05/11/2001

Finally I have my certificate! The house is complete (froma building point of view) and I can get my stuff together and start planning to move in. I am completely skint now! It looks like it'll be beans on toast for the next few months and eating out at other people's houses until I can get back on an even keel. Although it's been a hassle sometimes, I would recommend this to everyone. Build your own house, you save a packet, and get something you can call your own. Go on, you know you want to!

20/10/2001

Turf in and complete, path way almost done now. Where's that bugger from the council!

06/10/2001

Turns out I have to do a drive way all the way up to the back door for disabled access - right from the main road. Thats going to cost a few bob, but what choice do I have?

23/09/2001

The man from the council came and gave the house the once over for the completion/habitation certification. He wont give me it though, until all the changes to the drawings have been made. I might get a temporary one, but until the full one comes through, I dont think the bank will sign off the bridging loan into a mortgage, the bridging loan is costing me a packet every month... I've purchased my carpets from good old R F Mackays, who gave me a great deal. The bed & TV are sorted out, my fridge will appear at some point, it's all coming together. I can't move in though until its all signed off. So all my stuff has to stay in storage until the house insurance passes from Steve the builder to me. 

We've started the snagging phase now. and the list only had minor things on it, like patchy paint or dings in the walls here and there. With the heating on, the skirting and door frame wood is drying out and popping off the walls, but thats to be expected. Had a bath and shower and they are both great.

13/09/2001

Looks like the initial finish date will be next Wednesday. After that, Les the Architect and I will go over the house and pick up any snags. Things like the gas hob pezo doesn't work (it just needs a plug) or that there's a ding in the inside plasterboard that needs sorted etc. Steve's done a great job though, and I'm really pleased with the end result. Hopefully the fire will be in place this week. 

07/09/2001

Well! Things are tearing ahead just now. The kitchen is assembled and in, the electrician has been and completed the wiring work, the garage has been reconnected to the mains and the ground is being prepared to be paved. The burglar alarm has been installed and is behaving, which is a relief, as the noise when it goes off is pretty deafening.  Great progress has been made in the last week or so, I just wish all this would have taken place last month! So, the word from the builder is that everything will be completed in two weeks time. We'll see. I've pretty much cancelled my holidays for this year, I can't really go away at the sign off point. This weekend I think the "snagging" will begin. This is where we walk round and check for wee problems, like the dents in the plasterboard, switches that turn on/off the wrong lights and minor things like that. Steve has done a great job though, I'm really pleased with the end result. This last two weeks for him should be fairly busy, as the fire & chimney still has to go in, and the external finishing needs to be tidied up.

The next stage is the completion/habitation certificate. I can't get this until the water board appear and connect me to the mains, they are about three weeks late by my counting.  

Thanks to Janice and Steve who got me a groovey dooovaayy! 

27/08/2001

Ohh so much has happened. The bathroom bloke has appeared, Steve has done a fair bit of work in the kitchen, we've realised bits are missing and apparently the gas has been connected! On the down side, still no electrician, still no roofer. I'm beginning to wonder if these folk will ever appear again! Steve reckons that it will be complete by next week. Imagine that, after five years, I'll have a house. If you believe that.....!

Les was up tonight and we gave the place a once over, picking up the small details that will need to be sorted. I've got a trip to the bank to get organised, to try and sort out my bridging loan/mortgage conversion. I don't suspect that will be a barrel of laughs. Wish me luck!

19/08/2001

Quite a bit has happened, but nothing you'd really notice (if you know what I mean!) the two porches have gone up and the electrician has been back but has not yet finished everything. The roofers are coming back this week, which has meant more scaffolding going back up against the house, which is a bit of a shame, as I thought I'd seen the last of it. Foonds have been put down for the retaining brick wall that runs round the backside of the house. The wall should go up this week, but with the weather as it is, I'm not too sure about that. Gas supply has been fitted too, and its causing chaos on the Gilmerton road just now. It's taken four sets of contractors to find the gas main and connect me up. Finally, it was the blokes from Kennedys who did the job. More hardcore has gone down on the drive to even it up a bit. The crane delivering the slabs etc had a bit of a run in with the front gate, and its looking worse for ware now. Steve will be fixing it eventually. I've sprung another leak in the house too. I suppose better it happen just now that later on when the builder has left. Still waiting for a water connection and the reconnection of the electricity to the garage.

