£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

Just popping in to say hello! The last 24 hours have been entirely occupied with the total nightmare of our architect. Instead of developing the design proposals as agreed, he has produced a completely new set of proposals which bear little resemblance to our original design brief. Am so raging, and have just sent a long email explaining that (a) he's not designing what he said he would and (b) we won't be paying for the designs he's produced thus far because of that. Arghhhhh

Verbatim

Takes me back to a similar situation with an architect we had. A"design led" practice which appeared to mean they wanted to win awards and our lot was to let them build what they thought might win (and pay) not what we asked for. So we wanted a kitchen extension which would allow us to cook and eat in the same room so guests and we could chat while food was cooked. They came back with a wall between the two areas with a clerestory at the top, ie 8 or 10 feet up.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 61: Day 6

Morning. Needing All The Coffee this morning (and I don't even drink coffee). Had awful insomnia last night after architect stress (on which more in a moment), dozed off at midnight, then had a DC up every 30-45 minutes for the rest of the night. One with (I think) growing pains, one kept throwing off the duvet then getting cold, one having nightmares. Have given up now and am nursing a mug of tea while they all snooze away contentedly, naturally. Only need to drive for 45 minutes this morning to pick up DH, then can snooze in the car all the way to London.

Right, architect. I sent a really really challenging email, saying we were feeling really disappointed with the work done so far, he hadn't answered the brief at all, we weren't planning to pay for the design work so far as it ignored the brief so mightily, he had offered no explanation for abandoning various design avenues which we had specifically asked him to follow. I spent the rest of the day in huge tension - I hate being confrontational and negative to such an extent, and I was worried we had missed something or failed to tell him something somewhere along the line which had led to this state. He finally emailed back about 8pm with a somewhat patronising email suggesting we didn't understand the design process (which seems to be a process where you design a house for five people with room for only four beds an one toilet :mad: ), but attached one more design sketch... which was an absolute work of genius. Perfect proportions, answered every single issue we had presented, made the space look good, just exactly what we wanted. I can only assume that (because our space is very challenging, being so small) he just hadn't spent the time on it before, and following our ranty email he spent the day working on it to produce the design he sent. Honestly, it flows so well compared to the others, and includes all of the few non-negotiables, rather than just one or two (four bedrooms, boot room type space, utility room, extra light into downstairs back half of the house, bathroom upstairs if humanly possible). Of course, now we have to figure out how much square footage it is and whether we can (a) get planning and (b) afford it, but I finally feel like we're working with designs which are going in the direction we want.

Other than that, have had a nice couple of days at my mother's! Looking forward to seeing other relatives in London later on. But mostly to sleeping in the car.

Have spent no money since being here other than a couple of quid on snacks for the car journey, and will need to top up fuel at some stage.

Debt repayment:
- £29.15/30 April rounding down pot. Ooh look, almost reached my April goal already!
- £1,922.49/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Treadingonplaymobil

Verbatim wrote: »

Takes me back to a similar situation with an architect we had. A"design led" practice which appeared to mean they wanted to win awards and our lot was to let them build what they thought might win (and pay) not what we asked for. So we wanted a kitchen extension which would allow us to cook and eat in the same room so guests and we could chat while food was cooked. They came back with a wall between the two areas with a clerestory at the top, ie 8 or 10 feet up.

OMG you are heaven sent! I have been trying to remember the word for glass bits at the top as we want to include them in one of the rooms and hallway to get extra light in (if budget allows, which it probably won't). Kept googling to no avail and I knew there was a name for them. MSE solves all problems, it's official. :rotfl: :T :rotfl:

Verbatim

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

OMG you are heaven sent! I have been trying to remember the word for glass bits at the top as we want to include them in one of the rooms and hallway to get extra light in (if budget allows, which it probably won't). Kept googling to no avail and I knew there was a name for them. MSE solves all problems, it's official. :rotfl: :T :rotfl:

Glad to be of service!

mfmaybe

There's also a transom window which I think is only when above a door. I really like them, and wish there was a place for one in our new house!

We did have similar architect issues, and these were basically only resolved when I sent them a measured out floor plan and said "draw this". Which rather misses the point of an architect.:mad: It's good that they came through with a plan you love; but keep in mind part of the brief to them (the biggest part, really) has to be budget, and they have to design something that you can afford to build. Which rooms will be affected - kitchens and bathrooms? If so then you need to ask what sort of spec he's assuming in budget, too. These are the most expensive rooms but can also be the area where huge savings could be made. We fitted out a bathroom 2 years ago with less than £1k of stuff including a rainshower, etc, and there wasn't a single thing I wish we'd spent more money on. Whereas most self build magazines reckon £4k per bathroom. Our new build will have an IKEA kitchen, not a £40k bespoke number etc. It's much harder to save money on basic walls!

Sorry for the ramble, am fully in building mode these days.:o

Sea_Shell

How much have you got in your "extension" pot at the mo? How are you funding the majority of the works? Did you get extra on your Re-mortgage towards this?

(sorry if you've already posted this info earlier....it is now a rather large thread!!)

System

Hi ToP! New subscriber here, currently catching up (I'm on page 25 :eek: ) but just wanted to say your hard work & determination is so inspiring You've given me some ideas to clear my debt! So thanks. Back to catching up... :rotfl:

Cherryfudge

I did feel for you, reading all your stresses of yesterday but... result! How wonderful to know it can be done. I know there are still the 'little' matters of planning permission and money but a specific plan is such a boost to keep you on track when the going gets tough.

Hope you have a nice restful time now that nasty bit is done and dusted (and yes, it does sound as though he'd spent all day working on it).

Treadingonplaymobil

Re the funding of the extension: At the moment, in true TOPM fashion, it's largely optimism and planning to increase our debt. Our priority at the moment is to cover the architect, planning, structural engineer and building regs bit without adding to our debt, and continuing to pay off debt at our current rate, as that allows us to abandon the process at any stage without having increased our debt if we decide it's not a goer. Then when we are ready to build we will borrow whatever is required for the actual build, with the hope of adding it to the mortgage once the build is done, but it will need to be an affordable loan in case we can't.

We currently save £285pm towards the ongoing costs (architect etc, as above) and have £1,000 in that pot ready for the next bill, so are doing well with keeping ahead of those bills, and that £285pm savings could be put towards debt repayment once we borrow for the extension.

My mum is willing to lend us at least £20k as long as we can match her (low) interest savings rate and repay something each month, but that won't cover it by any stretch of the imagination. Our issue is affordability of repayments rather than whether someone will lend to us, I expect, as our current unsecured debt on paper is <£15k.