We did it! Made the decision. D-Day was Wednesday - about time too, I hear you saying.

Two decisons, actually. We are going to risk the cheaper trench-filled foundations, which, on account of being quite deep in a soil with a high water table, are liable to collapse if not sheared up properly and need constant pumping out. We will save quite a lot of money and the Building Control inspector says that not too much can go wrong even if it does collapse - we would just need more concrete to fill up the ensuing hole in the ground. He'll come and look down the 'ole (probably has a bowler hat) and he's a very nice friendly helpful bloke who will hold our hand if we need it.

And we have decided to go for timber frame. On Tuesday we went to the timber frame company who have given us a good quote for a house with 300mm I-beam walls and floor and a 400mm I-beam roof. We were impressed with their system and their good common sense in constructing what seems like a simple and effective build. Then we went to see the Building Control officer, and then we came home to find a good quote on a labour-only basis from a blockwork builder.

So on Wednesday morning we started working out the costs of materials for the masonry system, to compare it with timber frame. We had already been to Jewsons who will work out the materials cost for you from a drawing, and so we had a lot of figures already, but they all had to be crunched and sorted to fit the build. We started at about 9am and by 3pm we had decided to go for the timber frame even though (on account of its high spec) it is a bit more expensive. If we went for the masonry construction everything would have taken longer and, more importantly, we would have to deal with the ordering and storage of a lot of different materials. Plus, with timber frame, we can get the house up and weatherproof in time for the summer holidays, when we will have six weeks to work on the house.

So that's the story. Our Maharishi Sthapatya Veda foundation stone will be installed at the end of this month and the foundations are due to start straight after. That will take a couple of weeks, then we have (yet to find) someone to build the blockwork plinth. So the timber frame should be going up in June.

In the meantime we (I) had a great time demolishing the garage! R is now carefully sorting the demolished bricks to go in the very long garden wall we are going to build, starting in the next half-term. He's also shifted a little wooden shed which means that we now have an almost clear space and we can see from one end of our (not exactly vast) site to the other. It's great to get the whole picture.

More photos next time....

We move along - onwards and upwards!