We are a London refurbishment company delivering full property refurbishment for houses, flats and mixed-use buildings under a single contract. From measured survey to snag-free handover, one project manager coordinates strip-out, structure, M&E, plastering, joinery and decoration — so landlords, letting agents and homeowners deal with one accountable team, one fixed price and one written guarantee.
Written Guarantee: 10 Years
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Average Timeline Range: 6 - 16 weeks
Full Property Refurbishment Under One Contract
A London property refurbishment typically pulls in a dozen trades: strip-out crews, structural engineers, plumbers, electricians, plasterers, joiners, tilers and decorators. Coordinating them yourself is precisely where budgets and timelines unravel — one trade turns up to find the last one isn’t finished, and the standing time lands on your bill. We bring those trades in-house or under our direct management, with a single project manager as your one point of contact from first survey to handover.
Every project begins with a measured survey and a fixed, itemised quotation. You see exactly what each element costs — per square metre for finishes, per property for services, per opening for structure — before anyone lifts a tool. Variations are priced and agreed in writing before work proceeds, so the final account holds no nasty surprises.
We work across Central London daily: period conversions, mansion blocks, ex-local-authority stock and new-build flats. That means we already understand each borough’s access rules, licence-to-alter requirements, parking suspensions and skip permits — the logistics that quietly decide whether a refurbishment runs to programme or stalls in week two. Landlords and letting agents get a completion pack that supports future lettings, remortgage and sale; homeowners get a single accountable team rather than a phone full of subcontractors.
What a London Refurbishment Really Costs in 2026
Honest budgeting matters more than a low headline figure, and the number that misleads most is the one quoted before anyone has measured the floor. In 2026, a full refurbishment in London runs from roughly £800 to £3,500 per square metre depending on specification. A light refresh — decoration, flooring, minor electrics — sits around £800 to £1,200 per square metre. A mid-range refurbishment with a new kitchen, bathroom and rewiring typically lands between £1,200 and £1,800 per square metre, which is where most landlord and owner-occupier projects fall. Premium work with bespoke joinery, stone and designer fittings starts around £2,000 to £2,800 per square metre and rises from there.
Expect kitchens and bathrooms together to absorb 30 to 40 per cent of the total budget, so decisions in those two rooms move the figure more than anywhere else. Allow a 10 to 15 per cent contingency for what opens up behind old plaster — failed joists, dead wiring, historic leaks. Inner London projects also carry a 15 to 25 per cent premium over outer boroughs for labour, restricted access and logistics; we price this transparently rather than burying it inside provisional sums that swell later.
We help clients spend where it shows — sanitaryware, worktops, flooring, joinery — and save where it doesn’t, such as carcassing and first-fix materials the eye never sees.
Period Properties, Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings
Much of Central London’s housing stock is Victorian, Georgian or Edwardian, and a large share sits within conservation areas or carries a listing. Refurbishing these buildings well means respecting how they were built: lime plaster that lets damp evaporate rather than trapping it, timber sash windows that can be overhauled instead of ripped out, and floor structures that need checking before a modern bathroom’s weight and water go in above a neighbour.
Our surveyors work with period fabric constantly. We identify load-bearing walls, assess joist condition and flag damp and past leak damage at survey stage — not mid-project when the plaster is already off and the programme is committed. Where consent is required — listed building consent, conservation area approval or a freeholder’s licence to alter — we prepare the drawings, specifications and schedules of condition your application needs and sequence the programme around realistic approval timescales rather than pretending they don’t exist.
Getting this wrong is expensive: unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal offence, and non-compliant alterations surface at resale when the buyer’s solicitor asks for consents you never obtained. Done properly, the refurbishment adds value while keeping the character — the cornicing, the sash proportions, the original joinery — that made the property worth buying in the first place.
How to Choose the Right Refurbishment Contractor in London
The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest project. Use concrete criteria, not gut feel, when you compare contractors.
