Ferdinand

OP says uninsurable.

Many BHers end up with Cottage Oak doors, and if you work the angles the door including hinges and furniture can come in in the £90 to £100 range. Which might give you what you would like. Other things you can do include sets of doors of ebay from people upgrading etc. Depends on if your sizes are standard etc. F

What's your budget? Are we in £25 doors or more like £75? Are you committed to white? (Have you tried getting posher doors at a discount?)

Normal upvc door? Or you could do a composite door? Or are your actual requirements more demanding?

You have presumably considered sprinklers, which relax various fire requirements?

5.5 * 5.5 * 0.15 is 4.5 cubic m, so only approx 5 bulk bags. Have a crack for a weekend, and you might be surprised how much you move by hand.

You need to ask them. The ones I listed above come under the "habitable" requirement. I am going on what is required before finance for BTL renovations becomes more difficult. Extensive dry rot may be a further cause to make it unmortgagable - but I have never done one of those. This may be a useful thread over on propertytribes - this mentions Dry Rot but the commentator implies 'usually' which would put you into specialists or special arrangements eg phased release as value increases. https://www.propertytribes.com/11-scenarios-that-make-a-property-unmortgageable-t-9544.html F

Isn't this "deposit" a total Red Herring in this discussion? Your "deposit" is eg the other 40% when you take out a 60% mortgage, n'est-ce-pas? And you don't need cash to buy that because you already have it. The advantage of that loan is that it provides by shuffle more working capital. Depends how much headroom you need combined with how the costs compare to any mortgage. Essentially it provides water under the boat to stop you grounding - the question is whether a) you need the water, and b) there is a better way of providing it.

When it comes to finding an agreed outcome, remember that one of your options will be arbitration if it is not clear and horse trading does not work. I hope that you get a resolution on this following normal contract law principles ... which will revolve around what was clearly communicated back and forth, and what assumptions could be expected to be made by a competent contractor or client from those communications. It would be too easy to spend more on going round and round than the size of the issue itself, which would cut off both your noses. Best of luck, anyway.

Except via VAT exempt suppliers, of course.

Welcome @Imogen - what an interesting person to take this on ?. For your questions: If you want a mortgage, and I don't see why you shouldn't get one ... there is equity in the house and your job is well-paid and as secure as it gets, I think you may need to talk to either a Building Society or similar that gives autonomy to the local management, or to a specialist broker. You could perhaps expect to pay £500-600 as a fee on top, but they should have sight of the whole market. One suggestion I would make it to look at the 60% LTV point, which is where you will get a better interest rate. For a broker, perhaps try asking the Scottish HHA https://www.scotlandsheritage.org.uk/partners/historic-houses-association/, or asking on a property forum (I am a member at propertytribes.com - though this is more developer / landlord they have brokers as site sponsors etc and are reputable). For a mortgage you need cooking, looing and bathing facilities, and probably heating. There are things you can perhaps do to start dry rot treatment - such as dismantling all the floors. You could also perhaps phase it if you can quarantine an area that you do not need for a few years to help with budget and do it later - but you know best about that. One possibility is if some work is not needed - is there a need to replace *all* the windows? Can some be refurbished? Aside :Can you get a reduced VAT rate for repairs to a listed building? As everyone else has, I'll give a view to try and help you reflect. When I was 10 my parents took on a listed building that had been empty for several years (5000 sqft small manor on 7 acres) at the age of 40 both, and that had some dry rot and woodworm. The difference was that dad was an architect and had the skills / knowledge to DIY most of it, and how to find people for the rest. One learning point is that projects can take a long time, and if you can find a way to live with it that can work. We had buckets to catch water during rain for three or four years, as the roof had last been maintained by the Victorians and there were no fewer than seven separate gables (one of which fell off whilst mum was sunbathing one day in 1976) - so it took time. They were still doing things three decades later. I think your choice comes down to desired lifestyle, whether this is the project to deliver it, and whether you want to pay the price in terms of time and work, or if pulling out and perhaps trying again later is a better option? One thing to consider is your assessment of what will happen to the market / value for this house after COVID. Are the SG going to clobber it to recover money spent etc? To pull out you would probably need to take it to auction, so I would at least get an evaluation so that you are well informed. The advantage of an auction is that you can give limited information and let buyers explore the dry rot issue. My guestimate is that they will tell you an expected sale price of between 80k and 140k with potential for "fall in love" value on top, based on finished price - estimated money to spend. It is important to think about sunk costs (which you will not recover) and base any decision on the future not wounds from the past. The size of any sunk costs when you are deciding is a distraction. To my eye you may get away with enough to buy another house to lick your wounds for a period, and a small mortgage. I've been listening to Kenny Rogers writing this reply. In a lot of situations he lists the options surprisingly well. I hope you'll forgive 3 minutes of corned beef. In your situation I think I would be inclined eat the loss, fold, and walkaway if an exit is available which leaves you on your feet - is the phrase "bloody but unbowed"? We occasionally have people come along who take a long look at projects then take a decision to spend their 5 years doing something else. That is a real option. in my thinking the clincher is that the options are to plough through a high risk path for a number of years to perhaps (assuming no more black holes) emerge with a breakeven value vs money spent and a 150k mortgage, or to withdraw to a less risky option with perhaps a smaller mortgage and come back later if you wish. In financial terms to me the lower risk option is *probably* to cut your losses. Do you love this house and this *potential* lifestyle to go through this and face those risks? Or not? If you decide to keep it then clearly there are options like renting out to 2 lodgers to bring in say £700 a month and so on, and different questions come into view that we can help with here. All the best. Ferdinand

