The 'scenic route' to mortgage freedom...

themadvix

Could you pay in part but not in full (for now), given that you're not happy with what he's come up with so far? I think that would be fair, especially as he's now seen the estimated costs of the build and is surprised by them.

PiggyBankShaker

The Child Benefit landed today so I transferred £100 over to savings.

DH paid the architect's bill yesterday. He (the architect) has said that he's going to show the estimate to his Quantity Surveyor tomorrow and get back to us but if we can't get and actual BUILDER to agree to do the work then it doesn't matter what the Project Estimator or a Quantity surveyor *thinks* it will cost to build. I really hate this feeling, this mixture of frustration and powerlessness and I don't make the most logical decision when I feel like this. I literally do not know what to do for the best. 

PiggyBankShaker

The professional estimator came back with a figure of £104,000 +VAT, which excluded several items they couldn't price. We have also had a quote from a builder for £160,000+VAT all in. Neither are feasible in terms of what we can afford. We're having a meeting with the architect on Tuesday and we'll see where we go from there. Ideally we want to tweak / remove some of the more complex aspects of the designs but I get the feeling he will push back on them because he sees the design as 'finished' - even if we can't now realise that vision.

I've been thinking what we do with that money instead; move house to somewhere bigger with more land; go on an AMAZING holiday; pay down the mortgage quicker, buy a VW transporter van, lots and lots of options.  

In the meantime we've spent a bit more the holiday; covid tests (£91) and special insurance (£30) So far we've spent £365. We've told the kids we're going and they're super excited. We just need to inform the school now... and then we'll be all set.

PiggyBankShaker

December already? How did that happen? A time warp? Hmm. Anyway, whatever the cause it means the final mortgage payment of the year has gone out. We had a relatively frugal November, with a total of £2,626 spent across all budget categories. This was a saving of over £1,000 on October and our cheapest month to date since we (re)started tracking in July. That said, we did go on holiday and we accounted for that separately. We spent £1,375 on four nights away in a European city and it was so, so lovely. We went to the ballet, we did two VR experiences, seven escape rooms, a private tour and a trip to a museum. And we ate out every lunch and dinner. It was so nice to get away from - what I realise now - has become the stress of the thought of the extension. How can something that ISN'T EVEN HAPPENING YET! be sooooo stressful? Needless to say no progress on that front whilst we've been away.

We went to get our Christmas tree on the weekend - its huge, absolutely bloody massive, and it dwarfs the entire front room, but is beautiful with all the lights and gold baubles on too, so who cares? We also got a beautiful, classy wreath so I guess that balances out the steroidal tree somewhat. Not made a start on any Christmas shopping, need to get my grove on.

Back to work today, with a break in the middle to attend a funeral with my Dad.

PiggyBankShaker

I'm getting boosted today! Three cheers and bless the NHS!

savingholmes

Glad you got your holiday. Hope the funeral went well. 

Congrats on the booster.

PiggyBankShaker

What a week - went to work, went to a funeral, took my Dad to the hospital, took him Christmas shopping, did my own Christmas shopping (online) chased the architect and the Council planing dept about the extension, arranged a builder to come on Monday to look at the house ahead of giving us a 'final' price, took the kids horse riding, requested an application form for a 0% home improvement loan and booked another holiday for February! I repeat, what a week.

So - covid permitting - we'll be off to Athens for a Feb half term. The flights were £114 return for 5 people - FIVE PEOPLE! And the accommodation was £490, which is fully refundable up to 48 hours before arrival. I'll leave it closer to the time to book other things, like covid tests and airport parking.

Excited about the builder coming - he says he can start in January. The plan at the moment is to do the upstairs whilst we are still wrangling with the architect about the downstairs layout.

One more week until the kids break up for Christmas although I'm only actually working 2.5 days before January 4th. Really looking forward to some serious chilling out.

savingholmes

Lovely to only have 2.5 days left to work. For me - I've got 2 half days off this week but other than that working from home then 2 days the following week and I am off until the 4th. 

Sounds like your home improvement plans are coming together

PiggyBankShaker

We had the builder come around today, he was here for two hours. In theory - if the price is okay - he can start the first floor and attic in January. He's optimistic that he won't have to drop the ceiling, although I'm not convinced that we'll have enough head space up there if we don't. We also talked to him about the kitchen and he was shocked about how long the architect has taken with the plans. He's quoting us for that too and we agreed if we can get the plans amended in time that he could possibly start that in April, but it depends on the price. DH is feeling pretty daunted, and I'm oscillating back and fore, I guess I just honestly thought it wouldn't this much of a nightmare to get to this stage. And what does that mean for the next one? Will that be even worse? Or will it be better?? He did recommend DIYKitchens though, which I hadn't heard of, and then I read some good reviews so the kitchen might end up costing less than we planned which would be awesome. I need to phone / email the architect and I'm just dreading it, he gives us so much guff and empty assurances that I don't trust what he says anymore.

In other news, work has approved my expenses, and I'm soooooo close to cashing out £50 on YouGov. DH's work trip to London has been cancelled because of Boris' WFH announcement and I'm so grateful to have him here instead. He had his booster last week too so as long as we stay home as much as possible over Xmas we should hopefully avoid the dreaded Covid. The CB goes in tomorrow and I get paid on Wednesday. Oh, and I won an Amazon Gift voucher in work for having the best Christmas Tree in our Christmas zoom chat! So that was cool. In theory DH is getting a bonus from work in January but we have no idea at all how much or when, but it will be very welcome nonetheless.

savingholmes

Sounds like things are coming together. It helps if you get a good builder on board and one you can relate to which it sounds like you have. Well done on best xmas tree and the voucher. It all helps.