Property Refurbishment in London

How a refurbishment is organised

A refurbishment differs from a single-room project mainly in sequencing. Several trades have to follow one another in the right order across multiple rooms, and the cost of getting that wrong compounds: a floor laid before first fix is finished, or decoration completed before dust-generating work is done, means paying twice for the same result.

For that reason the trades are managed internally rather than subcontracted stage by stage. The handovers between stages are where most problems in this kind of work originate, and keeping them inside one team is what stops them becoming your problem to arbitrate.

Permissions are established before the programme is set. In leasehold property, structural alterations, moving services and work affecting wet areas usually need written consent from the freeholder or managing agent. Work affecting a shared wall may fall under the Party Wall etc. Act, and some blocks restrict working hours and deliveries. These are routine, but they are slow if they start after the property is stripped.

Scope is set at survey rather than discovered. Refurbishment reliably exposes what previous work concealed: services that cannot be reused, floors levelled with compound instead of repaired, unsealed wet zones, and timbers affected by long-standing leaks. Establishing that early is what makes a fixed price meaningful rather than provisional.

Phasing depends on whether the property is occupied. Empty property allows the fastest sequence and the most disruptive stages to run together. Occupied property is staged so rooms return to use progressively, which takes longer and is planned that way from the start rather than adjusted mid-project.

Common questions

Do you handle all the trades or do I need to arrange some myself?

They are managed internally. Plumbing, electrics, structural preparation, tiling, decorating and specialist finishes are co-ordinated by one team, so the sequence between them is our responsibility rather than something you arbitrate between separate contractors.

Can a refurbishment be done while we are living in the property?

Yes, staged so rooms return to use progressively rather than the whole property being stripped at once. It takes longer than working in an empty property and it is planned that way from the outset, including which rooms are released first and how services are kept running.

What consents are typically needed in a London flat?

In leasehold property, structural alterations, moving services and work affecting wet areas usually need written consent from the freeholder or managing agent. Work affecting a shared wall may fall under the Party Wall etc. Act. Many blocks also restrict working hours and deliveries. All of that is established before the programme is fixed.