SmlSave MFW diary - where to start?

gallygirl

evab wrote: »

We've had several quotes and have all been around the same figure, we would love to get the whole house down but realistically the kids rooms need sorting asap as very cold in their rooms and they are the only ones without radiators. Saving up to do the whole house would take ages as need 5 windows of which 2 are very large, a new front door and french doors to replace the current patio doors, and eventually in the future ( a very long time) when we convert the outhouse into a lovely utility/storage room, then another 2 doors needed and a window.

So we would rather do a bit at a time and decorate, otherwise we'll get fed up with the rubbish decor and no progress.

Have you had quotes from local companies, we have used any national ones.

Slightly underhand but...... I would look for houses having DG fitted. See if you can catch one of the fitters and ask if they do work 'out of hours' - I had my house done for 3k that way, cheapest quote had been over 5k, and they did a great job.

Alternatively - measure your windows. Are they standard size (you can tell that by looking at window sites on line). Bung a request on freecycle - you'd be amazed!

SmlSave

Alternatively - measure your windows. Are they standard size (you can tell that by looking at window sites on line). Bung a request on freecycle - you'd be amazed!

What a good idea, I hadn't thought of that!

Once the garden is done, hopefully before Novemeber :rolleyes: , we thought we might go the National Self Build/Renovation Centre which is near us - hopefully there will be a selection of local and national companies to get quotes/ideas from. OH is very enthuisastic bout fitting the windows himself, which I'm fine with as long as its cheaper and doesn't take too long, so the Centre should give us some insight to DIY as well.

StuartGMC

I wish you well in this endeavour; I had great fun due to my own technical background of putting the sales guys under the spot light on their product. Pushed for data on the UPVC quality itself (not recycled) metallic components and corrosion mitigation, internal vs external beading, Standards for the materials and components, original source of components (as installers always "vanish" so having confidence in the manufacturers is important)....

...always fun to have one over the sales guys!

I understand your comments on scheduling vs available cash and hope it works out ok.

SmlSave

...always fun to have one over the sales guys!

Totally agree:D I like to know as much as I can before buying something, especially something expensive!

On trying to keep in the food budget this month I've bought some containers and intend to batch cook this weekend so I'm all stocked up. HM soup...yum...

Fingers crossed for a dry weekend so the garden can be worked on, if it rains I guess it's tidying, cooking and looking through the cupboards for stuff to sell on amozan:A
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or may just stay in bed:p

evab_2

I found the sales people who came to us really nice, maybe it was because they're local companies? When we lived in Bedford we had national companies and they were the usual sales patter - ended up using a friend of a colleague who did the job for a huge saving.

SmlSave

Had a very busy weekend with gardening - in the rain - and batch cooking to fill up the freezer.

More scary news about job losses this morning, one person at work has already been made redundant and its one of the main subjects of conversation at the mo.:eek: We've had one person suggest that we could change from working 9-5 to 10-4 which really didn't go down well with me. If the company needs to cut my hours I hope they'll give me a chioce of working part-time, at least then I could - hopefully - find another job to keep me going. :cool:

Not very nice at all really...

Thank god I have this site to help me live within my means

evab_2

I hope you find out soon about any changes with your job, it's horrible not knowing. What do you do by the way?

SmlSave

Thanks evab.

I'm a legal secretary, the house market slowing down has effected us quite a bit.

Loughton_Lass

I've found that using a local company for double glazing is much better value, and gives better service, in general. Make sure you get internally glazed (or beaded) though, as the others can be a bit of a security nightmare.

The other place to try is ebay. We got some great windows for our utility room for less than £10 each. Fingers crossed for your job.

SmlSave

Thanks Lass, soory to sound dumb - what does beaded mean?