Builder has been chosen!!

It's been a while since our last post. Let me fill you in whats happened since.....

We sent the plans and specifications to 5 builders. We ruled out 2 relatively quickly and were working closely with the orignal and 2 others. Our original builder had been able to come down significantly from where he was, which then prompted the other bulder to drop his price also..that's competition for you! Then we had the third one come in and he came in with a bull tearer. We spent a few weeks refining this quote and detailing specifications, seeing his previous work and generally getting comfortable with working with him. While this was all going on we engaged an acoustic consultant and had sound logging equipment installed which recorded the noise for a 48hr period ( remember my last post, we are in a Traffic Noise Corridor) Noise logging has now taken place and we are just awaiting his final report (for which we need to hand over about $1500 )

Well the good news is....we have chosen our builder!!! yay!! We gave our original builder every opportunity to be able to compete and gave him last bite, however he was not able to compete with the level of inclusions and finishes that our, now chosen, builder had been able to offer.This was a really difficult decision for us as we had built up a really good relationship with our original builder and he was a really decent guy ( not that the others aren't - but you know what I mean) Ultimately we had to look at what we were going to be able to get for the considerable money we were going to spend. There is definitely an air of unknown with the new builder, however we have spent these last weeks getting more comfortable and  this is the measured risk we have taken in return for getting a higher spec'd home.  I have no doubt that our original builder would have delivered, and we can now only hope and pray that our chosen one does also.

We are now in the process of getting the contract in place and then going to the bank for final approval..how exciting it is now and how real it will soon become.

Next big steps :

Final finance approval
Find somewhere to live for the construction period
Lock in Demolition date
Pack up the place
Garage Sale
Move
Demolish!!