When to renovate new home with baby on the way?

[Reabamum]

We have recently bought a house, which is a fixer upper. The house isn’t in good condition as it is, but liveable short term. I have just found out that I am pregnant with DC 3. Due around the time that the renovations on the new house should start. Older DC are 2 and 3. We are planning to rent a place while renovating. Should take 6 months if no big delays.

We have never done a project like this before and I don’t know how stressful it will be. We will have builders doing all of the work, but I’m guessing that we will still need to manage it to some degree.

I am trying to decide whether it would be better to hold off on the renovations until baby is 6 months or so, so that it is less stressful, or just go for it and not worry as we will be living in a rental? Also worried about moving house when heavily pregnant or with a baby and young kids. Has anyone experienced doing a project like this with a baby? Any tips or suggestions? Thank you

Who is going to project manage the renovations?

I wouldn't have been able to look after 3 kids under 4 and do anything else.

Project managing is quite full on. You need to think about where things like sockets and lighting and light switches are going. Whether you want easy access points for plumbing switch off valves, where the plumbing and electrics will run between floors if you are rewiring or plumbing more than one floor. All the materials and finishes need choosing and then you also need to be able to get to site to make decisions same day so that the building doesn't stall when they hit an issue and possibly ring round to source random items to keep the build moving.

If you have previous experience and have a good builder then quite a lot of this can be sorted out ahead of starting but there will always be weird unexpected things which need decisions making.

The baby isn't an issue as you can just stick it in a carrier and carry on. The preschooler and toddler will be more of a problem.

We started a loft conversion when our DC2 was about 3 months old. We timed it this way as he was not yet mobile so not having a curious crawling baby on site. I strapped baby to me and went to pick tiles, bathroom stuff and pick carpets.

It was mid-September so our 5 year old also spent most of the 'time the builders' were here at school so she missed most of the mess and noise of the build.

We project managed most of it ourselves as I was on maternity leave and DH works shifts so he was about to. It helped that our carpenter knew a plasterer, an electrician, plumber and tiler. He even recommended a grounds work guy to connect our soil drains. They are all now doing the same on a house a few doors down from us.

It is the older two that will be a bit more tricky but since you are renting elsewhere, it might not be such a big problem.

No experience but I’m following as we are expecting renovations to start second half of my Mat leave (dreading it) so interested in responses!!

@Notyetthere sounds like it was manageable for you which is positive!

I agree with others - it will be your two pre-schoolers who are likely to potentially be more of an issue here. If you wait 6-12 months you'll then have potentially 3 under 5's to take care of as well as a house renovation.

If it were me I'd bite the bullet and get on with it ASAP. Hopefully you have some help with project management (either a professional or you partner perhaps)

There will be a million different decisions that have to be made - so I agree it wont be easy - but the alternative is to wait even longer, and it would still be stressful even if you do wait. I've renovated 3 houses - one I was pregnant and baby arrived mid work - next one kids were in primary school and later when they were teenagers. There will still be the same number of decisions and amount of work to do - regardless of how old your kids are.

Try to make as many decisions as you can in advance before the baby is born. Do as much as you can to employ reliable tradesman and then as much as possible let them get on with it while you are in your rented house.

I don't think the baby will be a problem, just stick them in a sling or the pram and take them to meetings, to look at tiles etc.

We've just finished a big house reno with a then 5yo and that was difficult - most meetings had to be when she was at school as it wasn't safe for her to be there with us, that meant taking annual leave. We didn't have anyone to leave her with so it was very difficult going to kitchen/bathroom/tiling/flooring places and being able to think through decisions. It would be even worse with younger children.

Very good points @OlderandwiserMaybe! I will second the make as many decisions as early as possible. I remember wanting 5 plug sockets in each of the rooms in the loft. But we hadn't determined where they would go. Now we are in the loft, dd's room, three plug sockets are behind the bed and wardrobe. See if you can even think of where your furniture will be placed.

Annoyingly, we ended up with a light switch behind the door in ds' room. It still annoys me even now that I might actually have it moved, leading to a bit of mess. Basically, even things like direction of where doors open.

When all the kiddos are kicking off, it helps if you already know which doors you want, which lights, where you want them and also if you want two way light switches.

Thank you all for your helpful replies! Good point Nothetthere on making as many decisions before hand as possible. If we have all the details decided before baby arrives, that will hopefully help. The architect also suggested that they manage the project for us, so that’s a possibility.