Ok sorry, I have been off enjoying myself whilst leaving the builder to get on with the renovation and others to take photos for me and I got a little sidetracked.

Snow show walking in far north Norway beats renovating in 40 degree heat any day.

Now, I enjoy a good reno but when it’s a toss up between walking the canals of England or house-painting, the canals will win out any day. Add in a side trip to Norway to view the Northern Lights while the temperature in Brisbane is soaring to 40 degrees and it’s a no brainer.

Although it has not been without its problems, I am enjoying watching this project from a distance; at this moment of course it’s a very long distance. By using a builder rather than carrying out the renovation myself, I have the time to do other more entertaining things like travelling through Europe. When I return from our holiday I’ll need to focus on work related tasks, catching up and starting new jobs and I know I won’t have the time or energy to devote to a large project like this. The builder is our way of ensuring this reno is completed in a timely manner.

The framing stage completed early January.

The reports and photos have come in regularly from those we left at home, including emails from the builder letting me know what stage things are up to. From the photos, I can see that the framing has gone in and some of the old aluminium windows have been removed in preparation for the new powder-coated ones.

Framing up of ensuite bathroom including rough in of electrical and plumbing work.

The plumber and electrician have also been onsite to complete the rough in. The flooring is down and the external cladding has commenced.

Exterior cladding commenced.

The only thing that looks like it has been a little slow is the completion of the roofing job, still that is no issue at the moment, except for the scaffolding getting in the way of the builder. Everything else looks to be on track, definitely faster than we could have managed on our own without a builder.