A bit late, but, I still wanted to respond to this because in my (albeit limited) contest experience, when I've seen entries under budget, there's almost always something the contestant could have done with the extra money. First culprit is usually landscaping, and the second is more expensive/different furnishings. So while I haven't seen penalties for not using the whole budget, I have seen judges comment on what the extra money could have been used for, so I do think it's a consideration. I was going to suggest that you upload your entry, pinkdynamite, and just ask for feedback, but you uploaded already!

Looking at your lot, I can now see what you mean--it's very well laid out and I think your instincts are right in that you don't need to add too much more. Really looks good, imo. So I would take another look at your furnishings and see if there are more expensive ones that would eat up that budget and still fit your aesthetic. This can be hard because when you're building you can have a certain vision or idea of what types of materials and furnishings to use that fit with your theme. Plus, then we all have our favorite items we like to build with. But I think I do see what I'll call 'areas of opportunity.'

My two cents is that you could swap the bathroom sinks and mirrors for more expensive ones--possibly the toilets too--can't tell if they're the cheap one or the K&B one that's more expensive. A nice wood counter with a sink would cost a bit more and still fit your aesthetic. Kitchen counters and fridge could be upgraded, too--there definitely are more expensive counters that should still fit your cabin theme/vibe. Speaking of the kitchen, you mentioned why there's no dishwasher, but there's still no garbage can or trash compactor and I think the judges would expect to see one or the other, and you have the money for it. (FYI, that plant one tile away from the fridge makes me nervous. IDK, I'd expect a judge to call that out as a possible routing problem. I'd at least use Snap Objects or the quarter tile cheat to move it closer to the wall.)

For the dining room, I know some simmers really like the Tea Party in Teak chairs (and admittedly, it's not exactly one of my favorites), but it is a really cheap chair and with your leftover budget you could upgrade the dining set easily and still have a rustic/cabin look and feel. Finally you mentioned in your post that Miriam always wanted a dog and making a lot pet friendly is also a good way to spend some money. But I'm not really seeing how a pet would fit into the house, as every nook in the house is pretty much filled. Where would the pet bowl and chew toys go? You have some bushes and flowers; that's good because dogs like to choose those spots to go pee, but where would the new dog sleep? Would you need a dog shed/house? A mudroom? A bigger porch? Finally, if I put my Safety Inspector hat on, I can see how it's a bit unsafe that some of the stairs have no railings (back porch and dock) and then the dock has no fence at all; there might be a short fence that will look good but keep sims safe, too, plus that'd eat some of your leftover budget.

Does that help at all, pinkdynamite? It's kinda all relative. Does your lot need more stuff or more expensive things? Nah, not really. But could you spend the extra money? Sure! But again, just my two cents.

Ok, time to go back to browsing all the entries now. I like to go back and read the judges' comments for everyone's entries; it gives me pointers on what sort of things judges look at. @Justpetro could you possibly add links to the judges' comments in the first post so that they don't get buried in the thread?

https://modthesims.info/showpost.ph...6&postcount=194
https://modthesims.info/showpost.ph...2&postcount=428
https://modthesims.info/showpost.ph...2&postcount=576

Welcome to Round 4, @pinkdynamite !

I have added a little table with the links to the scores to the main post, thank you, @Phantomknight, a very good idea.

Of course I work for Andrew, and Andrew likes to see things done on time and under budget. And, most importantly, to the satisfaction of the paying customer. This venture into commercial property is a bit of a novelty for us; we're used to building houses for not-too-well-off clients on tight budgets. So budget constraints are what we're used to, and. for the most part, our customers are more than happy if we can finish under budget.

The first contest I did was @d_dgjdhh's Monopoly Game Town Contest. In that contest we had "coffers" where we kept our company funds. If we built under budget, we had more money to carry forward to the next round. At the end of that contest we had over §400,000 in our company coffer, so I divided it equally between Andrew and his fellow company director Julian (then his boyfriend, now his husband). I liked that contest, because, amongst other things, it made Andrew, who is my best friend as well as my employer, comparatively rich. Well wealth didn't go to Andrew's head; he still lives with his mum Gloria in a modestly furnished little house in Veronaville's gloriously old fashioned Chorus Court. (Though it has to be said, the house has got a bit crowded since Andrew and his mum both got married and moved their husbands in.) Andrew and Gloria both still find it easy to relate to those poorer than themselves. After all, it's where they came from, not all that long ago.

