We have planning permission! And we have a bomb shelter!

Two brilliant things happened in February and March. In February our planning application was approved (hooray!) without any objections and our process of getting quotes was kickstarted in earnest. Secondly, we discovered that we have a bomb shelter at the end of the garden. We never realised that it was there due to how overgrown the garden is with brambles and other rubbish. It’s filled with rubble, and the neighbours on one side who also have a bomb shelter, have mentioned that theirs tends to fill up with water. So, ours is probably not watertight, but it’s a little bit of history and something that perhaps we could tank in the future. These photos only show the top of the shelter, but the underground part is quite large from what we can tell.

The process of getting quotes and pulling together a schedule for the builders to quote against took quite a lot longer than we had anticipated. I keep hearing Keving McCloud or Sarah Beeney patronisingly voicing over “Six months after buying the house, works STILL haven’t begun. It’s increasingly looking like Richard and Tania aren’t going to be in by September. They have seriously underestimated the time it takes to get all the work in place…Yaddah yaddah yaddah…” I keep thinking about how silly we were to think that we might only need a six-month rental lease so we could move into Rita before the summer. Ha. Fat chance.

One of the team from our architect’s firms has helped pulling together the complete specification of the build from the type of light switches to the bathroom units. It’s pretty mega.

We eventually went out to six builders, of which three weren’t able to quote for the work for various reasons (either too big, or couldn’t make the time frame). So of three serious contenders who could all do the work, we then whittled them down to two. There wasn’t much in it to be honest, but there was also a hard slog whittling down the specification when we realised that we were going to go way over budget based on the first set of quotes we got in. Specification v2 involved a lot of um-ing and ah-ing about what we definitely needed to have and what was a “nice to have, and maybe we can have it later…” resulting in a number of red lines being drawn through some things like the underfloor heating throughout the basement and the bathroom, some of the inbuilt cupboards, the big garden steps, my glass bricks in the ensuite, amongst other things. As it is, we haven’t yet included the kitchen or any appliances in the budget yet – so it might be a case of kerosene stove, microwave, and an eski at this rate.  

We've had to get to grips quickly with the negotiation process and the back and forth with builders. We had a few occasions where we verbally get one statement, and then it evaporated in a “Oh no, that’s not what we meant. We meant that would cost extra/take extra time/wasn’t included etc.” In spite of that, we realise that for each builder going through the schedule and providing a quote is no small task and is really time consuming. I feel a bit bad that only one builder can win the work (just like Highlander…there can be only one) particularly given how close the quotes are and how sure we are that they could both do the work well.

We have also had some great service from a Party Wall Surveyor who has given us advice and background on navigating the Party Wall Act. He’s examined the drawings and provided us with the notices for the neighbours all without the promise of any further work. In spite of this, he’s been hugely helpful and it has taken quite a bit of his time and expertise. Not getting Party Wall consent could throw a spanner in the works, so we’ve been really focused on making sure our neighbours – who are really lovely – have as much information as possible to ensure they aren’t worried about what we will be doing. 

Finally, a photo from the loft. We noticed that the views from the back of the house look back towards town towards Oxford's Dreaming Spires. Ahhhhhhhhhh.....

Next...lift-off!