Steve reckons it will be finished by the end of August, but thats only a couple of weeks away, I'll not be holding my breath for that.

03/08/2001

All go again! The plumber has come back and the boiler is installed. My radiators went in today and appear to be complete (well, they're everywhere I thought they were going to be!) The boiler is bigger than I thought, I'm going to see if its possible to get it moved. The gas, water and BT stuff has also been piped  up the driveway and is at the house but not connected. The electrical work still has a wee bit to go, there is electricity round the bottom floor of the house at the sockets, but the lighting ring and upstairs socket has still to be completed along with the alarm. The digger has been back and killed another one of my wee trees -  the swines!! These things can't be helped I suppose. A trench has been dug round the side of the house to allow the retaining wall to be put in place. I've cut back on the number of slabs going down, as it was going to break the bank! 

We still haven't go the roof sorted out yet. The roofers are to come back, and NHBC folk are to look at the tiling work. If they thing the roof has to be clipped, potentially all the tiles will have to come back off. If they agree that the the bottom and four sides need only be done, then we can have that sorted in a few days. Still happy though with progress, things will go wrong, it would be daft to think that they wouldn't 

25/07/2001

Not much happening, the electrician hasn't shown up now for a few days, the painter and decorator is doing a great job, and is almost finished now. (I know I said that the other day, but this time he really is almost finished!) no sign of the roofers, but there again, there's not much they could do, even if they did turn up! Les will be constructing a letter to explain to Steve, all the things that he's not happy with. These aren't Steve's fault, but are his responsibility to sort out, but I'm shelling out a fair amount of money, so you cant let these things go.

20/07/2001

Steve is off on holiday now but the work is still going on. The painter and decorator is doing a sterling job just now, and he'll be finished by early next week at this rate. Les has been up quite a bit too and has been checking over the work etc. He's found a few problems with the tiling. It seems that quite a few are going to have to be re done. In between times, the roofers are supposed to have come along after Steve went on holiday and finished the job. This hasn't happened, worse than that, the scaffolding blokes appeared on site and took all the scaffolding down, knocking a few of my just installed drain pipes down in the process, as well as breaking loads of tiles. Obviously I'm not best chuffed, but with Steve being away there's nothing I can do as I have no idea who the scaffolding company are. However, on Steve's return there's going to be a few moments of shouting, mostly from him to his contractors I trust!

I'm getting desperate to move in now, its almost done, the electricity has been connected and is live on the ground floor, the decorating is well on its way, all it needs now is a TV, a couch and a bog and we're laughing!

10/07/2001

Steve is about to go on holiday but he's still been putting the hours in, and worked some of the weekend which has meant quite a bit being completed. The harling was finished today, and Steve also has finished the banister on the stairs, and has started the skirting too. The tiling on the roof is complete apart from a few odds n sods, and the scaffolding should be going on Thursday, but that's dependant on them turning up, as they should have been here at the weekend and didn't show. Hopefully tomorrow then! 

05/07/2001

Progress is still good! Scottish Power have been and dug up a hole at the bottom of the drive. I presume it wont be there too long as I've already reversed my car into it tonight! Electrician has been on site, he's been fitting the plugs & phone sockets etc. and driving into my uncles car. Poor George had driven up from France to see the house etc. Parked his car outside and not long after, the electrician reversed his car out and smacked it a good un! I don't think anybody was chuffed about that.

As you can see from the pictures, the stairs is complete. The roof should be ready to finish off too by the end of the week. It seems that the wood burning stove is going to cost me more than a few bob to get fitted now. IT has to go right up through the roof, bend a bit, and then exit. Its going to cost an additional £500 to get that sorted. Any donations gratefully received!

