What do I do if someone comes to work on house?

[greenteaandmarshmallows]

So we need a new kitchen. What's the deal with if I have to be in or not? Should one of use stay in all the time while they are here in case they need us? Should we take time off work or will they be too noisy to wfh?

No, I couldn't afford to take off time at work. I usually just leave them to get on with it.
I did actually WFH when I was having a roof repaired and it was a nightmare but then I was teaching online. I guess it depends what kind of work you'd be able to do from home.
Most workmen are used to being left to get on with stuff.

It would be useful if one of you is available by phone and possibly popping in and out in case of queries.
if I’m having work done downstairs we have a downstairs loo so there’s no need for people to go upstairs.
depending on the layout of your home perhaps if the work people are downstairs you could do some of your work upstairs?

Leave tea and coffee making stuff for them, make sure they know can use it, get biscuits and milk.

I'd have one of you there for the first day, discuss key holding arrangements, then go about life as normal.

We've always just given keys, instructions on which bathroom to use and left them a tray of tea / coffee / biscuits.

You'd probably really struggle to wfh, and they'd probably appreciate a clear site.

Ah I see it seems to go both ways then! I could try wfh the first day and see how it goes.

I just leave them to it

In my experience it depends on the type and extent of the work being done, the brief, and the workmen. If you have plans that specify everything down to the last detail and the workmen can be trusted to follow them, fine, but even then you need to be on call to deal with 'plans say X but it won't work because Y so we're going to do Z'. Our kitchen would have had a door in the wrong place, a huge hot water pipe running across the ceiling, and sockets in unusable places if we hadn't kept on top of what was happening. They still managed to get a granite worktop cut to the wrong size but that's another story.

I think the job was just too big and complex for the people doing it. When I've had smaller jobs done by people who specialise in that particular thing, leaving them to get on with it has been very successful.