Ferdinand

I did that. Front lawn went. Replaced with gravel. Park cars on it. @lizzie Have you considered some areas of feature paving. I am sure there are acres of former slate roofs to be salvaged from Buildhub demolishers. I have a whole path made from the former roof of the shop where my gran was born in 1897, which is gradually vanishing into the earth. I love that. Personally I have never seen one grow ... This is my current back garden, which (having had the lawn removed in the first half 5 years ago). It was supposed to be an ornamental grassery, but too many creatures like eating it. It is now a cross between a traditional cottage garden and a shrubbery and a scrubbery, but looks attractive and gives a measure of vegetables. Manicured will not happen. There is something to be said for so many plants that grass is suppressed, but you would need to wait a few years. The only vigorous grass is that which has invaded the patio. For a suggestion - chamolile seat?

Use your imagination. Glass half landings...

The normal process I have seen here is that it Is advertised by the agent with the best price so far, and a deadline. And that normally they go for the best price where they are confident that the purchaser can deliver. I am sure that there are places where a wad of notes will get the deal, just as it can get you the best position on an estate, or a drop kerb when they are working in the road.

>Clearly I'm exhibit A for risk... (although I guess we'll have to see how bad this bad situation turns out. ) Not sure of that; you have resources and the ability to pay. You could of course insert the extra "Mc" in your name and try the "Yippie-Ki-Yay Mortgage Sucker!" tactic. (Do you like sequins?) At which point, I withdraw ... having made the objoke that everyone else is too careful of their reputations to mention.

I think it all depends on the calculations they make. In the recession the RBS drove a lot of companies over the edge because their priority then was to shrink the book rather then make a max long term return on it (think that is right), due to iirc things like regulatory ratios and liquidity. You are then in a place of guessing their priorities. F

The other way you could ask them to think about it is to consider what the LTV is now with a .. er .. knockdown valuation (groan), and adjust your terms in the interim based on that. eg They used to run Mortgage Indemnity Guarantee for people with eg LTV of over 80%, which were a single up front payment at a rate of (say) £5 for each £100 of borrowing up to 85%, then £10 for each £100 up to 90% and so on. I had one of those on my first house, and they could get expensive very rapidly and were in the end withdrawn. Do the rough calcs first based on the reduced value and the most accurate numbers you can get, but it is another option to think about. My feeling (and only a feeling) is that the way is likely to be a confession, apology, bootlick, then a mix of fastracking as much as possible to a watertight shell, combined with feedback from your architect or other professional. Who knows - they may decide it is less painful for them just to watch you, as they presumably want it built as a successful transaction. The one time I got into serious trouble on a mortgage (nearly lost the house), the thing that unlocked a solution was a desperate letter to the CEO of the Leeds Permanent explaining why 15% interest rates were a struggle too far, and all the things I was going to put in place to get it back on track over 18 months. >If your completed dream house were worth £700k it is unlikely that the bare plot is worth more than £350k and if repossessed could net just £200k for your lender after fees. Which is perhaps a strong argument, but one to be made with care or only by implication. In the numbers quoted by @Mr Punter, your max risk is when the bank decide that they can get their loan plus costs back at a heavy cost to you, and something out of your control makes them do it. Ferdinand

They may even be rustic hand-made rolled-on-the-thigh-of-a-brickie-from-Burton things ?

I was going to make a couple of suggestions that could potentially help oil the wheels. As I see it, their concern will be the extra risk you have inadvertently imposed on them by not knowing the dot and tittle, and therefore your answer needs to mitigate that risk. - The "blitz" answer would be to have it built to a stage that stops them worrying before they have done anything, and the problem would have gone away. Obvs not practical in the the circs. 1 - So, can your solicitor (or your architect) come up with something like a traditional Indemnity style policy or a plan of periodic supervison / audit that would help. As I see it, the relevant risk is now that your construction process will fail, and the sum to be covered will be the difference between where you would have been following the bank's rules, and where you are now. But the risk of a construction process failing should be an insurable one, though it may need some sort of pro-supervision if the lender insists. 2 - Can you offer (or afford) to put a sum in escrow to cover the increased risk for your lender, that will decline at each stage as you have surveyor or architcetural reports that the work is done, and so gets released as the build proceeds. I am sure that once you get to the more senior staff, they will have had this before and must have ideas about how to manage it. It is always good to have an answer to hand. Best of luck. Ferdinand

Welbeck? I wish I had such august connections. Respect.

OK, @scottishjohn Me >> It is possible now that inroof ie not onroof panels will be as inexpensive as as your roof covering, and so a no brainier. Thee >> Solar Panels costing less than a normal roof... Roof coverings are (as you say) £10 per sqm up to about £60 for slates or much more for something premium (eg copper). Area of normal solar panel is approx 1.65m, based on the one I just measured in my garage. Cost of a solar panel is from (as quoted here for Wagner Renewables the other day) say £95 Cost of a solar panel mounting kit is from £75 per panel (14 panels £1100 see Ebay), all in. And you are (technically) there, once you have taken into account the fitting costs which are cheaper for solar. And much can be done with eg secondhand panels. For most people it will be a help in justifying the cost of solar (save £xxxx on my roofing), but we are well on the way. Ferdinand

I have done Peter's trick with Wickes. Had 200 CLS planks in one go, paid in advance, and collected them on a call-off basis over several months. It is very much about sweat and detail. The best thing I have done with bricks was to buy an orphan load where the customer had backed out. One of my Ts built a conservatory, and found an Aldi newbuild branch giving away 7 pallets of leftover bricks to allcomers; cheaper for them than scrapping. F

I love optimists ?

