BUDGET

+ What did you spend on your renovation? Approximately $500,000.

+ In what areas did you save and splurge? Gemma: We didn’t save anything! But we splurged on really good things, like upgrading our joinery, the electrics and plywood.

Greg: I’m glad we extended the budget for those important things that we have a lot of contact with. At one point we were considering ditching the concrete wall for timber to save costs. Luckily we didn’t – it’s kind of made the house.

+ How did you keep track of costs? Greg: Keeping an eye on the spreadsheet and getting lots of quotes. Gemma: We kept close track of it for about 90 percent of the time!

+ Did you stick to your budget? Greg: It was five years after we got the consent by the time we did the building, so everything had gone up a lot by then, but we kept it pretty tight.