Renovations London

A renovation in London can mean anything from reworking one tired bathroom to stripping a Victorian terrace back to brick and rebuilding it. This page sets out what each scale actually involves, the order the trades have to run in, what moves the price, and which consents you need before anything starts.

What counts as a renovation

Most enquiries fall into one of three scales, and they behave very differently on cost, programme and disruption. Being honest about which one you are actually planning is the single most useful thing you can do before asking anyone to quote.

• Single room. A kitchen, a bathroom, or a room reconfigured and redecorated. Two to six weeks, no structural work, you can usually stay in the house.
• Whole house, no structural change. Rewire, replumb, replaster, new kitchen and bathrooms, floors and decoration throughout. Eight to twenty weeks, and most people move out for part of it.
• Whole house with structural reconfiguration. The above plus walls removed, a side return infilled, a loft converted or an extension built. Four to nine months, engineer and building control involved throughout.

The jump in price between the second and third is not gradual. Structural work brings an engineer, building control inspections, temporary propping, party wall notices where a neighbour is affected, and a longer programme for every trade that follows. It is usually worth it, but it should be a decision rather than something discovered halfway through.

The order renovation work has to run in

Sequence is what separates a renovation that runs to programme from one that stalls. The order below is not a preference, it is the order the trades physically depend on each other, and getting it wrong is the most common reason a job doubles in length.

1. Survey and design. Measure up, agree the scope in writing, appoint the structural engineer where the work needs one.
2. Consents. Building control notification, planning where the outside changes, party wall notices served, freeholder licence to alter if it is a flat.
3. Strip out and structure. Demolition, propping, steel beams set on padstones, new openings formed. Everything above depends on this being right.
4. First fix. Wiring, pipework, drainage and any underfloor heating, run while the walls are open.
5. Plastering and screeds. The point of no return. Anything you have not decided by now becomes expensive.
6. Second fix. Kitchen and bathroom installation, sockets, radiators, doors, skirting and joinery.
7. Decoration and snagging. Painting, flooring, then a written snagging list worked through before handover.
8. Sign-off. Building control completion certificate and the paperwork you will need when you sell.

Two decisions have to be made far earlier than most people expect. Kitchen and bathroom selections need to be locked before first fix, because the position of every waste, cable and pipe depends on them. And if a wall is coming out, the engineer needs instructing at the start, not once the strip out has revealed something unexpected.

What a London renovation costs

Ranges rather than prices, because the honest answer depends on the size, the specification and the condition of the building. These are the same indicative London figures used across the rest of this site.

Work	Indicative London range	Notes
Full house refurbishment	£40,000 to £150,000+	Whole house, services and finishes, no structural change
Kitchen renovation	£18,000 to £60,000+	Design, units, worktops, appliances, services and fitting
Bathroom renovation	£6,000 to £20,000+	Full refit including tanking, tiling and ventilation
Single-storey rear extension	from £40,000	Rises with size, glazing and specification
Loft conversion, rear dormer	£45,000 to £65,000	Rooflight schemes start nearer £30,000, mansards run higher
Removing a load-bearing wall	£2,500 to £6,500+	Complete opening: engineer, steel, propping, removal, making good
Steel beam only	£1,500 to £4,000	Supply, installation and building control sign-off on one opening
Chimney breast removal, one floor	£1,500 to £3,250	Lower where gallows brackets are accepted, higher where a beam is required

Indicative London ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026. Every project is priced after a survey; these are not a quotation.

What actually moves a London figure, in rough order of impact: how much structure is involved, the condition of what is behind the plaster, access at the property, the specification you choose for kitchens, bathrooms and glazing, and whether you are living in the house while the work runs. The first two are the ones no one can price from a photograph, which is why we survey before quoting.

Consents you need before starting

Four separate systems can apply to one renovation, and they are independent of each other. Satisfying one does not satisfy another.

• Building regulations. Apply to structural work, notifiable electrics, drainage, insulation and ventilation. They apply whether or not planning does, and completion certificates matter when you sell.
• Planning permission. Needed where the outside changes beyond permitted development, and permitted development is removed in conservation areas, on listed buildings and where an Article 4 direction applies.
• Party Wall etc. Act 1996. Notice must be served on a neighbour before beams bear into a shared wall, a chimney breast in a party wall is removed, or you excavate near their foundations. The duty to serve sits with you as the building owner; we prepare the notices.
• Freeholder consent. In a flat, the lease governs almost everything. A licence to alter is usually required, and structural change between flats is often prohibited outright.

We are a contractor, not a design practice: we appoint and coordinate the structural engineer, build precisely to the design produced, and manage the building control applications and inspections. Where a scheme needs an architect or a party wall surveyor, we will say so at survey rather than after the work starts.

What is different about renovating in London

Most of the constraints on a London job are logistical rather than technical, and they are what a quote from outside the city tends to miss. Terraced streets with no rear access mean every bag of rubble and every length of steel comes through the front door. Controlled parking bays need suspending, and a skip needs a permit from the borough before it lands. Working hours are restricted, and in a mansion block the managing agent will set them tighter still.

The building stock adds its own. Victorian and Edwardian terraces are solid nine inch brick with suspended timber floors and lath and plaster ceilings, so there is no cavity and nothing is quite square. Interwar semis are more predictable, with cavity walls and regular spans that suit a single beam. Period and listed properties in the central boroughs are governed by what you may not change at all. Each of those is a different job, and we price them differently.

Choosing a renovation company

Check the company is registered and that the registration matches the name on the quote. Ask for the insurance certificate and check it is current. Ask who will actually be on site and who you call when something goes wrong. Insist on an itemised written quote rather than a single figure, because a lump sum cannot be compared against anything and gives you no way to see what changed when it changes. There is more on vetting a contractor properly on our guide to choosing a builder in London and at builders in London.