Decisions, Decisions

Probably like most construction projects, everything needs to happen within a tight timeline and budget for this to work.  When we initially lost our builder the timeline part got shot to hell, but now that we've started for reals we need to get out by December 5 to avoid having to pay another month's rent (which is, of course, now the most expensive month-to-month rate).  That gives us a few months to recover before property taxes are due on both houses at the end of February- oh, and they're reassessing our city house's rate this year so we expect them to go up significantly.  In the midst of all this we need to start finishing out the bonus room at our suburban house so it will be 500 sq ft larger when we list it next Spring.  So you see, it's especially important that our budget stay in check so that we can make all this happen.  Once the suburban house gets sold (and we expect a decent profit), the family is heading for a European vacation to celebrate this phase of our plans being complete.

This is making us think about what is essential to do now and what can wait until we've been in the garage for a little bit.  One area that caught our attention as a potential budget saver is the upstairs loft area.  While not codes approved, we were thinking to put our bed up there so we would have our own 'room' of sorts.  Because the space would never pass inspection as a bedroom, the space will need to remain in stud form without the window and barrier wall to the mechanicals for the certificate of occupancy inspection.  The builder was always going to have to come in after and finish.  We decided that since we cosleep with our daughter now, we would just go ahead and do it a few more months until we're able to finish out the space.  This will save on the cost of finishing the upstairs space, as well as almost $1000 for the sliding ladder to access the space.  (Did you have any idea they were that expensive?  I didn't.)

A friend of mine also recommended waiting on the shower door and just using a shower curtain for a while.  Our shower is not a spacious one, measuring at just 56" long.  I should mention that the 56" is from stud to stud.  Once you put on the backer board and then add the tile, it will be smaller, knocking it out of contention for an off-the-shelf shower door.  We really love the frameless look and they clock in at around $1000.  Again, it's logical to wait on getting that ordered so that we can put the money elsewhere.  The answer isn't no, it's just not now.

One of the things that's tough about these decisions is that we won't be moving into a 'finished' space and I want to have everything complete, just like the designers drew.  However, it will be finished by this time next year and that's what's important.  Any other ideas for how to economize now?  Luckily, we haven't had to sacrifice any function at this point (I will literally cry if I'm told we can't build our storage wall now), but in trying to have our cake and eat it, too, we're having to be really strategic at this point.