Between Design Session Four and Five a major decision

After the last design session, we had contacted Wes and asked how we could scale back the cost of the project, and still build the house we wanted. Through an email exchange, we agreed on two areas to focus on. Wes had brought up a third at the end of the last design session. It seemed somewhat out of left field and as you will soon realize, will make this blog much more interesting to read going forward.

The first obvious area is to make the house a little smaller. This was a brain twister to us as we had gone back and forth on room and sizes and ended up talking Wes into making the house larger just a week ago. However, things had now changed and we were much more willing to scale back and he assured us there were ways to do that, without changing the character of the house.

The second area was on finish. We (really me) wanted to build a Lodge, and that meant the use of rough timber, a grand entrance, and other style elements that drive up the cost. Wes again assured us that if we used these design features sparingly and where they would have the most appeal and impact, we could save some expense.

The third area to focus on was not an area at all. I like to think of it as a lifestyle choice. Wes suggested that we consider acting as the General Contractor..... I'll let that sink in for a while.... yes, no need to re-read the previous sentence ... we are going to be the General Contractors for the build of our Kent House ... let the fun begin.

Now, this is not a totally insane idea, mind you. Although I may be slightly more ‘contractor like’ in that I can identify a few more tools than Kim and I've certainly been to The Home Depot more than she has, but neither of us are what people like to call 'Handy'. We both are however, really good project managers, and what is building a house, but a huge project? So, we do have some of the skills, but what is more important is that we have Wes. He was going to be involved until the house was complete anyway, and feels pretty strongly that with his help, we can bid out and work with sub-contractors to build the house successfully.

Like I said ... this blog just got more interesting ...