not a candidate for Grand Designs

Well Mr McCloud, I'm sorry to tell you that we are on schedule, below budget and not completely demoralised and disheartened. Our contractor dropping out has been a blessing in disguise, we are saving lots of money and at the same time completely in control of the works. Chris is proving a brilliant project manager and coming to grips with all the technical specifics of the job.  Above is the basement which is currently being tanked. We expect this to be finished early next week - so are looking to lay the insulation and underfloor heating pipes shortly.

The outside meanwhile is progressing well with our builders Pawel and Michal. The steelworks went up last week and now they've completed the ground-floor brick-laying, they are constructing the first-floor bathroom, which Chris is surveying in this photo with pride.

Last week we had the people from Adpol coming round to measure up the windows and sliding doors to the garden. These are going to be manufactured in Poland and then transported here.
We also had Dominic with solar thermal cells and he has sent as a quote, but we are still in two minds whether it will justify the investment.
Likewise we are hesitating about rainwater harvesting since we were told that we could not use it in the washing machine, which means the use would be rather less than we had envisaged, and does it justify digging a huge hole in the garden for the tank?
Caring about the environment is proving hard work.