Blessings and Comparison Shopping

Things are beginning to come together in these final weeks of the build, and Katie is actually feeling optimistic about the outcome next month (Matt has always been optimistic).  Katie’s worries about finances are beginning to lessen, as we’ve said goodbye to our mortgage broker for the construction loan and learned that our credit union is willing to work with us on permanent financing.  In addition, our builder has worked with us to cut costs without sacrificing quality.  He has met with us at the construction site throughout this process in order to customize the house to our specifications, while also seeking budget-friendly options. 

We have also discovered some blessings in some of the unexpected and upon-first-glance disappointing circumstances.

For example, the delay in the house completion date—coupled with Matt’s voluntary layoff and Katie’s decision not to teach summer school—has allowed us the time and energy to thoroughly research and compare prices on appliances, lighting, bathroom hardware, and other important decisions.  We also plan to devote time to laying flooring on the main floor of the house around July 4-8. 

This same flexibility in our schedules allowed us to clear out a bunch of items in our south house and put them in the safe room of the north house (the only room that’s finished—it has concrete walls), and paint the deck and front porch of the south house.  We put our south house on the market yesterday, opting to get it on the market now, rather than waiting until we moved.  Our first showing is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.  Here’s a link to the listing (please spread the word to anyone who might be interested).

On the home construction front, cabinets have been installed in the kitchen, master bathroom, and wet bar.  Here are some shots from the kitchen (yes, the two tones are intentional -- pearl on the uppers, mocha stain on the lowers, Shaker style):

Trim work is being completed, along with the stairwell and closets. 

Painting of interior doors and trim began today, but we didn’t take photos.

After enjoying Father’s Day weekend out in the Flint Hills and Kansas City with Katie's dad Marshall …

… we got busy this weekend with comparison shopping on several items.  For each item, Katie compiled notes and Matt took photos so we could compare styles and prices.

We have separate notes pages from Lowe’s, Home Depot, Menards, and Metro Appliances for the fridge, range and hood, dishwasher, vanities, bathroom hardware and mirrors, interior and exterior lighting, and shower doors.  This took us about 8 hours to compile—but hey, we have the time!  Here’s an example:

Since we did this work over the course of three days, we also did some fun reading in this book (thanks, Dad, for the subscription to Consumer Reports!):

And Matt took lots of photos so we could compare across stores.  Here are some of the items we actually purchased (lighting will come later):

Metro Appliances knocked another $200.00 off this fridge:

And they knocked another $50.00 off this stove.  It was the least expensive (and still attractive) gas range we found at any of the stores we visited.

The price of this dishwasher was right in line with the box stores, but Metro Appliances offered free delivery and installation of the fridge (our builder will install the remaining appliances).

We also found quite a discrepancy in prices of vanities and hardware for the basement bathroom and main floor guest bathroom.  Menard's won out (plus, they were having an 11% rebate today; we earned $78 of store credit today -- but even without the rebate, their prices were best for vanities and bathroom hardware):

We are pleased to report that we have stayed under budget so far on everything.  And we plan to continue that practice when we purchase lighting.  Go, Team Cramer!

While we worked, these two napped:

It’s a hard life for Sal and Boo.