Home Renovation London

A home renovation in London is rarely one job. It is a set of jobs that only work in one order, in a house built before any of the services it now depends on. The houses this page is about are mostly Victorian and Edwardian terraces, interwar semis, and flats formed out of larger houses after the war. Each has habits of its own: solid brick that moves moisture, timber floors over a void, a lighter rear addition, and wiring and pipework added in layers by every owner since. This page explains how a whole-house renovation is planned and run in that stock, which consents apply, what it costs in London, and what goes wrong when the order is skipped. GS Renovation carries the structure, the services and the finish as one contract, with one named point of contact, and appoints the structural engineer where the design needs one.

Across London, a full house refurbishment typically costs £40,000 to £150,000 or more (indicative ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in London: we carry the structure, services and finishes as one contract.

What does a house renovation in London involve?

A full house renovation in London means stripping the building back far enough to see what it is made of, then rebuilding the services, the structure where needed, and the finishes in one programme. Which parts are worth touching depends on the house. A Victorian terrace usually needs the rear addition looked at first, because it was built with thinner walls and shallower footings than the front rooms, and it holds the kitchen and bathroom. An interwar semi tends to have sound walls, poor insulation and a solid floor hiding old pipework. A conversion flat brings shared services, a lease and a neighbour on the other side of the ceiling. Reading the building before pricing the work keeps the budget honest.

Period detail deserves a decision, not a default. Lath and plaster ceilings, cornices, skirtings, panelled doors and sash windows can all be kept, repaired or matched, but each costs more to keep than to replace, and each is gone for good once the skip arrives. On the survey we record what is original, what is a later copy and what is beyond saving, so you can choose room by room. Lime plaster on a solid wall should stay lime, because gypsum traps moisture behind it. Sashes can usually be overhauled and draught-sealed rather than replaced. Where a feature has already gone, matching a skirting or cornice profile costs less than most people expect.

Structure first: how a whole-house renovation runs in London

Every whole-house renovation we run in London starts with the structure, because a steel beam cannot be threaded through a freshly plastered room. After the survey and your written quotation, the structural engineer we appoint designs any openings, beams, padstones and chimney breast supports, and produces the calculations. We then strip out, prop the floors and walls above, form the openings, install the steel and build to that design. Building control inspects the propping, the bearings and the finished steel before anything is boxed in. Only when the structure is signed off does first fix begin: the rewire, new water and heating pipework, the soil and waste runs, ducting for extraction, and any underfloor heating.

First fix is the moment to move things, because the walls are open and the floors are up. Sockets, radiator positions, a downstairs cloakroom, a second bathroom stack: all of it is cheap to decide now and expensive after the plasterer has been. Plastering follows, then a drying period the programme has to respect. Second fix brings the electrician and plumber back for accessories and sanitaryware, then the kitchen and bathrooms go in, floors are laid, joinery is hung and the decorators finish. The electrics are certified by the registered electrician who ran the cables, or notified to building control, and the same named person answers to you from survey to snagging.

Damp in a London house: diagnose before you spend

Most damp in London houses comes from outside the wall, not from a failed damp-proof course, so the fix is usually cheaper than a chemical injection. On a survey we look at the external ground level first, because paths and patios laid over the years often sit above the original course and bridge it. Then the airbricks, which are frequently blocked or rendered over, leaving the floor void unventilated and the joists damp. Then the gutters, downpipes and gullies, which leak against the same patch of wall for years. Cement render and plastic paint on solid brick hold moisture in, and a tide mark inside is often the wall trying to dry through the only surface left to it.

Condensation is the other half of the story, and it is a ventilation problem rather than a building fault. Black mould in cold corners, behind wardrobes and around windows comes from warm air meeting a cold surface in a house that cannot breathe. The answer is insulation on the cold surface, extraction in the kitchen and bathrooms and heating that runs, not a chemical treatment. Where we see genuine rising damp or a pattern we cannot explain, we say so and recommend a surveyor before the work starts. A renovation that dry-lines over an undiagnosed problem hands you the same stain under new paint. Diagnosis is part of the survey and costs nothing extra.

What consents does a home renovation in London need?

Internal renovation work in London does not need planning permission, but most of it falls under the building regulations, a separate system with its own inspections. Structural openings and beams come under Part A. New circuits, and work near a bath or shower, are notifiable under Part P and are certified by a registered electrician or notified to building control. Replacement windows, a new boiler and insulation to walls, floors and roofs come under Part L, which applies to the elements you replace, not only to new building. Ventilation is Part F, drainage Part H and fire safety Part B, which matters if a ground floor opens onto the stair in a house of three or more storeys. We notify building control where needed and arrange the inspections.

