Remodelling
Half of this job is hidden when the price is given. What decides whether the quote holds is how much was looked at before it was written.
Changing what is already there: taking down walls, redoing services, replacing what has aged. It is where the surprises live, because half of what you will find is behind a wall.
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The stages, in order
What decides the price
The state of the services behind the wall. Seventies plumbing changes the price of a bathroom entirely.
What eats the schedule
Whatever turns up when you open it. That is why the site visit comes before the price.
The stages, in order
01
The survey
Going to the place, opening what needs opening, and seeing the state of the services. Nobody wants to pay for this stage, and it is the one that decides whether the price is a price.
02
Controlled demolition
Taking out what goes, without touching what holds. This is where the hidden things appear — and where the schedule is redrawn if it has to be.
03
New services
Plumbing and electrics redone from scratch. Reusing old pipework saves a week and costs another remodelling five years from now.
04
Masonry and ceilings
The space closes again around the new layout. This is the stage where the plan on paper starts to exist.
05
Finishes
Floors, kitchen, bathrooms, paint. The order between them is not a matter of taste: each one dirties the last if it is done out of turn.
06
Cleaning and handover
A remodelling is handed over clean and working, with the taps run and the switches tested one by one.
What we ask before giving a price
- How old is the building, and when were the services last done?
- Will the space be empty, or is somebody still living or working there?
- Is there a building management with working hours and access rules?
- Are walls moving, or is it only what is on the surface?
The mistakes that cost money
Asking for a price from photographs
What sits behind a wall does not show up in a photograph, and it is half the quote. A price given at a distance is a price that will change.
Keeping the old pipework to save money
It is the saving that comes back as a building job. A remodelling that leaves the old plumbing gets done again within a few years.
Changing the layout halfway
A wall that moves after the services have been run forces the redoing of what is already there — and the same work gets paid for twice.
What it includes
- Controlled demolition
- Bathrooms and kitchens
- Replacing old services
Who hires this work
The other two
Which of the three is your job?
If you do not know, that works too: the site visit is exactly for that, and it is what separates a price from a guess.