Another Final Design? YAY !

Why not attach it and the Planning No to an email to the generic planning address, and ask if they can clarify. Or try Planning Aid, or email Ordnance Survey. To me it looks to perhaps be 2 culverts in a single frame. Ferdinand

This is the page for my local manufacturer Stanton Bonna. https://www.drainagesuperstore.co.uk/product/stanton-bonna-concrete-manhole-ring-900mm-x-250mm.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw9b_4BRCMARIsADMUIyrploCgoc1DsyiDajsNAVLqPtkVpESrFH_NO7spVi73qwiWxleO4i0aAgkmEALw_wcB I can't think of a better alternative, or honestly a better price than that quoted earlier in the thread. I do wonder about a double lining - that is install fabric plus layers of sand before you pit it in and backfill. It's not the sort of thing you want to redo in 20 years.

Agree with @temp - the "C" one looks like one side of one of those big culverts that take moorland streams under bridges under a country road. I guess contour lines would give an indication. F

What I am considering is that there must be versions of big chambers with pre-made inlets. Gonna be difficult to drill, and I am sure I have seen things at my local Buildbase Civils. Ferdinand

Do you have a piccie?

There speaks the individual with previous experience of staring at the 5000 pieces of the Christmas Jigsaw until Easter, who bought the print of the picture or the 500 piece version next time around. ? They can do whatever they like, and you can get whatever you negotiate, but you don't always find the A you want to use willing to do as you want in all respects, and individual fees may always be loaded vs a comprehensive package. My personal approach is that having done a number of reno projects I tend to be happy on the design side and much of the rest, but when I need A input it tends to be little enough of the overall project that I would tend to do it on a bit by bit basis charged by time plus disbursements. When I get around to my next significant project I may change that. This is an interview with Allan Corfield Architects explaining their stage fee structures and motivations, which may be useful background. https://www.houseplanninghelp.com/hph168-an-example-of-how-much-it-costs-to-hire-an-architect-with-allan-corfield/ F

Very good advice on the thread - it is bespoke to the situation. You can probably identify a list of things that REQUIRE professional input (eg report to bank for stage payments?), and a list of things that I term WIBNIs (wouldn't it be nice if...) that you would LIKE to have your Archi-wotsit available for. Then - also depending on eg other stuff such as whether your design is well-frozen or may change, your own condfidence in your own competence etc, you use your skill and judgement to come up with an arrangement - which you are more likely to get right because you have thought about it carefully. F

Consider hiring someone to plant it and maintain it for at least one season. May get a better package price, and will get past the difficult stage. Make sure that you learn in that time by asking millions of questions. But as with everything, you get back the work you put in.

If that becomes an issue do say so. It is going to cause me problems as I have at least on blog article which is periodically updated, but I am hoping to find workarounds. I am not aware that spammers were particularly a problem amongst bloggers, who by definition are usually established members. (Unless you count all my posts as spam)

Still might take it. Did you do at all OK from the disposals? When my dad moved his factory from one of the old Raleigh Company mills in Nottingham, they did a deal on "I keep on bits I remove first and you take the rest away," It was full of Victorian bricks and iron windows, so both sides did OK. Slight;y different kettle of fish. 4 storeys 7500 sqft per storey. There is still a big pile of 9' x 18' pitch pine beams in a field at the our old house, from the demolition in 1993.

I think i might accept the £4 offer if it happens with me ???.

Presumably the next time the chap buys one he will have jumped up and down on all the floors.