Should You Live in Your Home During a Kitchen or Bathroom Renovation?
A guide for homeowners in New Zealand considering whether to stay or move out during renovations
Renovating your kitchen or bathroom is a major milestone but deciding whether to stay in the property or move out during the work can make or break your experience. At The Renovation Team, we’ve completed dozens of successful Auckland renovations and surveyed our clients to understand how this choice impacts the timeline, cost, safety, and sanity of a project.
This SEO-optimised article outlines everything you need to know when planning your home renovation, helping you make an informed decision that suits your lifestyle, family, and budget.
The Reality of Living On-Site
At first, staying in your home may seem like the cheaper, more convenient choice. But during kitchen or bathroom renovations, key spaces become unusable for days or weeks. Your daily routines cooking, showering, relaxing are disrupted. Noise begins early. Dust spreads further than expected. And your private space becomes a worksite.
Across the full project, 30–40 different tradespeople may enter your home at different stages—builders, electricians, plumbers, tilers, painters, and more. While not all are there at once, they come and go at random times. It's no longer a home it's a live construction zone.
Health and Safety Considerations in NZ Homes
According to WorkSafe NZ and the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, a home under renovation becomes a legally defined workplace. Homeowners and tradespeople both carry responsibility for ensuring safety on site. If you're living in, this is much harder to manage.
Key risks to consider:
- Dust and debris from cutting tiles, sanding, and grinding timber or fibre cement boards can cause respiratory issues.
- Chemical fumes from paints, adhesives, sealants, and cleaners can linger for hours.
- Asbestos or lead found in older homes may legally require vacating during removal.
- Sharp tools and power equipment present obvious risks to children and pets.
- Noise levels are often excessive, from demolition, drilling, or cutting.
In short: your home may no longer be a safe or healthy place to live while renovation is underway.
Protecting Your Property and Privacy
Renovations are messy. It’s easy for items to be shifted, covered, packed away—or forgotten. Sadly, we’ve seen cases where clients suddenly wonder, "Where did I leave that heirloom watch?" That uncertainty creates unnecessary stress.
With 30+ trades involved over several weeks, it’s hard to track what was moved, cleaned, packed, or relocated. The best way to protect your possessions and your peace of mind is to move out and store important items off-site.
James’s Favourite Analogy: The Restaurant Kitchen
“When you go to a restaurant and enjoy your dish, you’re not necessarily asking to meet the entire kitchen team behind the scenes. In fact, it might interfere with your experience. Renovation is no different you’ll enjoy the result much more if you let the process happen without living through the mess.”
Your renovation is your home’s future let it be built without the stress of seeing every dusty, noisy, chaotic moment.
The Benefits of Moving Out During Renovation
When clients choose to vacate the property, the renovation often proceeds faster and smoother. Here’s why:
- No daily clean up needed to make the site livable each night
- Longer, uninterrupted workdays for the trades
- Easier dust and hazard control with full access
- Clear work zones with no need to isolate noisy or messy tasks
- Final presentation is cleaner and more impressive
And best of all, you can return to a fully completed, beautifully clean home ready for you to enjoy.
Our Professional Recommendation
If your kitchen or bathroom renovation will disrupt core daily functions—and especially if you have children, pets, or elderly household members we strongly recommend moving out temporarily.
This recommendation is based on:
- First hand experience across 250+ renovation projects
- Surveys of past clients who lived through vs. moved out
- NZ health and safety regulations
- Common sense and build logic from qualified trades
Yes, it’s an extra step to relocate but the payoff is huge.
FAQ: Common Questions Homeowners Ask
Can I live in my house while the kitchen or bathroom is being renovated?
Technically yes but it’s disruptive, inconvenient, and often unsafe.
Will staying in my house make the renovation take longer?
Yes. Builders lose time setting up and packing down daily for your safety.
What do I do without a kitchen or bathroom?
You’ll need temporary setups camping stoves, laundromats, makeshift sinks. Not ideal.
Is it safe for my kids or pets to be around during construction?
Generally no. The risks from dust, sharp tools, fumes, and noise are too high.
What if I don’t have anywhere to go?
Options include staying with family, short term rentals, Airbnbs, or even campervans parked nearby.
What happens if asbestos is found?
You must vacate immediately until it's professionally removed and cleared.
Can I still check progress if I move out?
Yes. Most of our clients schedule weekly site visits or receive daily photo updates through Buildertrend.
Conclusion: The Better Experience Starts with Stepping Out
You’re not just renovating a space you’re investing in your lifestyle. Make that experience smoother, safer, and faster by giving your renovation team the space to work freely.
When you move out, you remove the stress, reduce the risk, and return to a home that’s not just upgraded—but move in ready.
Need help planning your renovation the right way?
The Renovation Team delivers fixed-price, on-time results plus honest guidance to protect your family and your investment.