Planning becomes relevant when the outside changes: new windows on a street elevation, an extension, an alteration to the roof. Permitted development covers much of that in a house. A conservation area removes it for side extensions, two storey rear extensions, roof enlargements and cladding, an Article 4 direction can remove more, and on a listed building listed building consent covers interior work too, including removing walls. In a flat, the lease almost always requires the freeholder's written consent before anything structural starts, and the managing agent will want the engineer's drawings and your contractor's insurance. Where a beam bears into a party wall, or you cut into it for a chimney breast, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies. As the building owner you serve the notices, usually through a surveyor, and we build to the award.

What does a house renovation cost in London?

A full house renovation in London costs £40,000 to £150,000+, or £1,500 to £3,500 per square metre, as indicative London ranges from MyBuilder and Checkatrade for 2026. The bottom of that range is a house that keeps its layout and its services, with new plaster, floors, kitchen, bathroom and decoration. The top is a house stripped to brick and joists, rewired and replumbed, with new openings, a new heating system, insulation to Part L and period joinery repaired rather than replaced. The per square metre figure spreads across the whole floor area, so a large house with a modest specification and a small house with a high one can land on the same total. If the plan stays as it is and only the fabric needs renewing, our house refurbishment page covers that narrower job and its own prices.

What moves the price inside that range is mostly hidden condition and scope creep, not finishes. Rot in the joist ends, a rear addition that needs underpinning, lead pipework, an undersized incoming supply and a consumer unit that cannot take the load all surface after strip-out. The second driver is moving things: every wall that comes out, every bathroom that changes position and every stack that is added drags an engineer, a plumber and building control with it. Finishes are the smallest lever and the easiest to change late. A written quotation after a survey should list these as separate lines, with a provisional sum for what cannot be seen, so a discovery becomes a conversation rather than a surprise.

Living through a London renovation, and choosing the builder

You can live in a London house through a renovation, but not through the strip-out and structural phase, so decide that before the programme is written. Once the floors are up and the beams are going in there is no water and no clean air. Most households move out for those weeks. If moving out is impossible, we phase the house by floor or by half behind dust screens, keeping one bedroom, a working bathroom and a temporary kitchen. Phasing costs more and takes longer, because the trades return to each half. A narrow terrace hall means every skip load and every board comes through the front door by hand, so floor protection goes in on day one. In a flat the managing agent sets the hours, and the neighbours below need warning before the noisy days.

The mistakes we see most on other people's London renovations come from doing the work in the wrong order. Rooms decorated before the rewire. A kitchen fitted before the floor is levelled. Plasterboard fixed over a damp solid wall, hiding the problem for a year. A chimney breast removed downstairs with the stack above left on nothing. Each is cheaper to prevent than to undo. Choosing a contractor then comes down to a few checks. Ask who designs the structure, and expect an independent structural engineer to be named rather than the builder. Ask whether building control is notified on every job. Ask whether the trades are the firm's own or a chain of subcontractors, and who you ring when something is wrong. Ask for a written, itemised quotation after a survey, with provisional sums stated as such, and for proof of insurance. Vetting a firm is covered in more detail on our builders in London page, our building contractor page covers the contract and staged payments, and our design and build page covers one contract for design and construction. The order the work runs in is set out on our renovations page, and a garage turned into a room is covered on our garage conversion page.

• Damp treatment, tanking and timber repairs
• Complete property refurbishments and whole-house renovations
• Project management from first survey to final handover

Related reading for London homeowners planning home renovation: load-bearing wall removal in London, design and build contracting, how we run a London renovation and How Long a Renovation Takes.

Why London Homeowners Choose GS Renovation

London homeowners choose GS Renovation for a whole-house renovation because one firm carries the structure, the services and the finish, and one named person is answerable for all of it. Founder and director Abdelaaziz Saaid brings over 30 years of hands-on experience. The structural engineer we appoint designs the openings and we build to that design, with building control coordinated on every notifiable job. The trades are our own rather than a subcontractor chain. Quotations are written, itemised and free after a survey, the firm is fully insured, and it is rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.

• Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
• Notifiable electrical work certified by a registered electrician under Part P
• A whole-house programme sequenced so no trade doubles back

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254). Structural design is by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.