How crazy is the that builders, subcontractors, architect, engineers and the rest travel miles to work.

When I built my first house I went on a bicycle and the majority of my jobs have been within walking (long walk) distance.

Even tradesmen or professionals driving opposite ways round the M25 to work, or working in each others home towns when these are miles apart.

There is a business opportunity for a job swap shop? Both parties would save the time and travel costs shop could get a percentage?

Green swap shop --- may be I'll start it?

I think this every time that I find myself on a motorway during rush hour which, thankfully, is not very often.

Why can't all the people driving from A to work at B not just swap homes with everyone who is driving from B to work at A?

We all seem to have taken Norman Tebitt's 'get on yer bike' admonition a bit too far.

Nice, but IMHO an unworkable idea. Based just on our own commercial experiences, we are being ask to install wooden floors as far as Kettering (we're Kent based) because our prospect can't find the level of craftsmanship ther (or in Wales, London, Scotland, etc).
Ideals are good to have, but still have to be practical.

Tony, did you take tools etc on your bike to your new build?

Tony, I'm sure there a professional and experienced floor fitters all over the country, it's what the client perceives. And I think that won't change.

What has happened since the tools on a bike day is that the real cost of motoring has dropped enormously. The question is whether that will continue. When oil becomes really expensive we may have more incentive to look for local work. Let's hope no more roads get built - that only makes transport easier.

We should advocate local local local as interested green building boffins.

Local labour, local materials, local business.

The incentive is already there £50 per tank + n wasted hours sitting on a motorway.

I worked locally and refused to travel large distances to work and as I result cleaned up in the market place.

Some of my suppliers didn't even recognise me as I never went to collect anything -- deliver it the day after ordering was the general rule.

Another first for Britain! Almost nowhere else in the world is petrol priced so high, thanks to taxation, that it's at last begining to hurt, rather than just being grumpily absorbed. Would be interesting to know if anywhere else in the world there's the beginings of this awareness of the implications of peak-oil, China's exploding energy demand, and all that, in the wide population.

>hasn't stopped the majority of smokers
Nothing has stopped the smokers. It may have influenced the behaviour of the ex-smokers and the never-were smokers. :)

I recon if duty stays the same, and the dollar holds its value against the pound (I should imagine they will both drop like stones against real money, i.e. gold & silver), then we need $300 at least to double petrol prices then the £100 fill up will be a reality. I could see that happening within 5 years. That would hurt a lot of people and make them cut back on the car use and choose much more efficient vehicles. I'd be investing in an electric car at that price, if they will make one with a decent range by then.

You're quite right and food prices are already rising. My grocery bill has topped the £100 mark 2 weeks running - that has never happened before... worrying isn't it? Still the CPI is down around the 2% mark, so everything must be fine right?