Our project has taken ages! We spent 2/3 months talking through a possible reconfiguration of rooms before approaching an architect. She then drew up a few options before submitting one to the council for planning permission in May 2015; permissions granted July. We didn't want to start building work at a time of year when the weather would be deteriorating so decided to start early spring this year. During that time we sought quotes from builders, got structural calculations done, started the kitchen planning process and picked over all the details until we were happy. Getting quotes was surprisingly long-winded. Piling and ground works started in February and by Easter the extension was up and holes knocked through. That was the worst time as it was so cold. The old kitchen was taken out about then and kitchen facilities became very minimal i.e. old oven balanced on top of a workmate, fridge outside in a garage and washing up in the bathroom. All the interiors are pretty much finished now - in fact carpets went down this week. The major exception is the kitchen which has yet to be installed but that's due to start very soon and we're scheduled to be finished by the end of June. Are we guilty of over-planning? Absolutely not. There was a lot to consider and, thanks to professional assistance (OnePlan take a bow), we are already reaping the benefits. We've lived in our house for nearly 20 years and I so wish we had done this before.

Depends entirely on client circumstance - as an architect I'd go for quality every time. BUT if a client isn't going to stay in that house long-term and it's not a very high-end area, quality is less important. Sometimes a family is running out of space and they'll sacrifice quality for increased floor area. Quality is also subjective so if a client wants a cheap floor material or cheaper windows, I'll have a conversation about what the compromise is (durability, look, sustainability etc etc) but ultimately it's their choice. Everyone wants their project done quickly but understanding that small builders can't always deliver that without additional cost is important.

Hi Vanessa, Glad you found this post. The pearlescent finish is something that we don't keep in our colour palette but is something that we definitely can do. We did a mother of pearls finish for a bespoke order a few months ago, unfortunately, we do not have images of the project but I have attached images from the factory when we did it, is a mix of 3 different techniques to recreate the mother of pearl. Some of the colours have shades of pearlescent finish, quite difficult to appreciate that on the images, I'm afraid. We were fascinated with the results, all together looks stunning. Below are some images. Alternatively, we also have the pearlescent finish in other colours, also images below. Unfortunately, we do not have samples of them at the moment, but if you are really interested in any of them, we could make some test for you. If you can share images of the Brother versus Brother, that would be very helpful to see if we can do it. I hope it helps. Let us know if this is what are you looking for or if you need any information at all. Best regards, E

It depends, sometimes they get trade discount and have a deal with particular shop. Do your research and I think online Victoria plumbing is a good place to start.