Ferdinand

Quite an interesting story to the site, and I'm quite impressed with their site choice. Design an Access Statement is here: http://planning.cornwall.gov.uk/online-applications/files/EB78B92DCA5359BB70240ABD67F8BB66/pdf/PA16_12154-Design_And_Access_Statement-1273611.pdf (Restrain yourself, @ProDave)

I wonder if they will get the VAT Reclaim properly maximised.

Nice to see it going well at .. er .. @Hecateh's House. Spot the advertising industry sense of humour...

Missed this before. I know a couple of people who have static caravans they rent out, and the sites seem to have a policy that vans are not allowed to stay on site after they are 10 years old. That fits with @epsilonGreedy’s comment. Ferdinand

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I see this is not .. thanks @jack .. a polite thread. Given that iirc you are German, I think a Bundesalder. I have a soft spot for the corpulent one that looks as well-lunched as Helmut Kohl. Alternatively a life size bird characteristic of the district. Do you have Red Kites? Or a character from Pixar’s film Newt, which was cancelled before production: (I may have mistaken waterspout for gargoyle). I hesitate to say take inspiration from Kilpeck church, but since we are all equality-mongers and the thread is about penises it deserves a mention.

If your sprayer is experienced you will not get that much more than a stripe round the edge as he is will know how to balance it all to avoid paint bouncing off much. Back roll after spraying, or do the topcoat with a roller and you can retouch. I would say spray before floor and skirting then masking is that much less. F

There is no reason why information going through the client should be inaccurate. That is the question of the client doing things competently eg proper version control etc, and is IMO no reason for a restrictive approach. On ours we maintained an archive of frozen baselines copies, that were used for supplying the next professional. It may have helped that both of us had backgrounds in IT project management. Judging from your account, the client dug himself a hole then fell into it. He should have as you wanted required you to do sufficient due diligence to be satisfied that the data was reliable, then held you responsible for the reliability with whatever caveats had been agreed. Ferdinand

I can't think of anything to say. Ouch. And sympathy.

It said "You" not "I". . (Not planning to go on Grand Designs any time soon.)

Interesting reply, and good to have a conversation about it with someone with whom I mainly disagree. It perhaps also depends on the arena we are in. A self-builder is different to a small developer or a custom builder. In the PP that I usually refer to on BH, it was an Outline PP then sell to a developer project, and I was able to have pretty much everything electronically from everyone - even when I did not have the software to process it. But I still got slightly caught-out by assignment fees for my buyer to have a right to reuse everything to the tune of £1k+, when my purchaser made that a condition of contract, and it was not in all my contracts with my consultants. Interestingly, some of them treated it more as a positive opportunity to develop further business. Your comment about it usually being OK to give information to consultants seems to me to be quite a weak protection, since I can have a contract clause with my PM (say) which gives me access to all the information s/he has received, or if in law he is my Agent then I have an absolute right to it anyway. I think that if I had all these people passing information around that I had paid them all to produce with a "nope, you don't get a copy" stance, it would succeed in carving a chip on my shoulder fairly rapidly ?. If an architect had an issue with me having everything electronically I would probably see that as a red-flag warning of a potentially difficult relationship and go elsewhere. But I would be wanting to work very collaboratively anyway, and perhaps be sitting in the role of 'professional PM' myself. Ferdinand

I think that appearing on GD can genuinely help a sale or a B&B business, but comes into that category called "non-neutral" - it drives the outcome to extremes. So you can do really well (that early Tower in Yorkshire with the Ancient Monument designation or the bungalow on the Isle of Wight), or disastrously (the big house in Whitehaven (?) by the chap with the Geodesic Dome bee in his bonnet). You can also embarrass yourself a little ... eg the Doctors in Bath with the £350k hole-in-the-ground, or prove your eccentricity to the world (the Cob Palace or that Gothic Horror one, or the chap with the aeroplane and the circular plan). Or you can potentially make a career. What you do get is more attention. Ferdinand

Another aspect which I put in a post which seems to have vanished up my iPad's posterior, was that one way of mitigating risk is via a household or directly arranged policy which covers legal expenses, since that draws at least one ("the legal action will cost you umpteen thousands") of the teeth from your opponent. Though the corollary is that your insurance company will expect to run the legal action. If the cost is small and were I in a position to do so, I would usually provide the indemnity policy. In fact I am just about to buy one to cover potential value lost of a right to use a driveway which was developed from a pedestrian pathway in I suspect a JFDI manner, with a questionable right to access it with a car. The issue would be if someone blocks it. Probably needed to obtain the extra bit on the mortgage and for when it is sold eventually. Ferdinand

I do not see that liability transfer. If I change something such that it is not in accordance with the architect’s plans, then how is that architect liable? That would be a material fact. F

Underneath all the verbiage and procedure that will come down to mutual agreement, and possibly a payment one way or t’other..