Currently paying 0.1395 per kWh with Co-op (Mid-Counties). Standing charge £0.1461 per day. I changed last summer. F

@gc100, As a comparison, you could probably get 10 year money on a mortgage at around 2-2.5% (?). Looking at it, I do not think they are giving you quite the information you need. As has been said, you need to work out how much of that generated electricity you can actually use, and to work out where install prices should be now for non-FiT. Back in autumn 2015, I was offered, for installs including all the FiT paperwork. 1 - 4kWP setup for full FiT install, including everything with black on black panels. £4999 + VAT. That was a very keen price on a straightforward install then for 16 panels, but the last time I looked prices were achievable at 10-15% below that, and that was over a year ago. 2 - My own install, which was complex (3 arrays, full Solaredge, full FiT, 10kWp from 35 panels, loadsa scaffolding, negotiations for the larger FiT tie) was a little under £1200 per kWp, exc VAT. And they gave me 2x spare panels + 2 x Solaredge controllers as well. This was quoted in late 2015, and installed just before FiT was cut off at the knees. I am on about 11p per kWh. I have no experience of the FiT/non-FiT differential, and price impacts of any industry shrinkage etc. To pin a tail on the donkey, with 15% fewer panels per kW, and no FiT buggeration, I would be aiming to be some way under £1000 per installed kWp before VAT now. I cannot tell whether I would be aiming for £900 plus VAT per kWp, or more like £750. Which suggests a target price for a 6kWp install of more like £5000-6000 plus VAT. Others may be able to tell you whether that would be very demanding or not. I hope that is a useful datapoint. F

As you can see, we are the most supportive (word used advisedly) self-build forum in the world. Nice cat, though.

Indeed, but I would say that those trees will grow rather larger. F

>(* Piccie to be added) Here is a piccie of one of our fairly local Drs' Surgeries. The trees were there first iirc. When you give people free money, they stop thinking. So don't give them free money. Suspect this is due to some grant scheme being available, or perhaps due to the days when manifestly excessive FiT encouraged silly projects.

I think the missing thing here is the need for upgrading of the national grid, which may cost many times more than simply installing 2 million solar setups. I can see the solar PV installs being affordable - say £3k each x 2 m equals 6 billion. Even if you make it £10b, that is still only the kind of sum that Mr Brown used to piddle away very frequently. Having it driven as a government initiative from the centre would be disastrous, but I can see the benefit for heavy incentives within the current system eg Stamp Duty reduction or tax offset. This is speaking from experience with centrally funded EWI programmes and how much cost is added between the people who actually do it, and the people who have the contract to administer it. But I think they are in a hunt-the-biggest-imaginary-unicorn competition with the Greens.Given that both main parties seem to be lead by cabals of pillocks at present, I can see them starting to fine people for not installing solar panels on the roof of a ground floor flat in a tower block; or installing them below a ceiling inside the room. (* Piccie to be added) I could see a lot of sense in mandating a good sized solar install for all new properties, especially in estates where bigger infrastructure can be built. Ferdinand

If I were doing te bathroom fan, I would do one with a constant trickle plus boost ... just for resilience.

I think that is excellent comment. I think for my next rental renovation I will be going for low profile ufh in a floating floor, also wit( electrics and plumbing within the same for maintainability ... assuming I can get adequate underfloor insulation below, but I am still keeping my eyes open for the best way to handle the ashp. F

I estimate that for the set in the 1st pic the range I went for .. Greenwich Shaker Light Oak and OK quality eg 38mm worktops and thick not thin 1.5 bowl sink etc was at around £1500 for that set delivered. Works well in a house with eg oak veneered doors. Not sure if that is helpful. Ferdinand

My last Howdens kitchen 2 years ago was nearly a superset of that .. tall cupboard carcass excepted .. so I should be able to do a comparison. Are appliances included in your quote? And are you shocked because it is too high or too low.? Ferdinand

Is this a domestic install or part of the farm business? 12 kWh seems a strange amount to connect to the grid for FiT, but the rules may have been buggered up in a different way than the previous buggeration. It is possible now that inroof ie not onroof panels will be as inexpensive as as your roof covering, and so a no brainier. F

I liked the modular home very much ... but 180k does seem a lot, though that probably makes it one of the cheaper ones on the street. I would have liked to learn what after-finishing was required, and airtightness. Ferdinand

Have a look at Adjustable Support Pads, which will save the need to do most of the ground work. they would adjust for your slope. I like them, and have both my shed and my patio on them, and can adjust both as necessary. The shed is on soft ground, so has a habit of moving every couple of years. There are other brands around. Mine are edged with short knockerposts and half rounds. If I ever need to get underneath I just lift a slab or two. You need robust paving. Mine are 50mm council slabs, which I would advise the use of 600 x 600 as these only weigh 40 kg ish, rather than 60 for the 900 x 600, which are a touch hefty to handle. I am not aware of anyone else who has used them, but obvs they are all wrong ! Though @Mr Punter has created a far less rustic look with thick porcelain floor tiles on a roof terrace. Ferdinand