WE LEARNED...

PAY A FIXED PRICE TO TRADES. Brickies are hard to come by near us so we agreed a day rate. We still had to pay them when the weather turned bad and they finished early. The bad weather also slowed the project so it cost us more than we expected.

DON’T PANIC if the tannin in the oak beams runs into the render. It does stain but is easy to clean up and over time actually wears off by its own accord.

BUILD IT MAGAZINE was a great source of help when it came to working out benchmark costs at the beginning and sourcing oak frame suppliers later on.