Family life and a big build

As you can tell family life has taken over for a while as the blog has been rather quiet! However, I thought I'd update you on progress at the same time as sharing the challenges and blessings of undertaking a major build project as well as managing the growing demands of a family of 5! 

As you'll see from the piccies the house is continuing to take shape before our eyes and it's been amazing seeing the way things pop up or suddenly appear. I know it's no surprise to the builders who are working there every day, day in, day out, but a lot can happen in a week! 

So, progress report: 

Watertight

We are now watertight as far as most of the main roof structure is concerned (felt and batons in place but still waiting for tiles). You can now stand inside the extension and stay dry which is perfect timing as the weather seems to have broken after a gloriously dry year so far and there are now more heavy showers. It also means that the builders are now working on laying the floor screed, underfloor heating and will begin to dry-line and plaster some of the interior. 

Electrics

Dean our electrician is busy with the first fix and covering some of the builders trigger happy tendencies when it comes to knocking down walls that have the mains electricity switch board on! Thank the Lord they didn't fully knock it down before sparks flew!! 

Flooring choices

We've been brave and decided on our downstairs flooring - we're choosing slate throughout the new extension and hallway and outside (in order to create a seamless inside/outside transition) and we've chosen a smoked engineered oak in the formal lounge, playroom and workshop space. 

Bathroom and utility layouts

We've now decided on our layouts for the two new en suites and the utility is almost decided - subject to our plumber guiding us on the best place to locate the underfloor heating controls. Trust me when I say I never knew you could have a full 30 minute conversation on the pros and cons of locating the underfloor heating controls in the hallway cupboard versus the utility! 

And so to negotiating family life! We are now becoming masters at navigating showrooms with 3 children under 7. Our 2 girls are the hardest to amuse whilst visiting window manufacturers (there's something irresistible about opening and closing windows and doors that no toddler can overcome) but we have survived! We were also brave enough to take them to the Homebuilding and Renovating show last month. I'm sure all the tradespeople we've seen think we're slightly crazy bringing them with us. I have to admit, carrying on a conversation about RAL colours and window frames or which side of the sink the Quooker tap should go is particularly challenging when you have the youngest screaming at the middle child 'miiiiinnnne' over a packet of biscuits. However, we cannot just dump our kids on the kindness of our friends all the time - especially when the times we do want a sitter we'd rather be having a quiet dinner for two! I just want to thank the several showrooms (The Myers Touch, Kloeber and Total Windows) for having large boxes of tempting toys which have blissfully managed to distract our brood for long enough to make vital  decisions. 

And so to the piccies;

Looking up at the roof from inside ( the only time we'll be able to see it like this from the ground floor) 

View from the guest bedroom in the new extension.

View of the master bedroom balcony window. Roll on blissful mornings of waking up and looking out at a tree-lined garden) 

Floor screed laid in the formal lounge and slider steels now fully in place waiting for the sliding window which we have now agreed upon.

What was once the wall holding the mains electricity board is now gone and instead the board is rigged to a temporary fix whilst we wait for the board to be re-located outside!

Front view - still waiting for tiles and the room above the playroom on the far left to be done. 

If it's possible we have even less windows than before as the builders now move over to focus on the left of the house (as you face it).

See you all in two weeks with more updates! 

Xx

Going up...

Sorry it's been a while!

We've been rather hectic with end of year school stuff, the usual sports days, dance showcases, cake sales and assemblies.

However, as you'll see from the piccies below work on site has been carrying on at a fair pace and we're almost at roof truss stage. (Next week maybe we'll have roof piccies.)

More excitingly we've had the wonderful opportunity to view our kitchen on show at the Homebuilding and Renovating Show in Esher last weekend. Designed by the Myers Touch (www.themyerstouch.co.uk) It is amazing and we're so excited about seeing it (flick down below for piccies).

