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‘Project managing ourselves would have pushed us to the brink, if not over it’

Kay Davidson-kay and her husband, Tim Kay, had a two-storey extension built on their home near Edinburgh

‘This was the first big renovation we had done and we didn’t really give the idea of project managing it ourselves any serious thought. We didn’t have any experience, not even of doing small projects , so we couldn’t contemplate it.

‘Both my husband and I have full-time, very full-on jobs, and really wouldn’t have had the capacity to deal with project managing. It was bad enough having to make the decisions you have to when it comes to choosing certain things for the build. I think project managing would have pushed us to the brink, if not over it.

‘Our architect was Keith Renton and it was part and parcel of his service. The tender document he put out to get quotes from various contractors was an eye-opener to me – it was 50 pages long! Keith would hold fortnightly site meetings with us and Lindsay Neill, of Crannog Construction, who did the build and took care of the day-to-day project management.

‘Having project managers paid for itself. They kept everything on track and made sure all the contractors were where they needed to be. With us having full-time jobs, two young daughters to look after, and burning the midnight oil making decisions about the minutiae, we couldn’t have factored it in – we would have gone doolally.

‘We have friends who have project managed, and their build has overrun by several months and been very full on. If your project is torturous, you end up sick of it and can’t enjoy your home. It’s about trying to make your life as easy as possible.’