Ferdinand

Don't mention them first !

Your mouse has a Critical Job Detector installed.

I am not saying that it will take that long .. just raising a flag not to be too optimistic. eg When you want to demolish it you have - I think - to serve a notice and wait 6 weeks. So you need to be running that in parallel with other things or it could delay your Critical Path. When you submit your PP it will be 12 weeks for approval as a minimum, plus any extra time they and you take, plus the time it takes you to do what you need first, then perhaps recruiting a contractor and negotiating, then wait for their slot to arrive, then build it, then ... and so on. Then there may be seasonal things. If you end up having to do tree or bat things, the times can be limited by eg nesting seasons. I have not heard of firm price. The important thing about Fixed Price is that the contractor takes more of the risk (eg labour rates going up) and changes are more expensive, so you need to minimise those and have a design you commit to fully up front. If you have newts in your river then the Nature People will be all over you with measures to protect them. That you have one PP already with no issues is a hopeful sign. Ferdinand

>I plan to move out and rent, I'm hoping it will take a year. Hmmm. I would say be mentally prepared to take 2-3 - just in case, you understand. Of course I could be wrong, but specific expectations can be a curse. Do you know where you are with Planning Gain taxes - Community Infrastructure Levy, Section 106 and so on? On 500sqm near London that could normally run to six figures or nearly six figures, and you need to know that you will get the self-build exemption from CiL and it has some elephant traps around starting development and perhaps around demolition / rebuild (others here will know). Also, suggest not posting too many identifiable photos before you have planning locked down, unless everybody who might see it here and react is already fully aware of what you are doing. Do you have newts? We love newts on Buildhub. Probably do not answer that :-). Is this one for a fixed price contract? F

A couple of old photographer tricks can be helpful for stability.. 1 - Is a normal monopod, which fixes the Laser Measure in one dimension. 2 - The other is a loop of string called a String Tripod. Put one end under your foot and attach the other to the measure. Does the same thing. A posh string tripod with have a thumbscrew fitting into the tripod socket on it. F

Quote for the above is now in. It comes to about £3200 including fitting, which I make £170 per sqm for 19 sqm. A run through on Double Glazing on the Web gives a range of £4200 to £6500. Ferdinand

Welcome.

@Adamantium welcome. You sound to have the skillset necessary to develop the further skills you will need as the project develops. It would perhaps be worth you investing some time in skimming all the blogs and comments on this site (there are only a couple of hundred articles) as that is where the blow by blow detailed problems, solutions and wrinkles over time are explored - then reading the ones that seem relevant in depth. I would also suggest looking at @JSHarris's blog which is offsite, as his angle is at the other end of your spectrum ... he learnt about the construction specific aspects of project management and did it himself ... which will give you some insights into the stuff your architect and main contractor are doing under the hood. Jeremy's comments on overthinking are superb. I think it is important to invest time as well as money and make sure you keep your eye on what to you are the key aspects - the best architects in the world only know this if you have gained the knowledge and then take the time to tell them what is important to you. Time is cheaper than money to correct the things you missed by not spending the time :-). The other resource I think I would recommend is the House Planning Help podcast and related blog - he now has nearly 180 45 minute (ish) episodes which are perfect tube listening covering a huge range of relevant subjects. All that and whatever else you find should give you a hinterland to be on more equal terms with your architect and contractor as time progresses. Best of luck. Ferdinand

@recoveringacademic et al. The technique I was taught was to shine the spot at the ground by your feet, then gradually moving it towards the thing you are measuring while watching the spot. THen it is easier to track since you never lose registration. I have the green Bosch and it is OK for medium distances. Beyond that it is a target or glasses - have not tried sunglasses. Will see if my reactolites in my normal glasses help. As for being horizontal I judge it by the distance up the target from the ground. There is a huge tolerance on the level ness of the beam before the distance you are measuring changes materially. So no need to worry about a few inches or feet of wobbling as long as you get a reading off the right thing. Being 100mm out vertically with the spot at a distance of 10m only alters the measured distance length by 0.4mm. 300mm of inaccuracy in height means 1.2mm out on length. Being 100mm out vertically with the spot at a distance of 5m only alters the measured length by 1mm. Both are less than the roughness on the face of the brick you are probably holding the measure against and acceptable unless I have my trig in a twist. (Can someone who's laser measure is not lost in space give me a real world check on that last point. There is something counterintuitive about it. But I guess the existence of 7 x 24 x 25 as a Pythagorean Triplet means that if you measure length diagonally across a 7 x 24m garden by mistake after too many cocktails you will only be out by 4% or 1m on length which is more accurate than the General Boundary rule applied to your fence.) Ferdinand

CATFLAP !!!

