I feel like you'd all appreciate an opinion of someone on the other side of this conversation. As a 23 year old renter who owns a 5 year old Border Collie and a 7 month old German Shepherd, I have struggled and will always struggle to find rentals that'll even consider me. My current landlord gave me a chance, my partner and I have been here since September and have already poured $700 into improving the backyard just because we can and will be spending another $800 minimum just on the yard by the time our lease is up. We're about to suggest going "halves" in a discounted professional repaint by some friends in the industry. (The owner and landlord both have detailed descriptions and drawings of all our plans, and are beyond eager to see it done) We're saving up for a full scale professional clean when we leave, including a bug bomb, tile/grout clean and the roof, gutters and pavers which are stained with bore water and who knows what. The most damage I've seen in houses I've worked on is firstly by children, and then by cats. My ex-partner and his teenage brothers spent three weeks weaving a good square metre of carpet fibres back into place before an inspection, as well as damage caused by the teenagers burning things in their rooms, and the smell of cat urine and faeces was always all over the house. There's also the intense cat damage to the blinds, walls, curtains, windows, wooden fixtures and the urine INSIDE kitchen cabinets. My big dogs wouldn't even be able to attempt half of that damage, yet a cat owner will be selected over a dog owner 9 times out of 10. I ask you, don't blame the pet (especially dogs) for bad owners. Put it in the contract that there MUST be a full professional clean paid for by the tenants when they leave. Make it the norm, and you'll weed out the irresponsible owners. You'll then have the pet bond, a professional clean and can even include required damage payments. The threat of money loss will usually deter irresponsible people.

Bristow Design, each of those designs suite the concepts that they have been incorporated into. I prefer Glass edge but it would come down to the application - Caroline

When our building company architect had drawn up the plans and we'd gone on to the next stage of "add-ons", we requested a niche in the tiled shower area for shampoos etc, but were told it can't be done due to water-tight issues. Then, during the walk-through before signing off, we mentioned this to the building supervisor, and he was surprised about our request of a shelf being declined, and said that we should've asked them before they tiled. But, since we'd already made quite a few changes to the standard plan, we didn't want to cause any aggro. Now we have one of those metal extendable corner shelves. So, it pays to get a second opinion.

We covered a small inground spa which had been turned into a fish pond with a low deck. Spa drained and filled with rocky rumble ti help with drainage. There was enough room on 3 sides to build the deck without removing any of the spa structure. The fourth side was next to the pool which we retained. Little trickier but as there was 1-2 paver width between spa and pool, we managed to have deck and glass pool fence installed. No idea on the technical requirements!!! Has been in place for 5 years with no issues touch wood 😀 Good luck!