Unrealistic to want to buy a house and do major renovation

[Again]

We are very keen to move into a house from an apartment. Anyway the idea was that if we hadn't found a house to buy buy 1st Sept then we would rent. I'm due our 2nd child in November, so I could take it easy with the baby while ds played in the garden. Now the house that we are looking at needs major renovation and so if we do buy it we will not be in by the time the baby arrives and there will be lots of dealings with the builders and so on. Am I being unrealistic? Unfair to ds?

talking from experience, we lived in a two bed house got pregnant with dd2 when dd1 was 7 months old. looked to buy bigger house but loved it here so decided to extend the back to make a large playroom area for the girls and then have the loft converted.

i suffered with spd and was on crutches from 4 months into the pregnancy. we slept on an air bed in a a basically derilict house for 6 months. at the time was horrendous but now its fine, you cope.

was meant to have home birth but buildig work was delayed and went into labour with 7 buillders having lunch in my kitchen!

brought dd2 home from hospital and the back of house was still missing! but it was fine, dd1 loved having lots of burly men around and they loved her too, altho think this may have delayed the work further!

hope this helps, just go for it !!

We were having a loft extension when i was expecting DS. I was having contractions in the bath and builders were outside the window on scaffolding! Luckily the glass is frosted. Work over ran and DS was a month old by the time buliding was finished. We still haven't finished the decorating and DS will be 3 in Aug.

I'm PG with DS2, due sept. We're currently getting the kitchen renovated. Hopefully this time it'll all be finished in time! Not sure i can handle the endless amounts of dust, noise and men trapsing through the house. Last time DS1 and i were confined to the bedroom.

How much work does the house need?

I'm not sure if I need to get planning permission, which could delay things by 3 months. It needs to be extended top and bottom, have the garden completely cleared out and have a wall knocked through at the front to get rubble out and be rewired, floors taken up, new heating. I'm thinking that we could stay in the apartment and just add that into the cost/reduce the finishing touches to pay for that.

I am 23 weeks and we have yet to start our extension which we have been planning for 3 years!

the whole of the back of the downstairs will be ripped out and a new kitchen, bathroom area installed as at the moment we have a tiny grotty sixties kitchen and a damp bathroom. There is no bathroom upstairs so while this one is out, we will have no facilities and no running water for a few weeks.

I am panicking that it won't get done. My DH assures me it will.

I have had to endure crap facilities and bare floorboards and things being decorated and carpet being fitted and general upheaval. It is amazing what you can deal with when you have to, but if I had a choice, I wouldn't repeat it while pregnant.

At the moment, I am jumping over footings ever time I go out my back door to hang washing out. It is getting more difficult the bigger I get.

I really don't know how I would have managed with a small baby. I think I would have been hysterical.

Having had major building works done whilst not pregnant and not living there my advice would be not to underestimate the stress it will cause. No matter how good your builders, how organised you are etc I can tell you now that there will be delays, there will be cost overruns and there will be problems. dealing with all of this is stressful and so query whether you're willing to put up with this stress whilst pregnant or with a small baby.

This was originally our plan too - we were going to sell our house, buy something a bit dilapidated and renovate it before baby arrived. Market was slow though and our house didn't sell initially, which gave us a chance to really think through the practicalities of maybe having to live in a house with bare floorboards/dodgy central heating/god knows what else while I was in third trimester and with a tiny baby.

In the end we've opted against doing it - maybe next spring!

currently in the throws of a loft conversion. I'm 32 weeks and actively involved in the management and also partly some of the building works.

The only thing I've found difficult is not being able do some of the work I'd normally do standing on my head because I just can't bend in the right way

It depends if you're the kind of person that gets stressed out by work running late, things going wrong, supplies not being delivered on time - all of which is 99% likely to happen.

At this stage most people are worrying about what colour to paint the nursery, I'm checking that I've installed the correct thickness plasterboard and my plugs are at the right height!

If you hate mess and a bit of dust, and can't stand delays or unexpected events then don't do it, otherwise go for it

My dh is very laid back generally, but these are the kinds of things that get him stressed, so that's one of my main worries. I just like to get things done and this could lead to problems as I won't have the time/energy to do it and may get frustrated with others not doing it!