Keeping the Books

What you say? Someone is keeping the books? Yep, it's me. For some reason, we get invoices in, cut checks, get bank authorization to spend the money and there you have it. Right? Well, it seems that in order to stay ahead of the game, we have to mind where the money is going. So far, it has not been a big deal. We only cut two checks for invoices received so far. The first one was a real trick because it was difficult getting the bank required forms filled out correctly and then even more difficult matching up the estimated costs as opposed to the actual costs. The second invoice was for just one item so it was much easier to submit.

Cost savings are already being realized. For instance, we received an estimate for the power line Sophie mentioned earlier to run 1300 feet of underground cable. Looking at the estimate and planned route to the house, we were able to convince the power company that the run up the face of our mountain would be much easier, especially since most of the route is already clear of trees. The actual cost was significantly less, so we saved a chunk of change on that one item. Of course, I cut down and removed an additional 6 trees but that is a minor inconvenience. There is a story there too, by the way. We also managed to save a bunch on the purchase of the logs due to the economy and now have them on order. Questions about permits allowed us to save additional costs by having our General Contractor pull one inclusive permit as opposed to several different permits. Every little bit helps.

There is so much to keep track of but a very necessary evil, and we would be foolish to just let someone else mind the store. We found that it is never too early to set up a spread sheet for accounting that includes line item estimates initially and then columns for us to follow along as the home progresses. Each line item billed will now get a separate accounting and we can follow along with the expenditures to make sure we are getting the best value for every dollar we spend.