<img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-619" alt="Front Elevation (Sept12)" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Front-Elevation-Sept12-200x151.jpg" width="200" height="151" />This week we travelled up to Market Rasen to meet the builders alongside our architect. Their quote for the work was slightly less than the other bidders and they were the most enthusiastic about the work when we interviewed them however the total build costs were much higher than we anticipated so we were looking for savings.

It was an interesting morning and we managed to save £12K on the external render. We'd specified some lightweight render that had a good thermal efficiency however it turns out that it's 4 times the price of normal render so we soon ditched that. We're also looking at white wood for skirting and architraves which not only saves us money it also gets over the problem of different coloured woods throughout the house and it sets off the oak doors that we have selected.

More delays seem to be creeping into the programme because of getting water onto the site as it seems the utility companies are not very quick to react to requests. There is some doubt that we will be in by November. This was depressing news but I'm sure we'll get over it.

The four hour round trip was a bit of a struggle and I was fighting off sleep for some of the journey home. Next time we go up we'll try to stay overnight.