Roundtuit

That's not generally the case. Whilst no one wants standing water on crops for any length of time, run-off from agricultural land is avoided as it takes soil with it and causes erosion. In this case however, 'public field' suggests perhaps a permanent grass recreation area?

Yep, that’s one massive cat litter tray! As @Nickfromwales, I'd be looking at rubber mats in critical areas.

I'd suggest that building a house is significantly more upheaval and stressful than choosing one that's already built and letting the removal men work their magic. Don't let that put you off, but make your choices from an informed position!

Assuming this is just rain water off a relatively small area, is a soakaway a less expensive option? If not, then I'd say your proposal sounds reasonable; give them notice and just do it.

No idea what you're planning in terms of space heating/DHW, but as mentioned earlier, be careful not to underestimate the area needed for plant. I'd maybe get a kitchen designer to look at getting best utility out of that area; the current design looks a bit awkward tbh, and you need to plan drainage runs. No dishwasher?

In my experience, no-one checks. I've made a few tweaks to locations and species, although have generally followed the 'spirit' of the landscaping plan. Planting was supposed to be completed in the first season after occupation, which also didn't happen. If I were you, unless it's a pre-commencement condition, I think I'd put planting decisions on the back burner for now. As an observation on the current plan, I wouldn't worry about the trees either side of the drive. I'd suggest that they won't be big enough to significantly impact visibility for a start, and when they mature, you'll be looking under the canopy not through it.

To remove laitence; the dodgy weak surface layer.

If you've had some sun today the immersion will have heated the tank to a higher temp than the ashp would. I think I'd stick it back in and wait for it to stabilise and see what happens. You could always run some hot water off first to cool the tank if the high reading worries you.

I like the look of galvanised. It's one of the most commented-on aspects of our build, strangely...

Really?! If their activities have the potential to cause harm or damage to your property I think it's an entirely reasonable question.

If it's still 'stabilising' I don't think you'll stop it, but it's unlikely to impact on structural integrity. Maybe just find a filler with a reasonable colour match.

This. Led strip in an aluminium profile with diffuser, cut to length.

Maybe invest in one or two 6m lengths and install them mid span at the same height as the structural walls, just as a temporary measure to sit the joists on whilst you bolt them?

I'm guessing the sistering is to gain a bit of head room rather than use deeper joists? What size joists are we talking? I have no expertise, but it doesn't look like a very elegant solution; any chance of getting a steel joist in there to split the span?

It's atmospheric moisture rather than sunlight I believe. I misted under the eaves with a hosepipe occasionally to speed up the process.

I'm guessing a bit, but perhaps a flood risk assessment requires elevated finished floor levels? If thats the case, there's no reason to build up the rest of the garden, just raise a couple of metres wide around the house (with stone, not topsoil), and then grade down to garden level. As @Russell griffiths says, that's last job, not first job.

Mitchell Piling did ours, Lincs/Cambs border. It was 2017, but the mobilisation charge was sensible, pricing was competitive and discounted if you didn't need the estimated depth. You might be on the edge of their range but probably worth a call.

Why do you need block and beam if you have a slab?

That was my initial thought, but it doesn't solve the potential rain-splash issue, and hopefully the patio is sloping away from the house so they wouldn't be taking much water anyway. Maybe a combination of slot channel drains in front of the doors and gravelled French drains elsewhere would be a reasonable compromise. Either way, it's going to mean taking some patio up.

Is that insulation you can see, or just silver breather membrane lapped over the timber frame? If the window is sitting in the block outer skin, there will be a cavity somewhere. As @ProDave says, maybe have a poke about just to make sure you don't have a cold spot.

Out of interest, did the roofs previously join in the middle of the stack, or have you 'gained' a bit? Was it slate previously?

Have a look at 'the paving expert' website for an indication of best practice, but that doesn't look good. Aside from the poor surface prep, I'd still have serious concerns about the stability of the underlying soil if it's been moved from bottom to top: I had my lawn area levelled and compacted with a 17t digger after some tree stumps came out, and it's still settling 3 years later.

Sorry, not an expert, but a few thoughts are: - I'd suggest that anything built on 'made-up' ground (ie where soil was moved from bottom to top) is destined to fail. Are you sure that's what they did? Building up with compacted stone and type-1 would have been my first thought. - there should be provision for drainage for the retaining wall. - there should be some fall-protection guarding on top of the wall. -any timber used below ground as a structural element would be unacceptable.

Apologies; I realise I've been vague as the question was more about what an appropriate solution is rather than the nitty-gritty of the job. In summary, it's a driveway & garden lighting job, plus a couple of single sockets, with the lights to be switched from an existing photocell on the house via a timer next to the consumer unit (on when it's dusk, off at midnight). I think he's forgotten to run SWA with enough cores to do all jobs (through adequate pre-installed ducting), and rather than putting it right has installed a $hit work-around I can't live with. I've paid 50% pending further negotiations. He's offered some discount, but not enough to cover putting it right.

The stress is already incurred unfortunately: being screwed over, and the thought of the hassle of trying to get someone else to pick the job up, not really the money. I'm really after a bit of justice I suppose. We're talking UK qualified electrician, limited company, and his quote is details what we'd agreed the job was. The only reason it has gone on for so long is that my generosity of spirit allowed him to fit it around other jobs; 45 minutes here, two hours there, weeks between visits... I honestly can't think of anything I could have done differently to achieve a better outcome, other than standing over him and tw@tting him on the back of the head when he went off-piste. As it happens, when I told him his work wasn't acceptable, he gave me another quote (for about £500) to complete the work as originally planned, so that will be the basis for a retention if that's the way this goes.