Renovating Our House: Save Time With Bidvine

Renovating Our Home: Save Time With Bidvine

Life’s chaotic at the moment. Not content with the madness that surrounds life as two working parents to a nine month old, we’ve made the decision to start moving forward with our renovation plans. Finally. Two and a half years after we moved in to our eighties-decor-laden wreck of a house, we’ve pulled our socks up and decided to get things sorted. What does that mean? It means it’s time to find a builder.

I should explain a little of the backstory first. In our previous pre-baby existence, we bought our first house, gutted it completely and turned a seventies nightmare into a modern, open-plan home. It took months of living in dust with every spare moment spent demolishing, rebuilding and decorating but we got there. We finished it, took one look around and sold up. Yikes. This house is different. We moved in with an appetite to do it all again but quickly realised it wasn’t feasible. We were right in the middle of planning a wedding and by the time that came and went, a little blue line appeared.

Renovating our house with bidvine

In the depths of nesting we set about decorating a few rooms to make things a little more baby friendly. We did our bedroom when I was 22 weeks pregnant, the nursery at 30 weeks and I painted the bathroom – balanced precariously on the edge of the bath – at 35 weeks. I was determined that things would look a little less ‘grandma’s house circa the 50’s’ and a little more like us, even if it did mean I attempted to re-wire ceiling lights in the nursery at 36 weeks and left us without lighting for 12 hours because I got cramp midway through. I think it was then that my husband put his foot down. We were done.

Fast forward nine months and here we are. We’ve got plans approved, money saved and finally, a window of opportunity where we can imagine living in the upheaval of decorating. There’s only one thing standing in our way; finding someone to do the job. Previously, I’d have been adamant we could do it ourselves but with a baby in tow and limited time anyway, it’s not happening. So, in an attempt to find out who’s out there and in our (tiny) budget, I turned to Bidvine.

Renovating our house with bidvine

Bidvine is a company I heard about from other bloggers. Covering a wealth of different areas from events to business services, counselling to home improvement, Bidvine makes it easy to get quotes from local, trusted service professionals. Having seen it recommended by others, I figured anything that saved me time was worth a shot especially after a quick look on their site showed me they had great coverage even down here in deepest, darkest Devon. So off we went.

Ringing up builders is not something I enjoy. I hate the awkwardness of the conversations, I hate asking about money and I despise building up courage to call someone only for them not to answer as they’re busy. It’s bad enough without a child but when you throw in a demanding nine month old whose favourite thing to do at the moment is shout ‘DADA!!” at the dog repeatedly, phone calls are hard work. So another plus for Bidvine. It took me all of two minutes, if that, to pop in my information. I put in builder, selected construction services and entered my postcode. Bidvine then asked me a series of questions to make sure I got to the right people; whether it was just an estimation, the type of property, the size of the extension, our time scale and any additional information the builder would need to know. In order to get quotes, I create an account, hit submit and then wait… our information is sent off to local registered companies and they get back in touch with us with their quotes or asking for the further information that they need.

Sounds a bit too easy doesn’t it?!

Renovating our house with bidvine

The whole process was painless considering our request is probably one of the more involving out there in terms of the level of information needed to get a quote. The website was simply laid out, the steps were easy to follow (even for a sleep deprived parent) and worked well on my iPhone. It meant that I could sort building quotes on my phone whilst doing the night feed at 2am… not something I’d otherwise manage! I’d imagine that easier, more specific tasks such as finding a party entertainer or locating a personal trainer would be even simpler – I don’t need to imagine for long, both of those are jobs I need to do soon-ish! I’d recommend it to any time-strapped parent, especially those who, like me, dread the calling round required to find someone decent, available and within budget. I just wish I’d heard about it sooner – I could have spent those 2am wake ups being far more organised rather than surfing social media!

Now to break the news to my husband that the dust is coming back…

 

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Renovating our Home- Save Time with Bidvine

18 Comments

  • Nicola 22nd February 2017 at 9:53 am

    Ahh how exciting! Once you have everything done to perfection you can share on Pinterest to give us massive gorgeous home envy.

    Bidvine sounds great by the way. I hate awkward phone calls. Will be bearing it in mind for when we purchase later this year.

    • DevonMamaOnline 22nd February 2017 at 12:31 pm

      I’ve already started pinning away ideas for the new kitchen – budget is obviously endless!! I agree, the awkwardness, the finding the right moment to call when the baby won’t be fussing… online quotes all the way!

  • Nicola 22nd February 2017 at 11:21 am

    Sweet. I could have done with knowing about this last year! Your home sounds very similar to mine, i might see if bidvine can help me in my guest to get rid of the anaglypta wallpaper in my hallway!

    • DevonMamaOnline 22nd February 2017 at 12:30 pm

      Sounds like we’re both living the decor dream! Anything that makes redecorating less stressful HAS to be a winner!

  • The Amphletts 23rd February 2017 at 1:19 pm

    Exciting…can’t wait to see the final extension, always available for homeware shopping too! Don’t forget to take lots of ‘before’ pictures – you will miss the avocado toilet & matching tiles one day!

    • DevonMamaOnline 23rd February 2017 at 8:40 pm

      Oh don’t worry, there’ll be mountains of photos! I’ve started taking them already! I know… I may sneak in a tile or two in memory…

  • Deborah Nicholas 23rd February 2017 at 5:29 pm

    I love bidvine, such a great tool when you havent a clue where to start looking for local tradespersons etc!

    • DevonMamaOnline 23rd February 2017 at 8:37 pm

      Definitely – I couldn’t believe how many people they had on there, especially considering our rural location! I’m sold!

  • Beth 23rd February 2017 at 7:08 pm

    I hate calling round for information/quotes too so this app sounds great! And so exciting with starting renovations again- good luck!

    • DevonMamaOnline 23rd February 2017 at 8:36 pm

      So much easier! Thank you, equal parts excited and terrified for the mess!

  • Jaymee Heaton 23rd February 2017 at 10:19 pm

    sounds like a great app! definitely useful to have

    • DevonMamaOnline 24th February 2017 at 10:40 am

      It’s really good, I was surprised at the level of scope it has!

  • Sophie Durrans 23rd February 2017 at 11:12 pm

    Hope it all goes well. I’m jealous though, we don’t have room to extend up or out 🙁

    • DevonMamaOnline 24th February 2017 at 10:39 am

      Oh no! Ours has a LOT of potential which is great but very frustrating as it’ll cost a LOT of money!! Thanks for the well wishes, I’ll be updating on here as soon as we get going!

  • Claire 24th February 2017 at 12:35 am

    I hate talking to people on the phone, even with ordering takeaways etc I’d rather use apps so this is so so useful! At the moment, we go through the agency to the landlord but saving for our own house, I’m sure this would come in mega handy! Xx

    • DevonMamaOnline 24th February 2017 at 10:38 am

      Snap! Anything that stops the awkward phone calls!

  • Babies and Beauty 26th February 2017 at 12:10 am

    Oh Hayley your plans sound amazing and will be so worth the stress in the end. Completely agree with ringing contractors etc, I hate negotiating and chasing people up, feels awkward.

  • Townsville home builders 26th April 2017 at 9:17 am

    Add up some more value to your home by some custom renovations.

  • Leave a Reply to Deborah Nicholas Cancel reply

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