City Living: Suffering post-renovation stress disorder is no joke, says Edel Morgan

I am in the throes of post-renovation stress disorder. You know you have it if the thought of crossing the threshold of B & Q, Atlantic Homecare, Woodies or the like ever again induces feelings of hysteria. You may have forgotten what life was like before renovation - when your weekends were more Social and Personal than Irish Hardware.

There are three stages of this condition. Stage one kicks in when the early thrills of renovation have passed. You no longer experience a surge of adrenalin when you find the perfect wardrobe handles or paint shade after a trawl of 35 shops. Stage two happens when you find yourself weeping inconsolably or flying into rages over the slightest renovation mishap. My stage two traumas began when I discovered that the plumber had carved an unsightly small square hole in the centre of the bedroom floorboards when he was installing the central heating. Stage three is exhausted resignation. By the end you are so tired you would agree to wall-to-wall interior stone cladding if it meant a quiet life and getting the job finished.

A wise person once told me that the painful memories of your first renovation soon fade and before long you find yourself eyeing up your next project. After 12 weeks of it, I find that hard to believe. I didn't take on any of the physical work myself but, even with a builder on board, it's a full-time job having to choose fixtures and fittings. If I were to do it all again - God forbid - there are several things I would do differently. First of all, I'd prepare a detailed inventory of every nook and cranny of the house - taking photographs if necessary - before work starts and give a copy to the builder. That way, if anything gets damaged there is no argument over whether it happened before or after the renovation.

After initial discussions with your builder, put detailed descriptions of all jobs in writing. Otherwise a tentative discussion may turn into a reality. If your builder is any good they will have several jobs on at once and confusion can reign. I came home one day to find the timber French doors and windows our builder recommended - but that we didn't agree to - lying in the back garden. Luckily, they turned out to be one of the nicest features of the house.

You should be prepared for copious amounts of of running around DIY shops and shed warehouses. While you may have a builder to do the physical work, it is still up to you to choose the fixtures and fittings. In my case I had to choose wardrobe doors and handles, a new kitchen, tiles, a bathroom suite, paint for the entire house and the front door, new internal doors downstairs and new door handles upstairs. The level of service in some of the bigger shed warehouse stores is abysmal. I made about six visits to one vast store and spent up to an hour each time queuing at the trade desk. To reduce your visits to such places, sit down at the beginning and draw up a list of what is needed and get as much as you can in one go.

An important rule is not to overreact if you don't like what you see when the job begins. If you are unhappy with the workmanship, check the job is finished before you take anyone to task. If it is, remember you hold the purse strings and calmly ask that it be corrected.

Co-ordinating various jobs can be tricky. I had the downstairs rooms painted before the floors were sanded and varnished. This can cause problems if varnish gets splashed on painted skirting boards, so it helps if the painter is still on site and if you get his agreement to leave the final coat until the floors are finished.

You should also be vigilant about skips. Are you being charged for skips when neighbours and the builder's tradesmen are using them as a dumping ground?

The contents of our house filled one skip and the other two were stuffed with other people's tvs, microwaves and children's books. Short of conducting a midnight vigil to catch the culprits there is little you can do except refuse to pay for skips you didn't use.

You may be able to cut costs by getting quotes from other tradesmen - although your builder might not like you bringing alien tradesmen on site and may even lower his original estimate for a job to stop you doing so.

I brought in a floor sander whose quote was €500 cheaper that the company recommended by the builder. I also sourced internal doors for only €88 each (excluding labour) which saved me a fortune on the original estimates.

However, an alarm company I brought in at a saving of €600 refused to drill into the wall to hide an unsightly cable. I ended up paying the builder to do it.

When you bring outsiders into the fold be prepared for the "told you so" lectures from the builder if anything goes wrong. "No wonder they were so cheap. If we'd done it, that would never have happened."

• Contrary to what was stated in last week's City Living, the charge for landlords to register with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) is €70 per tenancy registered rather than per tenant. A tenancy may have a number of tenants but it remains a single tenancy. The composite fee of €300 applies where a number of tenancies within a single building are being registered at the one time by the same landlord.