We're In!!!

[Gervase]

Being right there on site certainly has some great advantages. It enables you to keep an eagle eye on everything that's going on, answer any (if you have them) builders' queries immediately, and makes it less likely that you'll suffer material thefts.

It also means that the building can loom over you, and nag you to get on with the work, if you try to sneak a day off.

Very true - though I have to admit that we celebrated when the caravan was finally towed out of the yard!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Living on site with works going on around you is hard, but in many ways convenient.

It is essential however to section off a "clean zone" to live in. We couldn't for a variety of reasons - the works were essentially in the "core" of the house and involved structural timber works, so no floors at times, etc. We got heartily sick of dirt, dust, sawdust etc permeating through absolutely everything.

On the other hand, the dust is a great motivator to get on with work - keeping moving prevents it from settling on you!

I echo Penners' comment about family though - caravan or on site living, provided you are doing this as a "family team", it is an enriching experience for the kids, not a deprivation. My parents are the first visitors to our (still unfinished and dirty) project, but hey, timescales slip!. We have been reminiscining about the first project we did as a family - a Victorian lodge house, whilst we lived in a caravan on site - I was 4 and my sister 2. No running water/power initially, etc. Clearly hasn't done me any harm as I am now repeating the cycle 30 years later with my own kids.

Wonder if I'd have been a Barrat box liver, had I not been exposed to the "can do" approach and brick dust at such a tender age? Maybe we shoudl teach it in school!

 

[shelli]

My parents are the first visitors to our (still unfinished and dirty) project, but hey, timescales slip!. We have been reminiscining about the first project we did as a family - a Victorian lodge house, whilst we lived in a caravan on site - I was 4 and my sister 2. No running water/power initially, etc. Clearly hasn't done me any harm as I am now repeating the cycle 30 years later with my own kids.

So you really can blame your parents - you have been passed down property renovation pathology!!

 

[Penners]

Wonder if I'd have been a Barrat box liver, had I not been exposed to the "can do" approach and brick dust at such a tender age?

We started out as 'Barratt box livers", but became period property livers with our 3rd house.

It's known medically as a "liver transplant".

 

[shelli]

So you had a Barratt Box Bypass

 

[Penners]

Thank goodness.

 

[DaveBrigg]

We were stuck, in that the work was expected to only take 3 months, so buying a large enough caravan would have been expensive, and with the garden dug up for water and electrics there was nowhere obvious to put it. Living in the house would have been a nightmaresince for a couple of months there was no kitchen or bathroom, the downstairs rooms were all being replastered and the ceilings patched, whilst the upstairs had floorboards up, ceilings coming down and a full rewire. We looked at renting, but nowhere was willing to accept a contract for fewer than six months. In the end we rented a bungalow on the site of the school where I work (formerly sixth form boarding house). Not the most comfortable three months, but it did give an incentive to get into the house quickly. I have a lot of respect for anyone who can live with a family in the house while it is being renovated.