Loose ends

If you’re a fan of Channel 4’s Grand Designs as we are, you will after a while begin to spot some common show themes:

things always start well but by the second ad-break someone has picked up a life threatening disease / got pregnant / ground to a halt by Covid or been made redundant;
they always run out of money;
things miraculously come good in the last 10 minutes, and most importantly of all;
it’s all going to go very wrong if you don’t have a good independent Project Manager.

Wait … hang on a minute … but we don’t have a project manager?

28th June

Well that took longer than expected. While negotiations are not completely finished, we have very nearly agreed build costs for our new house and this week signed a letter of intent which will allow ground works to start in two weeks (eek!)

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Oh … that’s a little unexpected

Finally the wait is over and we now have a cost from our builder! This is an exciting moment for the project. Less excitingly, while we always knew the budget was going to be tricky, it would appear we are miles away from being able to afford it which is a bit of a shock.

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Inspiration Part Two

While we’re waiting for the build cost to arrive, the restorative alcohol is on standby, decisions on finishes and style continue to rattle round our heads. Here’s some more from the Pinterest archive on where we’ve got to so far.

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Do not adjust your set, normal programming will resume soon

Just a quick message to say, no we’re not dead and the project is still progressing. We are waiting for the Builder to get back to us with a quotation, a process that has been a bit delayed by easter, suppliers and life in general. Hopefully not too much longer before we can agree the contract and actually start building!

A lot, and I mean A LOT, of drawings

Things are starting to gather pace now at an excitingly alarming rate. The Team have finished the RIBA Stage 4 tender pack which is now with the Builder – yes we have a preferred builder, more on that later.

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All the little jobs

No great leap of progress to report at the moment but many, many things are progressing. In no particular order the team have:

designed out most of the new steel structure, replacing it with wood to dramatically improve the thermal efficiency of the building;
lots and lots and lots of detailed drawings have been produced ready for the construction stage;
we have agreed a plan for the perimeter fence with our Farmer neighbour;
surreally work has started to select final room finishes including carpet and tiles;
we have started prepping the party wall paperwork for our neighbours;
our plywood kitchen is starting to firm up;
a garden plan is coming together and …

… we have started negotiating with a Builder. More soon.

Year 2

A new year has arrived and a lot has happened over the past 12 months so I thought it was worth recapping the story so far for you loyal followers – yes all 7 of you.

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The city is paved with seagulls

Thanks to our brilliant removal people Monday went remarkably smoothly and after 20 years we are now back living in the centre of Bath. It’s very exciting to be back with unlimited access to cake shops but even more importantly we can now move ahead with the build stage.

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The next chapter

After a few hiccups we have finally exchanged on our house sale so with an equal mixture of sadness and excitement we move out on Monday!

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