Tania and I are old Highschool sweethearts and recently reconnected over the last few years. Tania has 2 boys 11 & 14. For myself I have been living in my current home for just over 10 years. I asked Tania and the boy's to move in and see how we get along. As we realised this was the life we wanted for all of us we soon started to think about the house didn't quite feel like home for her as it did for myself, also living in close proximity to 2 boys a poky kitchen was losing its appeal.
We talked ideas and soon were on the hunt for a new home that gave us more room. We went to a few open houses and auctions. But nothing really grabbed us. Issues like the place was too far from town, rooms were smaller than the current home, didn't have a shed out back and we would have to spend money again to build what we wanted, needed a reno, house was perfect but no room for a shed. We sell my house pay agent fees, buy another place for more money and pay the government another lot of sales tax for the privilege of moving and spend some more money on a reno or shed or both. The numbers were not adding up.
We kept coming back to Clewley Crescent. It is a nice area, close to schools, shops and parks. Easy to commute about and a bike path at the end of the street that gets us every where relatively quickly.
A friend of Tania's is an architect and so we asked him around for some ideas on a reno. An upstairs extension was soon agreed upon and the initial drawings made straight away. This seemed the best possible outcome for cost and helping Tania and the boys settle in to a place that felt like ours. Life got in the way for a year before we decided to not let it stop us and move forward. We asked Murray the architect for some builder recommendations and a friend who was also doing a upstairs extension for his builders number, Smith & Sons being one of the recommendations from Murray at Alisco Designs.
The initial consult was a positive experience with all the builders we spoke with. Deciding who to go with was the hardest task. One initial quote was well above what we could afford or feel would be an appropriate amount to spend. The final 2 quotes were close to our budget, but talking with Darryl and Sam and their ability to go through everything and show us all manner of finishes, fittings and what we could expect the stairs to look like (the clincher for us) helped us to decide which builder to go with. The team at Smith & Sons Toowoomba East cared about what we wanted and solutions on how to achieve it for us. Darryl and Sam were also able to offer ideas to achieve the finish we wanted while also meeting our budget. They had a good expectation on a time line for the build and managed to stick to it closely in spite of poor weather.
The best thing about renovating with Smith & Sons was the team from Toowoomba East. From the office staff to the chippies, everyone was accommodating during the build while inspecting the progress and keeping us updated. They were able to get any problems sorted out straightaway, which was reassuring as the whole process can be daunting as this was our first big renovation.
Looking back now we would definitely use Darryl and Sam again, their dedication to seeing the job through till the end and done right showed great professionalism. We are so happy with our new home with its upstairs addition and new kitchen, it has given us so much more living space we can't wait to make more memories here in this house that we call home.