One of the things I like about the current contest is that it's given me the opportunity to work closely with Andrew again. As you've no doubt notice, all my entries in this contest have been built in Monopolis, the Veronaville sub-hood that I added for d_dgjdhh's contest all those years ago.

Most, if not all, TS2 Sims seem to like owning expensive things. It's not a characteristic that I share with them. As a naturally parsimonious Scot, I much prefer to get a bargain. I just can't see the point in spending thousands of Simoleons on a dining table. As Gloria (Andrew's mum) says, it doesn't make the food taste any better. I can find Fortune Sims particularly hard to really empathise with; they just don't think the same way as I do. (Gloria as always has an explanation: "They don't get enough woohoo!" she says.) I feel much more comfortable in the company of poorer Sims living in modestly furnished homes, than in the palatial mansions of some wealthy Sims. I'm happy to hang out with the young Sims who live in downtown Mendoza Lane, but I really wouldn't want to live in the Summerdreams' palace in Bard Boulevard; I'd find the dark decor and the expensive furnishings oppressive.

Having said all that, I've felt constrained by budget in every round of this contest so far. That's mainly because a lot of the stuff needed to run OFB businesses is quite expensive -- especially the OFB display shelving. Only in this last round have I felt a bit more liberated -- a lot of the garden plants are quite cheap -- it's just that the Stewarts hope to sell a lot of them. In furnishing their house, I've gone for more expensive furniture than I usually get for my Sims. But a lot of the most expensive seating, although it has a high in-game comfort score, really doesn't look all that comfortable to sit on. So I've actually bought mid-range stuff for them.

Now I'd better get on and take the pictures for my entry!

Just chiming in to say - I don't ever look at the budget.
Seriously, I don't even look. {{{shrug}}}

Money - in this game - is completely arbitrary to me. Most of the things don't make any sense how they are priced in the catalog. I mean, have you compared the pricing structure to RL items? It's ridiculous. Long ago, I repriced (and recatted) everything in the catelog of my game, so it would be easier to find stuff.
Sure, there are things of better quality... the Tea Party in Teak chair is not made as well as the Penn Station chair, but they are basically the same chair.
They are both hard wood - and if one had a higher comfort rating than the other originally, then I fixed that too. Hard wood is hard wood, you know? (They both have the same comfort level, in my game.)

When I build or decorate a house, I build or decorate it to the aesthetic of that house. And then, I will find/create the sim who'll live there.
All this to say - this judge will not take off points for budget considerations.

Let me clear up the talking about the use of the budget here.

I don't think any judge can judge items chosen by a contestant due on how cheap/expensive they are. This contest allows cc being used freely, most of the cc items I have never seen before and I have no idea what their prices are either.

Not using all of the budget is NOT a requirement, staying inside the budget is.

The budget was mentioned to only 1 contestant in Round 2 (Hello, @AndrewGloria). That was not because he did not use all of it. That was because he was very happy about saving Simoleons in the round with the tightest budget of them all while not decorating the restaurant side of his lot. He was docked points for not decorating there and advised to use rather use all the money instead of no decor. That was all.

(I have also seen some wallpapers that you may like to download for your music venue, by the way - it is here:
https://modthesims.info/d/530485/a-...wallpapers.html

And I like the teak table and chairs, and must have more than 100 recolors for it

The budget in this round is high because of the cost of some of the items from Seasons which are expensive. Fruit trees are 1000 each, I think, and the greenhouse walls, door and roof are expensive too.

I also knew that building a protected porch to fish from is extra costs (our contestants have done that SO well!) and that some of the garden statues in the catalog is on the expensive side too.

And since it is the last round, I wanted everyone to have enough money!

Huh! Oddly enough, I like the orange wallpaper best. Who'dathunkit?

