Ferdinand

That can be quite an expensive way of doing it :-).? The Planners seem to have caborundum-med the illegitimi. It is now being rebuilt, apparently with bricks made from gritted teeth. http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/work-begins-on-rebuilding-carlton-vale-pub-brick-by-brick-1-5662297

Like it.

If doing the screenshot thing from a web browser make sure that you crop off all the dodgy bookmarks etc. Much potential for embarrassment, and amusement, when the link to the steam-engine pr0n website gets copied.

I get the impression that a good analogy for this turbine wrt to a typical one is like going for a east-south-west solar array rather than a south one - you get less peak but more width. So horses for courses. They seem to want to sell this to people in flats for the deranged urban winds of the metropolis. I would say that it would be interesting to have this made from a sheet material or spokes and fabric, rather than a plastic matrix. Could it be delivered flat as an unfolding space-frame, perhaps even made from a properly reusable material? Ferdinand

have PM’d. F

Hopefully not very tempting at all when we reflect on the potential impact on our new neighbours and their families. It bears mentioning again that exposure need only be minimal ... the only time my dad ever worked directly with asbestos that we know was supervising some maintenance of asbestos insulated ventilation for a few weeks 40 years before the mesothelioma killed him. F

Accepted - and that causes an unfortunate confusion with the regulated term "Competent Person" used for somebody qualified to do specified tasks in each trade. I think this is not quite the fully nuanced picture for rentals. And the whole thing is a festival of grey areas and weasel words. The legal reqiuirement for electricals in a rental, which I think is the underlying standard everywhere in the UK except possibly Wales where I have not checked, is that they are required to be safe and fit for purpose (or words to that effect), so in an enforcement situation there is professional judgement involved and sometimes the Council assessment staff may not be competent persons, never mind Competent Persons. The status of an EIC for a rental is that it is regarded as "best practice" to have one every 5 years, and would have significant weight when such a judgement were made. In practice it is all so complicated that it is far easier to invest in one rather than mud-wrestle the bureaucrat-monster, even if your properties are electrically safe. If a decision goes against you the consequences are draconian, and can be enforced eg in England as civil fines up to £30k by the Council on its own, which are very difficult to challenge. However (for completeness) an EIC every 5 years is mandatory in law for certain larger Houses in Multiple Occupation. In England they will be mandatory for Private Rentals before long anyway. I support that for EICs, though you can get me to be very rude indeed about some of the garbage being imposed via Goldplated LL Licensing schemes. But an EIC every 5 years is also identified as an (alleged) 'mandatory' requirement in many regulatory situations. One such is the Scottish Government Repairing Standard for Rental Property - link to electrical provisions, and enforcement can be via the First Tier Tribunal for the "duty to carry out Electrical Safety Inspections". Duty of care is a nebulous Common Law ( I think) concept. That is a bugger to disprove without an EIC, and he SG are trying to pretend that the EIC is in fact mandatory. In England, every Landlord Licensing Scheme that I have seen has such a provision, along the lines of say Nottingham's Selective Scheme for example. This is a set of words designed to impose a requirement that goes beyond the law.

If you look at someone like Hiscox, £1m public liability insurance could be down to something under £25 paid month by month or a couple of hundred a year. That is a figure for insurance for a handyman business taken out in the last 3 months. F

Good stuff. Don''t walk the mud in :-).

The impression I have is that this is a back-alley behind a row of terraces. I would talk to your Planning Dept about your concerns to see where you stand, and also possibly a free initial consultation with a local solicitor - usually they will give you a 20 or 20 minute conversation. Potentially you can do things such as getting it gated by the Council, but this feels to me like a "grin and bear it" situation. Practically I think you will be able to do little unless you have an established right to park (or something similar). Evidence required which could be Statement(s) of Truth over a (I think) 20 year continuous period, and the project impinges. Enforcement would be by the owner of the land. And if no owner is known or won't enforce, then little can be done except eg social pressure. The flip side of that is that were you (for example) to plant a concrete bollard in the back alley level with the middle of his plot, there is little that he could do (legally). In practice that would fall foul of a midnight angle-grinder, and you would have a poisoned relationship. Would it be worth putting in a bollard or big rock just outside your plot at the back in line with your corners to 'protect your fence'. May help a little. Or can you use viewblocking mitigation ideas such as a hedge or bigger fence, solar sail etc. It may be worth asking this one on http://gardenlaw.co.uk/ where they deal with boundary and access issues very often. Ferdinand

