It's 12:40am! Pinterest, Floorplans and Making our Bid Work!

It's late. I seem to be up late most nights working on "house stuff". Building a beautiful house on a not so beautiful budget is becoming a full time job! 

We got our bid last Friday. It was right on budget! Oh wait! It didn't include the building under the garage, and finishing half the basement apartment plus the upgrades we wanted. Sooo the $125sq ft I was originally told was more like $134 sq ft and that wasn't adding upgrades! Or the lot! 

I didn't really speak for two hours when I read the bid. I knew it was going to come  on over budget. I mean seriously... Has there ever been a time where someone got their bid and said "wow that's cheaper than what I thought it was gonna be?!" Ya prob not! 

I considered just throwing in the towel but I'm not really the quitting type so... I got to work! I've been going through every line and seeing where we can shave $20 k out and where we can do some good sweat equity! 

I love this about our builder. We can really just do anything, hire our own guys, so it ourselves, find better prices. I like that cause I'm a hunter! I WILL find a better price! 

The laundry room cabinets alone were quoted at $1400! Well end of July habitat for humanities is selling a crazy amount of new cabinets and doors for $30 a pop so I can just do my own laundry! Going through the bid and seeing places where costs seemed high made me hopeful that I could pull this off still. 

So I've been doing my research, hanging with my calculator and crunching numbers non stop. 

If you are a friend of mine reading this... This is your warning that I will be calling you for your sweat equity friendship service donation at some point through this process! I'll bring the pizza! 

Ok! Now it's bedtime!