![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
1. Hire a project manager. Unless you yourself are actually qualified. In which case, go for it.
2. Hire an architect, preferably one you can communicate with.
3. Don't change the plans on the fly after the build has started.
4. Hire a project manager. Especially if working full time and looking after a family.
5. If you build your entire house inside and out of wood it looks remarkably like a sauna.
6. Italian planning laws are remarkably lax, especially for an earthquake-prone area.
7. Hire a project manager. If you don't speak the language of the builders, hire a bilingual project manager.
8. Don't put a 2 story extension on a barge, it looks hideous.
9. If you're already in debt to the bank and your family and have burned through most of your savings, stop digging the hole deeper by ordering more hand-crafted gargoyles. Talk about non-essential item.
10. I'm not sure ordering a bespoke kitchen from a company that's just gone into receivership is the best idea in terms of follow up service.
11. Hire a project manager. Preferably one who gets on with your architect. And you.
12. If you're intending to live in a region it might be a good idea to actually follow some of the local customs, particularly as regards getting planning permission.
13. It helps to decide on what you want before you start building. Not during. Talk about guaranteed to annoy the builders.
14. If you can't be on site, hire a project manager. Don't try and manage from more than about 2 hours drive away, let alone another country.
15. One person's idea of beautiful is another person's idea of "what the hell were they thinking?"
16. Thatch looks gorgeous, but geez it burns quickly!
17. Wow, you really can't fix underfloor heating easily if it goes horribly wrong, can you?
18. Budget carefully. Then add another third for when the wood fails to arrive, the tiles fail to arrive, it snows for 4 months and rains for another 6.
19. If you get into the house on the estimated date it's a miracle.
20. This is slightly more likely to happen if someone competent is project managing.
21. This is why we bought a pre-renovated house. We don't have the money for a project manager. Heh.
2. Hire an architect, preferably one you can communicate with.
3. Don't change the plans on the fly after the build has started.
4. Hire a project manager. Especially if working full time and looking after a family.
5. If you build your entire house inside and out of wood it looks remarkably like a sauna.
6. Italian planning laws are remarkably lax, especially for an earthquake-prone area.
7. Hire a project manager. If you don't speak the language of the builders, hire a bilingual project manager.
8. Don't put a 2 story extension on a barge, it looks hideous.
9. If you're already in debt to the bank and your family and have burned through most of your savings, stop digging the hole deeper by ordering more hand-crafted gargoyles. Talk about non-essential item.
10. I'm not sure ordering a bespoke kitchen from a company that's just gone into receivership is the best idea in terms of follow up service.
11. Hire a project manager. Preferably one who gets on with your architect. And you.
12. If you're intending to live in a region it might be a good idea to actually follow some of the local customs, particularly as regards getting planning permission.
13. It helps to decide on what you want before you start building. Not during. Talk about guaranteed to annoy the builders.
14. If you can't be on site, hire a project manager. Don't try and manage from more than about 2 hours drive away, let alone another country.
15. One person's idea of beautiful is another person's idea of "what the hell were they thinking?"
16. Thatch looks gorgeous, but geez it burns quickly!
17. Wow, you really can't fix underfloor heating easily if it goes horribly wrong, can you?
18. Budget carefully. Then add another third for when the wood fails to arrive, the tiles fail to arrive, it snows for 4 months and rains for another 6.
19. If you get into the house on the estimated date it's a miracle.
20. This is slightly more likely to happen if someone competent is project managing.
21. This is why we bought a pre-renovated house. We don't have the money for a project manager. Heh.
