When your house gets delivered on the back ofa truck!

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The big day arrived! With a hairy moment getting the truck around the corner, it was finally in. It took nearly all day to unload the panels, wooden beams, nails and not much else to build our dream house. The builders were amazing and turned up everyday at 7.30am and left just before 6pm four days a week. Giving us and the neighbours an extra day off! When the first panel when in (second picture) it was an emotional moment for Dave and I. This was it, this is where all the hard work started but also the start of our dream. The weather was glorious and we had 10 days of beautiful sunshine, which I am sure helped the builders get it up faster. The ground floor when in really fast , fuelled ice creams and sausage butties we supplied the guys did a great job. To see the walls and where each of the rooms were going to be was amazing. You could literally see the house taking shape before your eyes. The guys were nearly as excited as us and we asking questions about the plans. They usually never see the people they build for

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so they were invested in the build themselves. The kids found it all exciting and we would do a walk round as a family every night to see what had been done and have the conversations about what is going to go where. The kids had some input in their design, with them both opting for a mezzanine level in their room. So they could sleep up top and have all the floor space to play or have friends over. With the rate the house was going up, the builders were going to be two weeks ahead of schedule (take that Kevin McCloud!) The pressure was then on us to order windows and doors, a roof and choose a roofer. We had 5 quotes for the roof and three for windows. The difference in price for window and doors was a staggering £29,000. It wasn't just a keen budget we needed but in keeping with the sustainable aspect we also wanted to keep as local as possible. A flurry of ordering and paying ensued, including under floor heating, screen and guttering. Guttering was going to hold up the progress but that's a story for next month. In the meantime the house was built from floor to roof tip in 12 days. 12 whole days to build the shell of the house! Not wonder Finn is exhausted, I know how he feels. To be continued