First half of 2010 - an expensive cardboard model

January - April: We spent this time finalising plans - we went without the study, got the front of the house looking better but didn't ever stray too far from the original plans.

We were very happy that we could achieve our four bedroom home in 214 square metres - a whole lot smaller than most homes being built in Australia these days (although we read somewhere recently that the average size in the UK is 77 square metres).

May - June: The building quotes came in. Devastation. They were much higher than what the architect had estimated (as if this has never happened to anyone before). We've spent the past two months trying to reduce the cost without any success.

Could our little cardboard model of the house be the most expensive cardboard model ever made? Is this all we were going to achieve after nine months of working with the architect?

In a state of complete despondency I called Metricon and Burbank - they wouldn't even touch our site because of the slope. I called another custom builder and set up an appointment with them - there had to be a cheaper way. But not really, because what starts off cheaper ends up the same because in other quotes there is no driveway or paving or retaining walls or toilets or walls (well, not quite...).

Another quandary - we know the 7 star rating and the recycled/low emissions materials is adding cost but philosophically, could we walk away from this? Would we be happy with any other outcome?

Along the way we lost a potential buyer for the current house (to relocate)) because the whole process was taking too long.

It would be no exaggeration to say that one of us got so concerned about costs and the impact on the next 30 years of our lives that she started scouring the papers to buy not a house, no, a unit. That little exercise was short-lived because even these were in short supply and expensive.

July: Decision-time and after deciding to sell off whatever assets we could find, and accepting a kind offer to live with James' parents we decide to go ahead. Woo-hoo. Now things are getting exciting.

We're staying FOREVER (July 2008, written May 2010)

Turns out it wasn’t such a straightforward decision.

We had no less than three architects known for their sustainable designs and one self proclaimed but not really sustainable architect (and there are certainly growing numbers of these around) traipse through our place. They gave their views on how we could improve our living and bedroom space and make the house more sustainable.

We’re all for mainstream architects proclaiming their interest and skill in sustainable housing. But did we want our place to be their practice ground?

The challenge was that for an 80 year old bungalow, the retrofit was incredibly fiddly and we know what that means – $$$$. Added to this was the revamped and slightly (only slightly) extended living and bedroom space – the costs were getting up to half a million dollars – without actually adding an extra room.

So principle no 2 of the three R‘s (reuse) goes out the window. Off we go to bid on a nearby house, a fantastically ugly brown brick place from untouched from the 1970s. Perfectly liveable for a number of years until we can afford to rebuild.