Steve continues to do a great job, and we look to be finished in August (ish). Les has been round today to have a look. He's spotted a few things , but nothing earth shaking.

Thanks to Barry and Carol who donated their nice couches to the "Fill my house" fund.

01/07/2001

Hey! The Ames taping blokes have been through the house and its looking good. (Well, perhaps good is too strong, what I really mean is "stripey"!) The lead work on the roof is going well and I presume this has to be finished before the tiling can begin properly. As you can see from the picture, the tiles are in place ready for deployment. Right now I'm not sure if they go from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom. We'll find out next week. My internal doors and skirting has arrived, and is sitting in the garage waiting to be stuck on. Steve has been doing a grand job. He's going to turn some of the void area upstairs under the coombed ceiling into storage space, and give me access to the loft space above the living room. Same goes with under the stairs, he'll be making sure I can access that space for storing dead pc's & printers that I seem to be collecting recently. Probably now about 6 weeks from completion I think.

26/06/2001

And it goes on! Steve was here most of this week on his own, but things still progressed at a fair rate. A few folk have been round looking at the house and commenting on how well put together it looks, so I'm pleased about that! The tiling bloke still hasn't arrived yet, although I've been given several dates for him to turn up, he hasn't shown yet. Maybe tomorrow! The harling bloke should be coming tomorrow if the rain keeps off, as should the Ames taping chaps. (They cover up the joins in the plasterboard). With any luck the scaffolding will be coming down in the next week or so. That'll be damn good. I'm still not sure if the house is big or not. Sometimes you walk from room to room wondering how you are going to get everything in, then conversely, how you are going to get your stuff to fill the place. All very odd. Even now as its on the downhill straight of completion, there's still loads of things I wish I could have done differently. I suppose that'll be for house No. 2. Aye, that will be right!

20/06/2001

Loadsa progress this week! Steve and Shug have been working really hard. The downstairs plastering has been completed, the upstairs has started and all the dormers have been installed. The roofer starts tomorrow and he should take three days apparently. There's a prize if you can mail me with the right amount of tiles on the house. Nearest answer gets the privilege of sending me £50.00. The cracked trusses have been replaced with more trusses, however these were also cracked. The truss man was pretty shocked by this, and since then more have been delivered. The others will do for my fire, if I ever get to install it!

Les has been up (you can drop him an email on leslie.d.howson@talk21.net if you ever fancy doing this sort of thing) to view the work and has come up with some options for the paving, and also some ways of making the wood burning stove work in a way that will keep building control happy. It's going to cost me more money I can see, but Les is working at keeping it to a minimum. So far I'm well chuffed with how its all gone. I just wish I could move in now!

15/06/2001

The brickies are finished as planned, the lintels are still to be delivered but apart from that its all go. The plasterboard is almost complete downstairs, and next week they'll be moving upstairs. That shouldn't take too long. 

The Council bloke has been out to look at the house and seems happy with everything but my plans for the fire. It seems they want the chimney to be 2 Meters about the ridge of the roof. This might mean taking the chimney inside and run it to the top of the roof and then take it out. Steve and Les are going to get together and come up with a plan - I hope! I've also gone for an alarm in the house, I may as well and it'll be cheaper while the house is easy to access. More money though....

11/06/2001

Things are moving along! I've decided to go for a few more Velux windows, as it makes sense to get them in now, rather than later when its a major job. The kitchen is sorted now as well, and I have my waist high oven included too. The flooring downstairs is complete and should be done everywhere by the end of the week, unless we have to wait for something else. A cement mixer has arrived today, I suppose this means that the bricks are going up! Looks like the completion date will be August now, Steve is away in July, and I rather it wasn't rushed for completion anyway. Hey what's another few months of interest on my bridging loan! The robin's chicks have hatched now, so she'll be feeding them full time. There was 5 eggs but I can only see 2 birds... I'll try and get a picture for the end of the week.

