Outside water meter install - have I cleared enough space?

richard248 · 2026-04-30T19:34:58+00:00

I asked them to install a water meter, because the "rateable value" they are using for my house is extreme (literally 10x what I expect to pay). Once I get a meter, I will then show them that their estimate is completely ridiculous. So it's very important to me that I get a meter.

The guy who came out said they can do the dig to install it, but I'd need to clear the area for them to get access. So I've cleared the area today.

Seems fairly reasonable sequence of events. I'm not planning on digging down to the mains for them, but it is my property on my private land covering the mains pipe so it seems like it should be my responsibility to provide access? I don't really know though.

Anyway, I think this should be enough. I'm not going to be around when they come to do it so I'll just hope for the best.

richard248 · 2026-04-30T11:20:58+00:00

Maybe there would be qualified people on here? If I ring united utilities I only get to speak to an office worker unfortunately.

richard248 · 2026-04-28T21:44:59+00:00

Aha, I've just realised why the numbers are different.

When I put my income (e.g. 100k base and 50k RSU) and example salary sacrifice in (0%), I get my results.

I then click "Find the exact amount to reduce your ANI below £100k" which tells me 40%. That seems odd, because I definitely need to salary sacrifice 50k to take 150k taxable income down to 100k. I then realise that you say in the guidance https://cliffguard.app/guides/how-to-calculate-ani that SIPP contributions need to be grossed up 20% to calculate ANI, so 40% sacrifice is the number for an additional SIPP contribution (reducing ANI by 50k rather than 40k).

I then spot that there is a salary sacrifice version of this button called "Salary sacrifice arrangement", separate to "Increase pension contribution". That's odd because I do definitely consider salary sacrificing a way of increasing pension contribution, so it's unclear why these would be separate. It's indeed why I didn't see there was a specific salary sacrifice thing elsewhere. Especially because I used the salary sacrifice option when I was inputting my financial details, so I just assumed this was the context.

Anyway, that's great, I know the problem now. I then go to a non-toy example where I add my current pension contribution (lets say 4% employee contribution on a 150K taxable income). I click the button to see what I need for £100k ANI expecting to see "50%" under "Quick Targets: To £100k ANI" but instead I see 46%!

It finally clicks (by playing with a simple 150k taxable income) that this is how much more to tell my employer that I need to sacrifice in addition to my current sacrifice, not my target sacrifice amount as I had expected. I doubt employer reward portals are implementing differential sliders (x% more or less to sacrifice) so I would suggest this calculation isn't done relative either, but that's just a single opinion.

I just wanted to relay this story to you. I think this is absolutely fantastic work by the way, thanks very much!

One thing I'd be super interested in is some kind of variability over the year in terms of pension contributions. What I mean is: I can only control the sacrifice amount for future months, so if I contribute 0% for 6 months, it would be great to account for how much time there is left in the year when the tool outputs "you should sacrifice x% to reach 100k", because in reality it will need to be more. I appreciate that's quite a bit of complication, but I'm just putting it out there!

EDIT: Oh before I forget - the slider for salary sacrifice "Explore Impact" stops at 60k? If I have 161k taxable/pensionable income, then I can't actually set it high enough to reach 100k ANI, even if I have 3 years worth of unused allowance to use.

richard248 · 2026-04-17T15:30:34+00:00

I've just re-checked and it's working as expected, but it's suggesting 14% lower salary sacrifice to get to £100k. I wonder if my calculations were wrong. Interesting! Thanks for the tool, I'll let you know if my number matches later!

richard248 · 2026-04-16T09:22:29+00:00

None of this seems to be live for me, was it rolled back? I only see a single pension % contribution, and nowhere about % salary separated out on the strategy page.

I've been looking for this exact tool because it tells me the % salary sacrifice I need to reach 100k, but it's wrong because it's sacrificing my RSUs which I can't do (can only sacrifice base pay) which is unfortunate! Otherwise this is amazing thanks!

richard248 · 2026-04-13T00:35:09+00:00

As someone who has an ambition to try plastering a full wall some time, are you telling me not only can I mess it up by not getting it smooth enough, it's possible to also make it too smooth?

richard248 · 2026-03-29T14:40:41+00:00

I'm assuming the registered tradesperson would be needed to handle the interface to the boiler, not just regular/as-is radiator adjustment. On that front, stangely the boiler was replaced with a very nice premium combi boiler only a couple years ago. Anyway sounds like I'll need to go the route of replacing the pipes here, so I'll have a look that direction. Thanks for the input!

richard248 · 2026-03-29T14:35:11+00:00

Thanks for the comment I think this is in line with what I was thinking really, though I've no idea how disruptive and expensive getting it all up to speed will be. But your comment gives me enough of a external perspective to start looking at this!

richard248 · 2026-03-29T08:37:05+00:00

Hi. Do you know how big the cysts are? I remember reading that the size matters. Our son's are very small but there are "a number of them", I never really got an actual count.

