal with mains voltages. This tiny leakage isn’t much of a problem … except that the cumulative effect can cause RCDs to trigger. (c) So, the small leakage currents bridge from line to actual ground (not the earth wire unless we have an earthed chassis).

I’m intending to visit the next couple. From the ones I’ve seen online, they seem mostly as dull as ditchwater. ‘Point of order chairman….’ etc.

@SteamyTea Do you have to waste so much digital paper? Think of the expense.

Should the focus be on the spike? Allowing for local haze, clouds etc could account for the rest, I think. Software glitch maybe? I can’t think that any physical conditions would account for a spike like that unless it was full summer but with 9/10ths heavy cloud.

I think that’s its very possible my dinner companion had read the Times article based on Transparency International’s report. I was amused to find that Southwark, which I know, was singled out by TI as being particularly dodgy. Most of the suggested questionable behaviour seems to be related to councillors who also work as property advisors and lobbyists.

Re: Triads. Goodness gracious, the production of leccy is complicated. It’s reassuring to know that it all revolves around tea: Triads typically occur on a Monday to Thursday, during periods of particularly cold weather, at around 5-7pm – when industrial demand and the domestic tea-time period coincide. And it is going to waste if you’re the guy that footed the capital cost for the PV array. Or even the society that conspired to make productive capital available for investment. No?

Ah yes, 20th now below Uruguay and Estonia (no offence meant): https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2023

Be aware that there are a number of reports here on Buildhub (three that I remember) of getting the ‘it will be passed’ news informally … only for that not to be the case. I don’t want to create unnecessary anxiety but just be aware that occasionally that happens. I’ve had this myself and there’s always ‘my manager didn’t agree’ and other various excuses.

I found this while I was searching for the original Telegraph article referred to by Martin Goodhall: https://redbrickblog.co.uk/2020/11/a-wink-and-a-nudge-to-corruption-in-our-planning-system/

@Jilly I think they both meant the planning departments. My feeling is that Parish Councils are mostly irrelevant i.e. having little influence re planning but I may be wrong.

Another one: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-17/solar-flooded-australia-told-its-okay-to-waste-some/104606640 The article makes an interesting point about how that affects grid stability / resilience as well as prices.

Like most UK citizens, but certainly not citizens of all other countries, I work on the assumption that our government services 'play cricket'. Often not good quality, speedy or accurate cricket. Sometimes laughably slow, inefficient and incompetent cricket, but 'cricket' nevertheless. I was eating dinner with some new friends recently and (on recounting our planning woes) one senior director-level woman said, 'well it is, of course, the most corrupt government area'. And, I was talking to a supplier recently, who without any prompting from me, started talking about his local LPA, court cases & corruption. I was trying to get him onto the subject of our call, so didn't pursue his thoughts on that subject further. Now, I've already seen quite a lot of sketchy LPA behaviour, some of which I would call unethical. I appreciate that most people here on Buildhub only have one or two datapoints, so can't draw much of a conclusion. And, apologies in advance, if my question affronts those who can't let themselves consider that the world is not always squeaky clean. But I'm interested in everyone's views.

You've clearly been doing your homework, so you deserve to win on this

The sure fire way to debug this (well nearly, if it's not due to transient or intermittent behaviour) is to use a residual current / earth leakage meter. Modern day electronics (LED lighting 'transformers' etc) often leaks tiny currents (single digit mA) to ground. Not really a problem, but if you get a bunch adding up to >30mA, or a single one (like a damp porch light) then the RCD will trigger. So, clamp your meter on, observe residual current, switch devices on or off and see which one causes the high leakage current. This usually means poking inside the (live) CU so you may want to get a good spark (describe the fault and double check whether they've got the right test equipment for this first).

Did he get some 2nd material cheap? Otherwise it was probably polycarb. If really perspex / acrylic, then look up instructions for making fish tanks. If polycarb, maybe there’s some kind of rubber / plastic beading that can be glued over the joints. Else +1 to silicone.

Although the 'bungalows' option is less heat efficient, it does have the bonus of being an interesting design, and it does have the added bonus of being on one level - and for our demographically aging population, that's desirable. So, I think it's good. Else we'll all end up in cubes with a bit of ornamentation on for effect.

Unless you're looking for some architectural magic worked over your own design (which IMO is very valuable stuff), I might either draw myself or get someone else to and either submit myself or get a planning consultant to (might depend on how difficult you think it might be to get planning). Planning is looking for look and feel and it strikes me you have that. You (or a consultant) will need to check your LPA's validation rules re items to be submitted, scales, drawing requirements etc. Not difficult but detail work.

@saveasteading you are a "general purpose engineer". The numbers kind? Is there another kind? I studied first 'Engineering Science' - everything from semiconductor physics to metallurgy to soil mechanics. I still have a hand drawing of our old-fashioned theodolite work in the parks - not very accurate work if I remember. Enough knowledge about each subject to know which was was up but not enough to do any real work. @G and J are you soon to be setting out some footings? I'm still playing whack-a-mole with the planners, but there's half a chance that we will get permission before xmas. Or, they could string it out for another year. You have to be optimistic, no? >>> Checking stuff discretely after the workers have left avoids pressure and awkwardness. Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of - spotting things going wrong before they actually go wrong. >>> But the very real gate is in the wrong place acc to the drawing. Nice ☺️. I knew the hive BH mind will have figured this out. Thanks.

Interesting...

Has anyone got some good methods for setting up and using site datums? Both FFL planes and also, if possible positions. Sure you want your site marked out by some experienced guys with a total station. But what will you ask them for? What kind of physical datums do you use? How do you protect the datums from being dislodged? How do you cope with general ground movement or do you ignore it? Given your plot won't be perfectly flat, how do you decide where your official ground level is relative to some absolute level ('ordnance datum'). How accurate in practice are total stations anyway? When your total station guys are not around how do check that something is in the right position? Do many people use their own station for convenience & accuracy anyway? etc etc etc. All tips gratefully received.

I'm thinking that we're going to end up flipping from E7-like cheap night leccy to cheap day leccy and expensive night time, no? Well, at least in the summer. On Octopus Agile (which is meant to reflect the 1/2 hour market rates) by and large I'm seeing fairly flat rates throughout the day & night except for Octopus's artificial bump between 4 & 7pm.

I don't get that. We have a barn conversion which is all timber - well apart from the founds, plasterboard etc. It doesn't have a mortgage but we've had no problems insuring it. Also, what do our lovely Scottish members do with their lovely timber framed houses?