Moving house...do work at once or wait till you’ve lived in it for a bit?

[ParadigmGiraffe]

People keep saying ‘ooh just move in and live in it for a bit before yo do anything ‘. We want to open up the v small kitchen and put patio doors/bifolds in.

Bit worried that once were in and settled we won’t do it. But should we live in it for a bit first.

As someone living in a house that's currently being done up - my advice would be to do the work first!

Trying to fit building work and DIY around working and living in a house full-time is really frustrating and takes forever.

I think it depends on the work being done. We're in the moving process and out buyers have had carpet fitters in and got all sorts of plans (that aren't required...), we'll just maybe repaint some rooms in the house were buying once we get there. I believe in working out how a house lives before doing anything, I want to see how the light hits various walls, what I like/dislike, how my furniture fits in the new place. However, if it needed loads of stuff doing to it, then that's a bit different, and must be lovely to go in and get cracking.

It’s perfectly liveable with a bit of redecorating. It’s not a restoration project and we don’t need to make the changes.

Current house we needed a loft conversion and new bathroom to make it work. So did it v quickly and lived with builders in....

I'd say live in it first. Doing that may change what you want to do to it. It'd be awful to throw a load of cash at the changes you THINK you want to make and then wish you'd left it or done something else. Get to know the house first before deciding what it needs.

It depends on the house and your situation. If the changes are obvious and you would want to do them anyway AND you have the money then it’s best to crack on (we are going to open up kitchen diner in our new house). The house has been home to the same family for 40 years and needs a bit of updating. Otherwise I agree it can be a good idea to live in a house for a while to see how it flows.

Our current house we were in for 3 years before we built an extension. In that time we had flip flopped between internal changes and building the extension - we looked at what other people had done and ultimately made the right choice.

Living with builders is hard though

It depends on the scale of the work and how sure you are it needs doing. A new kitchen/bathroom (not at the same time!) or complete re-dec is liveable IMO, as are new floors/carpets. There is a lot of sense in living somewhere to get a proper feel of how a space works and its light levels before making cosmetic changes. If it needs eg a double wrap around extension or complete re-wire to make it useable/safe to you, then of course it is prudent to do the work before you move in if it is possible. You may be able to split the difference in this instance though, and move in once all the really messy stuff is done but it still isn't fully finished.

It is definitely worth waiting a year before pulling the garden up, as you never know what might be planted out there!

I'm definitely going to wait and see with the garden! We know we want a bigger kitchen and a utility room. Theres a few ways we could do it though.

Single storey extension or knock through dining g room. It might be best to see how it flows first as it may become clear that one option is better than another...I'm sorr of leaning that way.