If you have been following me at all over the last year, you’ll know we have been having our attic converted. It started in July 2019 and was finally finished this month. I thought I would share our experiences in this post about the 10 funny lessons you’ll learn during House renovations.
10 funny lessons you’ll learn during House renovations
1. Always allow extra money in the budget.
They (Who the hell are they?) always suggest allowing an extra 10% on the original quote. This will allow for extra costs that you were not quoted for.
What I will tell you is to add an extra 20% for all the additional things you think need to be done once the job has started. Like a loft hatch that needs a 3 metre ladder!
That’s before you need to add an additional 25% for all the sh!t you MUST have to make it the perfect space. I’m talking the pretty lamps, photo frames, storage boxes and trinkets. Honestly so much STUFF!! So much damn money!
2. Say goodbye to control
Yes I am talking to my fellow control freaks here. Just forget it, give it up! Your home is no longer your own.
Not only because of all the people that suddenly fill the place to its literal rafters in our case, but your builder suddenly knows your vision better than you do. And you believe him because it’s his trade right? He knows best and suddenly you’ll find yourself asking his advice about everything.
Does this top match this skirt? Ask the builder, he’ll tell ya!
3. It’s going to be messy
You’ve already given up control so this will be a doddle yes?
Well no actually! You expect mess with a side order of chaos but what you’re actually faced with is so much worse than you could have ever imagined.
Don’t even bother trying to clean around them, it is a thankless and pointless waste of time. Free yourself from this need to keep things clean by just embracing it.
That takeaway coffee cup they left on the window sill will become a battle of wills. You’re not moving it as it’s not yours. He’s not moving it because he is far too busy and oblivious.
OK so now it’s a feature. What goes well with manky coffee cup? Asking for a friend…
4. Chance’s are the more they do, the more problems they will unearth
Faulty wiring, leaks and damp are just a drop in the renovation ocean so to speak.
Flooding from bad weather while the roof is replaced will see the whole job become something much bigger than you ever expected. The prospect of ceilings falling in becomes a real worry.
To cover the damp caused and discovered, you begin using stain blocker as liberally as you might use perfume each morning! It really does work by the way, the stain blocker not the perfume!
5. Keep calm and carry on
I guess we were lucky it was the top part of the house being worked on, so to some degree we could avoid it. But you just have to carry on.
Keeping calm is what will see you through, that and counting to 10 roughly once every 5 minutes will keep you as sane as possible.
You will need to develop a sense of humour. As in if you don’t laugh, You’ll cry!
6. Sometimes a strongly worded email does help
I’m a bit of a stress head, Rob is Mr chilled. Our builder was Mr Mañana (DON’T Google him… I am not here to bad mouth my builder. This is not his real name!)
I’d regularly rant at Rob about some builder related fiasco, he’d calm me down and we’d carry on.
But sometimes you need to direct that rant at the people who need to hear it. They need to be told they are taking the p!ss and that you won’t stand for it. OK it won’t always make things better or speed things up, but it’ll make you feel better. Or it might just put a rocket up their bum for you! Win win I’d say.
7. Chances are it’ll take longer than you are told to expect
Our work began in early July. They were coming to replace the roof while the weather was good (HA!) and then they’d come back in October/November to do the actual conversion.
I think the roof was finally finished around October time. This did mean there was no break before the conversion started. But I didn’t expect to be saying a final goodbye to our builders on Valentines day. And not even a bunch of flowers from them!
8. Your builder soon feel’s like part of the family
Especially if you get a talker! I feel like I know more about his life than my own. Not only his though, his wife, his children and all of his employees!
They become this annoying little brother type, winding you up, whinging and whining! It’s enough to have you shouting ‘Mum TELL HIMMMMMM!’
We even joked about him being here for Christmas day dinner. I honestly almost set a place for him because I really wasn’t sure he was joking!
9. Always take recommendations
Don’t use your mates brother’s sister in laws husband unless they have previous work to check out and are a reputable company.
That bloke who drinks in the same pub as you with the rickety old van that is in the pub from 1pm daily is probably worth giving a miss as well.
Check them out, have them round to quote, suss them out as a person. Look at their previous work, google for horror stories and take advice from other genuine sources.
10. It will all be worth it in the end
I absolutely promise you, no matter what trauma faces you while the work is being carried out, the minute you see it completed will be the best feeling.
All the hard work, the blood, sweat and tears(Mainly my tears!) will seem like a distant memory.
Suddenly you will be filled with nothing but respect for these people that you paid to invade your home and your life.
You’ll also be so glad that they weren’t in the middle of the work during a global pandemic!
The finished room
As I have shared a fair amount of this journey with you, It only seems right to share the final result with you.
This is the attic when I moved in. It was this unbelievable space that we just filled with everything we couldn’t be arsed to find a home for. Once we made the decision to have the work done, panic set in and we had an awful lot of stuff to get rid of. It felt like a job that was so big, we wondered why we even wanted a new attic!
