Ferdinand

In years time you will have to change your username ... we hope.

Congratulations and welcome.

Are you about to be asked to plant 6 million daffodils and a mulberry tree?

Heh. The night before it was a 330 sqft :corner suite -) in the Kensington Hilton. Following the Ebuild thread about rewards etc back in Feb/March, I have managed to manipulate my way to top tier Hilton Diamond status - so it was book a standard room in the sale in March for £103 (ish) inc VAT, then there's usually an auto-upgrade to the Executive Floor and King room or sometimes suite, welcome drink and a couple of bits and pieces, 3 or 4pm checkout, and complimentary breakfast. Not a bad deal at all. Here are a few more pics (give me a bit to add them from the iPAD):

Pics were on the iPad so added afterwards. Not good at typing text for BH on iPad.

This is an example of the use of a picture wallpaper and a large mirror in my Hilton Doubletree Hotel room in London last week, Very effective. The room was about 21ft x 12 ft, with the corner taken out for a large shower room. This is the lobby with floor to ceiling treescape wallpaper, and a floor to ceiling mirror opposite. And this is the view from the bed. Ferdinand

If you get reports, make sure that you have the right to "Reassign". We have just sold our housing developemnt plot, and this was one thing we missed - and it has cost a couple of thousand in fees to various consultants to transfer reports to the buyer. The buyer will insist because they they get the benefit of indemnity etc.

I think one challenging thing about hiring architects is that they can do so much ... and you then have to decide what you want them to do, and communicate ti, and make sure you limit them to it. The relationship, the cost, and the contract are all equally important. Make sure that you will not have to pay extra charges to have copyright in the plans for your house assigned to you, or for others to use them; that the basis for recalculating fees should extra work be necessary is acceptable; and whether you want fees calculated on the estimated cost or actual cost (*). There be dragons in the standard RIBA contracts. (*) eg Going 20% over budget due to something which will involve no extra architecting could suddenly add 20% to your fees. What you need is your wits about you, enough time to really sweat the detail, willingness to ask awkward questions and stand your ground, and possibly advice from a property person in the "hoary old git (f or m)" category. Ferdinand

Which I understand normally takes a few weeks to come through. Ferdinand

I might go for a standard door and a window alongside, or have the Frenchies such that you can just open one half easiily, on the basis that when you are just popping in and out the bifolds will be slower to open every time. Ferdinand

CHeers

Incidentally, Honda-engined seems to be the "last forever" option amongst whackers, too. Ferdinand

I will need to hire a minidigger for a day or weekend (prob weekend) to dig a soakaway (easy), and to remove a row of stumps from an overgrown hedge that were cut to a couple of feet above the ground 4-5 years ago, and have not resprouted (so roots should be partially rotted). The hedge was beech, and the stumps are up to about 6-10" in diameter. There are about a dozen of them. Would I be wanting a 1.5 tonne minidigger for that? Thanks Ferdinand

Actually, the genuine Spoonerism version would be more appropriate for Buildhub: If I brick you, do you not plead...

(Reply removed for reasons of good taste). Shakespeare: If I prick you, do you not plead...

Being curious tor a long time is good exercise. Probably. Truth be told, I've forgotten what it was - but I thought I had over quipped.

I guess that these wells could be quite useful for site water supplies, before there is a mains connection. Ferdinand

I think that we should encourage all Planning etc costs to be included, as otherwise it is possible for heaps of bureaucracy to be piled on top and to pretend that it is not a real cost. If you are dealing with largish sites they include everything even covering Section 106, roads, adoption costs etc because it all has to be paid for out of the sale price of the finished houses. They also talk about e.g. floor space per developable hectare as a measure of density, and iirc some countries give Planning Permission in these terms. On our project at one time the buyers and out reps were arguing about whether local new build prices were 2000 per sqm or 1900 per sqm, and working backwards from there to argue about price. Ferdinand

Do we need the Building Plots Spotted on the Market thread back? Just asking. F

"I really need a minidigger to help ... erm ... save the newts. Darling". Perhaps Mrs RA can supply the genuine version... *innocent face*

Cheers.

S if I drill two 10m apart can I have 40,000 litres? So a 15m x 5m x 1.5m swimming pool = 112.5 cubic metres which can be filled in under a week to save about £160 here or twice that amount in the South West. Plus garden watering. Ferdinand

Fascinating. Our old house had at least 3 wells and a vaulted underground cistern. Are these things regulated, or can I just install a sand point well in the garden if I have the right type of ground? COuld be most useful if one wanted eg an outdoor swimming pond. When I see those great flailing water jets in fields in East Anglia or Lincs, would those be fed by boreholes? Ferdinand

Post the first 10 postcodes and house numbers here, and I can get those available for you. Ferdinand

Or just read the number off the EPC certificate