Alan Ambrose

@saveasteading >>> A Q S is like a lawyer in that he can argue your case to your maximum advantage and does not have to be fair and equitable. Possible to say more about that? If you didn’t know better (I don’t ) you might think the QS is doing a kind of scientific / accounting-type reckoning, no? That is, given the job spec you might hope different QSs might arrive in the same ball park?

Well I give them credit for ‘thinking outside the box’ even if I don’t yet get their whole economics analysis. Maybe the clue is in the work ‘Kraken’ i.e. a legendary sea monster of gigantic size . Colour me cynical - is this the next ‘houses sold as leasehold’, ‘cladding’ or ‘crazily escalating ground rents’ scandal?

I like epdm a lot after using it on my shed roof. I think sticking it down is a bit of an art (like getting sticky back plastic down without any air bubbles) and I wasn’t that convinced by the glue that came from the same supplier - it looked suspiciously like PVA. The odd air bubble isn’t going to make any difference to the watertightness. My bit was 6x4m - so half the size. We could manage fairly easily with two guys. You might want more bodies (a) to get it up there and (b) to manhandle it into the right spot / orientation.

>>> Is this not like anything you were to buy that it’s the business or sellers responsibility to charge the correct VAT and not the customer or consumer? It sounds like good logic, but most quotes / contracts / invoices say '+VAT at the applicable rate' or similar. For 99% of consumer transactions that's obvious, but not for building stuff. If he did make a mistake as he claimed and you 'relied' on it in legal speak, it wouldn't be unreasonable to offer to meet him halfway. The extra VAT is about £4K? I think it could go either way in County Court maybe depending on the exact text of any docs, emails etc. It would probably cost £1-2K or so each if you both use solicitors and (unusually) you actually do get to court. It'll also take at least a day each of your time and 9 months or so elapsed and a fair amount of aggravation unless you're very thick-skinned. So, it would be better to sit down and negotiate a solution. Failing that, have the solicitors try and negotiate a solution. As LSB says, check whether he's VAT registered, how you got here, and get the fullest story you can on 'how he came to make the mistake'. By all means document that conversation.

>>> the site is about 800sqm, my main concern is to find a possible water pipe underneath the ground so that I can build at 3m away from that You'll probably get what you need straight from your local water authority - at least a rough approximation to the location. Sometimes the records are missing or not accurate though. That'll hopefully give you a rough idea for planning a house location. The doc might have already been obtained in the searches when you bought the plot. The authority should also be able to tell you what kind of pipe it is, which'll be useful so you know how fragile it is. If the pipe is going to provide your own supply, you'll make much progress by going through the 'apply for a new supply' application and get an actual bod on site. They often know stuff that's not on the plans. That's probably all you need to kick off an architect. To get it accurately though, which you'll want to do at some time, you might need to dig down to it at a few points to verify and to get the level. You might be able to locate it remotely if iron, otherwise some sleuth work and some digging. Re a proper topo - yeah, dwg / dxf CAD file is key for people to draw on (computer-wise) using it as a base. Prints / pdfs are negligible extra cost. You probably need to specify exactly what you want - here's my spec (below), but I probably missed a few things - some tree stumps, eave heights of neighbouring buildings, height of mid-point of LV line. Local firm is good, as it's probably 1/2 day for a team of two. £400-500 + VAT maybe depending on how big the site is / how much it varies in height / how many 'features' there are / what grid size you want etc. Boundaries with heights & description Pick up the gates, driveway & the relationship to the highway The position & invert level of the ditch culvert at the front of the plot and the position and top level of the culvert pipe (now exposed) at the rear of the plot (one point at each end) as marked on the plan provided. The top being ~70cm down from the surface. This is behind the Ash tree. A paint line indicates the approx line of the culvert, please pick up one other on the surface from that so we can establish the approximate track The invert points of the culvert pipe in the ditch next to the highway have been highlighted The location and height of the poles at each end of the LV line All street furniture All service covers Overhead Cables Buildings (Outlines) All changes in surface All water features Trees; Location of the four trees and, if possible, the approximate tree height & extent of the foliage. Also pick up position & heights of 3 trees on the opposite side of the road Trees fully detailed - surveyed trunk & 4 points on canopy Road markings Existing building outlines Contours (interval) Existing building heights and neighbouring buildings The ridge height (only) of the 4 nearby barns (assuming these can easily be sited reflectorless from the plot). Levels over the site - 10m grid Floor Window and Door Heights of existing buildings Visibility splays - include all nearside features with heights (trees/hedges/fences etc.), with requested distance of splays in each direction from site access

