Call for the cavalry: Carol Bennett set up Design Unlimited knowing 'only too well what it's like to be let down on a job' David Sandison

Along the lines of a bad joke, the only thing worse than the prospect of months living with builders is not being able to find any at all. The best are always busy, and the rest come with so many health warnings that moving home can seem a less stressful alternative, especially now that buyers' agents are available to take the drudgery out of house-hunting.

But the service industry has been slower to rescue the hard-pressed owners of properties who choose to stay put while their properties are improved around them.

Even if they are fortunate enough to find a good joiner, plumber and electrician, keeping tabs on them as well as pulling in an appearance at work can be a Herculean task.

A London designer who saw clients struggling to manage building projects while juggling the demands of family and job stepped in to offer a service that brings all the strands of a building and refurbishment scheme under one umbrella. At Designed Unlimited, Carol Bennett is prepared to arrive with a structural surveyor and leave when the last saucer is stacked. One of her clients described it as the equivalent of "the cavalry arriving".

"I know only too well what it is like to be let down on a job, and so I only use tried and tested workmen. I use four teams of builders, one of whom travels up from Somerset every week. I can trust them completely." Carol says.

At the start of a job, she sits down with clients to discuss how they use their home and what their budget is. "The best savings are not always the most obvious ones. Planning it correctly is crucial, so that things like deciding on the lighting is our of the first considerations not the last. You don't want to end up chasing out a wall and starting again after the decorating has been done."

The business relationship she has built up with regular suppliers ensures absolute quality control, whether kitchen company or curtain-maker. It is the one-stop element to the service which appeals most to herclients. After the floor has been laid and the extension built, Designed Unlimited will provide furniture, curtains and bed linen if necessary, Unlike many interior designers, all trade discounts, often as much as 40 per cent, are passed on in full to the client who is charged a fee of 15 per cent of the total refurbishment cost.

"I have nothing to gain from using curtain material that costs £300 as opposed to £9 a metre. Where I absolutely will not scrimp is on the curtain-makers - and for the lettings market, the quality of the finish is far more important than the cost of the material."

It is this kind of advice that people are increasingly happy to pay for: Briony Elston had sat on an architect's redesign of her house in Wandsworth, southwest London, for three years before passing on the project to Carol Bennett. "We had nothing, not even a proper kitchen and the work had to be done while we were living in the house. I have two small children and my own business and all I felt was panic. As it was we passed everything on to Design Unlimited who listed the es¬sentials then the luxuries, and came up with all the quotes."

Above all, it is time saved and mistakes avoided that have proved of most value. "Instead of having to trawl through dozens of shops, I would be whipped off to look at lights or flooring and was able to make a decision in 20 minutes. I would never have known that a certain kind of granite scratched easily or that floorboards two inches wider than usual would look much better," adds Briony Elston.

In the increasingly sophisticated rental market, the cost of ignoring experienced voices is high. Annabelle Lamb of Oak Residential Lettings in Weybridge, Surrey, has seen properties that should let for £2,500 a month achieve only £1,000. "Spending money on neutral colours, good showers and modern kitchens can make a huge difference, especially in an area popular with Americans."

The concept of service, a long-time feature of everyday life in the US, is undoubtedly making headway here. Long overdue is release from the tyranny of stores that will deliver only am or pm. Belli Cook, through her London-based company Personal Solutions, will do the waiting on clients' behalf as well as sort out domestic crises that may involve finding a plumber or electrician and arranging for quotes from decorators and builders. "As long as people know what they want, I'll arrange for the work to be done and oversee it. I began by providing shelving for a client's flat and ended up moving her entire office."

She says the attraction of paying someone like herself to take on time-consuming chores is becoming increasingly popular. "No one would give up hours of their day waiting for a washing machine to arrive or collecting paint samples if there was a choice. One couple, when they went off to sail around the world, left me to deal with all their post. I was able to keep in touch with them via e-mail."

But as well as adopting the American model of running our lives, it seems we could do with some of their attitude. Carol Bennett finds them demanding but refreshingly straightforward. "They know what they want and will tell you immediately if they don't like something. The British will take weeks to tell you they are unhappy. I think they worry about upsetting me, but in the end that attitude causes everyone far more trouble."