Should you stay or should you go? It’s the million-dollar question that faces many renovators and self-builders. While living on site will save you the cost of renting somewhere while the work is being carried out, most builders will tell you that a job is quicker, more efficient and therefore probably cheaper if they can tackle the project in one go.
Living on site has other advantages, though. “You’ll be able to keep a close eye on progress — being on site 24/7 means you’ll be available if your builder has any questions,” says Rebecca Foster, an experienced homes and interiors writer. Being on site every day meant that James and Sophie Edmondson could deal with issues as they came up during their self-build project. “A window arrived and I could immediately see we’d underestimated the size needed,” says James. ‘It was simple enough to send it back before the carpenters fitted it, whereas rectifying it at a later date would have been
