Upgrading a kitchen is always traumatic because of the mess, fuss and inconvenience that usually results. Follow these five simple hints, and you will minimise those side effects.

1.Understand that most conflicts between rated tradespeople and their clients are the result of miscommunication and bad planning. In my experience, the vast majority of good tradespeople enjoy what they do and like to do it properly. To avoid problems, you need to both keep a weather eye out for cowboy builders, know what you want to do, and communicate this effectively.

2.The next step is to understand your current kitchen layout in terms of where the existing services are. It is one thing to move electric plugs around or perhaps re-route a water pipe, but quite another thing to move drains that disappear into the floor. If you can work around what is already there, then you may save yourself many pounds. This means that you may have to adapt your original thinking to these realities (unless you have an open budget, that is).

3.When you have a good idea of what you want to see in your upgraded kitchen it is time to choose a rated local builder that you can work with for the remainder of the project. This ensures that the two of you develop a shared understanding, and that what you want built is practical as well. When people ask me where they can find a recommended tradesman, I always recommend Mr-Skill. Their website is easy to understand - just go to mr-skill.co.uk, enter your postal code and the service you are looking for and they will instantly return a listed of recommended builders to you.

4.The next stage in a kitchen upgrade project is to agree the price and details of your project with the builder that you chose in writing. This is perhaps the most important step in any home renovation project - if you take your time on this one after choosing a recommended builder then you should not have too many problems down the line.

5.Finally, when the builders arrive to start the work, share a cup of tea with them, discuss the work scheduled for that day, and then leave them to get on with it. Nobody likes to work with a monkey sitting on their shoulder, and that goes for good tradespeople too. Every morning after that first review, discuss progress made and the road ahead - that way you should have a satisfactory outcome to your project.

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