House Refurbishment Havering

House refurbishment in Havering is mostly a job on twentieth century houses: 36% of homes here were built between 1919 and 1939 and 59% after 1945, with only 5% from before 1919. 74% of homes are houses, including 29% terraced and 36% semi-detached or detached. We renew the services, plaster, floors, joinery and roof details of a whole house without re-planning it, for owners moving in, landlords re-letting a whole house and executors preparing one for sale.

For Havering, 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 Havering: we renew the wiring, pipework, heating, plaster, floors and joinery of the whole house under one contract, and a registered electrician certifies the rewire.

What a 1930s Havering semi needs when it is stripped back

An interwar Havering house often needs its services renewed more than its structure rebuilt. With 36% of homes in Havering built between 1919 and 1939, a refurbishment can open up rooms that still carry early rewiring, lead or galvanised supply pipes in places, and plaster that has been patched rather than renewed. Once the old finishes come off, the hidden fabric sets the real scope, and the schedule is adjusted before the second fix is ordered.

Suspended timber ground floors are worth lifting in these houses. Air bricks get blocked by paths and later extensions, and the joist ends rot where they sit on damp walls. We check sub-floor ventilation, replace decayed timbers and insulate between the joists while the boards are up, so the floor, the new heating pipework and the cabling all go in once. Where a Havering house has had a solid concrete floor laid in one room and timber left in the next, we detail the junction so damp cannot track across.

Housing in Havering

The valuation list shows roughly 108,680 homes in Havering, of which 5% are pre-1919, 36% interwar and 59% post-1945, split 26% flats to 74% houses. 29% of homes here are semi-detached; a semi in Havering has a single party wall, so one neighbour hears the chasing.

Post-war Havering houses and the order of a whole-house refurbishment

The 59% of Havering homes built after 1945 bring a different set of problems from the interwar semis. Post-war houses on the estates often have cavity walls, concrete ground floors, hollow timber stud partitions upstairs and a first round of central heating that is now at the end of its life. The strip out tends to find thin wiring runs clipped to the joists, uninsulated lofts and window frames that were replaced once and now leak at the reveals.

Whatever the age, the sequence is the same and it is worth holding to. Strip out comes first, then repairs to joists, lintels and roof timbers, then first fix of the wiring, pipework and heating. Plastering follows, then second fix, joinery and decoration. A registered electrician tests and certifies the new wiring and a registered gas engineer commissions the boiler. Where a wall, floor or roof element is renewed, the insulation to Part L goes in while it is open, not as a later visit.

Gidea Park and other Havering conservation areas: windows, doors and roofs

A house in the Gidea Park Conservation Area has less freedom at the front than a house elsewhere in Havering. Its Article 4 Direction, confirmed on 24 June 2016, covers the dwelling houses in that area. Class A rights are taken away for front and side elevations, and Class A is the permitted development class that lets an owner change windows and doors without asking first. On a refurbishment that catches sashes, casements, porches and front doors, which are often the items an owner most wants to renew.

The roof is covered as well. In Gidea Park the same direction withdraws the Class C roof alteration rights on front and side slopes, so new roof lights or a change of covering facing the street need planning permission first. Repairs like for like are a different matter from alterations, so the owner or their designer confirms which items need an application, and we price the refurbishment on the approved window, door and roof details.

Skips, scaffolding and working hours on a Havering street

A skip or scaffold on the public road outside a Havering house needs a council licence before it arrives. A new skip licence on the public highway in Havering covers 14 days. It is sent to the skip hire company, and residents do not receive a copy. We use a hire firm that holds the licence and keep its confirmation on site. Where the drive is long and firm enough, the skip goes there and no highway licence is needed.

Scaffolding needs more notice. Havering requires 10 working days notice for a scaffolding or hoarding licence, charged per linear metre for 28 days, with a refundable scaffolding bond per metre on top. We measure only the elevations that need roof, gutter or chimney work, and group those jobs so the scaffold comes down early. Noisy work such as chasing walls and breaking out floors is kept to normal weekday daytime hours, and we tell the neighbours on both sides before strip out starts.

• Whole-house refurbishments for landlords re-letting a house
• Whole-house replumbing, including old lead and galvanised supply pipes
• Timber repairs where rot or beetle turns up at strip-out

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 30 statistical areas in Havering. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Related reading for Havering homeowners planning house refurbishment: home renovation in Havering, our Havering area guide, a building contractor for a whole-house refurbishment, which parts of a house refurbishment building control inspects, how we handle house refurbishment across London and Signs You Need to Rewire.

Trusted House Refurbishment in Havering

A whole house has many trades working in one building, and we keep them in order: strip out, repairs, first fix, plastering, second fix, decoration. You get a written schedule of works, a programme and one point of contact. When the strip out finds rotten joists or old wiring behind a wall, we show you, price the change in writing and agree it before carrying on. A registered electrician certifies the electrical work, a registered gas engineer does the gas work, and the certificates are handed over together at the end.

• Every wall of the house tapped and every circuit tested before the refurbishment is priced
• Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
• Radiators, sockets and switches positioned at first fix, never after decorating

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