So do I

Fishing seems to be the most popular choice. I can see why. No messing around with planting or harvests.

Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that @shastakiss ! I hope all is ok, will miss you!

Thank you for your two bits @Phantomknight, you had some very good points. With regards to the kitchen, the plant by the fridge was snap objects'd and the fridge work just fine. In fact, Miriam is preparing a meal she got from the fridge! The plan was for them to buy a trash compactor once the flowers start to get weeds (I don't have newspapers in my game) and place it in the garden out back. I have a mod that lets them sell compost for money so I was going to let them do that as a small secondary source of income. I personally am not a fan of dogs in the house so I had intended for all dog-related supplies to be outdoors. That's where all our dogs' things were when I was growing up, and they never seemed to suffer for it. As to the dock, I have never seen a fishing dock with rails so that's not something I even considered. Same with the outdoor stairs, maybe I just lived more dangerously growing up?

I tend to be more spartan with my own personal decorating as well as with my sims, which I supposed doesn't translate well to this contest. I'll get each room up to a certain room score and then stop, I'd rather leave them more room to move around then filling a room with clutter. Again, definitely something I will take into consideration for the next (hopefully) contest.

Welcome to Stewarts' Regent Park Garden Centre. This is the property that we at Jones & Moltke Construction (Veronaville) Limited have been building for Jake and Brenda Stewart. We are proud to announce that building work is now complete and the property is ready for them to move in. Our remit was to build a substantial dwelling house for them beside Regent Park in the Veronaville suburb of Monopolis. The house is modern but traditional in appearance. It is is built in the Veronavillesque style that our firm specialises in. Beside the house is a substantial plant nursery which will trade under the name of Stewarts' Regent Park Garden Centre. Jake and Brenda are confident that their Garden Centre will be able to supply most of the gardening needs not only of residents of Monopolis, but also of all Veronavillians. Veronaville has never seen anything like this before. Building works also include a shop and customer toilets.

The building in the left hand background is Diana Silke's ClefStave music theatre, also built recently by Jones & Moltke.

When I first posted this, the Stewart family were still living in Marlborough Street on the other side of Monopolis. However they moved in on Monday and opened for business in the afternoon. It's now Wednesday in Veronaville.




I'll have to stop now. I'm just too tired to do any more. And I'm 5 hours past even the extended deadline. Hope there aren't too many typos!

Welcome to Round 4, @AndrewGloria!

A quick check on your pics - screenshots should be taken during the day, please, according to the MTS guidelines sceenshots here: https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti...Lots_and_Houses

Also, can you make sure that all your plants are accessible? I assume you still have to play the lot to test, but a quick look makes me worry about the tulips and the fences if marked for sale.

Isn't that only if you're uploading a lot?

All the screenshots for the contest have to meet the same guidelines, as in former contests as well.

I read there:
"Lighting: For most things, it's best to take pictures in an interior room with good lighting. For lots, pictures should be taken during a nice sunny day, for floorplans, take the pictures with the lights ON."
I think my pictures do meet those criteria. The required Front, Rear and Overall Plan pictures are all taken in daylight. The "by night" picture is an additional one, and I always try to include such a picture to give people a chance to see what looks like after dark. I think the ones that upset you must be the floorplans. However the rule only says that the lights must be switched ON, which they are. It doesn't say it also has to be daylight outside. Since the floorplans concentrate on the interiors, I don't see the relevance of taking them during daylight hours. However I do see your point about the floorplan of the shop. The lighting there is really not bright enough to see the merchandise on the shelves. I tried retaking the picture there in daylight, but it made little difference. The aspect of the shop with the front in shadow, and an overhanging roof outside mean that very little extra light comes in through the entrance. For that reason I've now added an additional Light Effects Ceiling Lamp just inside the entrance thus:
This is an improvement and will have to do for now. However I'd really like it brighter. I think I'd ideally like a fluorescent tube over the till, and white spotlights on ceiling-mounted rails to highlight the displayed goods. The fluorescent tube wouldn't be a problem, but I don't know of of any such rail-mounted spotlights for The Sims 2. Frankly I haven't got time to do a CC search before the closing date, and even if I did, it would probably put us over budget. Good quality retail display lighting doesn't usually come cheap! So it will just have to stay something for the Stewarts to think about for the future.

