When we renovated and extended our house, around 10 years ago now, we were on a tight budget and, given that we had no option but to stay living in the property with two children under four, wanted to get it done and dusted as quickly as possible. Having said that, building an extension while living on site with limited means meant that the whole thing still took around four years from start to finish - you'd have thought that would mean that we got everything we wanted from all our efforts, particularly given that we did most of the work ourselves. Not so.
