garrymartin

It's like the lottery. Do you like the odds? If it looks OK but then fails in use, what would it be worth to you not to have that hassle? As much as I like to save a few quid by buying in multiples or bulking up to avoid shipping costs, I've learnt my lesson on things like sealants and glues and always make sure they are within their usable date range. Even if you turn to Amazon rather than builders merchants, you're talking sub £9 for a new one including delivery. Worth the risk?

Joe is spot on. When you steam solid wood, you're trying to affect the fibres of the wood and how they interact with each other. MDF is essentially wood dust bound together with glue under incredibly high pressure - steaming it will not work in the same way that it would for solid wood. It's not impossible, but you need dry steam and a high degree of control of the temperature. It very much depends on the quality and size of the scotia, and whether it has a "plastic" finish to it or it is a wood veneer, but one thing you might want to try is heating it with a heat gun as you are bending it. Adding heat can make MDF a little more pliable and allow the glue bonding to effectively separate and reform. You might just get away with it...

For future reference, not all caulks are created equal. Although there are some personal favourites with particular decorators, Dunlop Flexible Acrylic Filler is repeatedly mentioned and held in high regard in the various painting/spraying Facebook groups I'm a member of.

I've had success in the past jumping on to Amazon chat, telling them I was going to return the product because I'd found it cheaper, and having them refund the difference. Not always - I guess it depends on how much margin they have to play with and how good a customer you are, but may be worth a try before you go through the hassle of ordering from somewhere else and returning it to Amazon...

On a previous plot that we were unable to continue with (pre-COVID) the same practice I mentioned above quoted £7.5K+VAT for the work that is now £9K+VAT, so a 20% increase in about 4 years. The compounded inflation rate over the past 4 years in the UK is approximately 22.53% so not bad. This is really critical, as is taking the opportunity to talk to previous clients where possible.

So firstly, I can't tell you whether the design is particularly complex yet as I don't have one... 😉 It is an award-winning Architectural Practice, with more than one office, but it's not based in London. It was the most costly of all our quotes from our shortlist, but they were also streets ahead of their nearest competition in how comfortable we felt to be in their hands. All of us make decisions about where we want to spend our budget, and how much we're prepared to spend on each item. Personally, this project will be my third home ever, and my first self-build - I don't move around a lot! Many others on this site are on their second, third, and more builds and have lived in many different houses. I don't have that wealth of experience, so I've chosen to engage someone in a specialist field to help me. I work in a senior position in the IT industry, and that's what my clients do every day of the week. Sure they can do some things themselves, but they trust that our teams have experience they don't and will perhaps approach something in a way they had not considered, improving their experience, reducing their risk, and providing an excellent return on their investment. This is what I am looking for from my Architect and why I was very careful about their choice. Cost is very relative; when you look at the work they will be doing, and the seniority and experience of the people I'll be working with, then I'm very comfortable that it is good value. For those interested in the process, I have a design brief that lists all the things we'd like to achieve and the way we'd like to live, a small number of photos that show the design aesthetics we are drawn to, a list of known constraints (for example, there's a 3" PVC water main with a 6m easement that goes through the plot) and a bubble diagram that has all our desired rooms and their relationships to each other drawn on it. Our architects will take that and use their skill and experience to bring it to life for us in the specific context of the plot, its orientation, the surrounding buildings and features, the options for access, and a hundred and one other variables that all have a potential impact, many of which I would just not have had the skill or experience to consider. Of course, assuming our appeal is ultimately successful... 🤣

It very much depends on the Architect or Architectural Practice and who will need to be involved in your discussions and designs as to the costs to expect, as does the size and complexity of your proposals. As a very rough ballpark, as a percentage of build cost, you would typically be looking at 7% to 15%, or if engaging by the hour, £50 - £150 per hour. Of course, this depends on the seniority, skill, and experience of the Architect or Practice. For our own potential project, for RIBA Stages 0-2: Brief Development and Concept Design, we'll be spending £9K+VAT, and that gets us the various site visits, discussions with planners, development of 3 alternative simple massing design options in plan and basic 3D form, discussions on options, meetings, quotes from professionals and consultants required, etc. For RIBA Stage 3: Developed Design, it will be a further £9K+VAT and that will take us to a full Technical Details Consent application and will get us more developed drawings based on our design choices, Passivhaus assessment, collaboration with other consultants, discussions with planners, detailed Design and Access Statement, and refined site and dwelling drawings including everything needed for an application. This is for a design brief with a 220m2 main house and a 60m2 garage/workshop on a 0.25 acre site. It's a very personal choice whether to involve an Architect or not, but for us, these initial costs are an investment in their expertise and experience and we hope, as the anecdote goes, that we'll recoup that cost many times over in the value they bring.

