House Refurbishment Catford

House refurbishment in Catford means renewing a freehold house, and houses are the smaller part of the stock here: 34% of homes, with 28% terraced and 6% semi-detached or detached. Terraces outnumber semis and detached houses more than four to one, and the site describes the stock as Edwardian terraces and period family homes. We renew the wiring, pipework, heating, plaster, floors and joinery of the whole house without changing its plan, and hand it back ready to live in, let or sell.

For Catford, published UK figures put a three-bed house refurbishment at £43,530 to £110,350, and London houses usually cost more, with a London architect allowing £1,800 to £2,200 per square metre before VAT (Checkatrade and Bradley Van Der Straeten Architects, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Catford: we renew the wiring, pipework, heating, plaster, floors and joinery of the whole house under one contract, and a registered electrician certifies the rewire.

The fabric behind the walls of a Catford period home

Expect original construction under the paint in a Catford refurbishment, since 61% of the homes here predate 1919. In a house of that age that typically means lath and plaster ceilings, lime based mortar and render, suspended timber ground floors and chimney breasts. Each needs a different repair. Lime work breathes, so patching it with cement plaster or sealing it with modern paint can trap damp, and a ceiling that sounds hollow may need overboarding or replacing rather than skimming.

Services are the other unknown. Old lead or iron supply pipes, rubber or early PVC wiring and a fuse box without residual current protection turn up in houses that look recently decorated. We check the areas that matter at survey stage, lifting a board or opening the consumer unit, so the quote allows for rewiring by a registered electrician or a new supply pipe rather than finding out halfway through. That keeps the programme honest and the finish in your Catford house sound.

Housing in Catford

By the valuation list's count, Catford holds about 7,650 homes, 34% houses and 66% flats; by age, 61% were built before 1919, 4% between the wars and 33% since 1945. Since most homes here are flats, where most homes in Catford are flats, a whole house is refurbished as one building, with a single intake for the services and one roof to keep sound.

The order of work in a whole Catford house

A Catford house refurbishment runs in a fixed order: strip out, investigate, first fix, plaster, second fix, then decoration. The strip takes the house back to sound surfaces, and we pause there so hidden defects such as a rotten joist end, a failed lintel or a damp patch behind a skirting can be priced before anything is closed up. The rewire, the new pipe runs and the heating circuits all go in before a single wall is skimmed.

Whether you live in the house during the work changes the programme. An empty house can be stripped floor by floor in one pass, which is the quicker route for a buyer, an executor or a landlord between lets. If you stay in, we phase it: one floor or zone at a time, with a working kitchen or bathroom kept until its replacement is ready. On a Catford terrace with a single stair, dust sheeting and a clear route out matter as much as the trades.

Working hours, skips and scaffolds on Catford streets

Lewisham controls construction noise by restricting work to 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with no work on Sundays or bank holidays. We plan every Catford refurbishment inside those hours, including deliveries and the loading of skips. In a terrace the neighbours share a party wall with the work, so the sound carries. Strip out, breaking out and cutting are booked early in the day, and quieter trades such as plastering and decorating follow.

Street equipment needs notice. Where a skip goes on a Catford road inside a controlled parking zone, Lewisham requires a parking suspension as well as the skip licence, and it asks for the suspension at least five working days ahead. Scaffold and hoarding licences also need at least five days' notice. We build those dates into the programme so the skip arrives on the morning strip out begins, not a week after, and the scaffold is up before the roofer.

Roofs, porches and windows where a Catford house has Article 4 controls

Check whether the house sits in a conservation area with an Article 4 direction before its outside is touched. Lewisham's Article 4 directions in conservation areas apply only to houses in use as a single dwelling, which is what a whole-house refurbishment deals with. Lewisham lists alterations to the roof of a house and adding a porch, including infilling an open porch, among the changes that then need planning permission. A roof recovered in a different material can fall into that.

Windows are a common question on an Edwardian terrace. Lewisham's Duty Planner service gives written advice on window replacement, including within a conservation area, so the owner can settle what is acceptable before the joiner measures. Repairing the existing sashes, with new cords, beads and draught strips, keeps the original frames and is often the simpler route. Where renewal is agreed, we fit to the approved detail. Part L sets the thermal standard for replacement windows, and for insulation when a roof or wall is renovated.

• Decoration throughout the house, woodwork and ceilings included
• Roof, gutter and chimney-stack repairs coordinated as the survey requires
• Pre-sale and probate refurbishments of empty houses

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Catford East & Mountsfield Park and Catford Bridge. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Alongside house refurbishment in Catford, the pages that usually help next are home renovation in Catford, house refurbishment across Lewisham, a building contractor for a whole-house refurbishment, building control on a house refurbishment, our London house refurbishment page and Replastering Cost.

The GS Renovation Difference in Catford

A whole house touches every trade, and the risk sits in the gaps between them. We run strip out, repairs, first fix, plastering, joinery and decoration as one sequence with our own trades, with a registered electrician certifying the wiring and a registered gas engineer on the boiler and gas pipework. You get a written quotation after a survey, a written programme that keeps to the street rules and working hours, and one named point of contact from the first skip to handover.

• A top-floor-first programme when your family stays in the house
• Asbestos sampling arranged before textured ceilings or old floor tiles are disturbed
• Fully insured, with cover in place on every site

Reviewed jobs near Catford

1 MyBuilder review from Crofton Park, with each customer's own job title:

• Replace small section of wooden worktop, sink, tap and gas hob, Crofton Park, 17 Apr 2024 (5 out of 5)

Read all 31 on our reviews page.

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254).