Nothing yet....

Today he told Gary he'd be there Monday. We'll see....

Still nothing.....*sigh*

NOPE :(

The word is that the MIA plumber is coming tomorrow...cross your fingers.

And Gary just talked to the other plumber (the one who is almost done his part) and had a good laugh--he is the funniest! :)

One step forward, two steps back...

That's what it feels like lately. Gary is off for four weeks working on the house...next week is his last week. We had hoped to get the siding done and the drywall started while he was off. My brother is scheduled to come up and help next weekend with drywall (after we cancelled him last weekend since we weren't ready.)

So...the siding is almost done. Check.

**Rant on**
Insulate and drywall...on hold. Before we can even order the materials for this stage of the process (again, because of the way the bank draws work) we have to have the rough electrical, HVAC and plumbing done and inspected by both the building inspector and the CMHC inspector. Then, after the inspection, wait another couple of days for the money to arrive from the bank and THEN order the materials and start to insulate.

But once again, we're held up by plumbing. *sigh* The other two trades are done (and waiting patiently for payment). Even one of our two plumbers is almost done (they work together and one is doing the "out" and one is doing the "in"). The "in" plumber has done nothing...promised us a few weeks ago he could start in TWO weeks, two weeks have more than come and gone. Got a key and met us at the house over a week ago--was starting that week...nothing. Called him last weekend and he said he would be there Monday night...nope. Came on Tuesday and talked to Charlie, said he was going to get the materials and start that night....still more nothing. We're really frustrated at this point...there is no way we'll make a Christmas deadline. And we may even have to lay off Charlie for a few days unless this gets done right away. Oh, and once again we'll have to tell my brother we're not ready for his help....hopefully he will be able to come when and if we need him.

It's not like we don't have roof over our heads, and we know we'll finish eventually, but it would be nice if the plumbing could get done and we could move on....

**Rant over** Thanks for listening....

Prairie Gold on the East Coast...

The siding is going on...and the colour, as you may have guessed, is called Prairie Gold. Gary is also working on a stone walkway using the stones that are plentiful around the property....

Lucky for us Gary's dad, Reg, is a Heavy Equipment Operator and was home from Alberta last week...he dug the hole for the line in from the well, fixed up the driveway and moved some of the big rocks that used to be in the stone wall. The biggest one we put out by the driveway to put the house number on. The others Gary has been working with to make the walkway from the driveway into the house....

We went "lurking" last weekend...looking at porch railings. We love the short, old-style rails we see on older homes, but they are not very safe. So after cruising Miramichi and looking at lots of porches we decided on a combo of the low rail with a higher rail for safety...

Looking down the rail from the front step....

And from the porch itself...

Looking along the side of the house...no railing here yet...

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...