BTC Builder

To me that's very expensive. Once the VAT has been returned I've built it for £200k. With two good men on £250 a day, you'd still get it done for less than £400k. It's amazing how much money people waste on dead labour, people who hide, and project managers. I should be greatful really as they keep me busy.

My build is finished, warranty provider are ready to publish their certificate but the reinstatement cost is only £400,000. Before we go any further, I built the whole thing myself for way less than that with a labour cost of sub £10k, excluding plumbing. My worry is that when trying to fund the build in the first place, I was encountering problems with "cost per sqm" which is a load hite with a capital S when you can do everything yourself but I dont want to get into that. As the house will be worth £1 - 1.2 million, could this reinstatement cost be deemed inadequate, going back to "cost per sqm" again? The house is 6 bed, 6 bathroom, 4000 sqft. This is purely if I sell or take out a mortgage or remortgage, I won't be making any claims. Thanks

Update I went to the local councillor with my grievance, the solo building inspector swiftly got in touch with me and arranged to come out. Despite everything, he was alright with me, didnt come with a grudge and allowed me to send pictures for a few outstanding issues. I was also now dealing with him directly rather than someone on a switchboard which was part of the problem in the first place. The completion certificate is now in my possession. Now to get that VAT back

Christmas 2024 was when preliminary drainage started. it is a replacement dwelling

So my local councillor has responded to me with the response he's had from building control. It was more of the same, there are no staff, there's a month+ delay so no timescales can be provided. He's now enquired if staff from a neighbouring borough can help out.

I've exchanged emails with my local councillor several times now but as of yet, nothing has come from it. They said they would raise the issue but I don't know if they have or haven't. If they have, maybe the person whose desk it landed on in building control just pressed the delete button. My emails to building control are now just ignored, nobody responds.

I don't meet any of the other criteria listed by HMRC for completion. Maybe the habitation letter from building control would be doable but that would require them to come to the house.

Just a council employee who us allegedly off sick. There's no way of contacting him.

I haven't worked for over a year now and I want my VAT back. The council building control have made me a financial prisoner

I'm absolutely furious. I've now finished my build and to the best of my knowledge, have all the correct documentation, EPC and so on. I'm with local council building control and they're just refusing to do a final inspection, so no sign off. Apparently, they only have one member of staff for the whole district because everyone is off sick, or quit, who knows. I'm not even dealing with this solo member of staff, just someone on the switch board who's barely sentient. My building inspector appointed by the warranty company has said they would be able to issue the sign off as they've seen foundations and roof but they'd first need the council to relinquish their position. Barely sentient switch board person has said they won't do that, and my inspection will happen "when they're able to", no indication whatsoever as to when that will be. What would you do under these circumstances?

Dot and dab, but I went all the way along the bottom with a full line of adhesive so nothing is getting to the skirting, same around all window reveals. most sockets too but not all because practically speaking, when you have multiple back boxes close together, the board would just snap with too much adhesive.

It was done by me with a high attention to detail. I should clarify, there's no draft whatsoever through fastened socket faces, perhaps "cold" is how I'd describe a couple that are just flapping currently

Yes, got all that. It's all hypothetical at this point, but hopefully I'll have someone who will want to come up with a solution rather than someone who wants to tell the teacher so to speak. Upgrading the extractor fans would be very difficult, impossible in most cases, as far as the bathrooms go as the ducting is now inaccessible, cables tiled in, etc They're all above the 15 litres per second stipulation but what they are in reality, I don't know.

Just to clarify, when talking about mechanical ventilation, I was referring to MVHR, that's what I don't have, no infrastructure for it, no budget for it. When I read the other day that mechanical ventilation will be required for 3 or lower, I assumed that was referring to MVHR as extractor fans are a given, surely no-one would build a house without extractor fans

Yes, extractor fans everywhere you'd except as per building regs drawing and trickle vents on every window