Saturday, April 4, 2009

Bamboo Flooring

I've had my eye on bamboo flooring for a while now.  With the prospect of our new home being completed in the next 4 weeks, I thought I better get some quotes done.  

I started on Wednesday and made a trip to Granville where I had seen bamboo floors before.  I sort of know what I want based on many endless nights researching flooring.  I have finally convinced Von to have the same flooring throughout the house as yesterday, I saw one the school mum's house with bamboo flooring (even on stairs) and to me, it was simply stunning.  The thought of using sustainable materials is a wonderful advantage as well.  Doing a little bit for the environment.  Although, BASIX made sure we did do our bit for the environment in building our home, at the cost of around $10k - not to mention all the other things we included to ensure we used less resources, eg. eaves, glazing on the front windows, etc.

Anyway, in Granville, I got two quotes (very roughly as none would commit until they have done measurements in the actual house).  The first came up with an area that was close to what I got (in total, but not when done separately.  The second one calculated a lot more but the second one sounded like he knew what he was talking about more.  The quote was above what we had budgeted for, mainly because the prices had gone up since I was researching the floors nearly a year ago, and also because I hadn't considered the stairs.  We were happy to have carpet on the stairs for safety of the children.  The stairs alone would cost around $2000-$2500.

Today, we met with a good friend's old mate from uni.  He seemed trustworthy and credible.  He was also very nice that I couldn't even bring myself to bargaining with him.  We're going with him - now, if i can only figure out how I can draw down the money (we've made an allocation for floors, electricals and driveway within our loan).  The tricky part is that most flooring installers want 10% at the time of booking and then another 70% at the time the materials are delivered.  Meanwhile, the bank wants a tax invoice from the company installing our floors.  I'm asking our broker - hahaha!!!

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