Most of our clients stay in the house. It is cheaper than renting, and it means you see the work. It is also harder than people expect in weeks three to six, when first fix is loud and nothing looks like progress.
Dust is managed with a proper temporary wall — timber studs, two layers of sheeting, taped joints, and a zip door — not a sheet of plastic pinned to a doorframe. Where the work is large we put negative-pressure extraction behind the wall so air moves out of the site, not into your bedrooms.
For kitchens we build a temporary kitchen wherever there is a water point: a sink, a counter, the fridge, a two-plate hob and the microwave. For bathrooms we phase the work so one shower stays live throughout.
Security is the item people raise last and worry about most. Every person on your site is on a daily register, the trades are the same faces week to week, and gates and alarms are re-set at the end of each day by the site manager, not by whoever leaves last.
The honest answer is that weeks one to two are interesting, three to six are unpleasant, and from second fix onwards most families say they would do it again. Knowing the shape of that curve in advance makes it much easier to live through.