As I've updated this, I've realized that I'm commingling Burn Rate items with Over Budget and Extra stuff. Oh, well. Deal with it.

Burn Rate

The "Burn Rate" is the speed at which we're going through our money.

At the conclusion of Week One, we're through with the demolition, which was budgeted at $6,000.00. Five days and six grand works out to a daily expenditure of $1,200.00.

At the conclusion of Week Three, we've got the beam installed and the excavation started. Since folks were idle during week two, our burn rate is down. Demo, beam, and engineering fees are about nine grand. Spread over fifteen days, that's only six hundred dollars per day. That's just a little bit more than Leisa would spend in an afternoon at the dollar store. Or Macy's. Dillard's. Best Buy. Or shopping for stupid suits for the wedding at Robinson's May.

We submitted our first draw to the bank around mid December for $9,412.00. This included our first Change Order in the amount of $1,262 to fabricate and place the beam. Add to that the $925.00 for the engineer, and the anticipated cost of $400.00 to run the power underground, and we've spent $10,737.00. After four weeks, that's only a piddling $2,684.00 per week, or $537.00 per day, down from the initial $1,200.00 per day that had Leisa hovering near a myocardial infarction. More on the power, below.

At the conclusion of Week Six, we've still only spent close to eleven grand. Our burn rate's now only $1,789.50 per week, although as soon as the block walls are up, there will be a pretty substantial draw and our burn rate will go back up.

April 2003: I've been slow about updating the burn rate. We submitted our second bank draw on January 25th. We had our second Change Order, also related to the beam, $212 to remove the beam. The second draw was $20,380.

Our third draw was submitted at the end of March. It contained our third Change Order, $200 for the cute little dormer vents. This draw was $22,120.

At the beginning of Week Twenty Two, we've spent about $52,837. That's about $2,400 per week. The rate after twenty two weeks is pretty consistent with the rate after four weeks.

The next billing will have quite a few extras. We're actually going to pay for taking the power underground. The $400 estimate was off by several hundred bucks, so it'll be $700 to take power and phone underground. We moved a doorway, which will cost a few bucks. We upgraded our shingles for a couple of hundred bucks. We're getting exposed aggregate concrete, which is extra. We should also have a few things that drop off the cost, too, such as the Solotube. Because of the location of the HVAC unit--directly above the laundry room where the Solotube was to go--we won't have that. 

And the weasels at Fred's Electric are gouging us. They told Mark they had a few questions for me on placement of stuff. I went to the house and wandered around with them. They pointed to the landing and said it might be kind of dark; do I want a light there. Sure. Do I want a light in the shower? Sure. And a small can light in the alcove in the basement. You've got an outlet up high on the patio; do you want a switch for that? Sure. Never once did they say, "adding a can above the landing will cost $XX.xx. Do you want to do it?" Instead, we get a bill that says "eight can lights and two extra switches, $440.00." Outrageous! I added two can lights and a light in the shower. And the worst thing is, there's no one to whisper soothing words to me, as Leisa's madder than I am. She says their typical scam is to bid low, then gouge for changes.

Do I press the issue? They re-wired the doorbell, which wasn't on the plans. It hasn't worked in years. If I question "eight can lights," would they say, "oh, you're right, it's only three, but you've got the doorbell, and we moved those wires after we ran them, and moved the switch after it was installed. I'm glad you pointed that out, because it's really $550!" Soothing words.

We also signed a contract to have an alarm system installed for about $1,800. Ouch. We're paying that out of our savings. We may not have enough left for cute little window coverings by the time we're done.

We also finalized our cabinet design and put down a deposit. The cabinet installation people will be out Wednesday the 22nd to measure the kitchen prior to finalizing the order. The cabinets are about $5,000 and another $1,100 to install. After the cabinets are in, they'll measure and install the granite countertops. That's another $3,000 or so. And $15 for a step stool so Brittany doesn't climb on the counter to get microwave popcorn out of the cabinets. Priceless.

