I have a pal who owns a property down on the south coast – it’s quite old in terms of it being in a town – built in 1830, it precedes the terraces of victorian mass housing but it’s not a twee little chocolate box cottage either. She has owned it for twenty odd years and only now has the funds to actually get the projects underway that flooded her mind when she bought it. She has sold her modern 4 bed family house in the home counties – wonderful fat equity cheque having now been banked Because her little cottage is old and still unmodernised, beyond previous folk putting toilets, running water and electricity in, she has a lot to sort out now and has negotiated a couple of very good deals with two local design and construction companies. The need to keep the essential pre victorian character is something that governs her final choice of expert.