(Very good thriller, Running Blind, introduced me to Calvados.) The builder should be providing a single point of contact / redress and managing the multiple relationships on your behalf. He may be scared that is all about to go tits-up. Even more difficult to resolve once the relationship is beginning to be impaired if it that is the case. I am afraid I do not know what to advise on that except clarity, meeting your clear responsibilities and being straightforward. Ferdinand

@Jude1234 , to add,that is a specific term. "Firm price" means unchangeable. "Fixed price" mean can be changed in certain circumstances. So clearly the "firm price" transfers risk to the supplier, who will therefore add an appropriate premium for the extra risk you are asking them to take. @JSHarris summarised it well on another thread: The full thread is here: Ferdinand

I take it this is a holiday let, since something like that as a family let would be unlikely to be economic, and not a room by room HMO since you would be likely to be responsible for the bill, or subdividing and enforcing it. You need a heat model of your build to your spec, and work out energy requirements for the heating and what the impact of the PV will be, particularly if Electric. As it is PV you need to work out the timings as PV generates in summer and heating is required in winter. In IT terms, you start by documenting your requirement. If you are a holiday let, then ASHP, underfloor and a log burner may be the way. And perhaps an overnight tariff and a Sunamp or similar for your water. F

Just before you cut that, check that it is the worktop that is wonky not the room that is not square, or you may be passed that by now ! You then need to decide whether to have a not-right-angle and compensate in the run of cupboards, or cover the gap at the back. I really meant to comment on upstanding at the rear. If you want something really simple, then you can use skirting board .. wood, plastic or mdf. Or you could even use wooden or plastic quadrant. Not as elegant, but easy to do to last a few years. Ferdinand

Or a Hiab. My former neighbour brought in a 40 footer by using 2 Hiabs to position it, one at each end ?. I think you can also add driveway surfacing materials to your bricks and blocks, depending on level of detail. Also sewerage plant. Roof tiles, again depending if you intend to distinguish with eg porcelain floor tiles. Insulation if on pallets? Think they are 400-500kg for cellulose and come in a curtain-sider. Internal doors If on a large pallet. My last were and it was approx 250kg for 6-7. Mature or semi-mature trees? Pallets of plaster. Excellent idea for a thread. The next thing is to position the events in the build process, and the trade off between a HGV and carrying the pallets of smalls by handoff via a transfer at the boundary. F

That is a new way of dealing with planners. Remember the Ack-Ack and the Ghillie suit, though.

Welcome. I think it looks good. Now is the time to think (organisational, financial) about how to facilitate an efficient build. At this stage I would take a tour through the VAT reclaim regulations and see if you can add anything to the plan (eg landscaping detail, up and over electric garage door rather than the side hinged Morris Motor House manual type, offset the garage door so you storage is at one side) which would permit that to be included in your VAT reclaim at the end of the project. One thing that determines what you can zero-rate is what is explicitly included in your PP; if you have just submitted then you can add things in with a letter or email. Also remember the detailed regs regarding CIL-exemption. That needs to be in place before you start developing, if applicable, or you can get nobbled with the liability. If I have this right you have a lot of soil shifting to do, and will need your sunny sitting area at the bottom of the back garden. It might be worth thinking through how your back "garden room" will work - like me you seem to have the sun at the front. @newhome has just posted what is a fairly comprehensive thread on this. I would think about including an option of making that sunscreen solid over the front door so you do not get rained on while looking for your key, or your visitors whilst waiting for you to answer. Also I would have some permeability to eg see a hint of the back garden from the front - that could be a slightly moved front door or a tall narrow window to the right with the current stairs. I think some detail could be improved in some respects (eg shower downstairs to clean the "dog-under", bigger shower upstairs), but most of that can come later in the conversation. That is an exercise in exposing yourself to different suggestions and choosing the best options; no one here will be offended and we will all say different things. There is also a mass of liveable details you will want to think about - eg where is the discreet parcel drop off, and where will your garden tools be kept. Best of luck, but looks good. Ferdinand

