We all stress about money. For most of us our homes are the biggest financial investment we make. I have tried to remind myself throughout that this is an investment not only in my asset, but also in my lifestyle and health, and the latter two are the ones we often don’t put a monetary value on. 

This project, like most, is over my initial budget aspirations. Contingency sums are crucial to all building projects.  Alterations have a typical tendency to go over our initial budget and over our estimated time frames. One reason is that we don’t know exactly what is hidden behind the finishes until we start to remove the linings. Another is our expectations tend to be ambitious and things do cost more than what we want to think. My project is no exception.  My advice is to focus on the parts of the project that need to happen together to achieve your goal and itemise out those things that can be done at a later stage to keep the finances achievable.