Home renovation: where to start

1. Find out what condition the house is in

The order of a renovation is set by the building. A new kitchen in a house with a leaking roof, rising damp or wiring that needs replacing is money spent twice, because the kitchen will be disturbed when the real problem is fixed.

• Get a proper survey. For an older, larger or altered home, a full building survey (RICS Level 3) tells you far more than a mortgage valuation. If you already own the house, a surveyor can still inspect it before you plan the work.
• Check for asbestos before anything is stripped out. The Health and Safety Executive says asbestos can be found in any building built before the year 2000. Have a refurbishment survey done before demolition or strip-out, so nobody disturbs it by accident. HSE guidance
• Get the services tested. An electrical condition report (EICR) from a registered electrician and a service of the boiler by a Gas Safe registered engineer tell you whether the wiring and heating can stay.
• Write down what the survey could not see. Under floors, behind plaster and inside the roof are common unknowns. Keep them on your list as unknowns, not as zero.

2. Separate what must be fixed from what you want

Sort everything into three lists before you think about finishes. The first list decides your order and your minimum budget.

Wanting a new kitchen most is normal. Doing it last, after the jobs that would disturb it, usually saves money.

3. Decide: all at once, or in stages

A whole-house renovation done in one go is usually cheaper per job and quicker overall, because trades, skips, scaffolding and making good are organised once. Doing it in stages spreads the cost and lets you live in the house, but each stage pays for its own setup again.

• All at once suits an empty house, or a household that can move out. Expect the house to be unliveable while the heating, electrics and plastering are done.
• In stages suits a tighter budget or a family that has to stay. Do the work that disturbs walls and floors first (wiring, pipework, heating, structural changes), so later stages don’t undo earlier ones.
• Living in during the work: plan a temporary kitchen, at least one working toilet and somewhere dust-free to sleep. Ask each builder how they will keep a lived-in house safe and clean.

4. Write a room-by-room brief

A written brief is what turns ideas into something a builder can price, and what lets you compare quotes fairly later. For each room, write down:

• what stays, what is removed and what is new;
• the finish level you want (budget, mid-range or premium) and any items you will buy yourself;
• services: new sockets, lights, radiators, taps, extractor fans;
• anything structural, such as removing a wall or opening up a fireplace;
• what you don’t know yet, marked as unknown.

The guide to what a builder’s quote should include lists the items people most often forget, such as making good, skips, site setup and who pays for building control.

5. Check which approvals apply where you live

Planning permission and building approval are different things, and you may need both. The rules differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This table points you to the official source for each; it is not a substitute for checking your own project with your council or designer.

Gas work, by law, must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer (Gas Safe Register). In England and Wales, much electrical work in a home has to meet building regulations; an electrician registered with a competent person scheme can self-certify it. Building control charges vary widely between councils: see what your council charges.

6. Put the work in a sensible order

This is a common order, not a rule for every building. Your surveyor, designer or builder may change it for good reasons, such as the weather, access or what they find when walls are opened up.

A cosmetic refresh (no new services)

1. Repairs: fix any damp, leaks or loose plaster first.
2. Preparation: fill, sand and replace damaged skirting and architraves.
3. Decoration: ceilings, then walls, then woodwork.
4. Flooring last, so it isn’t splashed or scratched.

New services, kitchen or bathrooms

1. Strip out, with asbestos checked first in a pre-2000 home.
2. First fix: new cables, pipework and heating runs while walls and floors are open.
3. Plastering and making good.
4. Second fix: sockets, switches, radiators and the boiler connected and tested.
5. Kitchen and bathroom fitting, tiling and worktops.
6. Decoration, then flooring.

Structural work: extensions, loft conversions, knocking through

1. Design, a structural engineer’s calculations and any approvals (planning, building regulations or a building warrant, party wall notices).
2. Groundworks and structure: foundations, steel beams, walls and roof.
3. Making the building weathertight: roof covering, windows and doors.
4. Then the same order as above: first fix, plastering, second fix, fitting, decoration, flooring.
5. Sign-off: building control completion, plus electrical and gas certificates. Keep them for when you sell.

