Getting ready for bricks

We spent about 7 hours with the brickie yesterday basically drawing the house on top of the concrete. It was great fun marking out all of the walls using a permanent oxide compound thingy (very technical) and being able to picture the house in much more detail. He also used the high tech approach of spray painting where he wanted the brick palettes placed in preparation for starting in about 4 weeks.
Before we started marking out the walls, he made Helen sweep the concrete. Initially she thought he was just trying to keep her busy and teach her how to be a proper wife through thorough house cleaning but it turns out the surface has to be clean for the oxide marker to stick!
After a full days work I have realised how hard these guys work and that they really earn their money. It has also made me realise one of the reasons people may choose NOT to be owner builder and go for a project build!! We still haven't negotiated the per brick price so hopefully the blisters we developed from helping him out are still obvious when it comes to negotiating!!

How we made our money

Some people might be wondering how we are funding our family home. Well, we decided we should share our secret. We decided to go into business. To be more precise, we decided we should rent out prime real estate with no questions asked, permanent lease and anonymity guaranteed. This certainly sparked a few people's interest and calls from people in 'the family' certainly grew!

Disappointing

Well, we were hoping the brickies would be cracking their knuckles and limbering up ready to start our brickwork next week. It seems that with all the delays we have had, they decided to take another job. This means that they won't be ready to start our place for another 4 weeks or so. Bummer! We are meeting with him later this week to talk it through but I think this means another 4 weeks or planning and no doing! What a shame. Will keep you posted!
Helen and Frank