Here are all of the tradespeople that we've used in the ongoing saga of our house renovations. They're all either ones we've used ourselves, or people that have been recommended first-hand.
Let us know other good tradespeople in the comments, and/or give us feedback on anyone here!
If you are thinking of doing any house maintenance work, there are two websites that are invaluable for estimating costs - getting quotes and finding someone to do it
http://builderscrack.co.nz/
and
http://www.nocowboys.co.nz/
ARCHITECT - Helen Law, Goodson Architects, http://www.goodsonarchitects.co.nz/
BUILDER Wilfrid Dickinson, ph 233 0453, 021 209 2806 - One Construction Ltd, 417A Grays Rd, Porirua
PLASTERER - Peter Piotrkowski, 26 Kellsmere Cre Island Bay, ph 04-383 6251, 0274 36 36 96
PLASTERER - Bill Allen 0274 469 874
PLASTERER - Donny 021 500 470
PAINTER Chris Hopkins, Moores Valley Rd, Wainuiomata 04-564 3980
PAINTER Gary Telfer 499 7799
BATHROOM FITOUTS - Barry Emmerson 027 497 5528 http://www.bathroomrenovations.co.nz/
KITCHENS - Your Kitchen, Petone http://www.yourkitchenltd.co.nz/
KITCHENS - Noble Kitchens, U Hutt (04) 528 3965;
COLORSTEEL SPOUTING - Continuous Spouting http://www.nojoins.co.nz
FLOOR SANDING - Kim, 4-star flooring 021 422 191
TILER - Phil Bryan 027 6461173, 04 2327840
PLUMBER Rob 027 238 2225
PLUMBER Tony Steffensen, Capital Plumbing Ltd 0274 368228
PLUMBER Tasman Plumbers 04 384 3463 027 241 0003 http://www.wellingtonplumber.co.nz/
ELECTRICIAN Damien 021 410 125
CONCRETE CUTTER Rob - Lowery's 972-1279
UNDERFLOOR POLYSTYRENE INSULATION - Richard Moore, Poly Palace 0800 PALACE http://www.trashpalace.co.nz/index.cfm/poly_palace
CARPET - Graeme & Justine, Carpet One, 0800 CARPET
CARPET LAYERS - Dean, HawkNZ Carpets, 027 240 8700
WARDROBES - Boston Wardrobe Systems 04 576 0644 http://bostonwardrobes.co.nz
ALU WINDOWS/DOORS - Capital (Nulook) Windows, 04 526 9933 http://www.nulook.co.nz/index.pl?page=licensee®ion=14
GARDENERS - Robyn Henderson 0275 304 291
if you building a patio/fence /deck - An Engineer friend of my sisters recommends Peter Ashton
http://www.nocowboys.co.nz/businesses/decks!-decks!-ashton-building/
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Estadio is nice! And the plasterer comes today
Last night Sally, Andrew and I went out to Estadio, because I had a $25 off TreatMe voucher to spend before the end of the month. It's had some pretty terrible reviews so our expectations weren't high, but in the end we had a very pleasant evening. The staff were friendly and quick, and the food was pretty good - It'll be a long time before they get their Michelin Star, but pretty good value for money. I think I'll be back with Angela and Toby in tow. A good restaurant to take well behaved kids to I reckon.
Joy of joys, the plasterer really is coming today, to do Toby's new bedroom. If all goes to plan we'll be able to get it painted in the weekend and move Toby in on Monday night!. So we've cleared the last of the stuff out of the room and let's see how Peter the Plasterer goes, and then how we go.
After that, we'll need to do a Remedial Tidy of the house - find everything a place, and get rid of everything that doesn't have a place. Maybe we need more furniture, too.
This morning went well. I fixed Angela's bike tyre and she rode in. It's very strange - she gets a puncture every few days at the moment. I found the hole and felt all around the tyre and the rim to see if there was anything sharp in there... nada. My hope is, whatever it was fell out while I was looking for it.
Toby was up not-too-late, he got ready pretty well and we got off not-too-late. Not enough for me to get my on-time bus but that's okay.
Today we have Wagamama for lunch with Aidan and Josh! Looking forward to it.
Joy of joys, the plasterer really is coming today, to do Toby's new bedroom. If all goes to plan we'll be able to get it painted in the weekend and move Toby in on Monday night!. So we've cleared the last of the stuff out of the room and let's see how Peter the Plasterer goes, and then how we go.
After that, we'll need to do a Remedial Tidy of the house - find everything a place, and get rid of everything that doesn't have a place. Maybe we need more furniture, too.
This morning went well. I fixed Angela's bike tyre and she rode in. It's very strange - she gets a puncture every few days at the moment. I found the hole and felt all around the tyre and the rim to see if there was anything sharp in there... nada. My hope is, whatever it was fell out while I was looking for it.
Toby was up not-too-late, he got ready pretty well and we got off not-too-late. Not enough for me to get my on-time bus but that's okay.
