It’s a year since practical completion of the renovation of our beach house. It’s just the garden to go now.

To use a much-overused term, it was quite a journey. What started as musing about ways to sort out our dreaded spiral staircase over a steak in the Penola is now the finished article.

Our architect’s plans were put through the mill by my favourite person and me. While costs were relevant, they were not the driving factor through the design phase. The focus was on getting rid of the spiral staircase and coming up with a design that compensated for the loss of space that would result. However, it didn’t stop there! We quickly moved on to a new kitchen, relocation of the laundry, necessary because of the stairs, an update of the mezzanine to give us more space and extra decking. And I wonder why the costs blew out!

It was about two years from when we first met our architect until the builder started. We waxed and waned over her design, but as each decision was made we very much followed her lead. Her attention to detail in putting my favourite person’s ideas into place served us well. Our builder commented more than once that there was so much detail in her plans.

Notwithstanding that our wish list had expanded from our first thoughts, we still envisaged what we thought was a fairly straightforward project. We didn’t see it as a major renovation. However, in the early stages, as internal walls were removed and structural beams were being ordered, we quickly became aware that this was, to use our builder’s words, “quite a complex project”.

So, no real surprise, the costs blew out. We spent more than three times what we had initially intended. I suspect it would have been cheaper to knock it down and build afresh, except to do so would have come with building height restrictions, as the original build is higher than current regulations allow for the area. That extra height gives us even better views along the coast.

As a result, my spreadsheet kept having red on it as almost every cost line exceeded budget!

All of that said, we have no regrets. I remember watching an episode of Grand Designs New Zealand, where a couple built a fabulous home with the cost blowing out to an almost unimaginable number (I know the feeling!). When asked by the presenter how he felt about it, he was quite definite that the blow-out in costs would not define their new home. It was all part of the journey. While our costs were nowhere near theirs, the message is also true for us.

We had the money to fund the build. Sure, it has meant some other compromises, such as less overseas travel, but if overseas travel was the plan, why would we have renovated what was a perfectly serviceable beach house?

We decided early on that what had been designed by the army was what we wanted and decided we would not compromise. Yes, I know I am an accountant, but I decided if we were going to spend that much money I didn’t want either myself or my favourite person saying after we’d finished, “I wish we’d done this” or “I wish we’d done that”.

That decision, along with an unrealistic expectation of building costs, were major reasons for the actual cost being about three times what I’d initially expected. I knew building costs were high, but they are actually horrendous.

Then there were issues that arose from the original construction, which has meant some internal walls needed bracing and, in some instances, replacing. The internal structural beam is quite a feature in the finished article. We also found that we had to replace all of the flooring rather than on one level.

There were  also some additional items such as landscaping which extended way beyond a new fence and path. We had little in the way of retaining and what we had were old, white-ant-eaten railway sleepers. We now have quite a lot.

We also have the opportunity to put in more rainwater tanks. We rely on rainwater for our water and we’ve never really had enough. With expected greater use, that could well have been a problem. Hopefully, we will have enough water to even water the garden.

Then there are extras such as ceiling fans, extra lights and it wasn’t just one extra air-conditioning unit but a reconfiguration of the other units, which I hadn’t anticipated.

I have watched Grand Designs for many years and seen budgets get blown all the time. Our experience has given me a couple of insights into why this happens.

First, the building has a momentum of its own. Sure, there are options to trim or cut costs, but there aren’t that many before the integrity of the envisaged build is impacted.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, don’t start unless you have a substantial contingency beyond the contingency!

It is finished now, except the garden, and with each visit it gets more exciting.