Ferdinand

ON topic . I think prompt payment is important, ideally on the day or in the week the invoice arrives. it is also about making commitments and not keeping them (I am quite good at getting that wrong sometimes). That is perhaps the best way of making sure they are willing to come back, combined with being knowledgeable enough not to ask the wrong questions and letting them get on with the job after a thorough briefing. It can be a tricky balance, and if the supplier is not on the ball I am capable of losing things in my own system (*) ... particularly if the invoice comes via an unusual route. I have a couple of occasional suppliers who are not good at issuing or chasing up invoices even when requested. I have said before that means of effective communication seems to vary. I know one tradesman who never seems to reply to phone messages but is currently very responsive to emails because he has a new website and is getting enquiries that way. I tend to be better at responding to text messages if it is a routine request because they are a 'push' method and do not expire like voicemails, so I will find them when I next use the mobile. I am perhaps slightly different to some others here in that most of my stuff offers the potential for repeat business as I renovate houses and have paid maintenance done every year. Eg somebody who does kitchens or double glazing can reasonably expect several thousands of business each year, which while smaller than some of the big £10k to £50k ticket items discussed here is a regular few days work once or twice a year. I struggle sometimes with finding people for emergencies, as Tenants rightly have expectations for speed of response for important Items ... e.g. last November I had a boiler condemned and disconnected on the spot at the annual inspection and all gas was disconnected when the weather was cold (= no heating OR hot water) and ended up resorting to a Tradesmen site to find an engineer. Could have been VERY expensive as quotes were between £1900 and £4800 for a simple boiler swap at short notice. IN a note for @newhome it turned out that the existing system had been incorrectly installed in 2010 or so, and the roomstats were all not controlling anything at all (it is not just you) as the project had been in chaos when dad was caught by cancer. I very very rarely pay "cash" outside the system, even when offered. Even leaving the principle aside, in my case it is mainly business not personal so both parties can be better off anyway ... I get to count the maintenance cost against tax, and the tradesman may have a lower tax rate than me and be better off with the higher rate of payment. This area is quite heavy with people offering to work for cash at low rates, some of whom are quite good, and some of whom are unreliable or not very good. IT is quite possible to find middle aged people at under minimum wage if you are unscrupulous. I occasionally barter, most recently with a new Tenant wanting a rent-free first month because their previous landlord's agent was playing silly buggers with returning an appropriately large amount of the deposit on the previous house they had lived in, in a desire for a new lawn where the dog had scuffed one corner. Ferdinand * If I am not being efficient my desk works like a slow speed auto-Rolodex, with things rotating to the top once every few weeks.

MIssed this. Worst, you say? OK. There was an ex-Prof with a newt Who's need for a home was acute So he flew in from thither And built his house hither Post an aerial survey of newts Or was that supposed to be on topic comment?

For the record Open Office will edit PDFs; not sure whether it can do one that is that complex.

@newhome If it only the electrical cert, then print out, put a square of paper over the address, and photograph :-). Or screen shot and use an image editor to draw a rectangle. There are apps out there that will screenshot a full document bigger that the display window. Ferdinand

The title is probably self-explanatory. I am taking another look at cars as now seems to be a good time to buy with plenty of discounts around. I am looking for a large estate car which is able to carry about half a dozen doors inside with the rear door shut and seats down, since this is the arrest thing I have needed for the Little Abrown Bungalow renovation this side of an 8x4 sheet of OSB, and vans are out. Has anyone done this? I don't really want a big 4x4, and I am not keen on paying the 2k or so extra road tax on cars with a list price of 40k+, which leaves large estates new or recent secondhand. I was looking previously at Audi A6s but I think they are slightly too small, as are Jags and the current big Volvos; the most likely candidate at present is a Mercedes E-Class or something I have not found yet. Honda Civic Touring looks possible, maybe. The dimensions are 2040 x 826mm for a metric door, and 1981 x 838mm for an imperial size door, so I need 2040 x 838 plus corrugated cardboard wrapping and wiggle room. Online sites seem to measure space for 'boxes' to the back of the front seats, which are inclined backwards so the measurement is too short wrt the load deck floor. I would love to go round the dealers with a real door to try it out, but I can't fit it in the existing car :-o. So once I have a shortlist it is going to be a tour with a large piece of cardboard to check. Cheers for any comments. Ferdinand

I haven't noticed an address just the name, but it is something that we mention from time to time just in case :-). Sometimes people eg leave the lat and long in screenshots from Google Maps.

@newhome How big is the Thermal Store i.e. The big water tank? IF you do not know the model a measurement of the height and diameter will give us an idea since they are listed here. WHen we have helped you get the system at least talking to itself it would probably be useful to talk about things like the heat loss of your house. Just parking this question here for later: The Electric Boiler is a Fusion 24kW model from the invoice. Is that big enough for a 350sqm house with 6 (I think I read) showers and bathrooms? And a note to take care with eg posting your address or road in a picture of an invoice or similar inadvertently. IT is easy to do by mistake. They are easy to redact and we can point you at software if necessary to do it. This is not my subject so I will be mainly keeping quiet. Ferdinand

He looks OK from here, except for a missing Avatar. Could someone post up a pic of the offending wonkiness? Wonk .. yes. Wonky ... hmmm. Ferdinand

Snipped ... not relevant to topic.

Indeed. Literally unforgettable. Engraved on all our memories like a Poem by William Topaz McGonagall. And with that, back to topic and an end to my heckling ...