My epdm shed roof was supplied with a pva-looking glue to hold the majority of it down and a contact-adhesive looking glue for the edges. I guess sticking the free edge down with contact adhesive would be a good start. But epdm isn't very expensive, so it wouldn't be a big deal to replace it with a bit the right size.

Commiserations, how annoying.

It could be that he's had a visit by the VAT-man who has pulled up these invoices - they generally like to pull up one or two. Or maybe his accountant has done the annual accounts & audit. Start by asking the builder why he has changed his tune and why now? Have you figured out whether the 'empty for 2 years' is a thing for VAT? And, if so, do you qualify? Sometimes the exact status of the customer does affect the VAT situation - charities for instance. It wouldn't be unreasonable in the situation to ask for some evidence that the VAT will be charged correctly and paid over to the VAT man correctly.

>>> Reolink do a stand alone 4G camera that’s solar powered. Can I ask - is that working well? Any drawbacks?

Think I agree. Pity otherwise it doesn't look a bad job. The epdm is stuck onto a board below?

>>> were in Norfolk OMG - that far away!

Well done. I would think there's a good chance the whole things drains downhill somewhere too. Always interesting to find out. I assume you didn't get any complaints / info about flooding since you didn't mention it. If not, then probably BC / EA will be OK with you draining rainwater to it. Maybe via an attenuation set-up of some kind - the latter depending on how much they're on top of SuDS / concerned about flooding.

Unless I am mistaken, it seems to me this is still really hard: (a) choose a PV panel size that is going to be supported into the future (!). Assume these are all fitted portrait orientation as that's the way Veluxes (?) generally go (choose landscape if you insist).To check for max number of PV panels / PV output - check that it fits on your roof envelope fairly sensibly. Something like minimum 30cm margins at roof edges. Use Easy PV maybe. (b) the Velux sizes that seem to be supported right now are MK06/08/10 & PK08/10 i.e. 78Wx118H - 140H - 160H & 94Wx140H - 160H (all in cm). Select a Velux size - probably a smaller size than the panel size you have selected. The max Velux sizes seem to be 160cm high, so with common PV panels, that suggests MK10 or PK10. (c) figure out which GSE frame supports both. Use GSE's app if you like. See if those frames are obtainable in the UK. Otherwise go to (a). (d) that gives you the regular grid size (presumably the GSE frame size). Check that the possible Velux locations are vaguely where the architect intended and move them around to fit the grid. Otherwise go to (a) or (b). (e) figure out the fittings required (maybe the GSE app again) or Easy PV. See whether you can buy those in the UK. If not go back a few steps. (f) all you have to do is buy all the parts and fit them now ... oh you'll need to do something with batten locations. Is that right?

Thanks, I remember looking 6m ago and there were many documents with big matrices of numbers. 😒 Oh yeah, I remember...

Goodness this seems hard to figure out. @LiamJones - you seem to have a neat set-up there. Can ask what the horizontal and vertical repeat distances are please? i.e. the 'grid size'. Also, can I ask what size solar panels you're putting in the v2022 frames?

Material shortages will fix themselves fairly quickly - the wholesaler just needs to put in bigger orders. The stuff that is imported should be back up to speed in, say, 3 months. The wholesaler will be very happy to deal with this problem. Labour will be happy to be busy and put its prices up.

