Bought an old home...I loving refer to as my retirement bank..124 years old. If your husband or you have any carpenter skills or a family member who loves you a lot...look for old doors that includes barn doors that are too large...cut them down or refigure to size...its custom. You did it...wood is thicker and better....paint them all the same color....instant character. Or start with the one that is the worse problem...see how it goes...mine are beautiful...add something different and built to last. Most were $25.00 to $50.00 except the front door..but new doors they are thin...not real wood and to me cheap . its work to sand strip and measure ....make sure to measure about five times...keep in mind old homes are not square...but for us it worked...old doors you pick up for almost nothing aren't either. I made paper doors to take with me to lay on top of old doors to see how it would be...that wasn't easy but used old cardboard first and butcher paper taped together I could fold and take. You can check the height of the door knob which is important I found out..we have a door that we mismeasured and it like a dutch door I think they call them top opens and bottom opens or together..it goes from kitchen to dinning room so like a pass through. Which worked out to look good but what a headache..so the butcher paper template is a must. You are in for a lot of work and fun...as long as you know. Just about anything can be changed someway to work...diy magazines and web sites are educational...good tools...borrowed or hope for as a gift a blessing...renting if your sure you can get it done in a day is an option. Lots of info...custom doors start at least at 200 where I live uninstalled not real wood...for us this made sense...not for everyone...we love our house or recycled doors.good luck...doing it make you love it more.

Well balancing out material and costs labour costs is one thing but 2 story is quite a bit cheaper to build ; far less foundation and roofing area. It also simplifies the plumbing and of course is far more energy effective as downstairs heating will also contribute to upstairs heating. PROs can develop on this. And as Curt points out, modular is a very fast and cost effective solution which can allow you to put your pennies into better quality. Be very careful to select a known and competent professional if you go this way though, i don't know about NZ but europe abounds with cowboys ; low costers are to be strictly avoided.

I'm glad you guys are growing.

Debating replacing a 10 degree roof with a 45 degree roof to optomise going off the grid. Building is 9 metres wide [includes 500 eaves] by 12 metres long. We would increase the length to 16 metres to cover an existing deck with ancient corrugated plastic roof. Question is cost. We have the room to build the roof on site and crane into place otherwise make it offsite. We would need to put a couple of windows in length to give character. We would use dark grey ribbed coloursteel ideally and reclad south and west walls with the same material. Does anyone out there have an opinion?