Currently our discussions are revolving around electrics, bathroom layouts, flooring and internal doors. For example how many TV points do we need when we're all moving towards digital/wireless tech? Future-proofing your home is one of the more important reasons why we're spending some time analysing our electrics. We don't want to reach the point when the kids are teenagers and we've not got data points in their bedrooms to connect their computers. You end up thinking you're going to need a home server which will allow you all to network wherever you are!

As for bathroom layouts - hmm, we're still thinking! We have a lovely master en-suite space which is 2.4m x 2m and whilst it looks a good size, it's proving tricky trying to fit in a separate bath and shower in the right configuration with the window, sink, toilet and towel rail. Many iterations have been tried with miniature cut-outs and square graph paper.

With flooring the dilemma is how much do we want to spend? There is so much choice out there that you have to think you get what you pay for, but on the other hand how wrong can you go with engineered hard wood? Ironically both Rob and I are agreed on what style of wood we want (smoked oak) but we're just trying to find the right quality/price balance.

Finally, internal doors - we've just begun flicking through the catalogues and we are at the slightly bamboozled stage. Just hopeful we can find the right match for our slight modern rustic style that will go with slate and smoked oak flooring!

So without further ado - here's the all important pictures;

Here's hoping it will still be on ice when we we move in!! 

Next time- wood flooring - what's the deal on engineered wood.

X

Most recent pictures

Managing a tight build budget

Here's a word from my better and more mathematical half, Rob, on managing tight build budgets. It's long, but trust me, it's a good read all the way to the end!

At its simplest managing a budget is about ensuring you have sufficient funding to cover your project expenditure. 

 

Your funding is usually straightforward to work out and this will create the limit for your project expenditure. It will come from cash and investments you have available plus borrowing from mortgages or banks (begging is allowed, however stealing is not!). 

 

Your expenditure on the other hand is the tricky bit, this is all about getting cost certainty about how much your project will cost and level of certainty that you can gain. It’s also about understanding where the risks of cost escalation are and having a mitigation plan if, for whatever reason, costs rise – because guaranteed they will. 

There are two elements to this; 

1) Completeness, which is about ensuring you have a full list of line items in your expenditure budget and no missing ones and 

2) Accuracy, which is about the quality of your estimations of each of those line items. 

Completeness is more important since if you have a missing line you will be 100% wrong (guaranteed!) whereas if you have the line item then on accuracy at least you will be less than 100% wrong. Don’t be in denial (i.e. “it’ll be ok” cos it won’t!) about either completeness or accuracy, ensure your estimates are good and add some slush since there is always scope creep. Even if your expenditure budget is complete and accurate scope creep can still occur because of the list of products on the market and their range of prices and the fact we always want the best and most expensive stuff!. It’s easy to get sucked into wanting the higher spec product but if you spend more on one line item, remember you need to save it on another. 

 

Fixed price jobs and quotes are very helpful in providing cost certainty if funding is tight however be sure you understand the scope of a fixed price job. If in doubt ask your main contractor to indicate what’s not included.

 

Your contingency is essential since even for valid reasons a project will cost more than expected, that, unfortunately, seems to be life. The uncomplicated advice here would be to make contingency as large as possible. As a guide 20% should be more than sufficient provided you have good completeness and accuracy in the first place and are running with fixed price jobs.

 Ideally contingency should be being used for accuracy and specification changes and not completeness since if it relates to completeness then this indicates the budget was missing stuff in the first place. 

 

Your project people are crucial to managing a budget. Ensure your architect, project manager and main contractor builder are people who you know and trust will help you manage your budget. Be up front with them about your funding versus expenditure and how you need them to help you successfully manage your budget. If you have any significant doubts consider changing them. If you are getting quotes from suppliers such as windows, kitchens, electricians and plumbers get to know and understand the products and quotes, asking for them to be detailed. 

For example, understand that expensive German window manufacturers provide as standard marine grade paint and maximum glass thickness since they assume everyone in the UK lives on the Atlantic Coast in Lands End, yet you live in leafy Surrey! There are good and cheaper alternatives on the markets so go and seek them out. 