04/06/2001

Quite a bit of work has been carried out since the last update. The roof felting is now finished and the windows have been installed. The upstairs small triangular window is still missing, and I have a large scale window too many. I'm sure with a trusty hacksaw I can make it fit! The plumbing has started and so has the wiring work. At the weekend I went off with Karen and sorted out the bathrooms. We seemed to get a really good deal too. You don't realise how much all this stuff costs until you go to buy it. I know that sounds daft but did you know the average decent bog is £240?! We got the stuff from Options in Livingston, and ended up with a good bit of discount too.

The bloke from the truss company should be coming tomorrow to decide what to do with the trusses that have cracked. I think he'll just have them battoned up on one side. Either that or we have to remove the suspect trusses completely from the roof.

30/05/2001

Trouble at T'Mill! Les the Architect and Steve the builder have explained to me that some of the roofing trusses are cracked. It's not that unusual so they say, but it still gives me a bit of concern. The bloke from the timber company that supplies the wood to the Kit Manufacturer wont now probably come out to inspect them until he has a wooden floor to walk on. I don't think he fancied jumping from joist to joist to risking his neck to see them. What a big girls blouse! Steve has been working on the rest of the roof, finishing off the dormers and today, with Shug, started to put the felt on the roof. It's half done, so with any luck it'll be finished by the end of the week. 

Les came up the other night and he talked through the options I had for finishing it off, for example, slabs and wall harling etc. The wall covering that he has is just the job. He also gave the kit a once over for good measure. Originally, there was a join between the house and the existing garage, but it doesn't look like we're going to do that now. I'm not convinced it will look that good, and also it'll be a bugger to put up. So, I guess we'll have to tell the planning department and see if they object.

24/05/2001

Steve the builder and his mate Shug have been working really hard this week. We've been lucky and the weather has given us an opportunity to get the roof on without any further rain. The main sheeting on the roof went up in no time, but the dormer & lounge roofs were a bit more fiddly I think. Steve hopes to have the roof felted tomorrow. At least with the felt nailed down it will be harder to knock! Les the architect has been up to inspect during the week and he's pleased with progress too. A couple of problems have appeared with the kit, but I think we'll end up sorting them ourselves rather than wait for the kit manufacturing company to come up with the goods, One window is the wrong size and one window disappeared, not too serious as you can see! 

19/05/2001

Les the architect was out again on Friday lunchtime and he's still happy with progress, although like me he was hoping for it to be further on. Can't be helped though, Steve should have been building the house months ago (the initial completion date when the foundations were started was the 11th May.) We'll just have to see how it goes. I'm not so sure now about July, but it wont be far from it. Have chosen my fire today from Perth Fireplace and Marble Centre a bloke called Ian McDonald was very helpful. I managed to pick up a Stratford Stove and a good bit of Caithness Riven hearth stone for much cheaper than I could in Edinburgh. They have a web site  - go pay them a visit! 

The rain has filled up my foundations again, that's a bit of a pain as I'd hope to get the roof on before the rain started again. Hopefully next Monday Tuesday the roof should become water tight. I might have a go at draining it tomorrow night if it looks like the rain will hold off.

16/05/2001

Steve the builder has been away and this is his first day back. Unfortunately the weather has changed and he's having to work in the rain, which will slow things down a bit. The crane comes back tomorrow to help with the moving of the roof components, especially the ones over the lounge, which although aren't all that big, will be a bit difficult to move. If things go well, by Friday they might well be putting the initial wood on the roof to keep the rain out. Next week we might well have a dry house if the windows go in too. But I suppose that all depends on the weather holding up these next few days. It's almost a house!

11/05/2001

Well! quite a bit happened this week, the house went up to two floors, the crane came and went and some horrid children from the playing field were trying to knock stuff again. Harvest them for their organs that's what I say! I've been upstairs and had a look around and its fine. It will be smaller than down stairs because of the coombed ceilings but its still big enough. Once the roof members are in place it should really take off. The builder only worked two days last week, but next week he's going to be at the house at least 4 days. 

07/05/2001

Bank Holiday Monday! It's a fine day today and Steve is onsite. I don't think there will be much more dramatic change for another week or so as Steve will be concentrating on the interior work and preparing for the steel work and second floor. The scaffolding bloke is still supposed to be coming in tomorrow, and as soon as he has put it up, work can begin on the second floor. Les the architect was out at the weekend giving the plot a once over, and he was happy with the progress. 

