Quote revision

Price looks a bit better, but that's partly because it excludes things like the painting, which will have to be done anyway and always costs more than you expect. Ah well. As I said to our neighbour, who started all this - it's all right for him if his renos cost more than he is anticipating, it just means he will have to go on working for longer. For us, it means we have to die sooner. But moving would be even more expensive for less benefit, and the house is trying to tell us "It's time" - shower screen has started leaking and one of the kitchen drawers collapsed yesterday. Peter has fixed it, sort of, but it's not a long-term solution.

And then there's the kitchen

Tony's preferred kitchen guys came round today to measure up. Now we need to head out to the showrooms in Essendon one day soon to see the latest in kitchen gizmos.

Quote shock time...

Builder came with proposal, terrifyingly large number. We're working on it. We didn't want the skylights to open anyway....

Another meeting...

Met with builder and architect to look at some plan details. All OK, but nothing is going to happen for a little while. Heart attack time (when we see the costs) still ahead of us. Likely start date, end August. Likely finish,  2014. And after all that the house will look much the same. Peter is quite positive about it all, I think it's going to be good at the end, but hell in the middle...

More plans..

Architect's detailed drawings arrived. They look good, but the list of repairs to the front of the house that we want incorporated in the builder's quote are absent. We need a further meeting with builder and architect to discuss. On the good news side, it appears they can solve the lack of footings under the slab in a reasonably straightforward fashion using screw piles.