Main contractors will have industry contacts, take recommendations from friends, family and colleagues and go and try out the products at trade fairs and suppliers places.

 

Discounts are available and can be significant. Use trade accounts via your main contractor to gain competitive pricing where you can. Be open and honest and provide supplier quotes between them to see if they can price match or do better. Be bold ask for discounts, suppliers want your business just as much as we want their products. Remember if you don’t ask you don’t get!

 

Finally have a vision of what successfully managing and delivering a budget looks and feels like. The chances are the final delivered project will be different to the initial budget and that’s ok provided you have spent only what you can afford and that the quality and specification of the final product is one you are happy and can live with. 

Cheers

Rob

First delay...it's inevitable

It was always going to happen, but you always hope it won't! We experienced our first real delay of the project last week. 

Amazingly, (and rather annoyingly) our structural engineer missed a couple of steels off his drawings which was only spotted a couple of weeks back by the builders. They quickly ordered some steels but because they're bespoke they take a while to manufacture. 

As a result our poor brickies were hanging around waiting for the steels to appear in order for them to continue building above the window line. 

So, word to the wise, don't implicitly trust a structural engineer to spot everything! Oh, and remember to triple check their drawings with a practical/common sense filter, and with your builder early on in the process! 

Hopefully we haven't lost too much time (a day or two maybe) and I'm providing the brickies with cake and other goodies so maybe they'll be working fast on their return after next week which is flooring week! 

Other things on our minds this week are: narrow hallways (is ours too narrow?); staircases, removable balustrades, windows, tiles, bathroom layouts and much more. 

Lesson of the week: be two steps ahead not one step behind. 

Here are the all important pictures of the weeks work! 

I'm loving the windows already! 

Behind the mountain of earth is a house - just waiting to emerge! 

This picture shows the new kitchen door (opening on the right) and what will be the new pantry door (on the left) 

Below are the plans for the ground floor (apologies for the quality - screen shot by my phone of my laptop as they're A1 size!) I think you can make out the layout and what we will be talking about over the coming weeks! 

You can just make out the front elevation layout if you follow the line of grey bricks behind the orange ladder. 

Where have all the tiles gone? Part of me thinks it almost looks better! Not a fan of tile hung but budget restrictions mean we can't upgrade to cedar cladding. 

Next week: managing a tight budget...

Bricks and Mortar and a see-thru house

As you can see below the bricks are going up and the extension is really beginning to take shape. It's very encouraging when you can see some building rather than just demolition. However, that said, our house is still see-thru! 

Exciting chats for this week have included meeting the electrician and talking through our requirements for lighting, alarms and media. It's all rather mind-boggling and I'm sure I've gone overkill on plug sockets but how many of us are always trying to find somewhere to charge the phone!! 

We've also clarified what our chimney size is and what log burner we're going to use. The conclusion is an inset fireplace in the existing lounge and a more modern wood burner in the new extension - roll on those cosy winter nights! 

So here are the all exciting pictures! 

Steels - who knew they'd be so exciting! 

Taking shape

Exciting progress this week as we've watched the brickies move onto site and the real outline of the new extension take shape. 

It's funny how despite it actually being a large extension it still feels small when we stand inside it! However, having watched enough Grand Designs shows I can appreciate there always seems to be a discrepancy between what is 'felt' and what is 'real'! 

Scarily we have less of a house than we did last week as in order to satisfy our local tax man (see previous post) we have to go as far as obliterating walls and windows - hopefully now they might finally believe we can't live there!!! 

What do you reckon - could you live here? 

So now that they've started building, our thoughts are turning back to the interiors. First on the agenda is the fireplace and wood burning stove. This has a direct impact on bricks hence it being one of the first things to consider. So Rob and I are going to spend a happy evening deciding which stove we like as this decides the size of the fireplace and therefore where the bricks need to be! 

I have to admit to not being quite prepared for this decision - came a lot quicker than anticipated! Hopefully forthcoming decisions will be better anticipated!