Moving into a "project" what are your best tips? (other than don't do it!)

[Pannacotta]

We are moving next month and while both our previous houses have needed renovating, we didnt have two children and two cats then!
The house needs decorating throughout, maybe re-wiring (or some electrics doing), and new flooring (am thinking of sanding the floorboards).
How would you go about moving in when you know you need to paint all surfaces (ceilings and woodowork as well as walls) and sort out sanding the floorboards?
Are we best to unpack as little as possible and do room by room?
Any advice/ideas would be great....
TIA

We are just nearing the end of our "project house" - has taken 3 months for a complete rewire, replumb, new windows, new kitchen, new bathrooms, decoration, carpets - was a LOT to live through while pregnant with a toddler in tow, and also extremely expensive. I would get the rewire done first, asap, and store as much of your stuff elsewhere in boxes while this is being done. You may also have to move out for a few days during this bit as it is extremely dusty (I was horrified!) and involves a lot of upheaval. I'd maybe get the decorating done next and then the floorboards last. Are they in good enough nick to sand? Good luck, though, am sure will be worth it in the end and once you have done the major works such as the rewire, perhaps you can renovate one room at a time rather than the whole house being "work in progress".

Don't unpack.make one room habitable and comfy and live in tehre Don't worry too much about your diet and cleanliness levels as you just won't be able to maintain your usual standards.Agree re rewire first and any plumbing.Is there anyway you can delay moving in for a week or two and do the basics?That is the ideal although I have never done it and have always lived in tha chaos

Finish one room before moving on to the next. I'm sick of having a half tiled kithcen floor.

bunyan, if it's not awfully cheeky do you mind me asking how expensive?!

We are thinking of offering on a similar project (3/4 bed house - will definitely need total rewire and replumb, new kitchen, new bathroom/s, new flooring - but the windows are ok) and I am wondering what to budget more or less.

I've had some rough quotes but have a general feeling that they are optimistic and that we ought to allow more.

Don't let your dh say 'I'll do it myself, I'll do it far better than the builders'...
Its probably true in our case, but it is taking forever (he's trying to hold down a stressful job and write a Phd as well, so the kitchen and rewire are extremely half-done and have been for over a year, and the rest isn't evne started!).

I've done this. If I did it again, I'd put everything into storage, rent for 3 months and go for it in the fixup place.

We had 2 weeks before we got in to get the electricity and heating sorted. Unfortunately kitchen wasn't done when we moved in, so had to go to the pub a lot

However, we didn't have the money for that, so played chinese puzzle boxes for a year in a house that needed: pest control, new kitchen, bathroom, rewiring, replumbing, walls knocking down, windows replacing, totally redecorating, doors stripping, 5 fireplaces putting in, floors stripping, extension downstairs, extension upstairs . omg.

I lived in very mucky clothes for a long time! Have plenty of moisturiser at the ready too! Don't unpack more than you need to. Give yourself time to enjoy your projects and build in some respite time.

Get one room sorted, an oasis of peace (we sorted ds1's bedroom, then the sitting room). We are currently redecorating ds1's room 10 years after we moved in - I've just taken off the borders he picked at as a baby. sniff!

Buy in labour when you can for complicated stuff, do things well as you go along rather than skimming over.

I sanded floors myself and saved a fortune (it was easier than I thought and very satisfying).

When I did ds2's room it was in this order:

prepped and painted ceiling

Stripped walls.

sanded and sealed floor

repapered, painted, glossed.

wine

I found that regular gentle sweeping and plenty of hoovering helped - and masking tape around the door.

Lots of coverups and breathing masks too.

Thanks for all the advice.
While I'd love to rent for a while, we are buying our "forever" house (we hope) so no way can we afford the mortgage plus rent.
It's quite a big house so plenty of room to store stuff not in use, just getting a bit nervous now and wondering how we'll manage with a stroppy 3 year old and curious crawling 10 month old!!
I think we'll work on the main room so we can live in there and will buy in all help needed.

Unless the work is really urgent, I would try to live in it for a while so that you can give your ideas a chance to formulate and adapt to the reality of the house.

How you cope depends on ages of your dc: small children don't give a toss about mess/noise/inconvenience. We put the bare bones of furniture in our house (beds, one sofa, telly) and spent a lot of time eating toast. It will be horrendous but, as far as you can, employ a contractor that you can really trust (and if you think the wiring does need attention do it now rather than just patch it up) and offer a bonus for early finish.

Thata a good idea lalalonglegs (love your name!), was thinking about that but its good to hear someone else suggest it.
Also a good idea to offer a contractor a bonus for an early finish, good incentive....