Alan Ambrose

>>> It is an option but seems to be resisted Obviously it's more complex to administer and reduces the supplier's cash flow - so, of course, suppliers resist it. Once a few self-builders insist, a supplier with good cash flow is going to figure out that escrow gives them a competitive advantage.

"“They just bodge it and leg it"

As you pointed out in your summary, there seems to be some grey area. In my case, as we knew we wanted to use the 'Suffolk barn' trope, I've done the 'look-and-feel' design for planning. Thus no architect (and maybe that makes me PD) but note that architects are not automatically PDs and, to that end, RIBA is 'launching [its] Principal Designer Register'. I have not completely wrapped my head around the implications of the new regulations, but these sentences from the article stand out: "The client, meanwhile, must take all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the dutyholders are competent..." "Under the new definitions, the client is the person responsible for commissioning the building work. They have overall control over the project and, therefore, it is appropriate that they are ultimately responsible for the golden thread information...." "A provision that applies to any building work is that if at any time after a building control approval application is made or a building notice is given, the client appoints a principal designer (or sole or lead designer), the client must give notice to the relevant authority." "Where there is more than one contractor, or it is reasonably foreseeable that more than one contractor will be working on a project, the client must appoint in writing (a) a designer with control over the design work as the principal designer for the purposes of these regulations, and (b) a contractor with control over the building work as the principal contractor for the purposes of these regulations. These roles are also referred to as the principal dutyholders." "For domestic clients, the client duties will be carried out by the contractor (where there is only one contractor for the project), the principal contractor or principal designer (where the principal designer agrees to fulfil those duties with the client, agreed in writing). If a domestic client fails to make the appointments the designer in control of the design phase of the project (most likely an architect) is the principal designer, as under CDM." "Where the client fails to appoint a principal designer (or a replacement principal designer) the client must fulfil the duties of the principal designer under these regulations until they appoint another person to that role." re: ‘golden thread’ "It is not an 'end of the project’ activity, but an ongoing ‘live’, electronic record of the building information throughout the lifecycle of the building. This includes up-to-date safety information regarding the building design, build, and management.""This information will be stored and transferred electronically ... and recipients must acknowledge receipt.

@ToughButterCup Sorry I only just saw your reply. Yes, I have read that and a few similar. I'm a bit vague on the details but I remember there seemed to be two sets of opinions: (I paraphrase) (a) 'domestic clients don't know jack and can't be expected to do CDM, that's for the professionals' and (b) 'it's your site and project and you are legally responsible for H&S'. I talked to an SE recently who pointed out that the rules changed Oct 1st. The reason I started this thread is that the ground seems to be shifting onto putting responsibility on the customer / project owner and from there all along the chain. Presumably this is to stop (as I said above) the 'not my responsibility mate I thought x was taking care of it' stuff going on most obviously at Grenfell.

@SteamyTea - are you a physicist? - you 're always on the button with materials calcs etc, and now Excel minutiae? I'm also interested in whether Agile gives the customer a proper reduction for taking on / managing the risk. I've seen that, for instance, the tiers of premium reductions for various excess levels when buying car & house insurance often don't. I still don't quite get why the prices go like that in the winter. Also, why the 4-6pm hump - I would have guessed that industry / offices would be using power during the day. Lastly, it would be interesting to plot against wholesale prices.

p.s. there’s a third option - a ‘drill guide’. Usually aluminium with hardened drill bushings. This kind of thing, or without the vice (I picked this one at random). Drillpro 3 In 1 Adjustable Woodworking Doweling Jig Kit Pocket You can find some much cheaper and simpler ones. Also, you can make your own cheap version of this with a flat bit of 2x6 or aluminium block and your mate’s drill press. Probably accurate enough for your needs. Hardened bushings optional, but add some accuracy.

I would say that most people, including me, don’t drill (or nail) very straight. That usually doesn’t matter and often makes things stronger. The usual solution, for smallish items, is a drill press. For larger items or items that can’t be moved there’s a device that can be fixed to a hand drill. These are not precision, but they help. Buy a good one, the cheap ones are a waste of time. e.g. Wolfcraft 4525404 Multi-Angle Drill Guide Attachment

Firstly, thanks for doing this analysis and putting it up for us to see - very interesting. In that last graph is week 0 beginning of Jan? I’m surprised to see low pricing then?

Take a look at Schiedel ICID system. The ‘distance from combustibles’, plinth, fireproof detailing through the roof and chimney height are important. Probably a BC / skilled installer thing and/or demonstrate you have ‘obeyed all the rules’.

>>> I presume I can work backwards from known energy use and use that as another data point? With some approximations and some hand waving I think you should be able to.

