The house is mine

I was in a meeting when the first call came in Friday morning.  I could see the solicitor's number.  The second call followed just one minute after it.  It's the agent.  They both told me the transaction is completed, and the house is mine.

I've arranged a builder to see the house Friday afternoon.  And another one this morning.

The first builder is Alf.  He found me on RatedPeople, and he is a very nice gentleman.  He has been in business for many years.  But I started to feel not so good when he told me that he needs to dig down underneath the garage door to build a foundation, so the garage door can be converted to a  window.  You got to be joking me.  Foundation for a stack of brick of less than one meter high?  He also asked me what kind of sockets I prefer for the power points.  I asked how much difference would it make.  He said, oh massive.  The fancy sockets are much more expensive than the plain white plastic sockets.  My instinct told me it cannot be the case.  So I asked the material price.  He said, white plastic about £12 each.  Fancy ones about £25 each.  So I immediately do my math (not in my mind.  I read it out loud to embarrassed him a bit).  Let's say, 7 rooms, 4 sockets in each room, £13 more each socket --- so we are talking about £400 more cost in a £40,000 project.  Is that significant?  He didn't say anything in response.  But we did carry through to the end.  He said he will send his plumber and electrician around for a quote.  he asked me if I should keep my key with neighbour, or give my key to him.  I don't know.  But surely he cannot expect me to trust someone who I met only once that much.

The builder this morning is Anthony.  He is about mid fifties?  But he is really nice.  I have absolutely no problem with him.  When we talked about how to economise the project, he told me in one of his previous projects, the project owner paid his non-VAT registered builders directly, so it is cash deal between them.  At first I felt that odd.  But that is probably something worth thinking about.  Maybe because he is a FMB member, I think Anthony is someone that I can work with.

After my regular Saturday phone call with dad, I took Heather back to sort the garden out.  Gosh, it is big.  The grass was so long that it jammed the lawn mower every now and then.  But Heather was so happy in the garden.  She played with the snails that she found.  She ran after the dragonflies.  She shrieked at the sight of woodlouse.  She also ran around the house taking pictures --- 78 pictures that she took.  I am delighted to see she enjoys the house.  It's all worth it.

Hazel from 32 came to say hello.  She's been in the neighbourhood for almost as long as Mrs Gathercole.  Very pleasant lady indeed.

The garden is not done yet.  I want to go back to fix the bushes.  But it might start to rain tomorrow.