Did you get Bob Maxwell at Headington Hall?

I wonder if it would work to do a £10 subject access request under the Data Protection Act on the VOA for your personal information, then use Data Protection Principle 6 and the right to update inaccurate personal data to change their database to the new address . Even I would agree that that would be a tortuous route. Fun, though ... like Mark forgot his name flying over Fylingdales in balloons because there was a loophole. F

I think your Avatar makes this point comprehensively moot.

The relevant concept is 'self-cleansing velocity' iirc, where the solids neither get left behind or dropped. http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_self_cleansing_velocity_for_a_drain Pointed put to me at an open drain running through a park in a valley in the centre of Luxembourg when I were a lad. Ferdinand

Either her or practical reality if 3mm was not possible. Nothing to do with you .

WHat job is it doing? Consolidation or making it shiny or waterproofing or something else? In 2013 I put a sun room against an 'orribly dusty el-cheapo as built in 1850 old brick wall for a tenant, which brought an outside wall inside. We talked about render and masonry paint and doodah-wotsit miracle coating etc. In the end I gave it a good wire-brushing and a couple of coats of PVA diluted and the T is still happy and likes the character. That is the cheap'n'cheerful solution that worked for us. Should there ever be an issue I can probably just add something else later. Any problems will be indicated by you being forced to do that bit of hoovering ! Ferdinand

Updated above. F

@Ed_MK Update: HAving read a bit more, I think a new dwelling on a new plot is not a Householder Application, and they are correctly charging you £116 for a single request to discharge multiple conditions. The explanation is clumsy, but I think people who got away with the Householder Application fee have been lucky. That, as Cadbury's used to say on their 'describe in 10 words' competitions, is one for you to decide using your skill and judgement ! Personally I would consider challenging it if I thought they were wrong, and might talk to the Council legal department. But you are unlikely to build more than one house, where I hope eventually to build a series. HOwever, unless you challenge it you are committed to paying another 7 of these (6 extra = approx £200 OTT) if they charge 7x34 at the end of the project for the other conditions if this is how they calculate it. At the end may be a more opportune time to clarify. The only way I can see that they got to £116 was either because they cannot add up or if they are treating it as a charge per request (which they have denied) and you as a non-Householder application. THough I have highlighted one way in which I think a new dwelling application may be outside the relevant category. The planner has only cited his own opinion rather than quoting law. Was It the same officer repeating his misunderstanding? YOu could ask for chapter and verse to justify it. Ferdinand

Forgot about the date. +968 on do the deed by the end of Feb. There is an off season for treemen due to les oiseaux. I remember a huge debate about when it should finish - I think in about end of August vs end of September. Ferdinand

I suppose you could prune your inner hedge to 6 inches i.e. twigs, as a middle way, perhaps after explaning why to your tree man if he has a supervisory brief. THough I guess he might flounce. THat would stop the birds and probably reduce the water taken up. Ferdinand

Yes ... pensions aspects are being thought about.

Get the treeman to add an addendum to his report if you need it to say something different. Or you write something weighing it up and coming to your desired conclusion. Do you have a Planning Condition on this hedge? What is the full wording? DO you have to go for an amendment? IF they conflict have you submitted both to the Council? If so, why were you unable to reconcile them first? In either case you need that hedge out before it is full of nests. IF the Planning Conditions do not stop you, do it asap. IF the Plannign Conditions do stop you, then we perhaps need to help you take a view. Ferdinand

There are various posts around about private finance (eg via your solicitor to investor clients or peer-to-peer), but they all come at a cost. Off topic slightly: how secure are those predicted values, given the oil-decline and (not trying to be political) Scottish Government slanting of the tax take towards asset/income-rich people (eg + 1k per year for 50k salary in Band H house from April)? OTOH perhaps builders near Aberdeen are less pricey. One thing that is a huge risk-reducer in self-build is a far wider than expected buffer to absorb the slings and arrows, in terms of contingency %, personal resources and expected value of your project. It can be done on tight buffers, and there are relevant strategies to use, but there is a lot of potential for expensive mistakes which can chomp through contingency before you are out of the ground. One important strategy is to take lots and lots and lots of time to learn if you lack experience. Ferdinand (aka Jeremiah)

Chatting today with friends thinking about sorting out their housing situation before retirement, they are trying to find a way out of rental. The position is that they potentially have a significant deposit (for round here), and are looking to buy/renovate/extend or potentially self-build. The complications are: 1 - He is a self-employed professional driver, aged just over 60. A couple of years of accounts + several years employed beforehand. 2 - She is not gainfully employed at present. State and professional pensions will be along in a few years. The mortgage size is not a problem to manage if they can get a decent length of term, but the first broker contacted commented that the medical tests around being a professional driver would prevent mortgage lenders allowing a term beyond the age of 70. That makes the length of mortgage a problem, as a 10 year mortgage *would* be a strain. Therefore they are looking for lenders who: 1 - Will consider self-employed. 2 - Will consider either pro-drivers beyond 70, or take pensions into account for the latter part of a mortgage term. It is likely that he will continue beyond 70 full or part time, but that does not shift the criteria. Does anyone know of any possibilities? I see that Cumberland Building Society will lend beyond 70, so they are one to contact for a start - but being a (relative) whippersnapper it is not an area I have researched before. Any others? Cheers Ferdinand

They have a 12 week deadline to reply then you get your money back and possibly an auto yes iirc.