@mellybean1, Hubby and I have installed an indoor pool into the home we are currently building but fortunately we were able to do everything ourselves, including all the foundations, pool excavation, plumbing and concreting. Could't begin to work out how much you would have to pay to have a pool installed on a slope too and totally by others but I'll give you a bit of an idea of what I know: Engineers plans for pool construction - $3,000 Fibreglass pool - $20,000 Excavation costs including removal of soil with trucks, if you cant use it elsewhere in the build: $10,000 Excavation if you had rocks: $20,000 Foundations a bit of an unknown but a concrete pool about 15m x 3m x 1.5m would include several loads of concrete at approx $1,000 a load and each truck load would hold about 5 mtrs. I'm guessing about 3 loads for the pool alone, however concrete used in pools is differend and sprayed on and not installed like ordinary concrete that can slump, so it's probably allot more than $1,000 a load. Concrete pump to use to construct concrete pool: $2,000 to come to your door before it begins forming up the pool. Pool fencing, a guess $5,000 You won't have much change out of about $80,000 My figures could be a bit wrong but they will be fairly close. Labour nowadays constitutes approx.60-70% of the value of the works to be performed. Best of luck. Cheers, Barbara

I keep 3 sets of (Winter) flannelette sheets and 3 sets of (Summer) cotton sheets- we only have one bed. We have enough towels to "sink a battle ship" (that's a direct quote from my Mum). One can never have too many towels; towels for the dogs, towels for the kitchen, hand towels, bath/body towels..... ;-))

Dr Retro, you are a designer after my own heart! My triple fronted brick veneer house was built in 1965, extended in 1970 and I try and stick to furnishings and influences from the 1950s to the end of the 1970s! I am its third owner, but have discovered its history via my elderly neighbours. I also have lots of antique vases, crystal and fine bone china, as was popular in the 1960s and 70s in my lounge room. Cannisters in the kitchen are all straight from the 1960s purchased by my mother, then handed on to me. Meanwhile my sun room is an explosion of plants , cane, colour and knotted pine feature wall. Whilst I have double glazed and slightly tinted the lounge room windows for privacy, I try and maintain the period integrity and hope to heritage list my property. So many glorious homes of this era are being knocked down for building town houses and macmansions, especially those on huge blocks, like mine. It is an easy house to live in and I am grateful for my separate kitchen, with easy access to the open plan dining room and lounge, as it keeps my dog out of food preparation areas. I love the cosiness of my kitchen in a home of otherwise vast spaces too! The separate living areas and kitchen have at times, made it easy for 3 generations of the family to happily coexist here, which in a totally open plan home would have been difficult!

Builders markups on upgrades can be large. Unfortunately it doesn’t matter a lot what we tell you if you’re locked into a building contract with your builder. You can’t get alternative quotes and you can’t supply your own. So it’s difficult. But for your own sanity check have a look at the benchtop pricing on diyaustralia.com. They have pricing for the different ranges of major benchtop suppliers on their site.