Today we have Wagamama for lunch with Aidan and Josh! Looking forward to it.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Sculptures from finest vegetables
Last night was cubs, and we were organising it this time around. The theme was 'vegetable sculptures'. It all went very well - I thought that the last thing that 25 preteen boys (and one girl) would want to do is art with vegetables, and my heart sank when 10 min after we started, one of them had already finished, having built a fantastic giraffe out of spuds, carrots and a soggy zucchini! What to do for the next 50 min?!
But, they all knuckled down and worked hard on their creations. Our biggest problem was getting some of them to stop working because it was getting late! Well... maybe our second biggest problem. Our biggest problem was the knife injuries - two boys had really deep cuts on their fingers, one managed to get his thumb and his middle finger at once! They were deep enough that I was seriously considering a trip to A&E for some stitches. But band-aids seemed to do the trick.
Another good morning with Toby this morning - but again, he slept in. Then he had a shower - and curled up at the bottom of the shower! We really need to put in our bath, ay. But he got himself ready by himself - found his clothes, made his breakfast (rice bubbles), cleaned his teeth - all with little or no prompting. So we were off to school more or less on time. But, I missed the early bus - not really a bother but I had to spend 15min waiting at the bus stop. The wind has swung around to the south and it was freezing for once. I huddled in my snowboard jacket and it wasn't too bad. Bring it on I say, we've only got 3 weeks til our ski holiday so the colder and snowier the better!! We need it to be consistently sub-zero so they can run the snow guns, and a few massive storms would not go astray at all. C'mon, where's our winter GONE?
But, they all knuckled down and worked hard on their creations. Our biggest problem was getting some of them to stop working because it was getting late! Well... maybe our second biggest problem. Our biggest problem was the knife injuries - two boys had really deep cuts on their fingers, one managed to get his thumb and his middle finger at once! They were deep enough that I was seriously considering a trip to A&E for some stitches. But band-aids seemed to do the trick.
Another good morning with Toby this morning - but again, he slept in. Then he had a shower - and curled up at the bottom of the shower! We really need to put in our bath, ay. But he got himself ready by himself - found his clothes, made his breakfast (rice bubbles), cleaned his teeth - all with little or no prompting. So we were off to school more or less on time. But, I missed the early bus - not really a bother but I had to spend 15min waiting at the bus stop. The wind has swung around to the south and it was freezing for once. I huddled in my snowboard jacket and it wasn't too bad. Bring it on I say, we've only got 3 weeks til our ski holiday so the colder and snowier the better!! We need it to be consistently sub-zero so they can run the snow guns, and a few massive storms would not go astray at all. C'mon, where's our winter GONE?
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
In our new bedroom at last
First, if you have had this emailed to you - welcome back! With Angela changing jobs, she hadn't posted for ages, and then the auto-emailer had somehow forgotten who it was meant to be sending to. So your mornings will be complete again with a daily update of the boring detail of our lives.
And yesterday was an exciting day too. The carpet layer came, and we had beautiful new (well, patched) carpet from wall to wall in our new bedroom when we got home. Joy! Excitement! And now we are off the lounge floor and in our real bed in our real bedroom. Such a relief. Still a bit of moving in to do, but the main thing is, our bed is there and it's not moving again. Toby is still in with us - but it's a big room so it's not as much of a bother.
But the most exciting thing seemed to be not that we were out of sleeping bags on the floor and the couch - it was that we got our TV back, with cable, and Wii, and Playstation. I think Toby has been having withdrawal symptoms over the last month! This morning he got up and went straight to watching Nick Jr, even though it was rubbish - it was just the first thing that came on. Then he switched to Wii Sports and came up tired and panting after a few rounds of boxing. Last night though, Angela had SingStar fired up and I'm sure we gave the local neighbours' cats some howling and screeching competition! Though it seemed to be me who was doing most of the singing in the end. Angela had bought a second-hand disc from Surfers that (it turned out) was a bit scratched and one of the songs didn't work - that meant I had to go thru the other 29 to see whether any of the others were bad too. Hmm, I did a fairly credible Unchained Melody but Beyonce wasn't quite my style...
The renovations continue, with Sean from Boston Wardrobes turning up to measure our four new wardrobes for drawers, rails and shelves. Now we just need the pasterer to turn up a second time, and then Toby's bedroom will be rapidly finished too. And that's job done. Whew! The end is in sight.
And yesterday was an exciting day too. The carpet layer came, and we had beautiful new (well, patched) carpet from wall to wall in our new bedroom when we got home. Joy! Excitement! And now we are off the lounge floor and in our real bed in our real bedroom. Such a relief. Still a bit of moving in to do, but the main thing is, our bed is there and it's not moving again. Toby is still in with us - but it's a big room so it's not as much of a bother.
But the most exciting thing seemed to be not that we were out of sleeping bags on the floor and the couch - it was that we got our TV back, with cable, and Wii, and Playstation. I think Toby has been having withdrawal symptoms over the last month! This morning he got up and went straight to watching Nick Jr, even though it was rubbish - it was just the first thing that came on. Then he switched to Wii Sports and came up tired and panting after a few rounds of boxing. Last night though, Angela had SingStar fired up and I'm sure we gave the local neighbours' cats some howling and screeching competition! Though it seemed to be me who was doing most of the singing in the end. Angela had bought a second-hand disc from Surfers that (it turned out) was a bit scratched and one of the songs didn't work - that meant I had to go thru the other 29 to see whether any of the others were bad too. Hmm, I did a fairly credible Unchained Melody but Beyonce wasn't quite my style...
