Skip to main content

House Options... Reality Check

I met with a contractor two days ago to discuss building a new house! Yay! I was so excited, I tried on several different outfits, because I was meeting with him sans the hubby and I wanted to look like I was a woman he would take seriously.

So once he arrived and I ushered him into my office, we started talking ideas and $. I had a number in my head that I figured was pretty reasonable and could get me a decent house. Yeah right.

To the contractors credit he was upfront and honest, but the number he gave me made me suck air. I'm talking upwards of $300k. Do you have 300k just laying around? I don't.

Well it didn't deter me completely. We still went on with discussing a floor plan, material options etc. He is going to draft a plan and get back to me later.

The good news is with the price of building new, the hubby is finally taking my idea of renovating an old farmhouse we already own a little more into consideration.

So the whole thing got me to thinking, how come I could go into town and buy a really nice finished house for well under $200k, but I can't build one for $300k? And just to remind you, we live on a working farm/ranch, so living in town is not an option. Well, now my eyes are peeled for a good house that we could move onto our place. The trick there is most houses have a basement under them and what would you do with a finished basement after you lift a house off of it?

Needless to say, I'm not giving up. I have lots of options to explore and I am anxiously awaiting my floor plans from my contractor. He was great by the way. He didn't give me the usual, "Oh your a girl and I'm going to treat you stupid," run around I tend to get from men in his profession. That has me super excited and I also received really good reviews from a friend that he built a house for.

Just to rub salt in the wound of the expense of building, I noticed the laminate flooring in the laundry room starting to bubble today. Upon further inspection I discovered the hot water line to the washing machine has a slow leak that has been creeping under the flooring.

No idea yet how much damage is done to the subflooring, but I know that the laminate has water seeping up through it. I know that laminate is certainly not fancy stuff, but it is better than having peeling rotten laminate, which I now have. So I guess that's the next thing on my list of things to fix.

Currently I shut off the water to the washer and am waiting for a certain husband to come home and help me pull out the washer so I can get the hose off and get it repaired or replaced. Hmm on second thought, maybe a nice little rental with a landlord wouldn't be so bad? :)

Any ideas on how to bring down the cost of a new build or inspiring stories of a remodel that saved a few pennies? Throw them my way. Thanks!

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Changes

I was cleaning today, which gave me time to think, and thinking always leads me here. The house is 'weekend messy', so decided to clean my floors, because The Nester says if your floors are clean the rest of the house feels clean too, even if it isn’t.  I have found that it is pretty good advice, so when everything else feels chaotic, I clean the floors. Of course for me, cleaning the floors also means picking up the toys, shoes, clothes, etc. so that I can even begin to vacuum, which naturally leads to a cleaner home as well.  While cleaning up I began to think about how this blog has evolved over the years, from a desire to write like The Nester about home, into what it is now.  I started writing this blog when I was dreaming of building a new home. Then plans changed, life took turns, and we ended up in a home so different than I expected and so perfect for our family. Somewhere along the way I realized that home wasn’t in the walls that went up or in ...
2 comments
Read more

Summer Lessons

Making our house feel like home in the summer feels more chaotic to me than the slower months. November through March, when its dark early and bedtimes come swiftly, meals are slow cooked all day long, and warm light comes from houses in the evening hours, just naturally lends itself to an aesthetic of quiet and calm. At least for me. Summer lends itself to late nights out, days where we are only home long enough to drop piles by the door, eat and leave a mess on the table, dirty more clothes than a small country in a matter of days, and the chaos of home just seems unsettled and rushed. I am going in circles most days, feeling like I am not accomplishing anything and yet spinning and spinning and trying to not tip over.  And yet... And yet, a couple times a month someone asks me “How do you do it all?”  I feel like I am that analogy of a duck on the pond, I look calm on the surface, but underneath my feet are kicking like crazy. And really that is just o...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Farmer

I trust that, by now, you have all seen the commercial heard round the world. You know, the one that stopped all action and silenced a nation when the soft rumble of that voice drifted into living rooms on a Super Bowl Sunday. Yes that commercial . Paul Harvey's voice, unmistakable in its sincerity and beauty, spoke of a people whom work from sun up till sun down with no recognition. He spoke of a people whom care for their baby animals and pour their blood, sweat and tears into helping them grow. He spoke of a people, so foreign to many in the world today. He spoke of a people whom many have forgotten. He spoke of a people; my people. The farmer. I am a fourth generation farmer married to a fourth generation farmer. Together we are raising the fifth generation. We don't do it because its easy, it's not. The hours my husband spends working rival that of any doctor or lawyer I have ever met. We don't do it because it's profitable, some years it...
4 comments
Read more