Our granny annex build top tips – No3 you all need to be able to get on!

Now that we have finished our build one of the really big things I have found out and I am sure that my wife and mother would agree is the need to be able to get on with each other, it might sound a bit of a simple tip, but it is critical to the success of the project.

There were so many different times when we really had to bite our tongues and just get through situations however difficult they were.

If we had been argumentative people, or angry people or essentially people that did not get along it would not have worked.

Life would have been too stressful and something would have broken either mentally with one of us or we would have come to blows about the house in one way or another and this could have ruined the whole project.

People must expect difficult times and there were lots of them with us: half way through the build I had to brick up the only window in my mums kitchen – leaving her in darkness for about 4 months [well she could have the lights on but hey], one day a new container just placed on the drive [which she didn’t see] but she reversed into it, badly damaged her car but she didn’t say much just got on with it.

At other times she could be very blunt particularly with my wife [maybe not intentionally] but it came across badly and hurt her, being the calm type that she is prevented confrontation, she did not really react and we talked about the issues together, accepted it and moved on.

During the times we all lived together, before the separate sections of house were finished, oh…. the clashes in the kitchen with my wife and my mum, but that is a separate post in itself, even a couple as it is a biggy!

But throughout all of the above times all three of us were sensible and worked through whatever was the issue, nothing become too big and this is what must happen, everyone must accept compromise, back down at times and be aware of who each person is in the scheme.

Critically you must ensure that all involved are [pretty] happy with things, it wont be with everything but most things, and if this can be achieved then you will be well on your way to making the project a success.