One of us has a legal background for her sins and she still keeps her hand in from time to time. She says a project manager will oversee the entire project and ensure that each part of the team is meeting the brief. The PM will not necessarily be the main contractor but could be. The main contractor, on the other hand, will have principal contractual responsibility for the build and will progress it according to agreed specifications. It may sub contract particular elements of the main build contract to other trades. As main contractors don't want to be contractually responsible for problems with services by subs, there will usually be novation agreements or collateral warranties to enable the developer or property owner to enforce contractual obligations originally made between the main contractor and the subs. If you are a developer or property owner without much experience in developing, or if you have too much going on, you may want or need to delegate the task of overseeing the project to a PM. Particularly with larger developments, it can be an asset to have someone experienced in development projects to ensure that the build remains on schedule and within budget and to liaise with all parties involved, On the other hand, if it's your only, fairly straight forward project, you may prefer to deal with the main contractor yourself if there is one. The main contractor will then deal with its team of subs and report to you. Alternatively, you could assemble your own team of trades and manage the project yourself, liaising with all parties: plumbers, electricians etc. Hope that's not as clear as mud. :-)

All of the projects are very impressive, the transformations are all pretty amazing and should definitely provide inspiration to anyone looking to do similar projects. I was personally torn between the country kitchen and the sloping garden, in the end my vote went to the sloping garden project, the transformation from a blank awkward looking area to such a cleverly designed and attractive space is amazing.

Thank you one and all for your suggestions, a good few things for us to think about. My apologies, I didn't really do a good job in explaining the style or anything! but the second image Carolina has suggested is the look and feel we would be going for. I really like the idea of using different materials and levels for the garden which we can achieve quite easily (I hope!) I have cleaned and stored all of the bricks from the chimney which was removed in the he house reno, and will be planning to build a flower bed, seat area along the left side (attached). I'm steering toward patio more so than decking especially given I can use the cover for the inspection chamber. Thanks for info on the cover guys! I am looking for low maintenance and have even considered adding (dare I say it) artificial turf. Better for slide tackling the kids! The idea of using diagonals is very clever and I shall give them some thought. Time to start sourcing materials and getting some quotes me thinks!

What a transformation! Who would have thought that the exterior (what is that...brick, stone?) would clean up so nicely! And the stable doors are a lovely touch!