It all depends ... probably best to refer to the Interactive House on the Planning Portal, or a similar source in Scotland or NI. Ferdinand

One alternative is to use the cheapest (or secondhand) artificial grass. That can probably come in at about £2 to £5 per metre run, depending on the height of your fence. Buy in 2 or 4m width and cut lengthways. A little more expensive but £50 or so on the cost of a build is not very much. You could probably use it to screen off or floor a romping / kids' catastrophe area in the garden when you have completed your build in a year or so. eg This basic stuff (selected as high in Google) is £4.49 per sqm in 2m or 4m width, which for a 1m fence is £2.25 per metre: https://www.grass-direct.co.uk/lawn-budget-artificial-grass.html or clearance of remnants is a little cheaper at about £1.50 if t is the right shape. https://www.grass-direct.co.uk/clearance I had a few days in Istanbul last year, and it was used on many city centre building sites very effectively. Looks attractive and would keep your neighbours happy. The only issue I can see is it potentially catching the wind. You could probably attach it to Heras or other using tie wraps. Or sew it by hand if you want to discover your Zen :-0 . Ferdinand

P^^ssed? Poor Performance Prevented by Passed-Out Protagonist.

If you do not have a written contract that makes it more difficult to enforce specifics because there aren’t any. Which makes it easier for you to change things should you need ?. In practice some sort of custom and practise will have developed within your relationship. But you can change that and assert yourself. I think you first of all need to spend some time .. perhaps up to 20 or 25 hours for starters ..working out exactly where you are, what you have spent, how that relates to what you thought you were spending, what you have left, and how you want to deploy it. You need then to find out how you will bridge any gaps .. whether putting more in, or finding ways to make the needed amounts smaller, or delaying expenditure. If you look at the thread I linked there were dramatic reductions in a number of areas, and there are various things that iirc were simply excluded. Several people have posted their similar exercises or costing spreadsheets if you did around on the forum. Ideally I think you want to stop work, or at least not start new work elements, whilst you do this .. to create a static starting point and to mark a watershed in your methods. Ferdinand

Sorry to hear that. At this point you need to find out where you are (ie evidence as to whether your fear is in reality justified, and to what degree are you howling at the moon on the basis of things you do not really know), and you need to identify potential savings amongst costs which are not sunk (sunk costs are things you cannot affect as they are already committed, though sometimes you can agree eg to a contract variation once and only once you know what you need to do). Sunk costs are spilt milk. Bit you need to work on a detailed level. If you are at second fix stage, then there is a lot you can still do - as finishes and furniture are where we spend a lot of our cash. And there are a lot of things for which you can get less expensive alternatives with a plan to replace in a few years or a decade eg laminate worktop not granite, 1.2k range cooker or £250 5 burner hob, not 5k range cooker etc. There will also be some things you *can* do eg painting the first coats or gardening, sweeping up or humping (metaphorically) bricks. Find them. This thread by @Visti is a fairly thorough 'reducing the budget' exercise, in search of something like iirc a 30% reduction. There are a huge number of good ideas. I think you also need to address this with the other half - you will both need a prop to lean on if you are making serious changes or hard decisions. What did Churchill say? "Action this Day", and then built his own brickwork. Best of luck, Ferdinand

I have recently been developing some theories about sinks, but I will save those Ferdian-slips for another time.

Did you see a big ice cream cone sticking out of the ground at a funny angle? Next time I am up there I will take a piccie of my new car in the Buildhub Services. They do very good coffee. (Bah humbug ... beaten to the draw by @PeterW again)

I might be inclined to paint the plasterboard with something moisture-resistant if I can just because a bit of water spray or dribble can damage it. I would not worry too much about what I used. But this is probably a ferdian-fandango that is not normally done. Though I did used t think that that applied to tiling under cupboards, and it turns out half the BH community agrees.