When Will It END?!

Some folks experience remodeling as torture. Not us. As we prepared for our pre-demolition party, Laura & I decided to turn waiting into a game.

The day before the party, we started things off with some wall art of our own. We outlined our dogs. We wrote out a few pithy quotes. Then inspiration hit.

Practically everyone asks how long the project will take. Our builder has consistently estimated six to eight months. When we share this, most everyone looks skeptical, and shares their opinion that remodeling always takes longer than planned. Laura & I realized the party made a great platform for letting folks go on record, and even better, to raise money for a worthy charity.

To make it a game, we drew a calendar on a wall. We invited guests to guess the completion date, putting their prediction right there for all to see! To make it even better, we suggested they donate $1 per guess, with all proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity. Through the generosity of our guests, we raised $42. Laura & I only wish that we'd included the idea in the party invitation so folks came excited about the game and the opportunity to contribute to others.

So, what did Laura & I guess? We turned keys over to our builder as of May 5, 2008. So, by our builder's consistent estimate, that would put completion (we define that as receipt of Certificate of Occupancy from the city) between November and February. Laura's estimates: Wednesday January 7, Tuesday January 27, and wishfully, Friday November 7. Bernie's estimates: Saturday December 6 and Wednesday February 18.

Which one matters? Good question. We think our builder's estimate is the most credible, a certain Thursday in December:

Won't it be fun to learn which prediction was closest?