So you\u2019ve decided to renovate part (or all) of your home.<\/strong><\/p>\n Now to answer the question that will almost certainly determine your sanity in the coming months: do you stay in the home throughout the renovation, or move out?<\/p>\n The real question, of course, is whether you\u2019re prepared to live with some fairly major inconveniences, often for months at a time, while the works are completed?<\/p>\n We asked a builder which option works best, and spoke to three homeowners who\u2019ve lived through a major renovation.<\/p>\n Do you stay in the home throughout the renovation, or move out? Picture: Getty<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The main reason you\u2019d choose to remain in your home during a major renovation is to save money. Moving into a rental, a hotel<\/a> or a short-stay apartment is going to cost you money, and for many people it\u2019s simply not an option.<\/p>\n And while living with your parents or in-laws is another alternative, many people would prefer to avoid that scenario.<\/p>\n But Peter Harnischmacher from Capital Building Contractors says his advice is almost always for people to vacate the house throughout a renovation, because the difficulties in remaining in the home just aren\u2019t worth the trouble and stress.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re putting up with a whole bunch of stuff, like dust and rubbish and people banging around,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Harnischmacher says that some renovations or extensions, like adding a second-storey or extra rooms at the back, better lend themselves to residents continuing to live in the home, as they are effectively sealed off the from the rest of the house until the final stages.<\/p>\n But even then, there\u2019s still some inconveniences, and Harnischmacher says the job will almost invariably take longer if you choose to stay at home.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to accommodate them a lot more as well, which means we can\u2019t always turn up when we want to. It drags out the process, so they have to be prepared for the fact that it\u2019s going to take a bit longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Three kids, heavily pregnant with a fourth, and no main bathroom on the ground floor.<\/p>\n Sian Rutherford\u2019s story sounds hard enough. Now add a major gas outage that lasted for weeks, and you\u2019ve got a genuine residential horror story.<\/p>\n Oh, and a renovation that was quoted at three weeks ended up taking 12.<\/p>\n Moving out didn\u2019t seem like a viable option at the time, but in hindsight, Rutherford says she and her husband should have found a way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was too difficult to move out, because we had three kids. I don\u2019t know where we would have gone, but honestly, it was a nightmare,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Juggling renos and family can be hard. Picture: Getty<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe had a tiny little bathroom upstairs that I waddled up to, but we had no hot water at one stage (due to the gas outage).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s any option to move out, especially if you\u2019re in the position where you desperately have to have a bathroom or a kitchen, my advice would definitely be to move out. Especially if you know it\u2019s going to be a big event. Our experience with any renovation is that it\u2019s always at least double the length of what you\u2019ve been told.\u201d<\/p>\n With eight people living under the one roof, being without a kitchen for three months meant some major compromises for Mel Ades and her family.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was hectic,\u201d Ades says, but adds that with so many people, the hassle of relocating outweighed the difficulty of managing without regular cooking facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cJust the amount of people, it made everything eight times worse. But moving out wouldn\u2019t have been an option, it would have been just as full-on,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe either cooked on the barbecue or cooked in the laundry on whatever appliance we had at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Shannon Bailey couldn\u2019t afford to move out while she and her husband did their own kitchen and bathroom renovations in their first home. They also didn\u2019t want to move back in with their parents.<\/p>\n So for months they cooked almost nothing other than meat on the barbecue and veggies in the microwave, washed dishes in the laundry trough and made do without a main bathroom.<\/p>\n But Bailey says she\u2019d gladly put up with the inconvenience again in order to keep the extra money in their pockets.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d be happy to do it again, especially if it means not paying extra to rent somewhere, or not feeling at home (by living with in-laws.),\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n <\/p><\/div>\n Realestate au <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"renovating](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.realestate.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/25010346\/renovating-family_2000x1500.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nThe builder<\/h2>\n
The pregnant mum<\/h2>\n
![\"pregnant](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.realestate.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/25010219\/pregnant-belly_2000x1500.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nThe family of eight<\/h2>\n
The newlyweds<\/h2>\n