So having had planning permission to go ahead with our extension for well over a year (13th December 2006). It looks at last that we have found a builder who is able to do the job for us.

His price is a little higher than I would like it. It does appear that we underestimated the price since several builders have put in similar prices. So I now need to revisit the finances. a few cut backs here and there, also go and visit the nice man at the bank. Should be OK on that front, I've had promotion and we still not borrowed anywhere near the current value of the house. That said, I don't want to borrow so much that we can't manage the repayments.

Before I do all that, a potential show stopper needs to be dealt with. We need to confirm the depth of the foundations under the garage. The plans show shallow foundations which is bad news. The plans also show a single skin outer wall, but looking at it, it is quite obvious that it is double skin. So we are hoping that someone decided it would be a good idea to build the garage thinking that someone might want to build above at some time in the future. That time is now.

A shallow foundation and it is back to the drawing board.

The hole is being dug tomorrow morning. We shall see then......