This was the original bathroom space Panoramic view Our makeshift door the height is why we needed a 3m loft ladder! Lots of light though
Now the room is finally finished, we are so so happy. I have to say without Lock down, I don’t think we’d have got finished so quickly in some respects. Although the carpet delayed things due to everything being closed.
The benefit of waiting meant we were able to get everything bought and ready to go in. A new superking bed, the wardrobes and storage and all the finishing touches.
It also enabled us to decorate our old bedroom ready for F to move in to and all of the hallways and stairs so the whole lot could be carpeted in one go. Without lock down and both working full time, this would easily have been 18 months worth of work!
Here is our new bedroom.
My gallery wall Superking bed Crawl space door waiting to be refitted in the corner! Our dressing area! Just an incredible space Night night
To add a little realism to this post, I thought I would share just SOME of the mishaps and inconveniences we encountered along the way. We have been lucky to some degree, I know others have had it worse.
But believe me, I can look back now and think it’s fine. At the time it was pretty traumatic.
Damp in the bathroom A collapsing ceiling due to the worst storm I have ever seen and an uncovered roof! MESS! More leaking when the roof was in place Every door had to be ripped out and replaced leaving all our nicely decorated rooms like this!
So you see, a sense of humour is nessecary when having this level of work done to your home. I can look back now and smile but at the time it was stressful, upsetting and hardwork.
For all my jokes though, it was a huge task and I don’t think anyone can ever be fully prepared for what is really involved. Don’t be put off though. Rob’s favourite saying throughout all of this was ‘Short term pain for long term gain’. I hated it at the time but damn it, he was right.
Have you ever undertaken major house renovations? What would your advice be for anyone about to take the leap?
Oh goodness, these did make me giggle! We’re of the mindset that it’s unlikely we’ll ever own a home of our own so renovations are also unlikely BUT I completely agree with #1 even from just a rental POV.
Yeah the deposit is X and the removals will cost this but there are always so many costs that go forgotten – cancelling contracts with providers, paying final bills, buying packing boxes and of course, all the little trinkets that make the space your own. Easily costs thousands within such a tiny timeframe!
By the way, your renovations look amazing so far! 😊
Thank you!
Anything house related is expensive, even if you don’t own it! I rented before moving here with my fiancé and my god! Just cancelling bills etc cost me no end!
Thanks for reading x
Thanks for sharing this, we are looking at having an extension soon. I didn’t even think about allowing extra money.
I’m also a control freak, so know I will struggle.
Thanks for sharing
Mrs D
https://icanshowyoutheworld5.com
It’s so hard but you really do have to hold on to the feeling you’ll have once it’s completed. It really does make it worth while x
We’ve just gone through a massive extension on the house and I very much agree that you’ll need to have money set aside for issues. You can be quoted “X” amount, but it never stays that way! Thank you for your honesty, I think some people think renovations are fun DIY projects that look magical like in the films! It can be stressful, but staying calm is super important
Em x
It’s hard work isn’t it? And it often feels like it’ll never end.
I do feel like I should get some kind of survival badge at the very least!
This is actually so relatable! We’ve had our house renovated in early July and I can definitely relate with our house no longer our own because the builder is the one who gets to choose! Lol. And we’ve had to had a general cleaning of the house after because it’s all so messy!
Loved reading this! x
Jirah Merizz | https://writingsbyjm.com/
It’s a nightmare isn’t it but it is 100% worth it x
That bedroom blue palette looks great! And I agree, getting a house built usually takes longer than it should. Ours will also take a while given the lockdown and the property owner has yet to continue the construction. Ughhh. Fun read, by the way!
Thank you, I hope yours is completed soon for you x
Building work always seems to cost more and take longer than expected, so it’s good to be able to look at the funny side 🙂
You have to look on the bright side or you’ll go mad! x
My office is getting built right now and I can relate to SO MANY OF THESE. It’s definitely taking longer than expected. And they’ve definitely unearthed a few problems that we didn’t expect, such as roots from a bush that WON’T COME UP.
How are things going now?
All so true! We finished our renovations a couple of years ago and I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the whole process
It is amazing and you soon forget the trauma… Well kind of!
This is all so true. We had the garage converted to an office and it cost more than we thought and yes was messy! I hate the mess x
Me too! It was an absolute killer. It has made me very house proud now it is done though x
I always think that if you don’t make a mess when renovating, you’re not doing it right! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Hahaha! Yes you’re probably very very right!
This reminded me so much of when we had an extension at my parents’ when I lived at home! It was during the summer holidays and I was fuming at being woken up by the builders at 7am each day haha. All worth it in the end though – your new room is gorgeous! Becca x
Oh snap! They seemed to always turn up in the holidays! In fact they even worked from 8am on Boxing day! Madness x x
Yep all true! I thought my builder was coming for dinner too!!
Love this article and these are totally true. This mess is for the good!!! 😊
You really have to remind yourself of that though x
I have all this to look forward to if when I own my own it needs renovating. I am going to look forward to making it my own. These are great lessons to learn ahead of time. So thank you for sharing these. The after pictures look great!
