Tudor Roof tile shocker
We have started receiving quotes for the materials and labour for the build, the first in is from Tudor Roof Tiles, we have used them previously when we built our garages and office cum play room where they give the buildings a real feeling of being a lot older than they are.
Nothing however could have prepared me for the shock awaiting me when I opened the letter as the quote was for a budget busting £109,413.75!!!
A quick look over the itemised list and it became clear that a misplaced decimal point was the cause of the inflated total. The unit price should have been 59.5p each but a typing error had moved the decimal point over to the left to make £5.95 each.
A quick call to the rep confirmed my suspicions and settled my heart, a new quote is on the way.
New build in a credit crunch
Untitled DocumentNot for the first time since I started this blog do I find myself wondering where the last few months have gone, but this time is a little different.
I seem to have slipped into the jaws of the credit crunch. With empty commercial property, failing financial investments, diminishing website commissions and virtually non-existent interest on our savings we have gone from thinking we were in a position of relative security to one of real concern.
So since my last post in October I have been busy trying to get my main income streams back on coarse and whilst doing that I have neglected the fact that I have a Oak Frame coming in a couple of months!
Ordered The Frame
Untitled DocumentWe have taken the plunge and have ordered the Oak Frame.
We spent the end of last week down in Wales visiting the offices of Welsh Oak Frame to go through a 3d cad mock up of the house, the mock up allows you to walk from room to room and although the colouring is a little off it does show you the exact layout of the exposed frame.
Our design has an open plan sitting room come dinning hall which opens up to the the rafters with a featured galleried landing, the 3d walk through allowed us to makes some changes to the extent of the exposed oak in the roof and the widow frames which had we wanted to change at a later date would have cost a fortune.
We were also able to make some smaller room layout changes which again had we wanted to do once the frame was going up it would have been a nightmare.
By Friday afternoon we had reached an agreement, signed the contract and paid the deposit.
The frame will be here in March, Scary!
Where did the last 5 days go?
Untitled DocumentAngela and I spent last Friday at the Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the Excel in East London. The main reason for going up there was to meet again with our proposed frame builders Welsh Oak Frame.
They had drawn up a quote based on our previous meetings, once I got up of the floor we agreed to move on to the next stage which is for them to draw up a 3d walk through so we can see exactly where the oak frame will be seen in the finished building.
We are both looking forward to getting to that stage as it will give us some idea whether or not we have got the balance right allowing us to add or remove oak as necessary. I think we will also feel the project is finally moving on as nothing has really happened since obtaining permission.
The rest of the day was spent around the rest of the show, we meet several contacts for bricks and roof tiles , driveways, rainwater harvesting, oak windows and doors, cast iron gutters and soil pipes and heating systems.
All of which I will looking into over the next couple of weeks.
