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Doing it yourself – my own experience at the sharp end

8 things I learned from renovating and extending my own home


It’s nearly five years now since the dust settled on a complete refurbishment and extension on my own house. But I still recall the experience regularly when I’m talking to clients about the process and complexities of extending a home.

To accommodate the needs of my growing family (their physical size rather than an increase in numbers!) our choice was to move or to extend. This wasn’t the first extension I had made to my home, having built on an office for my business several years before.  But it would have a far greater impact: to allow a larger bedroom for my son, we had to rework a large part of the house and move the stairs to gain access to a new first floor space over the garage. In addition, we needed to be able to stay living in the house while the work was done, and my office had to be functional at all times to keep the money coming in to pay for it!

My design didn’t create a huge area of extra space, but we moved the stairs, enlarged the entrance hall, took out a chimney, replaced all the windows, improved the insulation, reconfigured the kitchen to enlarge it and added an en suite bathroom. In fact, the only thing that got smaller was the downstairs loo! Overall, I created more space that we could directly use, without increasing the downstairs footprint.

So what did I learn from the experience?


  1. No question – it was a massively disruptive thing to do. But because I was committed to the end result, I found I could put up with quite a lot of disruption! If you believe that your home is going to be significantly better in the end, it’s worth it! As a result, I help my clients to understand how their chosen design will be life-enhancing, so they have the certainty and belief to see them through the works.
  2. Size ultimately doesn’t matter; it’s the way you use it that counts! Small changes can make a huge difference when they’re carefully implemented. Space used efficiently gives much more satisfaction than big rooms.
  3. Communication with the builder is paramount. It helps you understand exactly what is going to happen and when, so that you are mentally and physically prepared at every stage, and everyone in the family can understand what the impact will be on them.
  4. Keep ahead of the game so you don’t have to make decisions in a rush. However much help your architect gives you with the specification and design of the project, there are many decisions that you as a client will need to make – including things like fittings and finishes. The more time you give yourself to make these decisions, the happier you are likely to be with the end result, and the more likely you are to keep to schedule and budget.
  5. As much as the dirt and dust is hard to cope with, I personally found that the most difficult thing to bear for a sustained period of time was the lack of privacy. You will be welcoming a gang of people into your house to carry out the works nearly daily for a prolonged period of time. However friendly and considerate your builders are, the constant presence of other people is wearing. Give yourselves a break now and again – take a holiday during the build, house-sit for someone else, visit family.
  6. Be flexible. It’s highly unlikely that every aspect of the build will happen exactly as planned. Shifts in the weather, unexpected discoveries in the existing building fabric, sudden unavailability of subcontractors… there are so many variables in the building process that even the best prepared project has to accept the inevitability of changes. 
  7. Make sure that you always keep a financial contingency. If you don’t spend it, next year’s holiday can be that bit better, or you can afford that fancy new sofa that you love. For most of us, holding a bit of money in reserve helps you make decisions you’ll be happy with, rather than having to take the only option you can afford.
  8. Take time to reflect on and even enjoy the process. It is an absolute privilege to be able to create a space that is tailored to your own preferences and taste. Home is at the heart of most of our lives, so the end result of a successful project is truly valuable. The creative experience of developing the design to meet your needs and taste can be an exciting one. 


Today, looking back now on how my house used to be before the renovation, every little stressful moment and bit of discomfort was worth it. I don’t remember the difficult moments so much, because they are a hundred times outweighed by the benefits that we have gained. I would do it all again tomorrow!

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