unclerussty

Quote just said £x including VAT. I would have expected it to say zero rated somewhere in the quote if that was the case.

Cheers

Yes - the house is all about the view. Farmland at the rear, and a flood plain so unlikely to be built on in my lifetime. The view is best during the winter as less leaves on trees, 180 degree views from Toyota in the West, over Carsington, Alport Heights, Crich Stand to the North round to Ratcliffe Power Station in the East.

Swarkestone Sailing/Fishing Lake

The drive wasn't included in the plans at all - we knocked down the existing bungalow to build the new house, and the tarmac drive was wrecked in the process, the existing garage has also remained in place. I think the only reference to the drive in the planning was that we had to maintain a turning circle so that the cars weren't reversing out on to the road. I'll ask the contractor to zero rate it and hopefully he'll give us a refund as we've already paid him!!

Cheers newhome, I thought so but reading the regs didn't specifically mention driveways and landscaping is a wide description, open to various interpretations. Thanks again

Just coming towards the final throws of our house build and just want to check that the replacement driveway qualifies for a VAT exemption. We made a mistake with the contractor as he has done it on a supply & install basis and invoiced us including VAT (though no actual amount mentioned for VAT on invoice, his quote said VAT Inclusive - and we did discuss us claiming back the VAT on completion). Seems we should have got him to zero rate the driveway so now need to try & reclaim the funds from him. All through the build we have used local companies to provide materials and so we are including them in the VAT reclaim, only supply & install contractors have been electrician & heating engineers who have zero-rated. So as I say just want to confirm that drive should be zero-rated and that I should be trying to get a refund from contractor.

Hi everyone, Wish I'd found this forum earlier!! We are now in the final throws of building our dream home in South Derbys, we bought my wife's childhood home in 2017, demolished it in 2018 and have now built a replacement. Our original plan was to refurb it but it would have involved knocking down all internal walls and replacing outer skin of brickwork as that was patchy from previous alterations. So decided to go down the demolish & replace route as we thought it would be better value for money with getting the VAT back. Pics attached from when my in-laws bought the bungalow in the 60's, what it was like when we bought it, and what it looks like now. Plus the view from the back which is why we bought it really!! Always feels like your bragging when showing people what we have built, but we know how lucky we are, and are very proud of what we've achieved, as the design was generally our own with added input from the in-laws as they had lived there for 16 or so years until they sold it in the 80's.