05/05/2001

The wee shites in the playing field came over the wall last night and pinched some of the wood and roofing felt. I called the police later on but there wasn't much they could do. That night I moved all I could in to the garage, but there is still stuff that could go missing and I'm a bit concerned. So, because of these wee buggers, I'm going to have to spend £300/400 quid on a security fence to prevent that sort of thing from happening again. The wall at the back of the garden already has barbed wire up but it didn't seem to stop them so I guess its going to have to be a stand up fence (about 2meters tall) with green mesh stuff. 

02/05/2001

Quite a bit was done today. A whole pile of wood disappeared and ended up nailed in place to the foundations and batons. My dwangs and noggins are firmly in place now, and I think the double butting is about finished. The kit walls are due to go up tomorrow. The kit will be at half height, and the crane needs to come back to put the steel work in place, as it's bloody heavy and I don't think even four or five blokes could lift it above their heads long enough to put it in place.

30/04/2001

Nothing happened today, I think its all due to start tomorrow. Put up additional security lights at the weekend just incase anybody tried to swipe my timber, as it can be spotted from the main road. Tomorrow the scaffolding should arrive and away we go. Hopefully!

27/04/2001

Bugger me it's actually here! After the delivery being on Monday, then Wednesday, its finally happened on Friday. It was a really tight squeeze for the lorries to get through the gates, less than three inches each side. The Crane driver was excellent, he managed to negotiate right the way round the garden without anything being demolished! Now that the kit is here, I'm hoping that the building will start in earnest. The builder is coming back on Tuesday I think, to start the kit off and begin to put scaffolding in. Roll on Tuesday!

12/04/2001

 No Picture this time! But the good news is the money has come through from the bank (thanks to Jim Henderson at RBS) and I've paid the builder! (Thanks to Stephen Gillies the builder for being very patient!) While we're in that thanking mode, the lawyers that helped sort things out - Kevin Mcluskey of Valente, Mcrombie & Hunters in Easter Rd Edinburgh for the magic job that he did on the house deeds, and all the other hassle surrounding the transfer of the land. Also Dave Marshall of Neilsons who did the other half. I could do an Oscars speech no problem! And obviously a huge thanks to Leslie Howson (Architect) for all the hard work he's put in to getting it this far. Also a big thanks to Fergus Gillies Associates, who was a great help with the engineering side and gave a good bit of stick to the kit manufacturing company.

The order is about to be placed for the kit, and with any luck it should be delivered during the week of the 19th April. We're still on for a completion date of July sometime.

06/04/2001

I was beginning to wonder if I would ever update the site again. We're over that hurdle now and the money has been transferred from the bank to my account. Just in time for the Grand National! Well it's either that or invest in lottery tickets! The money wasn't long in my bank account before it was whisked away and deposited into various pockets for work that's already been done. Everyone has been really patient especially Stephen the builder. Not much will be happening over the next couple of weeks, the site will lay pretty dormant until the kit is delivered, then it'll be amazing how quick things will spring out of the ground.

03/03/2001

Bugger all happening just now, we got confirmation that the problem with the land transfer deeds is just about sorted out. I need one final signed bit of paper from the Abbey National and we can get back to work on the house again. Mind you, I 'm not sure if there would have been much happening anyway with all this weather we are having. Hopefully, the next web update will have pictures of people working on the site and me fretting at the sidelines... 

24/02/2001

Signed some more papers today - I'm now waking up in the middle of the night wondering what I've signed my self up for! I wouldn't be surprised if I had signed the Foreign Legion sign up papers or sold myself as the bloke who gets rotten fruit and wet sponges thrown at him in local fares etc.. for the county of Devon!

