Ok, so I did a pic and run post on Monday showing you a delivery we were getting! I figured I should come back and talk about how we got to this point. Oh, and maybe a little talk about what we are doing with all the wood too!

First up, the lumber order.
Back when we built our deck, we learned that getting lots of quotes is best. Most places will work to outbid the next guy if it is within their reach. Home Depot and Lowes both have a bid room. When you hit a certain dollar amount for your order, (in our area it is typically $2500) it will go into the ‘bid room’ to get lower bids and drive down the price.
Companies that focus more exclusively on building supplies might not have the same policies but it definitely doesn’t hurt to ask. Also, these companies tend to have lower delivery fees and can deliver faster because their stock is more extensive on-sight.

So, first, we looked at our floorplan and figured out what we needed. Then, knowing our neighbor is also doing a basement remodel, we paired up with them to make our order bigger. Bigger order = bigger discount (usually).
Once our needs were mapped out, we shopped our order around to the local places and the chains (Home Depot and Lowes). If a bid came in higher than our lowest, we would mention what our current lowest was to see if they could beat it. A lot of times the person you are working with flat out ask if you have other bids and what they are.
We were not far off from the limit to go into the bid room at Home Depot and Lowes. Before we added items to our order though, Mathlete made a quick call to one of the local places and asked if they had a similar policy. He said no but gave us an additional discount on the spot. Their delivery was only $5 and they delivered in under 48 hours so our choice was easily made for us.
That brings us to the picture you saw on Monday.

The guy pulled up out front and unloaded all of our lumber into the driveway. It is still sitting there right now because we have a lot of stuff to move out of the basement so the work can begin.

Options for storage
Storage Unit
Knowing this isn’t going to be a quick project, we considered moving all of the basement stuff to a storage unit. But, the idea of moving it back and forth really didn’t appeal to us. Plus, the added cost of a storage unit would reduce some of the savings we were getting by doing work ourselves. Garage
I’m a wimp. Yep, I said it. The idea of losing my garage parking space, in the middle of winter, to a bunch of boxes made me cringe. It adds time to my getting ready in the morning. Oh, and not to mention the increase in our expenses from the coffee I would inevitably need on the way in to warm me up. Somewhere Inside
We don’t have living room furniture. It is the last room in our house to be furnished but, since we don’t spend much time in there, we haven’t bothered much with it. Other than being a terrible eyesore for a few months, the living room doesn’t much of a downside.Can you guess what we chose?Yep, the living room! First, we put down a drop cloth on top of the carpet to make sure it was protected from any dirt that may travel upstairs on the boxes from the basement.

Then, Mathlete carried almost all of the items in the basement upstairs and put them into the living room. A few items are hanging in the garage but not enough to impede my parking (YAY!).