When I googled it, I noticed the fluctuations, so I was wondering if that's the case at all times. Guess it is. I'm kind of reluctant to do that, and I'd need to find out if my CC company charges fees or not. In the meantime, I'll probably stick to the US companies. And I really wanted that Z. rehmanni. Wah!!!! Susan

If you simply Google "margin markup" the first hit is from Buildingtrade.org.uk and recommends using the margin method. It may be (I don't know) that it's more commonly used in the U.K. than in the U.S., and it may be that your contractor should've explained his method more carefully, but it looks like a perfectly legitimate method so long as everyone is on the same page about it. Here is a link that might be useful: buildingtrade.org.uk

Hello, I don't know how much I can advise you, but I'd like to comment on a few things mentioned here. I've bought property many times here and on the subject of gazumping and gazundering, yes it happens here and there but nothing like as rampant as has been implied. It's never happened to me. In most cases the only time some renegotiation can take place is after you've had a structural survey done on a property and you find some fault that could work out expensive to repair, then you might look again at the price agreed. Transactions have been speeded up lately, but yes you can be stuck in a 'chain', for a while, but we get there in the end. Best to buy a property where 'no chain' is advertised, but that's not always possible. I don't know what price range you will be looking at. Most of us here will go to an 'Estate Agent' in a town where we plan to live, there are always several of these, and most often now you will already have seen properties on line that appeal to you, so you go to the agent to arrange a viewing. If you like what you see you make an offer on it. Some haggling can go on here for a short time. When agreement is reached, you arrange for a structural survey to be done and both sides will employ a solicitor to do the conveyancing. When all is satisfied, Exchange of Contracts take place when 10 percent of the agreed total is handed over by the buyer to the seller's solicitor. 1 month later [28 days] Completion takes place, they move out, you move in. In most cases, things run reasonably well, but you will always hear of nightmare stories, concerning delays mostly, if stuck in a chain. Just to correct some points made above by some members. Yes we have huge Fridge Freezers, usually called 'American', we used to have one but it was too big for us. Yes most of us have dish washers, they are so popular and essential for many people. Yes we have tumble dryers, sometimes within our washer or separately. I use mine nearly every day. We are an older couple, just us and a dog, and my electricity bill every 3 months, is about £100.00 which I think maybe $130.00 U.S. Most people here have Central Heating, which means you have a modern dual purpose condensing boiler in a cupboard, or on a kitchen wall, this takes care of your constant hot water and central heating to radiators. The price is about the same as the electricity, depends which supplier you are with. Doesn't matter where you live, many of us do 'home shopping' these days. We order nearly everything online, get the supermarket to deliver it to the door. Clothes are very cheap in supermarkets and other more budget outlets, most of the stuff is made in Bangladesh after all. Health care is free. Medications are free even if you need 20 different ones [if you are aged over 60]. Everything is free medically, except for medications if you are under 60 and can afford to pay them. Yes you have to wait for appointments, but in my experience, if they know it's 'urgent', i.e. something serious, they move you along. There are major problems with Accident and Emergency at the moment due to the time of year and pressure on the system, but I have found the medics that come out to your home, in the rare event you might need one, to be expertly trained. If you can afford private health care on top of this, then so much the better. One of the taxes we pay here which nearly everyone hates with a vengeance, is the Council Tax, which is a tax on property. It's paid monthly for 10 months of the year usually, lots of people don't pay anything much if they are on low incomes with no savings, and then others who do pay have to pay more to make up shortfalls, which causes resentment. I'm in a Band A property which is the cheapest. I pay the equivalent of about U.S.$1600.00 per annum. Larger properties are Band D to Band H and they pay more. We're all just getting on with our lives regardless of Brexit. Who knows how that will turn out. If you'd like to tell us which part of the UK you will be buying in, I might be able to advise you further. I hope this has been of some help.

@Peter Aberdeen not one and the same as @PeteS? I was entranced by your pros @Peter Aberdeen in your post 5 months ago. such keen references to William Shakespere and Robert Frost! Ah. The rose that refused to climb as instructed - how inconvenient when she chose not to bloom for an arrangementnshe never agreed to, in fact one hidden from her. i see the pruning for what it is: not gardening, but disposal cloaked in metaphor. you speak in verse to veil exploitation, call it poetry when it is PATTERN - manipulation manipulation, deception deception, the harvesting of trust for private sport. Low context now: women are not cultivars, and backyard swinging is Not Soulwork. Whatever mask you wear, be it Frost’s regret, Shakespeare’s flourish or Maya’s name, it does not conceal the culture youve created, nor the harm it has done. but still, like dust, I’ll rise. Like air, I I’ll rise. Out of huts of history’s shame, I rise. Up from a past thats rooted in pain, I rise. Into a daybreak thats wonderously clear, I rise. Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise, I rise, I rise. oh…does my sexiness upset you? does it come as a surprise? that i dance like ive got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs? too bad the theatre in your mind sio rich with metaphor and masked intention wasnt spent tending the one who stood by your side, ride or die, like a penguin in winter. but instead, you picked the garden bare, mistaking conquest for connection, and called it cultivation. @peteflowers