When we bought our farm, the house was unlivable. Mother Nature and thieves had destroyed it, but a helluva bargain and it had "good bones." Took us 6 months to gut it and re-build everything. Still had our old house, 40 miles away, for a time. I remember the day we got the main water line repaired and a water spigot installed in the basement before plumbing was installed. But we had cold water inside the house! Yay! At first, we went to the dilapidated barn for bathroom breaks, and buried it in the dirt. The day I encountered a large cat in the barn (cougar?!?!?) was the day I set up a bucket toilet station in the basement. Bathing was water heated on a propane stand, carried to the backyard in a bucket, and we stood buck naked on a scrap of plywood to "shower" with it. 'Kitchen' sink was an old sink propped up on sawhorses and 2x8's with a garden hose and bucket to drain, in the garage. Cooking was done via an extension cord running to the one working outlet in the house to power a microwave, electric griddle, and coffee pot; and we had a barbeque grill outside. Ice chest fridge. Portable propane heater to heat whichever room we were working in at the time and to dry out the drywall mud. Oh yes, those were the days!!!!