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We started out like so many of you embarking on the journey of getting a job, owning a house and raising a family. Knowing what was to come, we saved where we could and bought our first house. It wasn’t to our taste so work needed to be done. Being a homeowner and its responsibilities, costs quickly mounted up so we took the plunge and tried renovating ourselves. It worked out…some of the time. We needed help. We needed trades people. We needed money. But most of all we needed time. Working full time and trying to renovate was a tall order. Late nights and busy weekends, over budget and deadlines missed – like so many that never plan to start out this way but nevertheless find themselves here anyway.
Circumstances Changed
Years passed, older and wiser with family now in tow, we came to that decision in our family life on whether we should buy a bigger house or extend our home. With deposits, fees, trying to tick all the boxes and calculating the costs in a big complicated spreadsheet, we decided to extend. This time, we were determined not to make the mistakes of the past or get consumed by the project activities as we knew better (or so we thought). Besides, nothing had really changed – still working full time, bills to pay, things to do, with one exception – kids. Nursery runs, school runs, keeping the lights on, water running, heating going and the place reasonably clean and dust-free (if that is possible) whilst living at home only made things that much more challenging.
Too many things
We hired skilled tradesman for the structural work, experts for the planning and structural aspects and then went it alone again to keep costs down. From digging concrete floors, creating partition walls, becoming my own plumber to installing the wood floors, kitchen and creating an en-suite with custom shower. Whilst it was physically hard, hard work, what made it harder was the sheer number of things that actually go into a project and need actual managing. Even the simple things like choosing tiles or curtains would become a mini project!
We were faced with appointments, quotes and more quotes. Then came orders, bills, unplanned expenses. Diaries were a must, even scheduling time with the family became a task. Paper, so much paper – receipts, invoices, instructions, plans, certificates. Email after email, phone calls, store visits, site visits. Things were happening at different stages at different times and the information was everywhere, online, on paper and in my head.
Need to be different
With so many moving parts managing a build whilst doing our day job and keeping on top of everyday life there was nothing out there ready to go and simple to use, that would help us manage the build easier. Even if it was just getting rid of the spreadsheets and the complicated formulas or putting everything online and in one place or just telling me what I was late on or coming up or left to pay. We struggled to manage the budget with the finances constantly moving and needed to be updated. That’s why we set out and created manageabuild.com – to make your life that little bit easier, take away the complicated, reduce the workload, get rid of the spreadsheets, calculations and formulae and just allow you to manage your project better giving you that ever important time back to do what matters most to you.