Advice from Craig
Can you live in your house during a renovation?
The short answer
Yes, you can, Craig says, but it may add time and cost. Take a rear extension that runs into the kitchen, where the boiler and the consumer unit, your fuse board, often sit. If the builders have to turn the power and the plumbing off and back on every night so you can keep living there, the job takes longer and costs more. So it is a weigh-up between what you want to achieve, the time frame you want it in, and whether staying at home makes that achievable. We talk it through at the site visit, whether the job is an extension or a whole house renovation.
Transcript
A lot of people ask, can we stay in the home? Absolutely. You’ve got to understand, though, that sometimes, if you do stay in the home, that may increase the time and also increase the cost.
Because if, for instance, you’re doing a rear addition on a house that involves the kitchen, and in the kitchen is the boiler and the consumer unit, which is your fuse board, and all those bits and pieces, if they all end up in that section of the build that you’re interfering with, for the builder to turn off the power, turn it back on, turn off the plumbing, turn it back on every single night for them to be able to achieve the actual build, then ultimately it will cost more in time and money to stay in the home.
So it’s a fair weigh-up of what you want to achieve in the time frame you want to achieve it. And is it generally achievable?
Transcript lightly edited for reading: filler words and false starts removed. The captions on the film are word for word.
Related advice
Talk to us about your project
We respond to every enquiry within 24 hours. No obligation.