@aims This is my opinion not advice. Answers first: Stamp Duty is nothing to do with the mortgage. It is on the value of sold Land and Buildings, with a special rate of +3% which applies unless it is eg your main residence or in other exempt categories. However, this has a threshold of 40k which you may be under depending on what you do. I think CGT should probably not apply to gifts. I am not clear what happens if you dad dies before 7 years without asking my accountant. CGT is paid on the increase in value of an asset while you hold it. You get an allowance (11k?) each year, and you may be surprised how small the liability may be; it was on mine last time. For a start it is part of an asset not the whole you are dealing with, and extra pieces of garden are not necessarily worth as much as we might think. Then if you build something I think you can offset costs against the gain, and if you did the usual self-build spend-up-to-the-final-value thing, there would be no immediate gain anyway to pay CGT on . And comments The advantage of a valuation is that it allows you to justify your decision to the HMRC just in case someone asks. It is a cheap insurance policy. There is always some variation in values, even amongst 50 identical houses. For a potential plot, if you reduce the risk by eg consulting with the Council pre-app service and getting a "probably yes", or any other amount of things, that alone may increase the value. I think you may need an accountant as well as a solicitor - or talk to a place that has both. Once you procure a solicitor, ask the solicitor whether you need an accountant (or vice versa). IMO it is wise to use a solicitor to do land transfers if you do not do it regularly yourself - but use them to learn the process and check all the details. Any professional should give you enough time to ask some questions (write them down first) as to whether you need their services. I would start by sitting down with the experienced person (ideally MRICS) at the closest independent EA and talking about options. Lead with what the plot with PP or a house would be worth and ask enough supplementaries to understand your options, then ask for a recommendation for a solicitor if you need one. The karma quid pro quo is that you give them a shot at selling it later should you proceed. I think you need to be clear about your objectives - is the aim (1) for your dad to give you some money by utilising his spare garden (2) for you to build a house to live in or (3) for you to get the experience of doing a project. If (1) it is possible that there will be no extra gain by building a house. Occam's Razor perhaps says you get the PP for your dad, he sells the plot and gives you the money. Then lives for 7 years. If (2) you need to find out about things like moving in with dad first (extension? Good way to gain experience), then building it in your main residence garden. If (3) - fair enough, but do not necessarily expect to get that much extra money in the short term over selling the bare plot as well as learning. The biggest advantage of building a house I can see is that you have a larger sum that will tick up in value each year you keep it. 25% over 5 years on 500k is a lot more in cash terms than on a 150k plot. If you are in West London more intensive developments may be possible. Long term rental or similar investment for decades? I am aware of people who moved out of a nice area 25 years ago for a similarly priced premium house elsewhere and the London house is now worth 4 or 5 times the other one. Ferdinand

Thank-you for that - very illuminating Glad you got it through. May I ask a couple of several questions? Did you consider appealing for non-determination when you were being messed around? Can that happen in Wales? When it came in there was a lot of consultation, including advice that the cost-benefit of the lives saved vs investment required was the wrong side of the "justified" line - so they perhaps made a political decision to override the evaluation rather than failed to understand it. For what it is worth, my reading of the BRE Training material is that there is no legal obligation on the Householder to do maintenance each year. http://www.cewales.org.uk/files/2114/5191/9937/04.12.15_Residential_Sprinkler_Guidance.pdf (Though personally I disagree, and would consider 1-2% or so of build cost to be reasonable and would probably do it in my own build. Can you point me to insurance co evidence on frequency of false alarms and amount of water damage done ... as that is contrary to my reading elsewhere? The LABC categorises those points as "myths".) Cheers Ferdinand

