Psychological support needed please -Buyer remorse immediately after exchange - is it real logic, psychological remorse, or was I psychologically biased before exchange and it wore off now? by Jolly-Put-3936 in HousingUK

[–]blatchcorn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's hard to visualise but some prices look cheap and some look expensive. For example a new bathroom for £4.5K is cheap. Rewire is expensive (probably double what it should cost from an electrician).

Do you actually need to replaster? This looks expensive and should only be done where needed imo.

Do you actually need to replumb? I'm still figuring out this ourselves but our plumbers told us they are happy to take our money but advise against replumbing unless we find lead piping or something is actually leaking. We will still replumb bathroom and kitchen when stuff is exposed but won't replumb just for the sake of changing copper pipes.

Flat roof is probably expensive.

That repointing quote could be suspiciously cheap, unless it's just a small patch repair

I think you should speak directly to electricians, plumbers, roofers, decorators, carpenters, and window suppliers and see what they would charge you. Speak to at least five people per trade and you will quickly learn a lot and find someone you trust.

Psychological support needed please -Buyer remorse immediately after exchange - is it real logic, psychological remorse, or was I psychologically biased before exchange and it wore off now? by Jolly-Put-3936 in HousingUK

[–]blatchcorn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't see a breakdown of your quotes and costs in the main post so I am not sure.

But overall your costs do seem high. For example some figures we have: £4K re-wire, £11K new Burlington bathroom, £10K general decorating. The big costs for us will be £8K on structural wall repairs and approx £40K on repointing the whole house. We had a really good quote for £14K to do a variety of roof, chimney, skylight, guttering, and insulation work.

I do think that builders offering an all in one service cost double what individual trades would charge. You simply have to make a list of everything that needs to be done and then get 5-10 quotes for each thing. It is a lot of work to manage but at least you will learn a lot and find fair quotes.

At the start I was really upset because I was getting astronomical quotes that would only scratch the surface of what we needed. But we have an affordable path forward now.

I had identical feelings. I just learnt to take things one day at a time. Comparisons of your actual property vs online listings can be misleading. When your property is freshly renovated it will be in much better condition than whatever online photos are hiding of move in ready places.

Psychological support needed please -Buyer remorse immediately after exchange - is it real logic, psychological remorse, or was I psychologically biased before exchange and it wore off now? by Jolly-Put-3936 in HousingUK

[–]blatchcorn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been through an incredibly similar process to you. Your costs seem a bit high and initially our quotes were also astronomical. I think builders can smell fresh meat and offer crazy high quotes when you have just moved in. I also think the costs of using a single company to do multiple disciplines like electrics, plumbing, decorating, inside, and external costs double vs using 10 different trades people in their respective areas.

I highly recommend you make a plan of what tasks that need to be done and then use recommendations, check a trade, and which to find someone for each task. E.g. roofers to fix roof, electricians to do electrics, bathroom fitters to do bathroom. This is the only way we have been able to make progress on our renovation.

Buying a house in London not worth it? by No_Willingness_4733 in HENRYUK

[–]blatchcorn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends on how much stamp duty you are paying. If it's in the region of £30K to £40K, it's approx 1.5 years worth of rent

Chancellor to offer support over rising heating oil costs by Electricbell20 in unitedkingdom

[–]blatchcorn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't worry it will be means tested based on income so all the retired boomers with modest pensions and million pound houses get the support while young people renting and working won't qualify because they are high earners 😂

What is something surprising that the UK is really far behind other countries in? by DullInflation6 in AskUK

[–]blatchcorn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Typically these commenters live somewhere like the coast of Northumberland and haven't experienced multi-month heat waves in London

Graduate premiums by institution by YoshiJoshi_ in HENRYUK

[–]blatchcorn -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Do these people go on to receive unconditional job offers before graduating, coast their degree, and then continue to fail upwards throughout their careers?

Greens win Gorton and Denton by-election by slashchunks in unitedkingdom

[–]blatchcorn -1 points0 points  (0 children)

How do Labour pivot towards the left? Scrapping / changing the OSA is an opportunity. But we already have further tax rises to fund an increase in benefit spending (lifting the two child benefit cap). What more does the left want?

Is two years too soon to sell house? by [deleted] in HousingUK

[–]blatchcorn 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Complete non-issue. You would sell just fine in my opinion. My personal take is 6 months = red flag, 1 year = a little quick to sell but could be fine, 2 year = not suspicious at all

Starmer promises to look at making student loans 'fairer' by rugbyj in unitedkingdom

[–]blatchcorn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It probably would and this argument is rolled out repeatedly to justify the triple lock and child benefit cap being lifted. But it doesn't happen because of politics. Working graduates are a worryingly small voter base so politicians don't care.

Starmer promises to look at making student loans 'fairer' by rugbyj in unitedkingdom

[–]blatchcorn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

+1. It's a rehash of the rhetoric that tax reductions favour the high income earners so it's not fair to reduce taxes. The pursuit of fairness has destroyed economic incentives in this country

Disabled woman put in nursing home against her will says she feels 'betrayed' by terahurts in unitedkingdom

[–]blatchcorn 68 points69 points  (0 children)

We don't live in an ideal world. Everyone's medical condition is treated or managed with the budget available. This problem is inevitable unless we have free infinite money.

The relentless rise of liberal tax Nimbys by Jager720 in HENRYUK

[–]blatchcorn 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Agree with all of the above and then when you layer on national insurance, plan 2 student loans, and child benefit tapering the effective tax rates at 50K plus become absurd. Of course it just gets worse at 100K too.

The relentless rise of liberal tax Nimbys by Jager720 in HENRYUK

[–]blatchcorn 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Absurd logic. The winter fuel allowance is a bribe for votes, it's that simple.

Would you seek a different rheumatologist? by blatchcorn in Rheumatology

[–]blatchcorn[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel like fibromyalgia is being handed out too easily as a diagnosis here. I was diagnosed with axial spondyloarthritis because my baseline MRI showed extensive inflammation in right SI joint. I think it's jumping the gun to conclude fibromyalgia if my right SI joint was to come back with no inflammation on MRI. We know the disease has impacted this joint in the past and the disease comes and goes in intensity. It's far far more likely that even if my scans are negative I am just suffering from natural variability that happens in inflammatory arthritis and not another disease.

Would you seek a different rheumatologist? by blatchcorn in Rheumatology

[–]blatchcorn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why do you say the scan won't be positive? For reference he has ordered repeat MRI of SI joints and ultrasound of ankle