First, demand a fixed, itemised written quotation off a measured survey. A one-page lump sum with no breakdown gives you nothing to hold the builder to and every excuse to inflate the final account. Second, check they carry current £5m public liability insurance and the right trade certifications — Gas Safe for gas, BS 7671 for electrical work — and ask to see the documents, not just hear the claim. Third, ask how services and structure are certificated: you want building control notification, electrical certificates and gas paperwork handed over as a completion pack, because that is what your remortgage lender, insurer and future buyer will ask for.
Fourth, ask who actually manages the site. A named project manager who runs the trade sequence is the difference between a 10-week job and a 16-week one. Fifth, test how variations are handled — the right answer is “priced and agreed in writing before we proceed,” never “we’ll sort it at the end.” Sixth, confirm the guarantee: our structural and waterproofing works carry a 10-year written workmanship guarantee, and a warranty is only worth anything from a contractor who’ll still be there to honour it. Finally, for flats and let property, ask whether they routinely handle licence-to-alter packs, managing agents and party wall coordination — if it’s unfamiliar to them, the delays land on you.
Services: Rewiring, Replumbing, Heating and Structure
Most London properties over forty years old need their services renewed during a full refurbishment, and it is far cheaper to do it while walls and floors are open than to chase cables and pipes through finished decoration afterwards. We carry out full rewires to BS 7671 with new consumer units, replace ageing lead or corroded copper pipework with fresh hot and cold runs, and upgrade heating — new boilers, high-recovery cylinders, underfloor heating in kitchens and bathrooms, and smart controls — at the same first-fix stage.
Structural work is planned early because everything else depends on it. Removing a chimney breast, forming a knock-through or opening up a rear reception for a kitchen-diner needs a structural engineer’s calculations and building control sign-off before the steel goes in. We arrange the calcs, install the beams, and get the work inspected and certificated so it never resurfaces as a problem at survey.
Because our plumbers and electricians work within our programme rather than being found mid-job, first fix happens in days rather than weeks, and each installation is pressure-tested, certificated and added to your completion pack. Where a refurbishment turns a house into a shared home, we build in the fire-safety detailing HMO licensing demands — BS 5839-6 interlinked alarms and FD30 fire doorsets — so the property passes its licensing inspection rather than failing it after handover.
Refurbishing Flats: Leases, Licences and Neighbours
Refurbishing a flat is a different discipline from refurbishing a house, and the rules are set by the lease and the managing agent long before we reach the plaster. Materials arrive through common parts and lifts that must be booked and protected. Noisy works are restricted to permitted hours, typically 9am to 5pm on weekdays. Floor build-ups must meet the lease’s acoustic requirements so the flat below doesn’t hear every footstep, and anything touching structure, soil stacks or external walls needs the freeholder’s formal consent.
Most London leases require a licence to alter before structural changes, new wet rooms, flooring changes or relocated services. Starting without one risks an injunction from the freeholder and a retention on your sale. We prepare the drawings, specifications and schedules of condition these applications require, deal with the block’s surveyor directly, and carry the £5m public liability cover managing agents ask to see. Where works affect a wall shared with a neighbour, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies — we advise when notices are needed and work alongside your party wall surveyor so the legal steps run in parallel with our lead times rather than delaying the start on site.
Once on site, hard-floor protection to common parts, booked deliveries and a daily clean are small things — but they are exactly what keeps porters, managing agents and neighbours on your side across a six-week programme in a Pimlico or Kensington mansion block.
Project Management, Compliance and Snag-Free Handover
Every project runs to a written week-by-week programme with regular progress reports and a photographic record. Our site managers handle building control notifications, structural calculations sign-off, electrical certification to BS 7671 and Gas Safe documentation, so the completion pack you receive stands up to any future sale, remortgage or insurance requirement rather than leaving you chasing paperwork months later.
