Major renovation - how long did you move out for?

[GardensandGrandDesigns]

We are rewiring, digging up concrete floors, extending. Basically you name it and we are doing it! Had planned on moving out as we have a 4 and 7 year old too. However, Airbnb in our town are 4.5k a month! Contacted an estate agent and he said their landlords are wanting a year minimum contract so that would be 12k. No caravan parks around, family live other side of the country so thinking travel lodge through the worst of it. Anyone else done this and if so how long did you move out for? Thanks!

11 months. Sorry.

It could have been done in 9, maybe.

@minipie

11 months. Sorry.

It could have been done in 9, maybe.

Ahhh 😳

We moved out for a small single storey extension + some internal works recently, 3 months in the dot. Your builder should be able to tell you the minimum time you'd need to be out for, but with DCs that age I wouldn't want to be living on a building site!

Can you ask friends, other school parents or on a local FB group if anyone has a place to rent? We rented from friends working away, but I know people who have spent a few weeks in a Travel Lodge when they had no kitchen etc. don't think it was much fun though.

They said it was going to be 20-24 weeks … so we moved out for 6 months (12 month contract with a 6 month break clause) to a flat plus a bunch of stuff in storage. We were ceilings down / rewiring / knock a few walls / extend the roofline etc

Ended up tacking on 3 weeks in the premier inn, a month or so at my DH DSis travelling for the schools each day and … we moved back in before they finished all the decoration

If you can move out it makes it way quicker as they don’t have to tidy around you to make it safe for kids

Main downside is not being able to pick up on ridiculous decisions they make early on

To be fair ours was a full house refurb with structural changes on each floor, extension, new roof, new windows as well as full rewire and replumbing. And interior decoration, joinery etc. So if you’re not doing that much then ignore my 11 months!

10 weeks for us. Completely stripped back to brick. Full rewire. Walls knocked down. Everything gutted.
That's for all the building work not the decoration.

We’re not extending but rewiring and installing central heating and for both those jobs in particular people said they’d no longer do it in occupied houses, too messy and awkward and they’ll choose other jobs basically. We haven’t yet moved in so it’s been okay to stay out a bit longer and would only be 2-3 weeks. Other work we are planning to live around but as I said no extension.

StillTryingtoBuy that’s a fair point, given builders seem to be able to pick and choose jobs right now you may not get anyone willing to do it with kids in, or a ridiculous overhead

11 months and wasn't complete when moved back in. Similar scale of job to you. Really resented it by the end. Took a good couple of years to actually enjoy the house

Should have been out for 10 months. In all honesty it will be well worth the £12k.

Could you look for a holiday home that might be available?

How about a caravan in the driveway?

Thanks everyone. Very interested in the 6 month break clause when renting. Sounds like that would help us.

Also thanks for the FB tip, will try that too.

Purchased 4 bed house that needed everything doing as others have stated above. 4 months to be able to be in but not decorated. Have had variety of tradesmen here weekly for the more manageable stuff over past 5 months and likly for the foreseeable future. Have two DS 5 and 2 so not an option to live in!

Hope you can find a solution 🤞🏽

We moved back home in September after extensive renovation and extension works. We couldn't have stayed put while the building team were here, our DC were the same age.

We were facing the same troubles, very few available rentals in budget, those that were available were 12mth tenancies (and agents/landlords wouldn't entertain a break clause), air BnB faaaaaaar out of budget and/or not available for a 6mth let....... We were a whisker away from a caravan on the garden amongst the building materials when a 6mth rental came up out of no-where.

I can only suggest making a daily nuisance of yourself with letting agents, asking local friends if anyone has a property for let and keep stalking Rightmove for lettings.

Good luck!

@GardensandGrandDesigns

Thanks everyone. Very interested in the 6 month break clause when renting. Sounds like that would help us.

That's only if LLs agree to it, otherwise the fixed term is still 12 months.

You can get an AST with a six month fixed term if LL agrees but sounds like LLs in your area aren't keen

We lived in. Oct 2019 - Sept 2020 for a full replumb and rewire, structural alterations on both levels, new kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, full redecoration. Two kids, aged 3&5 (at the start).

It honestly wasn’t so bad, but it’s a fairly large house. We spent the first year living in roughly half of it (not always the same half) and moving stuff around. It wasn’t easy but there are pros and cons.

Biggest pros are being around to see what’s going on, including stopping some bonkers decisions from happening. Save £££

Biggest cons are the mess and disruption to the living space.

There was one period where I considered moving out/going on holiday because it was really messy, but it was ok.

Messiest parts were: chasing for the rewire, knocking down walls, knocking out a chimney breast, bringing ceilings down, plastering.

Surprisingly ok part was the plumbing - we have a great plumber and we did that in stages. Heating first, which wasn’t too bad and took a week (for 18 new rads), and the rest of the pipework was changed as we went, including a new mains supply.

We are about to embark on an extension, internal remodel and I am not prepared to move out. The first builder suggested to DH we would need to, annoyingly I was out. I won't make that mistake again.

We are not doing a rewire, just a second floor extension and filling in a bit on the ground floor, loft conversion and moving the stairs. I think moving the stairs is most disruptive but I don't think it is a move out for 6 months disruptive.

I'm happy to ship out for a week or two.

We can always do the work in stages if need be too.

6 months for us. Double storey rear and side extension, single storey front extension. Major rewiring and refurb of existing house including replastering of hallways and new ceilings. Still won't be finished by the time we move back in but should be liveable (we hope!) 😭

I think builders push heavily for the move out because it’s better for them if the client isn’t around - obviously because sharing the space is hard, but also most builders need watching. Pretty much every builder I’ve ever encountered will do the cheaper/easier thing every time especially on a fixed quote. We have builders we have worked with for years and we still get this occasionally. The number of decisions I’ve made because I happened to be pottering around/walking through at that exact moment is pretty high. Quite often builders will be looking for a solution that is primarily technical over aesthetic, and the client might want something that is more of a compromise (harder to do but will look better).

6 months! Living with my in laws which was hell.

Other people I know have done house sitting or had friends offer holiday homes / short term house sitting.

We will be having extensive work and will live on site. We prefer to spend the money we would have spent in additional accommodation on some project management, etc and other things.

It will be tough but we’ll cope and we can keep an eye on things.

7 months for loft to cellar renovation. Chimney out through house, walls down and others back up, roof replaced.

We're moving back in next week now the builders have finished but we don't have a kitchen yet and decoration is for us to do as we go!

We are coming to the end of our renovations works. We've had a "technically complex" single storey extension, garage conversion, remodel of ground floor including knocking down walls and relocating downstairs cloakroom, lounge ceiling down & plaster/rewire two other rooms plus new ensuite bathroom. Was told to move out for 3 months and the job should take 5. We are now 9 months later and still going - we moved out for 5 months to live with parents (aggh) but have moved back in with no kitchen and waiting for decoration. It's been a nightmare with builders holidays, illness, us catching covid, supply issues and delays on literally everything. However, there is no way we could have lived in it whilst it was being done. Moving out was essential but I think we've been unlucky with multiple reasons for delay.

Good luck - it will all be worth it in the end (so they keep telling me!)