Talk about silly questions .... (Disclaimer: I have not assumed any particular answer)

I do not see that cutting a hole in PB is too difficult, but you know your room. But there is nothing stopping you using a mortise and tenon joint. Fix a 2x2x4 inch section of timber to your ceiling joist through the pb, then route or chisel out a 1x1x4 piece from each of your 2 halves of newel post. Fit the newel around the timber on the ceiling, then glue, and screw horizontally from both sides just below the ceiling, or bolt through. If you are only fixing from below then vertically well spaced out attach points are important, as the torque of someone leaning on it across the line of the bannisters is the one with the large load and long lever and no racking strength in resistance, which is provided the other way by the length and grid of the banisters. Perhaps consider triangulating it that way if you can, using for example triangular brackets at the corners. Ferdinand

My general view is that covenants are so expensive actually to enforce (High Court?) that someone has to be really seriously narked or their property fundamentally damaged for them to do it. But some are willing to risk 5 figures on a perceived affront.

Somewhat extensive explanation on Restrictive Covenants by Gary Baker QC is at the link below. http://www.pla.org.uk/images/uploads/library_documents/Gary_Blaker_notes.pdf He calls it the "Briefest of Overviews" thusly: "3. This is only the briefest of overviews of the law relating to restrictive covenants relating to freehold land. It is not in any way intended to provide all the answers, in some places there are more questions than answers." Wordcounter.net says it is 13,925 words. Enjoy. I applaud the distinguished Mr Baker for making his authoritative notes available, however... ☺️

Every time you go into the shower, you will notice them and silently kick yourself. Can you live with that for the next x years after all that work?

I have one (high quality ... complete sod to drill the bricks) house built in 1913 that came with service ducts from downstairs to upstairs, made from hollowed timber - one up the side of a chimney breast, the other up the side of a window. I would generally say keep the inter-floor runs concentrated if you can, but that there are other factors too. F

The economics of distribution are always fun. According to my calcs it is only ever worth me getting free pressed Council slabs from within about 5 miles due to collection and time costs, vs buy/deliver of new ones.

I admit when I read the title I thought you had been on a posh holiday ?.

@vivienz (Note: If anything I am overcautious in these matters. Apply pinches of salt as you feel appropriate.) My apologies if this reads scarily, but the situation you have seems to me to have potential to go several ways. Again, this is just my opinion and I welcome contradiction by people who know better. Like my other post, this one is more hedged around with caveats than Hampton Court Maze. (Aside - the correct way of course, would have been for your architect to have flagged it up and dealt with it before even applying for PP, or buying the plot). Something which had not been mentioned afaics and only touched on to by me - is your site a safe working environment, and where does responsibility lie if it is not, and can eg the HSE attend and stop your development in its tracks whilst measures are put in place to "control the risk" from the HT wire? And who is responsible were there to be an accident? There are whole procedure manuals about working safely around oversailing wires, which involve things like fencing them off from access etc. Much material is on the HSE website. I do not know the answer to that since it is very dependent on your individual project and how you run it. Crucial point: Who is responsible for the H&S on your site. If you are contracted with a PM or architect for supervision throughout then they may have the "Principal Designer" role, and be responsible for safe working practices wrt the HT wire. But if you are supervising the build yourself with some *involvement* in *how* things are done and directing work, then you are by that action asserting that you have expertise and taking on responsibility yourself. If you have not taken on that responsibility (ie demonstrated throughout your ignorance about the practicalities of building things) then your role is termed "Domestic Client", and it is accepted that your responsibility is limited. That is all somewhat elucidated in this summary post by @recoveringacademic. I raise this because the email in the post may mean that you have stuck your neck out (said the giraffe) and put yourself on the radar. For all I know there may be a procedure inside the DNO where they report potentially unsafe working environments they meet to the HSE, who could potentially appear and demand that proceedings on your site stop until the perceived hazard is removed. Though I would guess that they can have the discretion to deal with it more flexibly (eg "fence off a 10m corridor each side of the wire and get a consultant to brief all your contractors about managing the risk"), and perhaps a procedure requiring their interventions to be as small as practicable, and it is all about judgement calls anyway. Given that you have had a pretty good go at them, they could choose not to use any discretion. TBH, if I had received such an email about my staff, I would be playing all aspects strictly by the book simply for cover in case there were to be scrutiny later. Though they likely have a duty or a procedure to keep costs minimal - however if you get into closing roads, shutting off electricity supplies to umpteen people who all have to be leafletted in advance, and cherrypickers, and half a dozen people on site, it could be 10s of k. When I had a big tree on a big road removed it was 3k for a single day job. And since iirc it is a matter of 3 or 12 months notice to get the wire moved (according to your Wayleave), then that could be your project in the deep freeze for a chunk of time, or an even more substantial bill for emergency action to be faced than the quote you have already received. And the HSE deal in offences and fines and charges as well as warnings and notices; they may not pussyfoot if they get involved. Clearly were there to be an accident, it is all that many times more serious. This could be unlikely, but it is possible. Both areas - Wayleaves and HSE responsibility - are rather grey and smudgy. My suggestion would be to get some professional advice between now and Friday, including possible scenarios and how you should be prepared to react in each case. I think you need a roadmap of where you are in terms of the DNO and the H&S aspects. That advice could be anything from a 20 minute informal phone call to a 2 hour meeting.

Depending on when it was built, it may be worth having a word with Building control as owner, and seeing if you can have a view of any records they hold. F