We are fully insured with £5 million public liability cover, and all structural and waterproofing works carry our 10-year written workmanship guarantee. Snagging is built into the programme as a formal stage, not an afterthought squeezed in on the last afternoon: we walk the property with you room by room, log every item, and return until the list is closed and signed off.
Most full refurbishments run between 6 and 16 weeks depending on scope — a two-bedroom flat commonly 8 to 12 weeks, a full house 12 to 16 weeks or more where structural work is involved. We issue the programme before starting and flag any movement immediately rather than at the end. For occupied buildings and tenanted property, we phase works to keep the disruption contained, protect common parts, brief managing agents and neighbours in advance, and leave the site clean and secure at the end of every working day.
What Property Refurbishment Costs in London (2026)
Item
Typical London Price
Notes
Light refresh (decoration, flooring, minor electrics)
£800–£1,200 per m2
Cosmetic update of sound property with no structural work
Mid-range full refurbishment (new kitchen, bathroom, rewire)
£1,200–£1,800 per m2
Most landlord and owner-occupier projects sit here
Full replumb and new heating (boiler, cylinder, runs)
£6,000–£12,000 per property
Priced while walls are open during strip-out
Structural opening (RSJ / steel beam installed)
£2,500–£6,000 per opening
Includes engineer’s calcs and building control
Replastering (skim over sound plaster)
£18–£28 per m2
Board-and-skim to bare brick priced higher
Site protection, waste and daily clean (occupied works)
£150–£350 per day
Common-part protection for mansion blocks and HMOs
Contingency allowance (recommended)
10–15% of contract
For hidden defects behind old plaster and floors
Indicative Greater London 2026 rates for guidance only. Every project receives a fixed, itemised written quotation after a free measured survey; inner-London postcodes and restricted-access blocks carry a documented premium.
Insider Tips Before You Commit
Get the measured survey done before you commit to a fixed budget — floor area and access, not the estate agent’s guess, drive the real cost.
Renew wiring, pipework and heating while walls and floors are open; retrofitting services after decoration can double the cost of the same work.
Insist every quote is itemised line by line so you can move specification up or down on kitchens and bathrooms and watch the budget respond.
Confirm your freeholder’s licence-to-alter is granted in writing before any structural, wet-room or flooring change — starting without it risks an injunction and problems at resale.
Hold a 10–15% contingency in your own account, not the builder’s, and only release it against written, priced variations.
Book lifts, hoists and skip permits early for mansion-block flats — access, not labour, is what most often slips a London flat programme.
Ask for the completion pack (electrical, gas and building control certificates) as a contract deliverable so remortgage and resale are never held up.
If the property is let, sequence noisy works around managing agents’ permitted hours (typically 9am–5pm weekdays) to avoid neighbour complaints and stop notices.
How Not to Get Scammed
London has more rogue traders than any other UK market. These are the warning signs we see most often — and exactly what to do when you spot them.
Cash-only pricing with no VAT invoice and no written quotation
Insist on a fixed, itemised written quote and proper invoices; cash-only work leaves you with no paper trail, no warranty recourse and no proof of spend for tax or resale.
Large upfront deposit demanded before any work or materials appear on site
Agree a staged payment schedule tied to completed milestones; a reputable contractor funds mobilisation and bills against progress, not a big cheque before day one.
“We’ve found more problems” mid-job with pressure to pay immediately
Require every variation to be priced and agreed in writing before work proceeds — genuine hidden defects are documented with photos, not sprung on you as a verbal ultimatum.
No proof of £5m public liability insurance or trade certification (Gas Safe, electrical)
Ask to see current insurance and Gas Safe / BS 7671 registration before signing; uninsured labour on your property can leave you liable for injuries and damage.
Refuses to notify building control or provide completion certificates
Confirm building control, electrical and gas certification are contract deliverables — uncertified structural, wiring or gas work can block your sale, remortgage or insurance claim.
