It wasn’t as crowded as in past years, and that may well have been because the terrible weather kept people away (there were heavy downpours in the mix…). However, there also weren’t as many exhibitors as usual—maybe that was because of the poor state of New Zealand’s economy? Dunno.
In any case, I was still able to request quotes for several different things I want done to, which was part of what I wanted to go to the show, so, mission accomplished. Even then, however, the fact that there weren’t as many exhibitors meant also meant there were fewer opportunities to arrange for quotes. So, I’ll have to arrange more quotes through research than I’d expected.
First and foremost, I arranged for three quotes for a cover (pergola) for the patio. As I’ve said many times, in summer the patio is way too hot to use from around midday onward, and in winter it rains too much to use it when the weather’s warm enough (which it often is). Because Kiwis love outdoor living, the cover ought to add enough value to the house to pay for itself—as long as I don’t go nuts, of course. I’ll have more to say about the options later, after I’ve made my decision.
The second thing I wanted quotes for was having a ducted heating/cooling (heat pump) system installed, something I’ve wanted to do since I bought the house. Again, I was able to request quotes from three companies. Doing this won’t add value as such, but it will should with re-sale because anyone who’s lived with ducted heating/cooling will prefer a house that has it—or, at least that was true for me.
Unexpectedly, I also decided to get a quote to get fitted window screens (usually called “fly screens” in New Zealand). For some reason, the vast majority of NZ homes I’ve been in don’t have screens, and this one doesn’t. It’s not cheap to add screens, but it could make a big difference to how I live in the house: Being able to leave my windows open in nice weather, without having any of Hamilton’s legendary flies coming inside for a visit. From time to time I’ve thought about doing this, but until yesterday I’d never seen anyone offering the sort of solution I wanted. Besides, I was focused on the patio and ducted system. I’ll comment more on this if anything comes of it.
Finally, I said I was considering possibly adding a battery bank to my solar electricity system. I say “possibly” because it’s very expensive to do, and I’m not likely to be in this house long enough to get a decent return on the investment. I may be better off to buy a (MUCH cheaper) portable back-up battery bank that I can recharge on mains power to use in the event a severe storm knocks out the power, as happened with the cyclone a couple years ago, and a deliberate temporary blackout the year before (this is mainly about keeping my fridge running). Still much research to do on that one.
Meanwhile, I still have those relatively minor decorating changes inside the house to do, but none of that will be affected by the things I’m going to have others do. If anything, much of it could give me something to do while I have to be home as they do their work—assuming I go ahead with any of the quotes, obviously.
After leaving the Show, my cousin-in-law and I went out for lunch, which was really nice (I don’t do that as much as I used, for no reason, really). I arrived home to a very happy Leo, as always, and a big rest from all that activity.
There’ll be more to this story, of course. In a sense, this was just the first chapter.
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