Spot on. It never ceases to amaze me that almost all "complaints" have no valid planning argument. Our own application had a neighbour that objected, with one of his objections being the poor condition of the private access road (especially in winter) and the addition of more traffic to it. I had the deeds to a number of the properties in the estate, including his, and all owners were proportionally responsible for the good upkeep of said private access road!

I chased our appeal today, not really expecting a response, but got the following almost immediately - "An Inspector undertook an unaccompanied site visit on the 21 May and will be working towards finalising a decision in the coming weeks." so fingers crossed for something before the end of the month...

@Alan Ambrose was there something you wanted to say or something you wanted me to see in @Havkey100 latest post?

It really depends on the inspector and the reason for the EICR as to how they will code it. As a layman, at the minimum, I would expect a C2 (potentially dangerous) in relation to the lack of an RCD and the reasonable expectation that sockets (especially given one of the ways is marked as garage extension sockets) could power equipment outdoors. If you have a very generous inspector, you might get C3 (improvement recommended) for anything else, but it depends on a lot of variables that won't be visible just from the photos you've provided. Just because the consumer unit is old and may not meet current standards doesn't mean that it automatically has to be replaced.

A self-build mortgage would not be appropriate as the property is already built. I think @Jilly intended to refer you to the companies that offer self-build mortgages rather than self-build mortgages themselves. Also, Birmingham Midshires seem to no longer be trading so not a perfect example! 😉🤣 But there are plenty of others to choose from Halifax for example, which has the same commentary of "Yes, provided there are no more than 15 properties on any one development site and construction has been monitored by a professional consultant. We only require this where the new property is to be occupied for the first time." Halifax and Natwest both have mortgages at 4.45% fixed on an external comparison site so I'm sure with your specific details you could end up with a similar offer from Halifax without the warranty issues.

It's a specialist field so you will likely need to involve a broker or do your own homework, but any mortgage products available may attract a higher interest rate to offset the extra risk so be careful that you don't end up paying £1000s extra over time. This link is likely to be of significant interest; it lists all the lenders that will proceed without a new home warranty scheme and the conditions for doing so. https://lendershandbook.ukfinance.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1919/ As an example, for your NatWest mortgage, it states "Yes but the building work must be monitored or (if completed) have been monitored by a professional consultant and the professional consultant has provided the Professional Consultant's Certificate in the UK Finance Handbook form. In addition, you must confirm the Certificate was issued prior to exchange of contracts." which I guess is why you are having problems. But as another example, Birmingham Midshires states "Yes, provided there are no more than 15 properties on any one development site and construction has been monitored by a professional consultant. We only require this where the new property is to be occupied for the first time." - did the vendors actually live in the conversion before putting it on the market? Hope this helps. Sounds like you've found your ideal home.

They are in bands, so typically single-phase transformers are 16, 25, 50, and 100 kVA; three-phase are 25, 50, 100, 200, and 315 kVA. So if the existing 16kVA is insufficient, the step to 25kVA may not be enough and may not be cost-effective; hence the 50kVA. Or they could be upgrading to a three-phase 50kVA transformer and future-proofing requirements in that location for more heat pumps, electric car charging etc.

To be frank, I have no idea. I suspect it is to put people off from commissioning the work. The following is a direct quote from an email where I queried this on my desk-based estimate that was more than £30K for a connection where the existing transformer is 1 metre from the site boundary. "As you may have read a budget estimate is an indication of the likely costs. A Budget estimate is not a formal offer for connection and cannot be accepted. These are desk top exercises, we do not carry out any detailed design work and the assessment is carried out as a desktop exercise that do not take account of any site specific considerations. The new costing rules are not factored into the budget estimate, and would depend on certain factors which would be accessed when providing a formal offer."