June 2003: Mark is submitting a draw to the bank this week. Total billed so far is $99,180. Since the loan amount is fixed, we've got a few extras, for which we're responsible. The upgraded insulation was $369; the upgraded shingles were $250; the crown molding in the TV Room was $125; and the new bench seat in the living room is $60. Throw those in and we're sixteen bucks shy of a hundred grand.

Oh, wait, I forgot to add the $3,600 we're paying the painter. Throw that in, and our burn rate is now up to about $3,700 per week. 

And I really don't like the format that I initially chose for this section. I'm ending up saying the same thing twice, as extras find their way into the burn rate. I'm too lazy to rewrite the whole thing, though.

Over budget and extras

Extras are items we decide we want after the plans have been bid, and the money has been lent. We pay for the extras out of our savings. Extras mean we've gone over budget. Too many extras and our savings go away. Oops!

At the conclusion of Week One, we estimate we're about $2,000.00 over budget. We decided that we need a steel beam spanning the back of the house, to which the foundation will be bolted. The beam, fabrication, transportation, labor, etc., will run about two grand.

We've also decided to take the power underground, which will be about $400.00

If we're $2,400.00 over budget one week in, and there are fifteen weeks left on the project, we figure that we'll be $38,400.00 over budget by the time the project concludes.

Week Three budget update. Holy Cow! We got a bill from the engineer who came up with the beam idea. We're another thou over budget. The good news is that we didn't go over budget in week two, so when we average the over budget rate, we're now only projecting that we'll be $17,866 over budget by the conclusion of the project. Cool. It took hours of soothing words to calm Leisa down when she got a glimpse of the bill.

Week Four budget update. Yippee! The beam was a little bit less than the estimate. It was only $1,262.00. Including the engineer and power line, we're only about $2,367.00 over budget. That's only $660.00 per week. Over sixteen weeks, we're now only projecting $10,548.00 over budget.

Week Nine budget update. Oops! We put the support beam in, now we have to take it back out. The crane was out again to take the beam out. That's probably another several hundred bucks. The house hasn't collapsed into the hole, yet, though, so the beam was worth it.

Week Ten budget update. Removing the support beam was an extra at $212.00. I think it was a bargain at twice the price! And Mark billed $20,380.00. Two thousand of that, though, was to be a deposit on windows. The bank intervened though, telling us that for them to release a deposit would cost a hundred bucks per release. It didn't seem like one hundred bucks on two thousand was a proper use of money, so we opted instead for the bank's letter to the window supplier, notifying them the bank will release funds once windows are installed.

As soon as I can breathe again, I will figure out our current burn rate.

Now, more than ever, donate below!

Week Twenty Two budget update. We're only $3090 over budget. Yippeee!!! At that rate, we're only $140 per week over budget. With about seven weeks left to go, I'm now projecting that we'll be $4,075 over budget. I need to point that out to Leisa, that our initial projection of $38,000 over budget has dropped ten-fold, to a mere $4,000 over budget. (Not including the alarm system, as that wasn't really something we absolutely needed that will affect the quality of construction.) By me saving us almost $34,000 by holding the line against extras, we now have the money for the cute BIG plasma TV at Best Buy for $3,000. And a four-room dish network system. Kewl!

Week Twenty Eight. We decided to have the painter that did the outside of the house do the inside, too. $3,600. Ouch! The paint looks really nice though, and Frank and his crew have done a much better job than I could have ever done.

And I really don't like the format that I initially chose for this section. I'm ending up saying the same thing twice, as extras find their way into the burn rate. I'm too lazy to rewrite the whole thing, though.

Help Us Out!

Click the link below to donate to our remodel project through PayPal. Thanks!

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Come on, folks, it's shortly after Christmas. Everybody wanted to donate to Jimmy Stewart. Remember?

Are Leisa and I that much different than George and Mary Bailey?

And doesn't Zuzu look just like dear Brittany?