Constructum Code refurbishes houses and flats across London as main contractor. A refurbishment often runs alongside an extension or a loft conversion, within one programme and one contract, and we also take one on in its own right where the scope warrants a fully managed project.
Refurbishment is different from new work in one respect that governs everything else: you find out what you are dealing with as you open the building up. A house that has been altered four times in a century will have wiring from three of them, a floor that has been levelled with something, and at least one thing behind the plaster that nobody expected. How a contractor handles that is what separates a refurbishment that holds its price from one that does not.
Interested in House Refurbishments?
The three kinds of refurbishment
Whole-house refurbishment
The house is stripped back, the services are replaced, and it is rebuilt to a current standard: full rewire, new heating and plumbing, insulation where the construction allows it, replastering, joinery, kitchen and bathrooms, decoration and flooring.
On period properties this is also where the original fabric is dealt with properly — sash windows repaired or replaced, cornicing and floors made good, and damp addressed at its cause rather than covered over.
Flat refurbishment
The same scope within a leasehold property, where the constraints come from the lease as much as the building. Freeholder consent, permitted working hours, protection of communal areas, access for materials and waste, and fire separation between flats all shape the programme before any work starts.
Refurbishment alongside an extension or loft
The most common version, and usually the most efficient. If walls are coming out, services are being replaced or the roof is open, doing the refurbishment in the same programme avoids paying twice for access, scaffolding and making good. It also means one contractor is responsible for how the new work meets the old, which is where combined projects usually go wrong.
Where a house extension, a loft conversion or a basement is also under consideration, it is generally worth delivering everything within one programme rather than living through two or three separate builds.
How we work
Survey first. The condition of the services, the construction of the walls and floors, damp and its cause, structural alterations already made and whether they were done properly, and — on any property built before 2000 — an asbestos survey before anything intrusive starts. A refurbishment is priced on what the survey finds, not on floor area.
Approvals. Planning is secured by your architect or planning consultant where the work needs it, and on a leasehold flat the licence to alter is obtained from the freeholder. From there we coordinate the building control route, stage inspections and the notifications the works require, and work with the structural engineer where walls are coming out.
Costs agreed upfront. You receive a detailed, itemised estimate before work begins, with provisional sums where something genuinely cannot be known until the floor comes up. Where the opening-up changes the scope, it is priced, explained and agreed with you before the work proceeds.
One team, one programme. Strip-out and asbestos removal where needed, structural alterations, first fix electrics and plumbing, insulation and plasterboard, plastering, then second fix, joinery, kitchen and bathrooms, decoration and flooring. On most residential projects this is delivered by the same site team and project manager from start to finish. 95% of our projects are completed on or before the agreed schedule.
Regular communication. Progress updates throughout the build, and direct contact with the project manager running your site.
Minimal disruption. Where the property stays occupied, work is zoned so that a kitchen and a bathroom remain usable and the rest is sealed off. Noise, dust, waste and deliveries are managed around the fact that neighbours remain next door, which on a flat is also a condition of the lease.
Guaranteed on completion. A 10-year warranty covering the structural work, and a 12-month guarantee on first fix — the pipework, cabling and carpentry installed before plastering.
Fully insured and accredited. We carry £10m employers’ liability, £5m public liability and £1m professional indemnity cover. Constructum Code Ltd is a TrustMark registered firm, a certified VELUX installation partner, and registered with Certass and FairTrades.
Refurbishments we’ve completed
Camden (NW1), Wimbledon (SW19) and Balham (SW12) — houses and flats, two of them delivered alongside an extension in the same programme.
What clients say
Ben and the Constructum Code Ltd team did a brilliant job on our house refurbishment. Professional, reliable, and the quality of work exceeded expectations.
— Gintas
We ordered a full flat refurbishment. All done quickly and professionally. Special thanks to Benas, the main manager, who was always available and helped us with any small question. Great company!
— Tony B.
Read the case studies and reviews on Trustpilot
What a refurbishment costs
A whole-house refurbishment with Constructum Code typically comes in around £80,000 plus VAT.
That is a working figure rather than a starting point, because refurbishment scope varies more than any other kind of project. A flat needing new services and finishes sits well below it; a period house being stripped back, reconfigured and rebuilt sits well above.
What moves it:
- How much is being replaced. Redecoration and new finishes, against a full strip-out with new services behind them, are different jobs with the same name.
- A full rewire and replumb is one of the largest single elements, and whether the existing installation can be kept is a survey question, not a budget one.
- Structural change. Removing walls brings steel, temporary support and building control, and changes the sequence of everything after it.
- What the building is hiding. Failed lintels, asbestos, previous alterations done badly, and damp that has a cause rather than a symptom. This is the variable that moves refurbishment prices most.
- Occupied or empty. An empty property is quicker and cheaper to refurbish than one being lived in or, on a flat, one with restricted working hours in the lease.
- Period fabric. Repairing sash windows, cornicing and original floors costs more than replacing them, and is usually the reason the house is worth refurbishing.
- Finish level. Kitchen, bathrooms, joinery and flooring can account for a third of the total.
We price after the survey, so the estimate reflects the actual condition of the building.
Common questions
Can we live in the house during the work?
For a partial refurbishment, usually. For a full strip-out with the services being replaced, rarely — there is a period with no kitchen, no heating and no working bathroom, and it is cheaper and faster to move out for it than to work around it. Where you do stay, the property is zoned so that a usable kitchen and bathroom remain, and the programme identifies the weeks where that is not possible.
What is different about refurbishing a flat?
The lease governs as much as the building does. Most leases require the freeholder’s written consent for alterations, restrict working hours, and set conditions for protecting communal areas and lifts. Structural work between flats brings fire separation and sound insulation into scope. We handle the licence to alter alongside your surveyor and build to whatever conditions it sets.
What about asbestos?
Any property built before 2000 may contain it — commonly in artex ceilings, floor tiles, boiler flues and insulation board. We arrange a survey before intrusive work begins, and where material is present it is removed by a licensed contractor ahead of the works. It is identified at survey stage and priced into the programme rather than discovered once the strip-out has started.
What about damp in a period house?
Solid-wall Victorian and Edwardian houses were built to let moisture move through and out. Most persistent damp in them comes from something that stopped that happening — cement render, impermeable paint, a raised external ground level or a blocked subfloor vent — rather than from rising damp needing a chemical injection. We deal with the cause, and specify breathable materials where the construction calls for them.
How long does it take?
A flat refurbishment is typically eight to twelve weeks. A whole-house refurbishment runs from three months to six, depending on the structural content and whether the property is occupied. A programme is issued alongside the estimate.
