Latest blog posts

Our 2 children went back to school this week and that was originally the target for phase 1 of the refurbishment to be completed. Unfortunately, we’re running 4 weeks behind the programme so we’ve had to set the kid’s desks up on the landing for the next few weeks. Despite the delays it’s nice to see phase 1 progressing, all of the 1st ... Read more >>

We’re now 6 weeks in to phase 1 of the work and I’d estimate that we’ve fallen a couple of weeks behind the program. The reason appears to be the lack of availability of sub-contractors but hopefully we’ll pull back the time during the phase 2 program which appears to be a bit more generous. Anyway, it is nice to see the shape of the ... Read more >>

We’re now a little over halfway through phase 1 of our barn refurbishment. The structure of the barn is long and narrow so it divides quite neatly in to 2 parts with a sound and dust proof screen in the middle. Phase 1, the smaller half of the barn, is programmed to take 9 weeks following which we swap halves with the builders and work continues ... Read more >>

3 Chartered Surveyors were set a challenge by their boss to increase fee income in the year ahead by 10%. The building surveyor spent time networking with solicitors and estate agents to generate recommendations and worked an extra half an hour each day. The valuation surveyor managed to get on to a couple of new lender panels and spent ... Read more >>

As you can see from the picture below, work is now well underway on the refurbishment of our barn. The lower part of that space was my bedroom until last Sunday evening! As only demolition work has happened so far I thought I’d provide a quick overview of the planning process in this post. The barn is Grade II listed so any changes, ... Read more >>

Following a public consultation and weeks of political wrangling temporary changes to the Permitted Development rules came in to force on 30th May 2013. Until 30th May 2016 homeowners have the right to build larger (i.e. deeper) single-storey rear extensions without having to apply for planning permission. The size limits will double from 4 ... Read more >>

In this post we will be looking at roofs. I thought I would start with a riddle, what is one of the most common types of roof in London, but is rarely seen? The roof type in question has a number of different names, including ‘inverted pitch roof’, ‘butterfly roof’ and even ‘London Roof’. It is, as one of its names suggests, a pitched ... Read more >>