23/02/2001

Steve the builder received another kit delivery date which was the 8th March. I ran into problems with the bank too, which meant that cash wouldn't be forthcoming until possibly after the 8th, so, I seem to be the cause of the delay this time. The kit manufacturing wont begin until the kit company are sure I'm able to come up with the money, and right now I can't! So, any donations, you know where to send them! The BT man has been spotted wondering round the garden a bit lost and unsure of where the telephone cables are. At present it looks like they will have to bring in a whole new connection just for me. This might well mean digging up the driveway again or worse, giving me a noddy connection. I'll be looking out for the tell tale sign of tin cans and string. It looks like it's going to snow again this weekend...

19/02/2001

Ah, the bank has called. This is going to put a bit of a spanner in the works!

14/02/2001

Just back from skiing. The garden is almost back to normal and he drains & man holes are all covered up. The repairs to the garden and driveway are all temporary, as we might need to dig them up at some point in the next month or so. Work on locating the nearest gas main continues, as it doesn't look particularly easy to get gas from the existing source.

26/01/2001 - Bumper Edition!

What a week - The foundations were finished! Bricks were laid, the earth was scooped from in between the bricks, concrete was brought on site then the holes were filled. A last layer of concrete has been laid down over a sheet of thick PVC. This will no doubt be some sort of moisture barrier (finally, I'm getting the lingo!). The drains have been dug and installed round my house. It's now moving into the really messy phase. The clay/mud/soil is really sticky, and it only takes a few footsteps to make your shoes encased in crud. Yesterday my trainer was pulled off while moving round the foundation perimeter which tipped me into a ditch - and to top it all making feeble "Eeeeeaaak" noises doesn't  make you look really professional in front of the builders!

A sloping trench has been dug for the drains, starting from the house and going up the driveway to the Front of the original house, beside the pavement. I was expecting some mess, but not a hole 12 ft deep, 9 ft wide. The digger is now resting in the front garden of the original house. I need to join on to their drains, so their front garden has to be extensively "renovated" by the digger. It looks like a bomb site currently. The Planning department are arriving Monday morning to give the drain layout the once over. The electric connection and BT are also ready to be plumbed in. Water comes on Monday afternoon. This will mean that hopefully, the holes can be filled in and the driveway returned to some sort of normality. After that work has been carried out, it'll be a few weeks before the kit arrives. It's now due on the 26th, though the builder thinks he will be ready for it early on next week. The architect will be paying the kit maker a visit to ensure everything is ok before it goes into production, after all, you can only cut the wood to size once!

It's been a hectic time for me too, sorting out deeds, loans, insurance, life insurance, insurance when wearing mismatching socks etc. The list is nearly endless. I'm off skiing now until the 12th Feb, so the web site wont be updated for another couple of weeks. 

23/01/2001

OK, I was wrong, the site is completely level. I had the level taking device out today and was given a good tour of the site. It is level. no doubt. Now, all the ground around it is all to buggery, but my site is actually right on the button. Now perhaps after that complete retraction the builder won't take me to court for slander!!

20/01/2001

All very quiet on site until Friday 19th when the brickies arrived and started work. It was still really cold and I wondered if they were going to get frostbite and sue me! They worked until 3 in the afternoon, by that time half the foundations have been bricked up, with and outer and an inner layer. We haven't started to level the site yet, its pitching to the side and back wall. I assume (well I bloody hope so!) that this gets sorted out before the kit arrives, otherwise that'll be a bit tricky to put up... The problem with not really knowing the building trade, is that  I'm never very sure when to point things out, for fear of looking like a complete tube! I'll bring it casually into the conversation I think, and try not to sound tooo hysterical.... :) 14 weeks to completion so they say...Leaning Tower of Gilmerton, that has a nice ring to it!

16/01/2001

Brrrrrr. (that means it's cold!)

14/01/2001

Foundations are in! Weather has gone really cold, (-4 or about that these last few nights) Builders have disappeared for a couple of days until the foundations have set. Next stage is for the bricklayers to come in and begin the leveling of the site. They lay some more concrete then lap in bricks until the site is level. Or something like that!

09/01/2001

Weather was good today, it meant that the ground could be cleared, topsoil taken away and levels set for the house. Tomorrow the foundation design will be laid and cut out of the ground. With any luck they will be in and set for the weekend.

