Lessons learnt

What Are You Really Paying For in a Garden Room? Where the Outdoor Buildings Are All Displayed Undercover? Thinking about buying a garden room? Before you get swept up in glossy showrooms and sales pitches, read this. I share why our self-built Fox Den outperforms most market options, what to watch out for, and why real durability matters more than showroom sparkle.

If a builder falls and dies during work on your home, you could be held responsible. Under CDM 2015 and the Building Safety Act, homeowners have legal duties and “I didn’t know” won’t protect you. Here's what you need to do to stay safe and compliant.

One of my primary concerns is property dampness, largely because I have some knowledge in this area. During my initial role as a supervisor in construction, I attended a course on damp issues to help diagnose and address the damp problems in the properties we were refurbishing.

Rising damp is a significant and distressing issue that many property owners may encounter. More importantly, newly constructed homes where the damp proof courses (DPCs) have been compromised and air bricks have been installed too low are equally at risk as older properties. This post is for homeowners to raise awareness and Understanding Rising Damp and Why Preventing It is Crucial for Your Home.

Builders routinely skirt rising-damp risks by simply lowering finished floor levels—but still install air bricks below the specified 75 mm above door thresholds. If site managers miss such a fundamental detail, what other critical standards are being ignored? Here, we unpack those unseen defects, demand accountability from every contractor, and arm homeowners with the know-how to insist on true compliance with technical drawings.

Log Cabin Summer House Build 9 Years Later

Fake Google reviews small sub-contractors can buy them.

I love these posts I keep seeing "FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTES". But yeah, it’s gonna cost £200,000. What am I getting for my £200,000? How do you know you’re not going get hit with extras half way through the job if you don’t know the full details and exactly what the contractor has priced for.

It's commendable that companies offer 5 and 10-year guarantees on products, but what are you truly receiving? READ THEM BEFORE YOU...

A site variation (or extra) refers to any addition to a job not included in the original agreement e.g. quote, specification. For...

🏗 Welcome to Transparency Construction – Building Done Right! Website blog categories 🏡 I'm thrilled to share my knowledge through this...

What started as a vision in April 2021 has finally come to life—our very own garden pub! 🦊🍻 We self-built the Fox Den Inn in just a few months, but the journey was full of lessons, setbacks, and big wins.

This story is pure embarrassment, but I wanted to share it because how this happened to someone as experienced as I am, well, I still don't really forgive myself. Dreams can quickly turn into nightmares if you're not careful.

Launching the Unfiltered female site manager blog. To help less experience people than myself understand building better.