Can you hire a conveyancer for this? Are they less expensive? I don't know, but I would like to know too. When I have had services put in, they have usually brought a metal detector type meter gubbins to find (perhaps some of) water, cables and pipes iirc. Can you hire one of those? That may be your GPR. Ferdinand

I cannot see why it is *impossible* rather than *difficult*. From here it appears that you would need to prop and chop some of the structure, then replace with your desired option. What are the reasons why you are being told "no"? Is it because of structural impossibility, planning requirements, time it would take before the next trade is due, trying to save you money, fixed price contract, your workers have another job and need to finish etc? Knowing that might help. Ferdinand

@JSHarris I am just giving a bi of personal experience and pointing out a few more potential quagmires :-) .

800 being the level below which you have to fit expensive special glass I think, but iirc is below 1100 so counts as a fire escape window. I am not sure whether 800 gets you caught or not. My replacement picture window starts at 810mm on the LBB just to be sure. F

VAT Registered Sole Trader I have been avoiding this thread for days, because it is the sort of technical debate I enjoy far too much. My week would vanish. However :-), respondng to @warby This is why the "customer buys materials" for tradesman practice is very beneficial for both parties sometimes - the customer gets to use their status as a Consumer, and the tradesman gets to keep their turnover down. Limited Companies And commenting further on what @PeterW said about Limited Companies ownership and 'getting money out' etc. Our specific project that I have alluded to on BH was the obtaining of Planning Permission on a piece of family land in order to increase the value adn sell on to a major or regional developer. We did create a limited company, driven by liability reasons (ie to be able to close the company and not be liable personally years later) and the ability to have more control of when and how tax was paid. We then closed it down as soon as practical. We did take specialist advice from a specialist accountant, and the overwhelming comment was "Keep it Simple" and don't do anything marginal. Setting up any structures and paying accountants to maintain them has the habit of negating many of the benefits through the need to spend time and money maintaining them - unless sums involved are large enough. My rule of thumb is that it will be £1k a year to maintain a limited company, plus time. There are concessions to get money into and out of a limited company - for example you can inject the property into the company as an asset (cannot recall the accounting term - sorry) at X valuation, which allows that same amount of money to be withdrawn later tax free. Or you can make Employers' contribution to a pension, or use Entrepreneurs Allowance to pay a 10% rate of tax. But each of the latter two come with conditions attached - around proving that activity has been done in the Company to justify the payment. And if profit is involved the Company will pay eg Corporation Tax. Given that we have a General Anti Avoidance Rule, this can get complicated and it is possible to get badly bitten in doing marginal practices. So the watchword is take care and take advice and do not be too much of a tall poppy. There are lessons to learn from all those celebs who put huge sums into Film Investment schemes and suddenly find they are sitting on a blowtorch, having created huge tax liabilities for themselves that aiui would not otherwise exist. If you attempt to keep your own property in the Company while living in it, then you are potentially into areas such as taxation on a deemed rent / employee benefit. And you may be into ATED (Annual Tax on Encapsulated Dwellings) which is an annual charge of 0.6% to 1.1% of the value of a dwelling starting at a property value of £500k - which would catch here I expect. There are exceptions such as property owned as rentals in a Company, as long as each is registered every year, and properties not classed as Dwellings (eg Care Homes) but it is not simple. It has the feel - like the inequality point out by @warby above - that it has been mackled together to be kind-of-equal. There are various Allowances and practises related to the creation of a Limited Company which may or may not help. But as ever surely the golden rule is just do not dabble with things until they are fully understood ... just like designing your house and using power tools. Self-Employed Business and Your Own House I am not clear about the points wrt Self-Employment and ownership of assets between the Business run as a self-employed person, and the Individual themselves. eg Does a self-employed business count as a separate Legal Entity, and how does the law applies there - eg does the Individual living in trhe property have to pay tax on the benefit derived from the Self-Employed Business letting them live there? Ferdinand

And here's me thinking the Essex Flange was the Baboons of Basildon.

