Mr Blobby

On our site we had loads of timber offcuts from the roof in a skip. Passers by and delivery drivers would ask if they could take it to burn it on their log burners. I explained it was tanalised and it can't be burned becuase the fumes would be harmful. Sure enough over a few weeks the wood magically disappeared out of the skip. Why anyone with children would fill the air with arsenic to save a few quid is mind boggling. While most people may not do it, a lot do burn toxic wood and it is not and cannot be policed, hence a ban is the only way to stop this madness.

Most trades are on fixed price. Some are on time+materials. While some trades may sit on their arse drinking tea and playing cards all day if they are paid by the hour, this has not been my experience. I seem to have good trades who are happy to get on with the job even when paid by the hour. I suspect such productivity stems from their relationship with my builder. I reckon if I ran the project myself and engaged the trades directly they would be more likely to take the piss.

There is still an incentive for our builder because he only gets paid according to the activity. No progress, no payment. Our builder actually moves faster than I like and trades are always on site when required. I guess its about perception of risk and I'm ok with risk. Besides, I'm not sure a contract and a fixed price eliminates risk altogether unless you are prepared to sue a builder for any breach of contract. Which then means dealing with solicitors which is far worse that dealing with builders.

We do, and despite all the whingeing I do here, I like it and it works ok. The fixed priced tenders we looked at all had extra costs that couldn't be justified. And a fixed price contract would lock in a detailed specification without any changes and lock me out of the site. For us it works well but only because I have time to be on site every day to do the crap jobs that nobody else wants to do like sweeping cavities, getting airtightness detail right, and putting red bull bottles in the bin. There are fixed prices as we go along, so fixed price for blocklaying, fixed price for metal roof, etc. The builder overees progress, gets good prices for materials and, most importantly, gets good trades on site. I know from expereince that when I phone, say an eletrician, they don't even return my call, but will pick up the phone to my builder straight away. Open book arrangement also gives me the option to save some cash from things like buying the scaffold and provideing water and leccy on site. This saves on the extortionate preliminaries in a fixed price contract. I can also retain control over stuff like roof design and mvhr layout and do some of the work myself. Even though I have no idea generally what I'm doing. 🤦‍♀️ Its not for everyone but if you want to be involved in the project and are prepared to cancel all your holidays (my wife is not talking to me) to be on site every day (and have a builder you can trust) then an open book arrangement is a good option. It will be interesting, when I get to the end of the project to see how the cost compares to the FP contracts but I think so far it is looking very competitive.

I also thought the window fitters may actually screw into the block to fix the windows. How foolish of me, a nail gun is far quicker. 🙄 And why spend a tenner on new straps when there is a bucket of spares to use. 🤷‍♂️

To screw into the side of the window frame or clip on ?

So our window fitter didn't have enough of the specific fixing straps that clip into the side of the frame of our very expensive internorm windows. He said he would drill into the side and that would be fine, but it just seems a bit crap to turn up without the straps and then improvise on site. When I asked him to use the proper straps he said it would take too long to get them from Austria. The window fitters are off site for a few days and coming back to finish fitting the remaining windows (including the very big windows and slider that will be the most challenging) next week. (We are responsible for the delay) Should I insist on the proper fixing straps or let him drill away?

Even with a check reveal (compriband on front face of window frame) and external render to the window frame compriband is still the solution? Would compriband push the window inward slightly? We would render over the compriband to the frame? Or stop bead near to frame I guess.

And I thought about doing the same, to put a strip of compriband on the front of the window frame against the check. I did suggest this but was poo-pooed by builder and architect. An English thing they said. No compriband here in Northern Ireland. If I were to put a strip of compriband on the front then I assume this would mean removing the DPC, otherwise there would be a crap seal. My builder would freak out at the suggestion of no dpc at the reval. As he says, the DPC makes everything waterproof! It seems common practice here to render to the window frame so mayb that's why no other weather sealing is done. But then I think the render will crack at the window frame and not be very waterproof any more. AFAIK a block return and PIR closing the cavity is what is always done here in Northern Ireland. At the top of the window from the window frame to the inner leaf we plan to install a peice of supalux board. Is this a bad idea? We'll be foaming round the side between the window frame and the block return and PIR in the reveals but I guess this should be kept dry hence my concern about the weather prrofing at the front.

We have check reveals on our block cavity build with a layer of DPC at the reveal. Like this: We will be installing the windows up against the check reveal of course. So up against the DPC. And then rendering outside to the window. We will be foaming between the edge of the window and the PIR closing the reval cavity. I am told the DPC will provide weather proofing and compriband is not needed at the front edge of the window. Is that correct, compriband not need in this type of masonry check reveal install? Should I get some decent foam like FM330 to seal and insulate the side of the windows? (we will of course be taping the windows internally for the airtightness)

This is heartbreaking to see. You could use these photographs to compile a guide on how not to install cables. Our spark starts on site tommorrow. I plan to be there every day to prevent this sort of butchery. I think the only thing to do here is cut back the battens around the holes and then patch with some membrane and install a grommet. The problem is the grommet will need to be fed over the end of the cable and that is probably all the way back at the consumer unit now.

The pre-insulated MLCP 16mm pipe has either 9mm or 13mm insulation. Is 9mm enough? Do pipe and compression fittings need to be from the same manufacturer?

So, in reponse to my unenthusiastic response to usiong copper everywhere and my preferance for manifold plumbing, the plumber has come back and proposed MLCP to run between manifold and wet rooms instead of Hep. Saying Hep too bendy and needs too many clips. Never heard of MLCP before today. From what I can google it looks to be more difficult to knacker on install than Hep. Plumber says he will be using compression fittings. Comes in a single roll so no joins. What's not to like? MLCP? Snog, marry, avoid?

I feel your pain. We went through a similar time wasting exercise in 2022 with our architect insisting that the project must go out to tender and we spent a fortune on mostly crap advice that our architect talked us into paying for to put out a very detailed tender. When my patience finally ran out I sent my architect an email with the subject 'six months of crapness' and suggested taking a different approach to building our house. He responded by telling me that if I don't appoint and hand over total control to a main contractor then that makes me a self builder, he doesn't work with self builders and his firm does not work with self builders. We then ditched the tender process and found a local builder from recommendations and pay him on an open book basis on a phased approach. This isn't for everyone but works far better for us. We want to stay involved and have some oversight. The builder likes it because he has less risk. If the tender process is not working then bin the tender and try to find a local guy on recommendation who can project manage and get good trades on an open book basis.

Just got the electrician rates at £33 per hour. This is Northern Ireland so I had hoped for something a bit lower. The bit I don't like however is he also wants to be paid a 15% uplift on materials. Is such an uplift a standard thing? It sounds like a con. Is it?