Thanks for the reply Mumbler, both of our existing mortgages were raised through brokers used to dealing with IT contractors, but mine was still quite tricky - I had 2 high street lenders back out after AIP and in one case after the survey had been done and I'd paid the fees! thankfully the Halifax came through with their tracker deal and I got my money back from the W.

Thanks for the Buildstore tip - the barn isnt yet converted, we will probably end up living onsite in a tent/shed/caravan for quite a while.

Anything more you can tell us about your experience would be very useful, things which you would have done differently with hindsight? or books/websites you'd recommend? - many thanks.