Pressure to sign today for a “discount” with no time to check references
Walk away from urgency tactics; take the quote, verify past London projects and the written guarantee, and never let a deadline override due diligence.
Standards & Compliance
Every project is delivered to current British Standards and Building Regulations, with works documented for building control and HMO licensing sign-off — backed by fixed written quotes and a written guarantee.
BRITISH STANDARDS · BUILDING REGS COMPLIANT · FD30/FD60 FIRE DOORSETS · BS 5839-6 ALARMS · WRITTEN GUARANTEE
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How much does property refurbishment cost in London in 2026?
Expect £800–£1,200 per square metre for a light refresh, £1,200–£1,800 for a mid-range refurbishment with a new kitchen and bathroom, and £2,000–£2,800+ per square metre for premium specification. Inner London carries a 15–25% premium over outer boroughs for labour and access. We provide a fixed, itemised written quotation after a free measured survey.
How long does a full refurbishment take?
Most full refurbishments run between 6 and 16 weeks depending on scope. A typical two-bedroom flat takes 8–12 weeks; a full house refurbishment runs 12–16 weeks or more where structural work is involved. We issue a written week-by-week programme before starting and report progress regularly, flagging any movement immediately rather than at the end.
Should I allow a contingency on top of your quote?
Yes — we recommend holding 10–15% of the contract value as contingency. Period London properties hide problems well: failed joists, dead wiring, historic leaks and damp behind old plaster. Anything we find is documented with photographs, priced and agreed in writing before we proceed, so the contingency is only ever spent against variations you have approved.
Do you handle planning permission and freeholder consent?
We prepare the drawings and specifications for listed building consent, conservation area approval and licence-to-alter applications, and we coordinate directly with your managing agent or freeholder and their surveyor. Most internal refurbishments need no planning permission but do require building regulations approval for structural, bathroom and electrical work — we confirm exactly what applies at survey stage.
Can you manage a refurbishment while the property is tenanted or occupied?
Often yes. We phase the works to keep disruption contained, restrict noisy trades to managing agents’ permitted hours, protect common parts and communal areas, and brief neighbours in advance. For full strip-outs we usually recommend the property is vacant for the noisiest 4–6 weeks, which shortens the overall programme and reduces protection costs.
Are you insured and are the trades certified?
Yes. We carry £5 million public liability insurance, and gas work is completed by Gas Safe engineers while electrical work is certified to BS 7671. We are happy to provide proof of insurance and certification before you sign. All completed installations are pressure-tested and certificated, with the paperwork handed over in your completion pack.
What guarantee do you provide?
All structural and waterproofing works carry our 10-year written workmanship guarantee, and snagging is built into the programme as a formal stage. We walk the property with you room by room at handover, log every item and return until the list is closed. The written guarantee is issued alongside your completion certificates.
Can you refurbish a property to HMO or letting standard?
Yes. For landlords and letting agents we build in the compliance a licensed HMO or a modern let requires — BS 5839-6 interlinked fire alarms, FD30 fire doorsets, safe electrical and gas installations, and appropriate escape provision. The completion pack documents each certificate so the property passes its licensing and safety inspections rather than failing after handover.
How are payments structured?
Payments are staged against completed milestones set out in the contract, never a large upfront lump sum before work begins. Each stage is invoiced properly with VAT where applicable, and variations are priced and agreed in writing before they proceed. This keeps your spend tied to visible progress and gives you a clear paper trail for tax, remortgage and resale.
Do you work across all London boroughs?
We refurbish houses, flats and mixed-use buildings across Central and Greater London, from Victorian and Georgian terraces to mansion blocks and ex-local-authority stock. We know each borough’s access rules, parking suspensions, conservation designations and skip-permit processes, and we price inner-London access premiums transparently rather than hiding them in provisional sums.
Our Written Guarantee
We provide a fully comprehensive, written 10-Year guarantee covering all structural reinstatement, moisture boundaries, and finish coatings.
100% Insurance Protected
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