Lauren | http://www.bournemouthgirl.com
Thank you Lauren. It is certainly worth the upheaval and mess x
Love this! Number 4 really stood out. We’re lucky as all of our renovations so far have been carried out by my fiance and his dad which has saved us money and means my fiance can learn from all his dads skills too! Every time we do something though it turns into a much bigger job because a problem gets unearthed!
That’s really fortunate that you have handy men around! Nothing is ever as simple as you first expect x
Love these!!! So funny. Especially the extra money in the budget, that’s happened so many times for us!
It is a nightmare, but it is worth paying out initially rather than think you might come back to it later when you have the money because it’ll never happen x
These sounds like some great (although hard) lessons to learn when you start renovations. I can imagine it can be so out of your control and having money just in case should be a must.
It is a tough journey but like most, it is well worth it x
We barely any in our house! Mainly because it is newly built and we are rubbish as this. It always takes longer and cost more lol
Sometimes I wish we had a new build x x
This post made me laugh; and I certainly can relate with almost all of these! My parents were constant renovators whilst I was growing up; so much so that the builders almost became my new best friends at times! (I joke) Your new, finished room looks fabulous.
Paige // Paige Eades
Thank you so much! I am so pleased with it. My son actually did make a friend of the builder!
Allowing extra money in the budget is a big must – you never know when something may crop up that you hadn’t necessarily budgeted for!
The rainy day fund was much needed! Hahaha
These lessons are so true! I did have a friend who renovated her house and she went over her budget and it took longer than she expected so we need to take this into consideration when renovating the house.
It is hard work that’s for sure x
Haha my friend is currently renovating and this is exactly what she talks about, the mess and extra cost!
Oh man it is hard work, your friend is in my thoughts x
I love this post! We are in the middle of a renovation, who said it was a good idea to renovate the whole house?? While living in it!!!!! For seven years!!
I agree with the control thing and builder becoming part of the family. That coffee cup!! Haha 😂 brilliant post thanks for sharing xx
Oh Linz! I feel for you! Even we said that maybe we should have moved out but I think we’d of outstayed our welcome long before the builders did!
Good luck, Hope you have your home finished very soon x
There are some excellent tips and advice though even with the funny side of things, it can be so stressful so ultimately be positive and prepare for the worse lol
Very stressful, but laughter is definitely the best medicine!
Wow this is such a huge project, but great tips! I’m looking so forward building my own house someday or doing a complete renovation, but this post is great to make some realistic expectations!
I would always say manage your expectations and it’ll be much easier to bare x
Some really great advice , it did make me chuckle a bit 🙂 we’re currently waiting to move so I’m hoping we find the perfect home and don’t need to renovate LOL
Oh fingers crossed for you x
I love this list! I have yet to do any renovations as I am only renting but it sounds like a lot of fun!
Amber – The Unpredicted Page
So many of these happened to us when we renovated! Especially the more work the more problems! But I suppose it was better to know ahead of time than later once it was all renovated. I also agree about a strongly word email. We found that when things became more expensive or mistakes were made if we were open to discussion and polite they often met us in the middle which made for a far better experience if you’re seeing them everyday!
Yes I completely agree, I kept reminding myself that it was better to find out now than when the room was complete x
Thanks for sharing, I have not had that much renovations to do at my flat thank goodness, just re-painting the lounge which was a challenge to move the furniture!
Nic | Nic’s Adventures & Bakes
Emptying the rooms was the thing I hated most I think x
What a great post, good to see what a renovation is really like!! I’ve always wanted to do one…maybe one day!
Love this!! They will definitely be tips (and laughs) to keep in my mind for when I may be able to do something similar! Im x
Good luck if you do decide to go ahead, it will be worth it x
Great post, we are going to start renovating our house next year room by room starting with the bathroom so have all this to look forward too
There is some really sound and sensible advice here for sure. Especially about the money and budget going over x
The mess I can deal with, but what I don’t like about hiring people for home renovations is that sometimes it seems they intentionally take longer time to complete a job, and of course the added expense if they find something else that needs to be fixed/repaired.
Oh yes! Ours kept nipping off to do other jobs which was really annoying!
I am really not looking forward to it when we get started on extending our house – I am so not good when things don’t go to plan but I know that it will be worth it in the end!
I love and hate decorating! It’s so satisfying and worthwhile once it’s done but the chaos whilst it’s being done is a nightmare!
Tash // A Girl with a View
You are right about these tips. Renovations are a lot like building. It takes plenty of patience, too! The extra money tip is important. You never really know what you find there!
It is scary what they can uncover x
We came down to earth with a bump when we bought our home, we couldn’t believe how much everything cost
Shocking isn’t it!
Very relatable since we had our home renovated too!
Oh dear, I hope it went OK for you x x
I love how honest this post is. I knew that renovations meant mess but oh my gosh, I seriously underestimated just how much. I completely agree with all of the points you’ve mentioned.
really interesting read, we will be renovating our new house in the next couple of years and have all this to come