08/01/2001

At last work has started with the top soil of the garden being removed and the air raid shelter being uncovered and then broken up. It may have been underground for 60 years, but it took quite a bit of time with the mechanical arm to weaken it enough to allow the blokes to break it down into pieces. By the time they had dug the shelter out, there was a 15ft deep hole in the ground. This has been filled and packed now. The site will leveled tomorrow I think and prepared for the foundation laying later on in the week. They have scraped about 2-3 foot of topsoil away already. After this, the messy part will happen, as before the kit comes on site, they will try to prepare the drains, gas, water & electricity which means digging up the driveway and the front garden of 544.

07/01/2001

Equipment has mysteriously appeared in the back garden, which caused no end of consternation in the camp this morning. Obviously I have stealth builders working for me as I don't think anybody noticed them coming in with the tractor trailer or digger.  

05/01/2001

Have received my start date! Its definitely (well its is at present, who knows what will happen over the next two days..)  Monday 8th Jan, I meet the contractors on site and once I've had a chat with them about the initial ground clearing process, the work can start. The council have approved the changes to the warrant in principle, but I don't have the paper work yet in my hand. 

20/12/2000

I've got the next start date, it's going to be the 8th January 2001. I really wanted to have some work done this year, I may well go and  dig out few shovels of earth and that will be a symbolic start if nothing else. Will take some pictures and put it on the site.

14/12/2000

Looks like we've got some movement on the building warrant. Steve the Builder is talking about starting next week, but may well put it off until after the festive season. At least we are talking about start dates again - that must be good news! 

04/12/2000

Still no progress, got a further request from the bank for a valuation by one of their approved assessors, or professional guessers, as to the potential value of the house after its built (that seems a long time away right now!). The amount was inline with what I'd hoped. Builder is getting a bit fed up waiting around for these signatures I think, but there's nothing I can do to speed things up.

30/11/2000

Well, I'm afraid we're still waiting for the sign off from the council for the revised foundation design, and there's another hold up with the company that are selling me the kit. I doubt whether anything is going to happen this year, which is obviously pushing all the other dates back too. I wonder if I'll get in to my house early enough in summer to have a Barbie! In some ways all this delay is good. I'm sure it is, I just cant think how! Any suggestions, pop them on a postcard and send them to "Sap building a house in Edinburgh" or, use the link at the bottom of the page to drop me a line....

18/11/2000

So much for that then! We're still waiting for a signature from the Planning Department on a revision of the foundations. I'll give you two guesses who has been on strike this last week. The builder wont start on site until the building warrant is signed, as he may well end up with  problems if the planning department don't like the new foond design...

Meanwhile, it continues to rain and the Air Raid Shelter has filled up again with water.

Met my architect today who doesn't think that the kit will be available for delivery until after December. From a promising early start it looks like I'm stuffed. The plan was that by crimbo the kit would be up and water tight. It now looks as though the majority of the construction will be carried out in the worst weather conditions. 

Now, where's that lucky white heather....

11/11/2000

Things have happened a bit quicker than expected. Instead of going away this weekend I had to start on the site. Mid way through the burning of the old hut and all the rubbish, we got a visit from the Lothian Fire Brigade, who were called because of the smoke. They were a bit disappointed to find just a bonfire, and buggered off after a few withering looks.

08/11/2000

The garden is now a quagmire of mud and standing water... Work starting on the 13th? Oooh the tension!

05/11/2000

Looks like the house will start next Monday (13th!), I wont get my hopes up as the weather just now is terrible and I'm still waiting for a few things to get sorted out on the deeds front. But after 4 years a few more weeks isn't going to make that much difference. The air raid shelter has now filled up with water and I'm wondering if this is going to cause more problems. The end/house completion date was mooted to be around March 2001, I could run some bets on this to see when I get my habitation certificate from the planning department so I can move in!

Slowly getting together all those house things that after living for years in rented flats you just assume come with the house, like kettles, toasters etc, and pots'n'pans etc.