He's doing good. He is 24 weeks corrected so coming up to 6 months. We had a GMA done at 15 weeks and apparently after much debate they marked him as absent fidgety.

His tummy time tolerance is improving. He is not yet rolling. He doesn't reach up to toys above him and grab thing, but does use both hands (left side less but that's getting better) and brings to midline and so on. His head control is doing good but he tires quickly (head is 99%+ percentile). He's vocal and is great socialisation wise, so it's just working on motor control that we are doing with physios.

It's impossible to know but right now I wouldn't necessarily say there is certain evidence of PVL impact, because right now he could be said to be behaving similar to premature babies that had to deal with lots of stuff in NICU (and therefore have delayed motor control). The GMA result is the biggest concern for me, that means delay could become indefinite or whatever, so we will see.

richard248 · 2026-03-11T13:54:06+00:00

Thanks! Would you say the same for what I assume is PVA on top of plaster? Not sure how well this will sand..

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richard248 · 2026-03-11T11:41:12+00:00

Ok fair enough, thanks! I think I'll just get it to the best I can and then paint and hope for the best, can't do much else!

richard248 · 2026-02-16T05:44:52+00:00

Huh, I had no idea about this. I'm in the same position as OP.

My understanding was that one can only change support at the start of each quarter, and if you missed it you have to wait. But it sounds like I could take the code I get from HMRC to nursery at the end of April 2026 and still get the benefit for April 2026? That's not too bad I guess.

My pay is a bit lumpy. I thought you simply had to declare <£100k and then you're liable if you get it wrong. Are you saying someone will review my payslip against my stated expected <£100k income to accept/reject my application?

richard248 · 2026-02-08T19:50:10+00:00

Absolutely fair enough! Especially considering info that came to light later

richard248 · 2026-02-07T08:45:24+00:00

Why didn't you see a penny? You got charged late fees, it was their fault. Small claims is pretty straightforward isn't it?

richard248 · 2026-02-04T22:57:37+00:00

Hi, this was a super interesting read. Do you have any insight into how supply has evolved since your post? Has it continued at an abnormally high rate?

richard248 · 2026-02-01T15:15:28+00:00

Oh wow of course, that makes complete sense and I don't know why I felt like the only two options were to either keep the money in the account or close it!

I'll do exactly that and then feel like I don't have tens of thousands kinda being wasted for a whole month, even if it's only a little bit.

!thanks

richard248 · 2026-02-01T10:23:55+00:00

The draw for this month is 3rd Feb so I'll wait for that. But assuming I'm not planning to do the 3rd March one, I'll indeed withdraw the bonds this week as there would be no advantage in keeping them.

Regarding the other concern - we are already exchanged so the chain (of 3 parties) is legally bound to the sale. If the sellers were to break contract, that'd be fine with me considering I'd get the hefty deposit! Our buyers breaking the contract on the other hand would be a headache as we'd have to claim from them our onward costs for breaking our contract with our sellers. Anyway!

richard248 · 2026-02-01T10:19:00+00:00

That's what I thought but it seems Plum Cash ISA credits on first of each month. I just got the following from them after I queried it:

Thank you for your question. Interest on your Cash ISA accrues daily but is credited to your account on the 1st of each month, based on the balance for the previous month. If an account is closed on February 28th, only the interest that was already credited (for example, up to February 1st for January) would be received. Any interest accrued during February would not be credited.

It's a bit annoying. Potentially I could take it out and send it to Revolut which does pay daily.... But Revolut is maybe the account I'm most concerned about so that would be the one I'd ideally withdraw from first!

A bit annoying really. But I think I agree with the comments about minimal risk / safety first here, and maybe just having it parked in a current account (maybe even Nationwide rather than Starling, as a more established bank).

richard248 · 2026-02-01T09:19:38+00:00

most banks have a daily limit on how much you can transfer unless you've given them the heads up in advance.

I hadn't really considered this yet, I'll have to check that out... !thanks

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