What a lovely man

Elaine recommended a sparky, Jonathan, and I gave him a call today - first impressions were very good. He was driving when I called and said he'd phone back in half an hour. Yeah right, I thought. I was surprised when he actually did call me back and we proceeded to have a lengthly conversation about the job in question.

It turns out he is in the process of doing up his own 1930s property and bought it a few months after his second child was born so we immediately had something in common. He said the fact that we could rent before moving in was a great advantage. In my limited experience it is really crucial to bond with tradespeople as soon as possible and the fact he has a young family and is doing up his own house was a good sign.

He gave me a ballpark figure of £3.5k for a complete rewire of a three bedroom semi. Extras such as installing a burglar alarm and smoke detectors would increase the price. Either he or one of his team of four is available in Jan and the job will take around 3 weeks to do. Matt and I just need to work out exactly what we want doing and email him our plan so he can give us a better quote. How many plug sockets do we need in the living room? We've got a lot of thinking to do.

Sparky recommended a plumber and a plaster, both of whom are working on his house, so I'll give them a try and see what happens. So far, so good.

Great timing

It's taken eleven months and 30 viewings to find the perfect family house. To some people this might seem a bit extreme but I knew exactly what I wanted and nothing came close until last week. If all goes to plan we will be completing at the beginning of January, just before baby number two is due. Great timing. What the hell, I might as well add another bit of chaos to the mix.