Homes & interiors
Planning a home refurbishment
What needs repairing, what you want to change and what to settle before work starts.
An inherited house, a home between tenancies and a property being prepared for sale can need different work. Decide what the house needs to be ready for before choosing finishes. A room-by-room list will help us see which repairs and improvements belong in the same job.
Start with the everyday frustrations
Walk through the property and make a short list, room by room. Where do belongings pile up? Which surfaces are difficult to keep looking good? What would you change if you were staying for another five years? If you are preparing a property for a new owner or tenant, think instead about the condition it needs to be in at handover.
Photographs and a few plain notes are enough for an initial conversation. You do not need to turn them into a finished specification before asking for help.
A house prepared for sale
These photographs are from the house refurbishment shown on our renovations page. The first shows the stripped living rooms before refurbishment; the second shows a finished bedroom. They are different rooms in the same project, not a matched before-and-after view.
Separate essentials from preferences
A useful brief has three parts:
- Work that needs attention: known repairs, damaged finishes or fittings that are no longer usable.
- Changes that would make the property work better: more storage, a different kitchen layout or improvements across several rooms.
- Finishes you would like: colours, materials and details that can be discussed alongside the budget.
This is not about ruling out the things you want. It gives you a starting point for deciding where to spend and which choices can stay open until you know more.
Look at the work as one project
A new kitchen may involve preparation before the units go in. Work in several rooms may need repairs, flooring and decoration considered together. Discussing those connections at the start helps everyone understand what is included and how the work is intended to progress.
Make the first conversation useful
Share the postcode, a description of the property and what you want it to be ready for. Mention whether it will be occupied during the work, any dates you are working towards and an outline budget if you have one. These details give the team something practical to respond to.
We carry out home refurbishment within about two hours of Southampton, excluding the Isle of Wight. If several rooms need work, send us an overview of the house as well as close-ups of the areas that concern you. Let us know whether it will be occupied while the work takes place.
