01/12/02 - Owners note

"Budget is crucial in the process of this project. The headroom given for construction has now been eaten up by Toronto water utilities - as mentioned earlier $10K+. It is up to me as the owner to do as much research as possible to find ways in which to reduce costs.

Budget for stairs and railings was tight at $5K. My first estimate came in at $9K to $12K depending on materials.

I have searched diligently and found a good metalsmith who can get the job done under budget by a few hundred dollars. But as I now don't have any head room I must still hunt for ways to lessen my expenses.

While I looked forward to a wood burning stove for the ambience as well as saving on heating I have decided to eliminate this feature. I only had a $3K budget put aside for stove plus installation. The least expensive modernist wood stove I could find including installation came to $4.5K. This would increase my already overloaded budget. So I opted for a bio fuel fireplace. True, it doesn't crackle or provide a lot of heat - but it still allows me to have the fire ambience I hoped for and was much less expensive. Yes, they can cost more than $5K - but also as little as a few hundred. Also this should help save on any work that would have had to be done for piping thru the ceiling as this apparatus is ventless"