To our great relief, the doomsday budget apparently wasn't the final word. We met with the team and learned that one large item in the costing was an unusually high bid; Aaron (director of operations at Hammer & Hand) was confident they could reduce that line item alone by quite a bit. We discussed many of the line items and found ways to hopefully dramatically reduce the overall cost. Hammer & Hand really wants to build this amazing passive house for us, and we, of course, really want it built. We just have to make our numbers match up ...
So, we're currently busy solidifying all of our choices in the house so we can have firm numbers. We've been to the appliance stores to compare prices and get a realistic total appliance budget number. We've been to IKEA and we're building ourselves a kitchen with their cabinets and counters, and we're also picking out bath vanities and mirrors from there -- even the towel racks and TP holders. We're nailing down as many numbers as we can. We have an appointment next week to pick out our lighting, so we'll have that number (and we found a great close-out deal online that had fabulous exterior lights at great prices). We will be visiting the plumbing store in the next week or so, and we're looking at flooring.
Phew! It's a lot to do and decide, and frankly I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. But I've found that there's no better cure for being overwhelmed than to dive in and get some of it done, and that's what we're doing.
And today I met with the surveyors on the property and learned that the roadway easement is wide enough that it covers all the area we need to keep our driveway where the current property access is, which is exactly what we wanted. No need for more surveying, legal descriptions, attorneys or filing paperwork. Woohoo!!
