Ferdinand

If £10 (plus VAT?) is a TP price we should be able to beat that. Is there a Seconds & Co for EPS?

+1 Or a TR form will not be complicated for a man of the world such as yourself and you have plenty of time to wait for the LR to catch up. (Transfer the newts the other way?)

I cannot see an easy way. There is no reason why she should do it as any pruning will make her situation worse. The only option I can see is complete removal and provide her with a hedge or fence which blocks the view. Ferdinand

Not usually imo - because trees are acknowledged to grow. There is, however, a right to cut the roots back (subject to TPOs and you cannot seriously damage the tree), and a responsibility on the tree owner to be responsible for damage once the culprit tree is proven and if notice was served before the damage occurred. F

Or Aucuba (Variegted laurels)?

@ThePoplars How tall is it? How wide is the opening at the top? Is the full size of that frame on the right required? Is it currently upvc or wood? Is there a limit to the budget ? Answer these and I can do a fairly thought out answer.

It is a holiday let not a rental, and they may be different. Having said that, in most places annual checks are advised but not necessarily required. Usually kicking in in year 2. One reason to go integrated is that that prevents any arguments about 'portable' and designs out any requirement for those items if it does exist. One way is to go on the short course and DIY the tests, which is I think easy. Personally I never supply portable appliances in rentals; when I have they are gifts so T responsibility, as it saves the buggeration. Nearly all family Ts here have their own standalone white goods and you end up with nearly news in the garage for years; it is either integrated for e.g. young and pensioner Ts or a hole in the kitchen. @crofter are you still after comments on this thread ? Ferdinand

Where Jeremy has said "optimistic" some of us might say "overimaginative"

In our house renovated by the previous owners have wet ufh downstairs, with rads upstairs, and Elecric ufh in the bathroom and conservatory. In my view the reasons are: 1 - Simpler to do upstairs. 2 - More suitable for rooms where use will be intermittent. 3 - In the conservatory we added because it was cheaper and easier for an addition, and as a "heated conservatory" selling point, and backup for the adjacent kitchen/lounge should we lose the gas. We are well insulated but nowhere near passive standard. Ferdinand

Unless you tell him what to do :-). Particularly you may have information that he does not, or things in his standard methodology that you do not need. If you need to magic up cost savings from thin air there really is no alternative to sweating the details of the spec and build ... which is exactly what you are doing. Two suggestions: 1 - Keep an eye on things you can do or specify which will reduce your contractor's risk, which will then feed through into reducing the extra risk premium he has to put on individual elements. 2 - Watch for areas where you can safely go for standard rather than bespoke solutions and features. Ferdinand

Which is a flag to invest a little more time investigating further so that you can identify the way you want your house to be built. That is something that we attempt to help with here. One suggestion is to spend a few weekends away staying such in houses via AirBNB or normal B&B. At any time there are eg a number of Grand Designs houses offering B&B. Ferdinand

Since the conversation has broadened, I have changed the title. I have accounts at TP, Wickes, and B&Q and the usual "identify yourself" at Screwfix. Of those I spend most by far at Wickes, where discounts are reliable, and Screwfix. B&Q are useful for a wider range sometimes, but their discounts are a lottery. TP have better charges for small order deliveries for me (£5 vs £25 for under £200 or so order). I also buy a surprising amount of smaller orders via Amazon, nearly all under £100. But i have Prime, and bought a fair quantity of gift cards when Tesco had an equivalent 9% off offer on the cards. For me, Wickes are also much closer ... about 4-5 minutes vs at least 10-15 for the others in the same direction. When grabbing stuff in the day that makes a difference. I have never really engaged with Jewson's as their closest decent size one is further away. I could probably do a more thorough job. Ferdinand

If you need to find the mini water stop tap cover then why not try a metal detector?

I am curious as to what items they sell in Builders' Merchants in Lancashire, if not bricks? The story is that I need about 20 matching bricks for the 1960s Little Brown Bungalow for various chips, vents and flues to be removed and filled, and be spares for the future etc. As it happens Buildbase has our widest local selection of bricks .. perhaps 40-50 or more types in stock in the yard. It is a family company which is also a Buildbase. About a month ago I finally matched some 1978 brown bricks for a friend who had let her gutter leak and wall spall. Both me and the builder were driving around with a sample in the car, which I matched finally to something like an Old English Traditional Russet Rose (or similar words in a similar order) which BB had bought in for a customer who had failed to collect. So I had 100 or so at about 50p each. I still have the 1970s brick in my car so I went back as it us close enough. But BB have sold them, so I have borrowed a few from the former purchase.(*) So .. yes ... in Buildbase in search of a brick. * innocent face * F * The chap said he had actually sold more than he had got, which I guess means he forgot the ones I had previously.

Removed .. inaccurate answer.

In Buildbase this afternoon in search of a brick, I noticed that they have a 'trade' account for self-builders. https://www.buildbase.co.uk/application Does anyone have experience? (Below is an image with details not a link ). Ferdinand

This one is now decided. After conversations with the guys, I have bought 4x 5l cans of Cuprinol 5 Star Complete Wood Treatment via Amazon for £13 each. A very low price but they seem to check out. WIll confirm in a couple of days. F

Fair comments - that was just a quick net search.

I thought it was more finish than weight. Sound reducing paints are like this one: https://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/coat-of-silence/coat-of-silence.html Material wallpapers (flock, hessian), tapestries or cork tiles on the wall may be an alternative. It may also be that small panels would help significantly - canvases not framed pictures, or a different finish in the window reveals. Ferdinand

Since I am taking up all the floors at the Little Brown Bungalow, I want to do all the joists etc with wood protector (wet rot, dry fot, insect), just in case. I think last time i used Cuprinol 5 Star treatment from Screwfix. I see this morning Wickes have a Ronseal product at an eyewatering £35 for 5 litres, though 3 for 2 and discount brings it down to about £21. Does anyone know a good product and source for this? Very roughly how much I would need for the structure for a floor area of 60 sqm eg 10 litres or 30 litres? Cheers Ferdinand

Aside: Is this implying that this needs to be considered at design / specification stage?

They have never (in my experience) liked people taking photos, for 'copyright' or 'date protection' reasons. Though all things are possible with iPhones etc. In my LA for some time they have been showing the public things on screen when you roll up to examine the file, or telling you to FOI the documents, then redacting them before sending them through. Round here redaction-mania ("Data Protection Reasons") seems to be receding in one or two areas, so I assume someone in local-authority advice central (LGA?) had a fit a few years ago from which they are now recovering. Ferdinand

I have a bit more information, having talked to our planners. In our LPA everything from 2000 should be online, and if something is missing they will put it online at no charge (they say). The charges are for where they are required to do work involving officer time - examples are planning docs from pre-2000 and things which are not normally published, such as BC notices etc. I am still not convinced, and it seems to be an ill thought out set of charges, since it can all probably be FOI'd or "Subject Access Request"-ed for personal information. When I have had any planning files over the last several years from my LA, their suggestion was to FOI it and it came as a huge PDF document in the email. A3 printers and 27" minotors are useful in these circs. I always assumed that was so Planning could charge the work to the FOI budget, or that they would be supplying an internally-chargeable service to the other team. For our LA, Planning Files are still listed in the Publication Scheme (which defines information which can be FOI'd), and can therefore be obtained by the other route. I am not sure how this will develop.

There has also been some sort of promotion running - 2nd unit for half price if you need two, perhaps? People here who bought them would know. Ferdinand

Welcome to the cut and thrust.