7. Turn the brief into a budget

• Price each item on your list. The renovation cost calculator gives a planning range for 13 common projects for your region, with VAT, fees and contingency shown separately.
• Keep unknowns visible. If something can’t be priced until the walls are open, put it on the list with no figure and a note. An unknown is not zero.
• Hold one contingency, once. Estiquote’s budgets include 15% on the building work. If you add your own contingency, don’t add it twice.
• Don’t double count. A full-renovation figure already includes the rewire, heating, kitchen, bathroom and plastering. Add separate estimates together, or use the whole-house figure, but not both.
• Know the VAT position. Most building work carries 20% VAT if the builder is VAT registered; some work, such as renovating a home empty for two years, can qualify for a reduced rate. See do builders’ quotes include VAT?

The renovation budget planner has a free spreadsheet that keeps quoted work, allowances, unknowns and contingency apart.

8. An illustrative example

This is a made-up example to show the method, not a real project or a price for your home. A couple buy a 1930s three-bed semi. The survey finds old wiring, a tired boiler and windows near the end of their life. They want a new kitchen and bathroom, and maybe an extension later.

Two things stand out. First, the five jobs on their own add up to £28,400 to £42,900, far less than a full renovation, because a full renovation also includes plastering, making good, flooring, joinery and decoration throughout. If their plan really is the whole house, the whole-house figure is the better guide. Second, the roof is not in either figure. If the survey had found it failing, a new pitched roof on a semi is about £10,500 to £14,000 in the same model, and it would go first.

Their order: survey and asbestos check; rewire and heating while the house is empty; windows; plastering and making good; kitchen; bathroom; decoration; flooring. The extension waits until they have lived in the house and know what they need.

9. Who to ask, and when

• A surveyor before you buy or plan: condition, damp and structure.
• A structural engineer before removing or altering any wall, chimney breast or beam, or adding loads such as a loft room.
• An architect or architectural technologist for extensions, loft conversions and layout changes, and the drawings building control needs.
• A registered electrician and a Gas Safe registered engineer for the electrics and anything involving gas.
• A party wall surveyor in England and Wales if a neighbour does not agree to notified work on a shared wall.
• Your council’s conservation officer if the house is listed or in a conservation area.

Get at least three written quotes for the same brief. The free quote comparison spreadsheet helps you compare them like for like.

10. Printable checklist

Print this page and the checklist starts on its own sheet.

Before you plan

• Building survey done, report read
• Asbestos survey if the home was built before 2000
• Electrical condition report (EICR)
• Boiler serviced and checked
• Unknowns written down

Scope

• Must-fix, should-plan and want-to-change lists
• All at once or in stages decided
• Room-by-room brief written, with finish level
• Items you will supply yourself listed

Approvals

• Planning: permitted development or an application?
• Building regulations approval or a building warrant
• Party wall notices (England and Wales)
• Listed building or conservation area checked

Budget and quotes

• Each item priced, unknowns marked
• One contingency, held once
• VAT position known
• Three written quotes for the same brief
• Quotes compared like for like

11. What to do next

Once you know what you want and in what order, set out a budget, then use the cost guide for each project: whole-house renovation, extensions, loft conversions, kitchens, bathrooms, rewiring and boilers. When you have a builder’s price, check where the quote sits against the typical range for the same job, then compare your quotes side by side.

Sources

Official sources checked 2 October 2026. Cost figures are modelled planning ranges from Estiquote’s UK cost model, prices reviewed 25 September 2026: how the model works.

• Building regulations approval (England and Wales)
• Planning Portal: common projects (England)
• Welsh Government: permitted development rights for householders
• mygov.scot: planning permission
• mygov.scot: building warrants
• nidirect: planning permission, when to apply
• Department of Finance: building regulations in Northern Ireland
• GOV.UK: party walls and building work
• Historic England: what permission might I need for my older home?
• Health and Safety Executive: asbestos
• Gas Safe Register: gas safety in the home