House Refurbishment Hillingdon
Whole-house refurbishments in Hillingdon, every floor of the house renewed from the roof down, in the right order.
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
- UK guide: £43,530 to £110,350
- Free site survey, itemised quote
House refurbishment in Hillingdon is mostly interwar and post-war work. The VOA count puts houses at 66% of the borough's homes, with 37% of all homes built between 1919 and 1939 and only 4% before 1919. That means original plaster on brick, suspended timber floors and services that have been patched rather than renewed. We rewire, replumb, renew the heating, repair floors and joinery and redecorate a whole house without re-planning it, for owners moving in, landlords re-letting and executors preparing a sale.
For Hillingdon, 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 Hillingdon: we renew the wiring, pipework, heating, plaster, floors and joinery of the whole house under one contract, and a registered electrician certifies the rewire.
Price guide
| Work | Indicative range |
|---|---|
| Three-bed house refurbishment, UK average | £43,530 to £110,350 |
| Non-structural house refurbishment in London, per square metre, excluding VAT | £1,800 to £2,200 per square metre |
| Full rewire, two-bed to five-bed house | £4,500 to £10,500 |
| New heating system, three-bed house | £3,000 to £8,500 |
| Re-skim walls and ceilings, three-bed house | £5,000 to £12,500 |
Indicative ranges from published cost guides (Checkatrade, Bradley Van Der Straeten Architects and MyJobQuote, 2026), not a quotation. Most are UK-wide figures and London work usually costs more; a row marked London is a London figure. Prices checked September 2026. Full breakdown: House Rewire Cost.
Quick estimate from UK guide figures
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What an interwar Hillingdon house needs when it is refurbished
37% of Hillingdon homes date from 1919 to 1939, and the interwar houses among them were built with plaster on brick, suspended timber ground floors and wiring that may already have been replaced once, not always well. A refurbishment opens those floors and walls. It is the moment to check joist ends for rot where air bricks have been blocked, to replace old lead or iron supply pipes, and to take the wiring back to a new consumer unit. We record what we find as the strip-out goes, so repair or replacement decisions rest on evidence rather than on guesses made at survey.
The shape of the house changes the job. The VOA count puts 36% of Hillingdon homes in the semi-detached or detached group and 25% in terraces. A semi has one party wall and an exposed flank, so damp at the flank and a tired hipped roof can join the scope. A terrace has neighbours on both sides and no side access, so every skip load and every board comes through the front door and the hall needs protecting for the whole programme.
Housing in Hillingdon
Hillingdon has around 118,240 homes on the Council Tax list: 59% post-war, 37% interwar and 4% predate 1919, with 34% flats and 66% houses. 27% of homes here are semi-detached; a semi in Hillingdon has a single party wall, so one neighbour hears the chasing.
Post-war and older houses in Hillingdon need different decisions
The post-war estates and newer homes are a different job. 59% of Hillingdon homes were built after 1945, and in a post-war house the work tends to be services, insulation and finishes rather than structural repair. Anything built before 2000 can contain asbestos in textured coatings, floor tiles or boxing, so an asbestos survey comes before the strip-out. Where the ground floor is concrete, new pipe runs go in the walls or ceiling voids rather than under the boards.
At the other end, only 4% of Hillingdon homes predate 1919, and those houses need matching materials. Lath and plaster ceilings that have lost their key are taken down and renewed, while sound lime plaster is repaired in lime, because a gypsum patch over a lime wall holds moisture. When a floor, wall or roof element is renewed in any Hillingdon house, Part L insulation enters the specification at that stage, and the sequence runs strip, first fix, plaster, second fix and finish.
Windows, doors and roofs in Hillingdon conservation areas
Check the designation before sash windows, a front door or a roof covering is renewed on a Hillingdon house. There are 31 designated conservation areas in Hillingdon, including Ruislip Village and The Greenway, Uxbridge, and the council says planning permission is likely to be required to alter, extend or demolish buildings within them. A like-for-like repair of the existing joinery or slates is the lower-risk route, so we price repair and replacement as separate lines and the owner confirms the position with the council first.
Hillingdon also has 15 areas of special local character, and for a locally listed building it takes the building's special local interest into account when it considers alterations. Where a house is listed, Hillingdon says works without consent are a criminal offence, and there is no fee for a listed building consent application. The owner or their designer makes that application. We carry out the approved repairs and keep the original joinery, mouldings and fireplaces the consent protects.
Working hours, skips and scaffolding on a Hillingdon street
In Hillingdon, building work audible at the site boundary is only permitted from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturday, with none on Sundays, public or bank holidays. On a whole-house refurbishment the noisy work is the strip-out, chasing and breaking out floors, so we front-load it into weekday hours and keep Saturday mornings for quieter tasks or deliveries. If you are living in part of the house, that pattern also tells you which days to be elsewhere.