Regulation 522.6.202 is the reference here - https://professional-electrician.com/technical/why-contractors-need-to-apply-due-diligence-when-installing-cables-embedded-in-thin-walls-or-partitions-niceic/ The easiest method would appear to be SWA to the outside; perhaps to a junction box and then to the lights from that location? I presume these are mains voltage lights and not SELV or PELV? Bear in mind you are protecting the first 50mm of the cable entering the fabric of the building though, so if that first 50mm was in a prescribed zone (behind your fitting?) and the last 50mm was also in a prescribed zone, then that 100mm sideways may not be a big issue... Perhaps a drawing would help with more options?

When did you get the figures from National Grid, and were they desk-based estimates or actual costed quotations? The rules changed from 1st April 2023 and you should no longer be paying for reinforcement assets (cable and transformer upgrades) and should only be picking up costs for extension assets (the actual connection). OFGEM Access and Forward-Looking Charges Significant Code Review https://connections.nationalgrid.co.uk/significant-code-review/

Structural Engineer

Which Local Authority is this and what does their guidance say? For example, mine states a distance of 22m as a considered minimum between facing/backing dwellings. I know distance can be reduced depending on the number of stories and the angle of the buildings to each other (e.g. if the angle is greater than 30 degrees) but what is stated in your local plan and any supplementary planning guidance? They may be suggesting a single storey due to the 11.7m and 12.4m distances which are very much on the low side. Whilst referring to BRE guidelines may be helpful, it's really the LA documents that will prevail here. If you can meet the LA requirements, then it's plain sailing. If you can't, then it's down to what your planning officer might be willing to accept when considering the scheme as a whole.

We've not had a site visit recorded, but then given the circumstances of the refusal, we don't believe one would be required (the refusal is all about sustainable transport options). My understanding was that the case officer is just an administrative role and that it is the Planning Inspector who would need to acquaint themselves with the details of the case if they were changed. Whilst we're still hanging in there too, it feels like our life hasn't moved on and many decisions are stalled. If we're successful at appeal, it's only the first stage (Planning in Principle) and we'd still then need to get Technical Details Consent. All sorts of decisions feel impacted, especially as I'm nearing early retirement age and what I choose to do will be substantially affected by whether we'll be building our own home or not...

+100 Our appeal was submitted on 28 Jul 2023. It took until 02 Nov 2023 for it to be determined valid, which is the date from which all the timings for appeals are taken. This is very misleading when people look at 29 weeks (currently) as a median time to determine - it's NOT from the date you submitted the appeal. My dates; Appeal submitted - 28 Jul 2023 Application valid - 02 Nov 2023 Start date - 22 Jan 2024 Questionnaire due - 29 Jan 2024 Statement(s) due - 26 Feb 2024 Final comments due - 11 Mar 2024 And then there is just complete radio silence until it is determined. You can't chase it and you have no indication of when your appeal will be determined. Whilst the times have reduced a little over the last few months, these were the stats I gathered for Written Representations when looking at things. 25% of appeals are determined within 21 weeks 50% of appeals are determined within 30 weeks Median is 32 weeks Mean is 34 weeks 75% of appeals are determined within 44 weeks 90% of appeals are determined within 60 weeks An appeal is a very long, drawn-out process where you have pretty much zero visibility of whether anything is *actually* happening to move it closer to determination.

We did something similar. We put in a 2nd application after the 1st was refused, providing evidence (to our minds) that the original refusal was invalid in its observations. At the same time, we started the appeal on the 1st application while the 2nd was going through planning. At least that way we didn't lose 5 weeks on the appeal timescale when the 2nd application was refused too. At the time, putting in another application after the first refusal was "free" of charge. Appeals are also free and our appeal could have been withdrawn had the 2nd application been approved.

Don't underestimate both the time it takes for an appeal to be dealt with and the emotional toll of not knowing whether you'll be able to move forward with your plans or not. I'm in appeal at the moment and waiting for determination. It's quite literally a year to the day today that our original application went into the planners and was subsequently refused and appealed.

I think you're going to struggle with hingeing on the short side with those door dimensions - there's a reason the European hinge manufacturers recommend a maximum width of 600mm and doors that are taller than they are wide. Can you live with it being top-opening instead? If you don't want something that physically holds the door in place once closed when side-opening (for aesthetics), then I'd look at Blum Aventos and changing the door to be top-opening.

Post a photo of the hinges. If this is recently installed, and the joiner is available, then leave the problem to him. If he was the one who built and installed it, he should have known there would potentially be issues, and is likely to know the best way to solve them. Weight is an issue, but so is the design, with the smallest side being the hinge side. But you already appreciate this from your original post.