Wednesday, October 1, 2008

While you're waiting...

for new pics, I think I'll share some of the financial lessons we've learned so far...

1) Dirt is expensive....and it takes a lot more fill than you would think when you look at what seems a huge truckload, but hardly makes a mudpile once it's dumped.
2) Do not get an inspection and THEN order stuff...by the time you get the money the new stuff has been added to the bill, but the draw money in the pot won't have gotton any bigger. (Yes Helen, you told us this, but men don't listen!)
3) You WILL go over budget...you will...then you either have to cut something or hope the nice folks at the bank and CMHC will renegotiate with you.
4) Interest rates are important...but sometimes going with a bank and a person you can trust is more important. We could have saved a 1/4 or maybe even 1/2 a percent going with one of those online mortgage lenders...and never actually met any of them. Instead we chose our NBTA Credit Union, and Helen, who knows our life story by now...she is a phone call/e-mail away and I can drop in on her when I am in Freddy for meetings. She cares about us and our house project, and that is worth a lot.
5) You can do it yourself, and save money, but be prepared to invest your time...thankfully teachers get the summer off...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, by doing it yourself, is the money saved worth it? If you didn't get the summer off... would you even attempt to do it on your own? That's what I'm trying to figure out... how much is our time worth?
Good tips though. I know we are going to need way more fill than what Brent is thinking. So do you order the stuff before your inspection? I'll be picking your brain so much more when we get started, lol!

Heidi said...

Yes...it is worth it. We would not have been able to build the house we did if we did not do the work ourselves...one quote we had from a contractor was about $80000 more that it is costing us...wow....

And Gary and I talked and yes, we would still do it even if we didn't have summers off...we just would not have saved quite as much or been as able to be hands on to make decisions, so you really need to trust whoever you have hired. :)

I'll pm you and explain the ordering part...d'oh! Pick away :)