What happened so far!
Our plan was to move into our house in December! Now it's almost December and the we haven't even started building the house! DISAPPOINTING....
Why????
Our first construction company jumped ship! That was a great lost! This company was the only company in our area who build affordable light steel frame houses! It was the only company using local material (much cheaper) instead of Japanese material!
We searched for a long time, but we couldn't find another company!
So we had to change the building material! We finally decided to go with brick!
We talked to several construction companies and we found two! After weeks of talking and negotiating we came close to sign the contract, but just before the final talk both companies wanted more money, between 50-100 %! Unacceptable! All the work, again, for nothing!
It looks like the companies are trying to get out more money because of our unusual design! An open space bungalow with an open space attic seems to be very unusual, at least for southern Taiwan!
The last days we, the architect and us, talk a lot and we tried to find a solution! We decided to change our design! We are building now a common 2 storey house! Since this is a rather simple and common design the budget control is much easier and we won't have too may surprises!
We are now talking to a very seasoned contractor and it looks good, so far! We'll see!
So, what is left for our original design? Not much.... the only thing that's left is the open kitchen/living room space! But we gain some things! We will have a good sized garden and a nice big front yard! We will also have one more room (guest room) and 2 bathrooms instead of one!
At the moment we are hoping the ground breaking will be in January or February!We'll see!
Final thoughts for today!
We are, after all, in Asia! Nothing is really straight forward! We are not in Europe or North America! It just takes a lot, a lot, a lot..........of time!
Once I get the new plans I will post them!
Boris
