Every once and again we are forced into these annoying scenarios which we would normally have avoided but due to circumstances, you find yourself thrown headlong into them. One of such is needing to refurbish your home with young kids.
You would think you would do everything to avoid this from happening, but here are a few scenarios that are seemingly unavoidable:
- You’ve just bought a new home and you need to do a full refurb, but you can’t afford to still keep paying rent or maintain 2 mortgages, so you decide to move into the property.
- You are upsizing from your flat or house and you found a buyer quicker than you had anticipated. The new place you’ve bought needs work or you haven’t finished your renovations but you need to move out of the old place.
- You planned everything perfectly, got temporary accommodation but your builders have seriously overrun, so your new place is still not yet ready and you have nowhere else to stay.
- You desperately need to move out of where you live and this is the only available place.
- Your house has fallen into disrepair and literally falling apart, so it just can’t be avoided or put off any longer.
- You need to put in an extension or loft to accommodate your growing family.
Whatever the case, now you’re in it, and you need to cope and even thrive and minimise the disruption from your daily family life. Undoubtedly, there will be adjustments you’ll need to make but with carefull planning, you can protect and still keep your sanity.
1. Put safety first – It goes without saying that safety while works is ongoing at your home is your most paramount consideration especially with young kids who tend to love exploring and straying into danger. With refurbs, it is usually best to start with the larger, more disruptive works to get things going and start gaining traction on your renovation. However, often times when living with kids, getting some of the easier tasks done first, so you can have access to those areas around the house while the major work carries on can be an option to consider to help bring some sanity to an already potentially unnerving situation. In the event that you are carrying out a major renovation such as a loft extension, rear extensions, basement and/or major structural works, there are a number of key protective measures you will need to discuss with the builder to ensure these have been put in place before the works starts. In our instance, my kids were still toddlers and we had no choice because nursery was starting (& this was a very hard nursery to get into) so i got the builders to finish everything upstairs and we only had a few rooms downstairs to complete and some external works. We moved in upstairs and made sure they had blocked off or locked the rooms that still needed works, or where they kept their tools to ensure we kept the kids safe from harm. Most people would rather completely move out while works are ongoing, but sometimes it just isn’t possible.
If you find you need to have days to leave the house for some sanity, then take it!
2. Work with your builder – Determine a clear schedule from the onset and ask him to confirm when the major milestones have been scheduled for your project. This will help you identify at what point during the project you might need to find an alternative place to stay while major works are ongoing especially things that significantly disrupt your normal lifestyle like lack of access to water, bathroom facilities or if your roof will need to come off! Also, find out how long you will need stay away from the property, usually when electrics or plumbing needs to be done or key structural work.
If you really can’t afford to move anywhere for too long, builders are able to arrange to cordone off sections of the house and keep it completely boarded off so there won’t be access to those areas.
3. Facilities: Make sure there’s One working bathroom / toilet at all times. If there’s only one bathroom in the property, then the builders should let you know what days it will be unusable and when it cannot be accessed, This is could only last for 1 or 2 days when they swap the units over, otherwise if it is a complete reconfiguration, then it might last a couple more days.
4. Alternative living on site: Whilst this is not always possible, if there is a small building at the back of the house (for eg. an outhouse or brick structure), it might be worth costing up the price to convert it to a temporary liveable space for if you need to get away from the main house. It can work out cheaper, especially if you were always planning to build a small annex within your property.
5. Prepare for delays: Almost always there will be something unforeseen that leads to delays in your project. It is best to mentally prepare for this as it could be delays in materials, double booked milestones, or just slow workmen (especially if they are juggling your project with multiple projects). From the initial consultation meetings with the builder, you want to find out how many projects he usually has at any one time, and also find out how many teams he has. This is to help you manage your expectations around how long the project will actually take, as opposed to the optimistic timescales being presented by the builders or contractors. You should manage your children’s expectation as well, so they understand how long it will take, especially if it will cross over the major holidays in which it could affect their play dates or time spent with friends at home.
If you’re considering a renovation, do send me a message and I’ll send you a checklist that will help you get through this period. I’m still alive having gone through one major renovation with young kids and lots of smaller refurbs.
And remember, it will all be worth it in the end.
Have you had a similar experience? Please share in the comments below!
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Really enjoyed reading this! Thought I don’t have kids around the house yet! This is great too for my future & potential clients! Thanks for sharing this!