Boots do 3 tubular bandages at "large knee" size for £7 or one for £3.49 online. http://www.boots.com/boots-pharmaceuticals-tubular-bandage-size-f-10146378 Or you can get a 10m roll of 12cm (width) for about £15. F

LXT Makita Pricing appears to be complicated :-). Combi drill plus Circular Saw plus 4x 4.0ah batteries plus Twin Charger plus 3 hard cases is 499 at £FFX https://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Makita-Dlx2140Pmj-0088381817332-4X4.0Ah-Li-Ion-18Vx2-Lxt-Combo-Kit#FullDescription Combi drill plus Circular Saw plus Impact Driver plus Recip Saw plus Angle Grinder plus a Worklight plus 3x 5.0Ah batteriies plus Twin Charger is £700 at FFX. https://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Makita-Dlx6044Pt-0088381813099-18V-3X5.0Ah-Lxt-6-Piece-Kit-Twin-Port-Charger?gclid=Cj0KEQjw2-bHBRDEh6qk5b6yqKIBEiQAFUz29rVZIEnKKyvRkGktRR_J2ruvZJekBFVZ5_tffQbrRHwaAiyc8P8HAQ So that is an Impact Driver, a Recip Saw, an Angle Grinder and a Worklight for £200 if I can live with the batteries. Hmm. Spreadsheet Required. Ferdinand

Try getting some of that tube bandage and sewing a pair of foam pads to it, or using that over the pads to hold them on. It is everso cheap and could be replaced daily. Or - if you know you have socks that do not irritate - cut the feet or the toes off an old pair and use the leg section of those to hold them in place. There is also medical quality stuff called Fashion Tape which may be worth a try. But I would not admit that I was wearing it in construction company. Or you could try Yoga Pants or leggings or long johns :-). F

Thanks. All helpful. Decision this afternoon.

The diagrams on this thread are clearly not complicated enough because I can understand them. Mine is going to look like this. I was listening to an item about a Yorkshire Malt Whisky on the radio this week; we'll have a Friar Tuck Whisky from Notts. (Sorry: Friday Feeling).

Are 3Ah OK even for a circular saw? Which batteries are the newer range?

(Sorry about the strange formatting) Thanks all, so it looks like an inexpensive option from Argos@£70: Worx 400 Watt Plunge WorxSaw - which is a more powerful version of the one above: http://www.argos.co.uk/product/2276980?cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59156|cid:189934405|agid:18091936165|tid:aud-144400486596:pla-96719255845|crid:77627771125|nw:g|rnd:7569497862283719467|dvc:c|adp:1o2&gclid=Cj0KEQjwuOHHBRDmvsHs8PukyIQBEiQAlEMW0OcopBoqJ6sQO8AKlF_-34CDzwbG7Grt0WnkeU14BcwaAiDo8P8HAQ#reviews or one of these from Makita as a cordless posh option 85mm disk @Approx £150: Makita HS301DWAE Circular Saw 85mm 10.8V CXT Cordless Li-ion with 2 x 2.0Ah Batteries, Charger and Carry Case http://www.toolstop.co.uk/index.php?option=shop&page=shop.product_details&product_id=72544 (Unfortunately 10.8v battery) or the cordless 18v battery larger 165mm disk version from Makita at £140 body only or £270 with batteries and a case https://www.angliatoolcentre.co.uk/makita-dss610rmj-18v-circular-saw-with-2x-4-0ah-li-ion-batteries-supplied-in-makpac-case-pid45127.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjwuOHHBRDmvsHs8PukyIQBEiQAlEMW0EzAp9UG5rDj-O0ytu8ajS9oyvISC3l-j7r8N0UAQFUaAlGq8P8HAQ There is also a cordless from Bosch, but I think II am swinging towards the 165mm cordless Makita for the greater range of uses and batteries which fit other tools. Or there is something like *this*, which gives me a drill, impact driver and recip saw as well for £500. But I think DSS are the old range. http://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-dlx4088mx1-18v-4-0ah-li-ion-cordless-4-piece-power-tool-kit/1872r Can anyone give me a sanity check on which Makita batteries would be most broadly useable. Do I really need 5 or 6Ah? Need to decide today. Cheers Ferdinand.