KTB

The guys outside today don't seem overly concerned TBH - Here's hoping

So don't apply it in Scotland, then 🤣

So, our renderers went ahead today with the K rend application, in light wind and rain. As they finished the first coat on half of the house this evening, the heavy rain started in earnest and is scheduled to keep going all night. So, we are now looking for advice on what to look out for tomorrow morning in terms of potential damage and where to draw the line re: what's acceptable (if any damage is noted) before the job has to be halted please Concerned.

The problem we have is that we are in the middle of the countryside in a small village. We've been living in a static on site, using a 4G dongle but it frequently drops to 3G or even completely. The signal just isn't reliable enough to run a modern house or get any kind of bandwidth from.

What is it with self building that exposes all the loopholes in every organisation, usually to our cost?? So, we have an Openreach pole in the corner of our plot, which used to be a farmers field. It is connected via unsightly overhead lines to at least 6 of the direct neighbours, providing their phone and internet services. The village has only fibre to cabinet, copper to houses provision, max connection is about 60-70Mb. My 82 yr old mother has a 1.2 Gb full fibre connection in a local town (that's like handing a 2 yr old the keys to an F35 lightning), so 70Mb isn't what I call a particularly desirable service. We applied to BT to connect our new build and have been told they are unable to do so but "EE may be able to connect you to a basic 10Mb service" WTAF? So, we registered a new plot with Openreach (Ridiculously convoluted process designed only for developers undertaking housing estates) and put in all our details. They came back saying we can have a fibre to premises connection (we can't) via an overhead line from the pole (which we don't want - We want it ducted) for - wait for it - £5500 !!! What a joke. So, a couple of things. 1. Who do I contact to charge them for their pole in my garden and how do I use that as leverage to get a reasonable priced, ducted connection?

We are looking for 56 sheets at 2.4x1.2m of 160mm PIR as underfloor insulation below our UFH pipework. Does anybody have any recommendations re: a supplier? Central Scotland.

Nothing in Scotland yet 😒

Be very careful with the agent you chose (companies house checks/contact previous jobs they claim to have done etc). Our first hand experience is that the Polish manufacturer/supplier will simply wash their hands of you, saying it's between us and the agent to sort out the mess. Red flags all over the place.

Nothing - He's been making it all up as he went along. Going to the solicitor tomorrow morning.

We are still in a Mexican stand off. Installer demanding all the money, supplier saying it's nothing to do with them. We have offered the balance of what he owes the supplier, with the rest lodged at our solicitors until the job is finished to our sign off. Don't think he has the cash to pay for the windows and doors, as it appears he has spent it. Awaiting his next move. Meanwhile, another week of scaffolding costs and another week lost from the blockwork schedule. Very frustrating and costly. Read the small print and never do anything that isn't in writing. Lesson learned.

By way of an update - And, a warning to others on the site. The installer has been paid 60% of the total cost for the job in Nov and Dec (Tens of thousands of pounds). He has obviously not passed all of this on to the supplier but spent a fair proportion of it, implying major cash flow issues, then panicked and asked for another 8K in VAT when we were not due it and would never have seen it again had it been paid. He then came back again, saying unless we paid the FULL BALANCE of the whole supply/install by 4pm that day, the windows and doors would not be loaded on the lorry in Poland. We then contacted the supplier directly, in an attempt to pay the balance of the materials and expedite delivery, but they refused direct payment and backed up their installers position, stating he was a "trusted partner". The position now is that the supplier will not answer our emails or telephone calls, referring us to sort it out with the installer, the installer continues to demand the whole balance by tomorrow and is unable to take a credit card payment to protect our outlay. We are, effectively, being extorted. We feel that, if we pay the balance in full tomorrow, we will be left with a lorry load of kit dumped on our site and will never see the installer again. At no stage has any customer service or consideration been anywhere near this transaction. We are simply left, pondering legal action, with our build on hold. The supplier of the windows/doors is a major European company based in Poland. Their agent is based in Central Scotland. If anybody wants details at this stage, PM us and we are happy to share. We are consulting solicitors re: hitting social media and going public.

Invoice now reissued without VAT. A load of hassle for not very much. He's trying to get 100% of the balance of the job tomorrow too, but we are paying half of what's left, 25% on arrival on site of kit and the balance when the job is completed to our satisfaction.

UK VAT - we've told them were not paying

The contract is with the UK registered company only. We are digging our heels in and refusing to pay the UK VAT.

This is now heading South at an alarming rate - He says he's spoken to HMRC, who are insisting that we pay the VAT, then try to reclaim it. We are refusing, based on our and everyone above's understanding of the process and the zero chance of ever claiming it back once HMRC have it. He's also asked for the rest of the balance for the entire job to be paid today, a week before shipping! He hasn't even sent us a final invoice yet. The whole thing stinks and is stinking more by the hour.