lived in it for 15 months before beginning work in January 2020. “That was pretty tough going,” says Laura. “We had no heating and rats, with three kids and a dog!” Most of the house and garden had remained untouched for decades. Laura reckons the kitchen was 30 years old, and the electrics had been done by the previous owners some 40 years previously. “Everything was dangerous – we were trying to get the kids not to touch anything because we didn’t know what was live and what wasn’t.”
Their original plan to stay with family (or in a hotel) while work took place, was scuppered when the UK went into lockdown in March The arrival of the pandemic also left the build in a precarious position: “We had basically stripped the whole house back and had the steels put in when Covid hit – all the walls were gone,” Laura says. “We were completely open to the elements, and the builders didn’t come back for about four weeks because they weren’t sure if they were allowed to work.” With no walls and half a roof, Laura says this period was a “terrible” experience. With no way of keeping rats out, they ended up infested, with pest controllers unsure as to whether they were allowed to work. “We’d come down in the morning and rats had been on the worktops,” Laura says. “It was horrendous. I remember thinking ‘we’ve definitely bitten off more than we can chew here!’” However, she still says it “was an adventure.”
FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE
The plan was to strip the house right back to four walls, reconfiguring the internal layout and adding a single storey 11 metres x 3.5 metres extension across the back and a double storey 5 metres x 6 metres side extension. This meant going through planning, but the couple had the help of their “amazing” architect Helen
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www.sbhonline.co.uk
Nightingale. “We went with her because she has a great reputation for knowing the council inside out,” she explains. “She was a bit more expensive, but we put our trust in her because we were asking for a lot – we were almost doubling the size of the house.” Initially Helen warned them they may need to lower their expectations. However, in the end they faced no problems gaining approval, and she managed to negotiate the best result possible. “She kind of started at a moderate level and then every time we got approved, somehow she went back and pushed for a bit more until we got what we wanted,” says Laura Their neighbours had no objections to their plans, which Laura puts down to the fact that with the previous house being an eyesore, they could only improve things.
Getting the right builders was of course crucial. They obtained six quotes – which varied by £150,000 from the cheapest to most expensive – but decided to go with K&G Builders, as they “just had a really good feeling about them,” explains Laura. “It felt like they genuinely wanted the best for us – and they weren’t the top end of the quotes either which was a bonus.” As well as organising all subcontractors smoothly, the builders also came to the rescue when Laura faced an unpleasant problem one Sunday. The old toilet gave up the ghost and waste started coming through the ceiling – while Laura was making lunch.
Being a Sunday in the middle of lockdown Laura thought there was almost no chance of finding anyone to fix it, but K&G “dropped everything, came round, patched it up and made it safe until the morning,” she explains. Laura project managed the renovation herself, and says the builders were surprised at just how much input she and Ian wanted to have.
sep/oct 2021
LAURA’S TOP TIPS
Stay positive. If you look for bad stuff you’re always going to find bad stuff, you’ve got to keep focused on the positives as much as you can, because everything always works out all right in the end.
Don’t be too swayed by price on things like the builders, go with your gut. If you feel like you’ve got a good rapport with that person and you trust them, that’s totally priceless.
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