Facing challenges

‘The logistics of the build led to some fun and games. When he first saw the site, the builder groaned and shook his head. We knew there’d be challenges with the access and that pushed the cost up. We couldn’t get a crane down the drive, so they either had to walk it in from the road or use smaller vehicles.

‘We lived in the house during the project. On paper only half of the house was going to be impacted and we were sure we could manage that, and money wise, we couldn’t really justify moving out. The builders were great, though by the end they said in future they’d try and insist people move out because it added challenges for them. There were advantages of being on site as you’re closer to what’s going on. If there’s a problem, you can tackle it immediately.’