Staying in the house while we build

Moving out for six months can cost as much as the kitchen. So most of our clients stay in, and we plan the job around that from the first drawing rather than the first morning on site.

What we do

• Seal the work area with dust screens and give the trades a separate entrance where we can

• Keep a working bathroom and a kitchen, or set up a temporary one with a sink, a hob and a fridge

• Clean down every evening and lock the site

• Tell you at least two weeks ahead of any day without water or power

Before anything is broken out we photograph every room we will pass through, lay heavy protection on floors and stairs, and box in anything we cannot move, like a fireplace or a newel post. At handover the protection comes up and the photographs go in your file, so if a mark appears that was not there before, it is our job to put it right.

How we keep a house liveable

We plan the order of work around the rooms you need most. On an extension we build the new room first and open into the house as late as possible, often in the last few weeks. On Marlborough Road the family cooked in the old kitchen until week 22 and moved into the new one the week the wall came down. On a renovation we finish one floor before we start the next, so there is always a clean bedroom and a working bathroom.

What it takes from you

Patience with noise from eight in the morning, a clear route through the house for the first few weeks, and quick decisions when we need them. The Friday report lists every decision we need and the date we need it by, so nothing waits on a missed phone call.

“The Friday report lists every decision we need and the date we need it by.”

Children, pets and working from home

Tell us early. A gate across the site entrance, tools locked away at night and a quiet hour agreed for school runs or calls make a bigger difference than any amount of cleaning. If someone works from home, we move the noisiest jobs, like cutting blocks and breaking out, to the days you are in the office.

The days to be elsewhere

Knocking through into the main house, pouring screed and sanding floors are the noisy, dusty days. On most extensions that adds up to a week or two, and we plan them with you a month ahead so you can book a few nights away or a week with family.

If at any point living with the build stops working for you, say so. We would rather move a noisy week, add a temporary kitchen or rearrange the programme than have you dreading the morning. It goes in the next report like any other change, priced if it costs anything, before we do it.