The renovations continue, with Sean from Boston Wardrobes turning up to measure our four new wardrobes for drawers, rails and shelves. Now we just need the pasterer to turn up a second time, and then Toby's bedroom will be rapidly finished too. And that's job done. Whew! The end is in sight.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Lots of painting in the weekend, now the carpet layers cometh (for real)
Well - after all our prep, the carpet layers cometh not. They rang in sick. Sigh. I phoned them back and let them know we were sleeping on the floor in the lounge until they turned up.
But, nonetheless that meant that our soon-to-be-bedroom was clear empty, and it was time to PAINT! So paint we did. Furiously, all weekend. It's now done, and it looks good.
I spent most of the time painting, Angela did a lot too but also spent time ferrying Toby about - to swimming, to a birthday party, a sleepover, a play date, to meet Connor, our fresh new next-door-neighbour baby, and to Helen and Rons for dinner. Whew!
I hit on the strategy of painting in a pair of old shorts, and nothing else, to avoid getting paint on my clothes. It worked well! Except that we had a succession of unexpected, often unannounced visitors. Well, I didn't feel awkward. Don't know if they did. I also had the stereo on really really loud - playing Jethro Tull and Falco and all sorts of other music that no-one else likes. Woo hoo!
The good news is that the carpet layers did turn up this morning, nice and early. So early that I was still wearing my towel. Oh well, I think everyone is getting used to me now...
Tonight we get to move into our new bedroom for real! Yaaaaay! And I'll hassle the plasterer, if we're lucky we can get him this week and then we can paint Toby's room this weekend. I am SO over camping in the house, I want our bedrooms back and I want places to put stuff.
Toby was good this morning - he got ready nice and quickly and without being asked too many times. But he's still sleeping in in the mornings. We'll have to deal to that ay.
But, nonetheless that meant that our soon-to-be-bedroom was clear empty, and it was time to PAINT! So paint we did. Furiously, all weekend. It's now done, and it looks good.
I spent most of the time painting, Angela did a lot too but also spent time ferrying Toby about - to swimming, to a birthday party, a sleepover, a play date, to meet Connor, our fresh new next-door-neighbour baby, and to Helen and Rons for dinner. Whew!
I hit on the strategy of painting in a pair of old shorts, and nothing else, to avoid getting paint on my clothes. It worked well! Except that we had a succession of unexpected, often unannounced visitors. Well, I didn't feel awkward. Don't know if they did. I also had the stereo on really really loud - playing Jethro Tull and Falco and all sorts of other music that no-one else likes. Woo hoo!
The good news is that the carpet layers did turn up this morning, nice and early. So early that I was still wearing my towel. Oh well, I think everyone is getting used to me now...
Tonight we get to move into our new bedroom for real! Yaaaaay! And I'll hassle the plasterer, if we're lucky we can get him this week and then we can paint Toby's room this weekend. I am SO over camping in the house, I want our bedrooms back and I want places to put stuff.
Toby was good this morning - he got ready nice and quickly and without being asked too many times. But he's still sleeping in in the mornings. We'll have to deal to that ay.
Friday, June 24, 2011
The carpet layers cometh
Yesterday Angela got a call from the carpet layers that they were coming TODAY. This is after they showed up unannounced last week, while we were in Aussie, wondering why no-one was home.
So yesterday evening involved frantically emptying the room and fixing some uneven concrete. Alas the 'fixing the concrete' bit didn't go so well, the label on the mix I was using was damaged and I couldn't read the curing time. But it's longer than overnight, because this morning it's still damp. Oh well, they'll need to work around that somehow!
This morning was a typical morning for the week - slow to start but we got there in the end. Toby got himself ready very efficiently once he woke up an hour later than he should have.
Tonight is chill out and watch movies night - but I will be setting up for painting and maybe getting a first coat on. We are sleeping in the lounge again since we needed to clear the bedroom with the carpet, so I'll go hard and get that room painted and that finishes it. Then we should in theory be able to get to some semblance of normality at last!
So yesterday evening involved frantically emptying the room and fixing some uneven concrete. Alas the 'fixing the concrete' bit didn't go so well, the label on the mix I was using was damaged and I couldn't read the curing time. But it's longer than overnight, because this morning it's still damp. Oh well, they'll need to work around that somehow!
This morning was a typical morning for the week - slow to start but we got there in the end. Toby got himself ready very efficiently once he woke up an hour later than he should have.
Tonight is chill out and watch movies night - but I will be setting up for painting and maybe getting a first coat on. We are sleeping in the lounge again since we needed to clear the bedroom with the carpet, so I'll go hard and get that room painted and that finishes it. Then we should in theory be able to get to some semblance of normality at last!
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