Pump House With Backyard
Initially when we first decided to build a pump house, it was supposed to be just a small storage area. The plan was that this was going to be a small temporary building to be used to store all the pipes and fittings required to develop the farm. Later, once we have planted everything and when we are closer to moving to the farm permanently, we were supposed to build a proper farm house and move to that house. At least that was the plan. But as we were designing the pump house and adding more and more stuff like bathroom and a car parking place, it felt like this may not be a temporary place after all. Of course it will not be our retirement home, but we thought may be if we make a few more design changes, may be we can make it a livable space for some temporary visits to the farm.
The new design changes that we were thinking were inspired from another farm house we visited. That was their temporary farm house. The only room with walls was a bathroom. The rest of the space had nothing but roof and a small compound wall. Inside the compound wall were a kitchen space and a living room. They would bring their tents and put them up in the living room to make it into a bedroom. We thought this was a really nice idea and wanted to implement in our pump house. Our pump house design was big enough to have a bedroom inside the walls. So we just need a space for living room and kitchen outside the house. It will be like an open kitchen and living space. We discussed this with the contractor and asked him to give another quote after we send him new designs (see below).
The backyard was supposed to have a small 3 feet compound wall with space for kitchen on one corner and the rest of the space could be utilized however we want. So it could be living room or dining space etc depending on what we want to do. The compound wall will have a small entrance with a gate. To help our contractor understand the design, I gave him some 3D renderings in various angles as shown below:
With these design changes, the pump house price went up to Rs. 5L as quoted by the contractor with a possibility of going over budget by 10%, which most likely it will. With this final design change, we have effectively doubled our budget from Rs. 2.5L to Rs. 5L at the very minimum. Yet we decided to go ahead with the new design. We felt like it may take a while for our real farm house to be built and this could be a good compromise for until that time.
Some one commented on my blog about scope creep. This is indeed a lot of scope creep. Initially we wanted to build a small room to house the starter. Then a farmer friend suggested we build a big enough room to store 20 foot pipes. After that we wanted a bathroom. Later some one suggested we add a shade for car parking. Another farmer inspired us with their open house design and we decided to incorporate an open kitchen and living space in the backyard.
As the scope increased, so did the costs. Initially it was Rs. 2.5L, then it went to Rs. 3.5L, finally the estimate arrived to Rs. 5L which I doubt the contractor will stick to. Most likely, according to my estimate it will become Rs. 7L. I generally do not let expenses go beyond budget, but this was an exception especially since the money was not coming out of my pocket :). I always stick very close to my budget whether I am buying a car or TV or anything else. That has always been my advice too.
You plan a budget based on how much you can afford. Then try to buy the thing that comes as close to the budget as possible. I would certainly like a luxurious car but given a Rs. 6L budget, you have to trim the choices to fit the budget. Read the post on how I budgeted and funded the purchase of a new car. Same thing with any other thing. Like I had a budget for a TV and instead of buying a 65 inch TV, I went with a 55 inch TV because my budget did not allow it. Realistically, that is how it is done and not the way we have managed the budget with the pump house which is now looking more like a farm house.