Living through a renovation without losing your mind
Sometimes staying put is the right call. Here's what it actually involves.
Decide honestly whether you can
The question isn't whether it's possible — it usually is. It's whether you can tolerate six to nine months of it. Households with small children, shift workers and anyone working from home should think hard.
The services are the pinch point
You can live without a formal living room for a long time. You cannot live without a functioning bathroom or a way to cook. Good staging protects those two things for as long as possible and compresses the gap when it comes.
Set the site rules up front
Start times, access routes, where trades park, whether the dog can be in the yard. Agreeing this in week one prevents most of the friction that builds over a long job.
Budget for a fortnight away
There is almost always a two-week window that is genuinely miserable. Planning to be elsewhere for it is money well spent.
Thinking about a project? A first conversation with us costs nothing and is usually more useful than another evening on Pinterest. Get in touch.
Before you brief an architect.
Twelve decisions that quietly set your budget long before a single trade quotes — and what each one costs you to change later.
- Why site conditions beat floor area, every time
- Where heritage and council overlays actually bite
- The five specification choices that move the number most
- How to read a builder's quote — and what's missing from it