10. Don't think this is going to be fun

Rebuilding a tumbledown house has its satisfactions, but it's a major life commitment – it'll suck up time and resources you could have spent on something else.

People ask me if I'd do it again. I say I'm happy to have done it once, but twice? No way.

Make no mistake – the memories you'll cherish at the end of the day will be of the people in your life, not the house.