I'll change the picture in the entry post some time tomorrow. The extra ceiling lamp will increase the total price by §65, so I'll have to change the price picture too. It's still within budget though.

The fence is to separate the Stewarts' house and private garden from the garden centre so it definitely won't be for sale! All the plants that are intended for sale are adjacent to paved paths, so they should be accessible. Almost all the visible plants on the public side of the picket fence are intended for sale. There are a couple of CC bushy shrubs at the lot edges that I think aren't reachable, so I'll just leave them wild. They do tell us to leave parts of our gardens wild for nature these days!

@AndrewGloria, I am not being difficult. I know you are good at finding loopholes everywhere, but I am going to ask you to retake the screenshots, please? (Just the floorplans, the rest is additional anyway).

The norm for lots is to take screenshots during the DAY with the lights ON. That is why I also linked to Turn on the Lights mod in the first post. Extra pics at night with the lights on are obviously allowed.

The norm for contests is to follow those guidelines.

That is why I linked to Moo's mod in the first post.

I try to point out mistakes with screenshots and requirements before the round ends, as you know.

Edit - Cool with the plants, I had visions of customers standing in the driveway eyeing those flowers.

Whew - I think I have my entry finished in plenty of time this time around! No last-minute struggles this time. I'm going to sleep on it and check again tomorrow to make absolutely sure I haven't missed anything important.

The budget this time gives so much more freedom... but I still managed to use it up! When I was mostly finished and had §20 000 left to spend, I thought I would have no trouble sticking to the budget, but somehow I was able to use it all and found myself looking for something costing §5 that wouldn't be missed. I saved the completed house at §1 under budget, then found the extra Slumber Saddle of Sleepnir jammed into the bedroom from when I was trying to decide between two beds. That's another §1080 I have to spare! ("You can have TWO more frog ornaments!" says my sister, who heard all the grumbling when I was close to the limit.) I may or may not find myself putting in a few extra garden plants before taking screenshots.

A nice enough problem to have, @Pebblerocker

2 days and 11 hours left on the clock, everyone! I hope it is going well with the building for those who are still busy

Nearly done with mine, just have to redownload the invisible magisplay recolor and take photos. I'll likely submit my entry tonight

Jake and Brenda Stewart have now moved into their new home, and opened the adjoining plant nursery as a the Regent Park Garden Centre. I had originally intended to play them for a bit longer in their old house in Marlborough Street on the other side of Monopolis, but it became imperative to move them into there own house if I was going to meet the contest deadline. Which is one reason why their adult daughter Katrina is still with them. Well, they've moved in now, and I've updated my entry post to show a couple of pictures of them there. I've also changed the floor-plan pictures as requested.

To introduce them, here are a couple of pictures of their old house at 101 Marlborough Street::





I can understand why they wanted to move!

The Stewarts bought a split parcel lot for their home and fruit orchard. Occasionally their granddaughter comes to stay for a season, so they did up the second bedroom for her. They sell the fruits of their labor plus their granddaughter's favorite flowers in a small stand up front.

The flower stand up front has flowers from Buy Mode/Decorative/Plants placed on an invisible magisplay tray. I didn't have sims living on the lot when I took screenshots, so I couldn't use the produce packing station to make crates of fruit. Instead, I put deco crates to act as stand-ins. I also have Voeille's water overhaul, so I hid pool tiles (needed for the pond shaders to work) in the walls of the break room area.

Required images:



Extra images:

Welcome to Round 4, @Modder!

Thank you for the screenshots, @AndrewGloria

1 full day and 14 hours left on the clock, good luck to everyone still building!

I don't think if I will be able to have something ready in time, at this point I managed to put together a shell but I fell like I ran out of juice and I am completely uninspired for decorating...
I'll try again today but unless I suddenly get a vision I'm not too hopeful

Keep going @Monsieur_Oshima and may inspiration arrive!