If it was me, I'd re-grout (just scrape off any loose grout and re-apply) and re-silicone the join with the tray and that should be good for another 5 years. If tiles are actually loose, then by all means take off an re-mount and re-grout also, but I wouldn't pull any off that are stuck fairly firmly. Check the drain if you're feeling thorough. A day max if there are no loose tiles.

The heritage officer was outraged that we didn't submit a heritage report. This is mentioned anywhere on the LPA's portal - no. Report needed for the same plot for the previous successful application - no. Also the LPA asked for a contamination report - also not listed on the LPA's portal despite the fact they have a detailed 'validation checklist'. Also not needed for the previous application. Making it up as they go along...

>>> We've got site's in the Shires that are mothballed because the lack of buyers. I think that's easy - for the big developers, the LPA's just need a condition which reads not 'start within 3 years' but 'finish within 3 years or cash penalty for every plot that's not completed'.

>>> Any evidence on what percentage of houses are bought for cash? I saw that recently, BBC I think ~30% from memory. Yeah, see here: https://www.google.com/search?q=what+percentage+of+houses+are+bought+for+cash

Yes, agree, my sympathies, usual LPA BS in my view. Insufficient detail on what constitutes a valid application - check. Inability to locate information on drawings - check. Obvious that the rules don't apply equally to their regular applicants - check. Silly overreach on requirements that may never be needed if the application is turned down - check. Each LPA's requirements are different - check. Universal list irrespective of whether the applicant is applying for one dwelling, 10 or 100 - check. 'Validation' done by least qualified and most junior member of staff with no common sense - check. At least your validation response was probably signed by an actual human, the inspectorate takes, say 15 weeks, can't see stuff on the drawings and then sign themselves Validation Officer A8 or some such nonsense. These should probably all be added to the 'reform the planning system' list.

So that's two government departments and three quangos including BRE ... why do I think this isn't going to go well? https://www.local.gov.uk/roles-and-responsibilities-relating-suds

>>> Affordable Housing contributions Jeez, didn't know that was a thing. Given that that and CIL are yet another tax on building (and thus a discouragement) and not consistent between LPA's - they should both be canned. >>> I think the biggest problem is younger people cannot afford to get on the housing ladder, if house prices fall to a more sustainable level it will be fairer. Yeah agree, let them fall by 50% or more to the old 3x salary level. Houses should be for living in (duh) not surrogate pension pots. Also, the current state of affairs means they represent a net transfer of wealth from young people to old. That's not fair, is it?

Where I am today is a 5th floor flat and consequently the mains pressure is fairly low. There are two stuart turner 3 bar twin pumps which pressurise all the water apart from the kitchen cold tap: https://www.screwfix.com/p/stuart-turner-monsoon-universal-regenerative-twin-shower-pump-3-0bar/79703 I know one is 30 years old, one 25-ish - pretty much one for each bathroom. Not cheap at the time - about £500 quid from memory. Two because we wanted some non-panic time-flexibility if one were to fail. This is an old 'vented' water system with hot and cold water tanks. They make a bit of noise when they run and the little pressure vessels have been replaced a couple of times - otherwise they're very good. If the power went off we would have no water except for the kitchen cold tap - but I can't remember the last time the power went off. Because they're twin pumps, hot and cold pressures are balanced and there's no impact, for instance, when you're showering and a toilet is flushed. To be clear - the pressure vessels are little 2L ones (original was 0.6L) - they're just there to get the pump to start. They run better than ever now I've converted them to use off-the-shelf pressure vessels rather than the over-priced ST ones. I would use this system again if necessary.

>>> we do like to challenge the normal ways of doing things to save both time and money Nothing wrong with that, but then it's even more important that the detail is nailed down and you're on top of it. Maybe the key question to ask the architect and builders is 'have you ever done this kind of class Q on a steel frame before. If so, what EPC and air change rates did it get? How did you handle the thermal breaks? What were the challenges and how did you overcome them?' If you get the answer 'no' and/or baffled faces, then pass. If they get out their pencil to sketch the solutions they've figured out before, then listen and be ready to get your wallet / contract signing pen out.