Skips and scaffolding on the road need permission first. In Hillingdon the skip supply company, not the householder or builder, is responsible for obtaining the skip permit, so we book skips through a firm that obtains it and allow the lead time in the programme. Scaffolding on a road, grass verge or footway needs a licence before it goes up, which matters for chimney stack or gutter repairs on a house with no front garden. Where the scaffold can stand on your own drive, no highway licence is involved.
- Smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms fitted to current rules on every storey
- Sash boxes overhauled with new cords, parting beads and brush seals
- Hack-off and replaster, or a skim over sound plaster
VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 32 statistical areas in Hillingdon. Counts rounded by the VOA.
The GS Renovation Difference in Hillingdon
Hillingdon owners use GS Renovation for a house refurbishment when they want one firm to take the whole house from strip-out to handover. We visit first and give you a written quote after the visit, then a written programme that keeps the noisy work inside the permitted hours. The founder, Abdelaaziz Saaid, oversees the job on site. A registered electrician certifies the rewiring, a gas engineer on the Gas Safe Register handles the boiler and gas pipework, and we keep a photo record of what the walls and floors showed when opened.
- Every wall of the house tapped and every circuit tested before the refurbishment is priced
- Founder with 30+ years of hands-on experience
- Damp traced to its source before anyone suggests an injected course
George always kept to commitments and arrived on time. He offered helpful suggestions during his initial visit and promptly provided a reasonably…
We loved working with George and Ibrahim and would highly recommend them. They have done splendid job on our new kitchen refurb which including new…
The kitchen has been fitted to the high standard. Saaid was polite, professional, tidy, he pays attention to a little details that make huge…
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about House Refurbishment Hillingdon
What should I budget for a full house refurbishment in Hillingdon?
Start from the published UK range of £43,530 to £110,350 for a three-bed house (Checkatrade, 2026) and expect a London house to sit higher. Add a contingency for what only shows once plaster and floors are opened. The itemised quote after the Hillingdon survey shows each trade separately, so the work can be phased if the total is more than you want to spend at once.
What hours can builders work on a Hillingdon house refurbishment?
Building work audible at the site boundary is allowed from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturday in Hillingdon. None is permitted on Sundays, public or bank holidays. Quiet work inside, such as decorating, causes fewer problems, but we plan the strip-out and breaking out inside the permitted hours and tell the neighbours when the loud days are.
Who gets the skip permit for work on a Hillingdon street?
The skip supply company does. In Hillingdon the skip firm, not the householder or builder, is responsible for obtaining the skip permit for a skip on the road. We use suppliers that handle this and build the permit lead time into the programme, so the first skip arrives on the day the strip-out starts rather than a week later.
How much of the Hillingdon housing stock is older than 1919?
About 4% of homes in Hillingdon were built before 1919, against 37% between 1919 and 1939 and 59% after 1945. A house refurbishment here is therefore more often about interwar and post-war fabric: suspended timber floors, wiring replaced in earlier decades, older boilers and tired kitchens and bathrooms. Where a pre-1919 house does come up, lime plaster and lath ceilings need repair in matching materials.
Can older unapproved work be regularised before selling a Hillingdon house?
Yes, for domestic and non-domestic works commenced on or after 11 November 1985, Hillingdon accepts regularisation applications. That matters on probate and pre-sale jobs, where an old through lounge or replaced roof may never have been signed off. The inspector may ask for parts of the work to be opened up. We do the opening up and any remedial work, then make good for the buyer's solicitor.
Does a Hillingdon landlord need to improve the EPC before re-letting a house?
Yes, if it is below E. Since 1 April 2020 landlords cannot let, or continue an existing let of, a property covered by the MEES Regulations below E unless a valid exemption applies, and local authorities enforce the rule. A refurbishment between tenancies is the practical time to lift the rating, because loft and floor insulation, heating controls and a new boiler go in while the rooms are empty.
Can a house be refurbished while the family is still living in it?
Yes, by phasing the work room by room or floor by floor. The kitchen and main bathroom are the hardest rooms to lose, so we plan a temporary kitchen and keep one working bathroom until the new one is finished. Dust screens, daily clean-downs and a clear route through the house make it workable, though a full rewire or new heating system goes faster in an empty house.
Does a rewire or new bathroom in Hillingdon need building control?
Notifiable work does, and Hillingdon issues a free completion certificate once it is satisfied the work complies. Within 5 days of finishing, it wants a Notice of Completion on the LABC Regulation 16(4A) form. A registered electrician certifies the rewire through their own scheme, and new drainage or a structural opening goes through the council, so the certificates are in your file at handover.
What order does a whole-house refurbishment follow?
Strip out first, then investigate, then first fix. Once the floors and walls are open, the electrician and plumber run new cables and pipes, the joists and plaster are repaired, and only then does plastering start. Second fix follows: sockets, radiators, sanitaryware, doors and skirtings. Decoration comes last, after the plaster has dried, and we pause after the strip to price anything hidden before we carry on.
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