Why did you decide to embark on this project ?

Our property was purchased as our first-time-buy , we wanted to get a foot on the housing ladder and having family in the building trade , we were thankfully able to lean on them for their guidance and expertise to renovate an older property . Plus , I had watched far too many episodes of Grand Designs and fancied my chances at taking a 1930 ’ s high-street semi and creating something wonderfully contemporary that catches your eye from the South Eastern train-line which runs along the bottom of the garden !

How did you choose the property ?

We started by narrowing down the location , we wanted to stay local to family and our business in Chislehurst . Petts Wood is the perfect centre point . We also enjoyed the rise in independent businesses on the highstreet as well as the easy train link into London which , made it feel like the best of both rural , and urban .

The property we chose was clearly in need of some T . L . C , when passing on

the road-side we could immediately see there was huge potential to revamp and extend , with other houses on the road already having done so . The train-line would have likely put many viewers off of the property , but this wasn ’ t an issue for us . We liked that having this meant we wouldn ’ t be overlooked by another property at the bottom of the garden , and the convenience of the link into London outweighed any negatives .

What was more important , location or project opportunity ?

Project opportunity was at the forefront of our property search , anything that resembled our taste was well out of budget and so we knew self-build was going to be the route for us .

What was your design / refurbishment timeframe ?

We didn ’ t move in for over 18 months after purchasing the property , then snagging took another few months once we were in .

The property was sold with planning permission for a rear extension , which

is how we came about our chosen architectural designer Gerry , from Attoe Building Design . Gerry had worked with the previous owners to develop their extension drawings . After developing the new plans together , we needed to obtain new permission . Our planning permission experience certainly didn ’ t compare to the experiences of many friends and family who had embarked on similar projects and explained this was the most stressful part of the process . Gerry may have taken the bulk of this stress on for us , so he certainly proved his worth from the outset .

The majority of the delays were due to us using multiple different contractors for the build , mainly because of budget , we opted to utilise family and friends where possible which saved us a lot of money , but I think there is a lot to be said if you are fortunate enough to find a good building company that offers many trades ‘ under one roof ’.

What were your project management pitfalls ?

Our lack of experience ; the idea of managing all the different aspects of the project scared me a little so I was

extremely glad to have had a good team in Attoe Building Design around us to help project manage and lean on to translate our ideas into drawings , and to do a lot of the heavy lifting around permissions , contractor sourcing etc .

How did you find the balance between an excellent design-led refurb which also kept to budget ?

Throughout the build we were reluctant to reduce quality while trying to achieve our vision and so – surprise , surprise – we ended up increasing our budget . In addition , the open-plan arrangement that we desired in our kitchen / living area meant there were additional demands from building control to ensure our scheme met the required standards . This was something we hadn ’ t budgeted for , Automist was the chosen solution for building control approval . The modern-looking sprinkler alternative , allowed the space to be left as openplan , light and spacious whilst still complying with critical building regulations , but it added some unaccounted for spend !