>>> Unfortunately I have very little idea of just how bad it is in this house. You can get it measured if you like. You can probably even diy it if it's for your own use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_changes_per_hour about 3/4 of the way down.

p.s. these are the LPAs that should be in 'special measures': Calderdale Council – 97 per cent for April to June 2023 Cotswold District Council – 72 per cent rolling two-year average; 88 per cent for April to June 2023 Epsom & Ewell Borough Council – 66 per cent rolling two-year average; 95 per cent for April to June 2023 Guildford Borough Council – 55 per cent rolling two-year average; 82 per cent for April to June 2023 Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council – 55 per cent rolling two-year average; 90 per cent for April to June 2023 Peak District National Park Authority – 62 per cent rolling two-year average; 85 per cent for April to June 2023 Pendle Borough Council – 74 per cent rolling two-year average; 97 per cent for April to June 2023 Portsmouth City Council – 65 per cent rolling two-year average; 99 per cent for April to June 2023 Vale of White Horse District Council – 78 per cent for a two-year rolling average for non-major applications and 99 per cent April to June 2023; 68 per cent for a two-year rolling average for major applications and 93 per cent for April to June 2023 Waverley Borough Council – 71 per cent rolling two-year average; 97 per cent for April to June 2023 from: https://blog.planningportal.co.uk/2023/10/12/10-local-planning-authorities-wont-be-designated-at-this-time/

From here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics You need tables P154 - quality of non-major decisions i.e. how often the LPA is over-turned at appeal. And P153 - speed of non-major decisions i.e. how often the LPA hits the 8-week target. OK in 2021/22 Elmbridge had 43% appeals over-turned, 22/23 was 29%. (29% btw is the national average.) In the 24 months to end of March 2023 Elmbridge turned around 86.2% of their 'non-major' decisions in 8 weeks. (Note that this excludes any 'validation' period.) That is, they're a bit below the middle of the pack. BTW the theory is, that if they go below 70% they go into 'special measures'.

You have our sympathies. I'm sure some LPA's are OK, but ours is similar to yours. I agree that the system seems to be designed to perpetuate the 1940s or earlier - as though everything built back then was worthy of being emulated. In truth a lot of our building stock is atrocious thrown-together cheap garbage, and the last thing that should happen is it being copied. p.s. which LPA are you, I'll look up their stats?

You can, of course, do this just in the app my making one profile and adding all zones to it.

Often called 'pig-nosed' bolts.

>>> What I am realising now, is that we are overly constrained from a zone point of view (wish I had realised this back in the day....) Maybe you could explain why this is a problem - HP cycling or...? It's very simple to set-up whatever zones you want - yes a bit of wiring, but it'll probably take longer to explain to the electrician what you want than it will take them to re-wire.

Suggest you need to take it apart and figure out what has gone wrong / take the rigger it to someone who will do the same / see if you can buy new riggers off the shelf / figure out an alternative mechanism yourself.

>>> You may have noticed that Travis Perkins has issued a warning about trading conditions Interesting - a report below. I find the guys in my local TP fairly helpful, so maybe the squeeze will sharpen pricing and encourage service even more. Sees FY profit down 19%-27% Q3 pricing declines 3% Shares down 12% LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Travis Perkins (TPK.L), Britain's biggest supplier of building materials, downgraded its annual profit forecast by as much as 27% on Wednesday, blaming ongoing tough conditions in the new-build housing and renovation markets, hitting its shares. The group said it now expected 2023 adjusted operating profit to be in the range of 175 million pounds ($215 million) to 195 million pounds, down from the 240 million pounds it had guided to in June, itself a 12% downgrade. "Market conditions remain challenging with continued weakness across new build housing and domestic repair, maintenance and improvements," Chief Executive Nick Roberts said in a statement. Shares in Travis Perkins sunk by as much as 12% in early deals, hitting their lowest level for over three years. Britain's housing market has cooled this year after a jump in interest rates, which is deterring house-building and dampening the house sales that often prompt improvement work. Moreover, a squeeze on disposable income means consumers are not spending on their properties.

>>> If we take the current design to full planning permission and they reject garage position will they reject the whole design or could they say no to garage yes to house. Depends on how good an LPA they are. Most LPAs would 'negotiate' with you over the garage position if they thought the overall proposition was good. You might check the government stats for LPAs to see where they fall in the league tables - which may give an indication on whether they're in crisis mode or not. I'm surprised that your architect has already given you their opinion on this point though. Press them?

OK understood.

Along the front of our plot, there's a little ditch (which I've only ever seen dry) and some bits of 300mm plastic culvert with a bit of hardcore thrown over where the entrance to the plot is. This is also the end of the ditch as we're on the top of a very, very shallow hill. Extract from topo below - see the bit marked 'ditch' and 'line of u/g pipe'. It drains to the left/west. I think we have to re-make the entranceway to support concrete trucks etc and I'm wondering whether we should just fill in the ditch entirely after ensuring we have adequate drainage there - maybe with 300mm concrete culvert instead of plastic with junctions for french drains etc from the driveway. Can we do this with minimum official faff? If not, I plan to just redo what's there already and re-instate with a tougher make-up. Any thoughts?

The American products are interesting - they suggest that a 50% hole can be supported with something ~40cm long with a 40mm flange made from 2mm steel and screwed. FWIW it wouldn't be a big deal to get those custom made. Besides destructive testing, I wonder if they can be modelled?

About 1/2 a degree then...

How old is the building? I'm a bit fascinated by the way we (me too) instinctively want things plumb and square and at-the-same time love the out-of-shape quirkiness of old buildings, old furniture and old industrial artifacts. I'm not being facetious - is there any chance that in 10, 50 or 100 years someone will think how wonderfully quirky and full of life that out-of-square wall will be?