Property Refurbishment London — Full House & Commercial Renovations

Yes. Lian Construction carries out residential refurbishments, rental upgrades, commercial refits and mixed repair programmes across London, from single flats through to multi-unit residential blocks and small commercial units such as offices, shops and clinics.

Yes. Structural repairs, leak damage, plasterboard repair, tiling and roofing works can be included where they are part of the same project. Combining them into one project usually costs less overall than instructing separate contractors for each element, since site set-up, access and waste removal only need arranging once.

We plan around occupied rooms, protect retained areas with dust sheets and barriers, and schedule the noisiest, messiest work first so you're not living through repeated disruption. Kitchens and bathrooms are typically the last spaces closed off since you'll need them longest.

Damp, tired plasterboard, dated wiring routes and uneven floors are common in London's older housing stock. Where we uncover these during strip-out, we flag them straight away and price the additional work before continuing, rather than absorbing it into the original scope unannounced.

It depends on scope. A single room or light-touch update can often be done with you living in the property, but a full strip-out involving structural work, rewiring or replastering throughout is usually easier and faster with the property vacant.

We manage the Building Control notifications and inspections that structural work requires, and coordinate with a structural engineer where calculations are needed for beams or openings. For planning permission, particularly on extensions, loft conversions or anything in a conservation area, we'll flag early whether your project is likely to need consent so you're not caught out partway through, though the application itself is usually handled by an architect or planning consultant we can work alongside. Listed building consent is a separate, stricter process again, and alterations that would be routine in an unlisted property, such as replacing windows or removing a fireplace, can require consent even when they don't need standard planning permission, so it's worth flagging if your property is listed or in a conservation area at the enquiry stage.

A refurbishment quote usually covers labour, materials, waste removal and site protection for the agreed scope of work. It typically excludes items you choose separately, such as sanitaryware, kitchen units, flooring and light fittings, unless we've agreed to source them for you. Structural engineer's fees, Building Control fees and party wall surveyor costs, where they apply, are usually itemised separately too, since they depend on the scope of structural work rather than the size of the property. We usually structure payment against stages of completed work rather than a single sum upfront, so you're only paying for work that's actually been done, and any variations agreed along the way are added as separate, itemised lines rather than folded quietly into the final invoice. It's worth asking any contractor for a written breakdown before committing, not just a total figure, so you can compare quotes properly and understand what happens if the scope needs to change once work is underway.

Yes. Ex-council and purpose-built flats have their own constraints, such as concrete floors that limit where cables and pipes can be chased in, freeholder or managing agent permissions for certain works, and lift access or waste carry-distance that affects programme and cost. We factor these in at survey stage, and where the block has specific rules about noisy work hours or waste disposal, we work within them rather than treating the flat like a standalone house. Many blocks also require a refundable deposit or a method statement before work starts, and if there's a lift, we'll usually need to book protection for it in advance to avoid damage during the noisiest phases of strip-out and delivery.

We stop and explain what we've found before doing any additional work, with photos and a price for dealing with it. This is common in older London properties, where damp, timber decay or outdated wiring can be hidden behind sound-looking plaster until the strip-out reveals it. You decide whether to proceed, and the additional work is agreed and priced separately rather than being folded into the original quote without your knowledge. This isn't rare in older properties specifically, which is part of why we recommend budgeting a contingency rather than treating the initial quote as an absolute ceiling once the strip-out is underway. Where possible, we'll also explain the options rather than presenting a single fix, since there's sometimes more than one reasonable way to deal with an unexpected issue depending on your budget and how long you're planning to stay in the property.

Some disturbance from noise and vibration is unavoidable during structural work, demolition and drilling, particularly in a mid-terrace where walls are shared. We keep noisy work within reasonable hours, and where a party wall award is in place it usually sets out working hours and notice requirements as well. Letting neighbours know in advance what to expect, and roughly how long the noisy phase will last, generally avoids most complaints before they start. If the property is a flat within a managing agent's remit, it's worth checking their permitted working hours too, since these are sometimes stricter than standard practice and can affect how the noisier phases of the programme are scheduled. A brief note through neighbouring letterboxes before work starts, setting out roughly what to expect and who to contact with concerns, tends to go a long way even where it isn't formally required, and most neighbours are far more understanding when they've had a heads-up than when they're caught by surprise on a Monday morning.

It varies with the scope and specification more than the size of the house alone. As a general guide published across our cost guides, a light refresh, decoration, flooring and minor repairs, runs roughly £800 to £1,200 per square metre, a mid-range refurbishment with a new kitchen, bathroom, rewire and replaster runs £1,200 to £1,800 per square metre, and a premium refurbishment involving structural work, full M&E and a high-spec finish runs £2,000 to £2,800 or more per square metre. Structural work, the condition behind existing surfaces, and access all move the figure beyond these broad bands, which is why we survey the property and break the quote down by category rather than giving one lump figure.

Get more than one quote, but check each one is pricing the same scope in the same level of detail before comparing headline figures, since a lower number sometimes just means a shorter list of what's actually included. A figure that comes in 40 to 60% under everyone else is rarely a genuine saving, more often it's a way of winning the job before the price creeps up once you're committed. A deposit larger than around a quarter of the total is also worth questioning, since legitimate builders typically ask for 10 to 25% upfront with the rest staged against completed work. We structure payment against stages of completed work and set out labour, materials and provisional items separately in writing, so you can see exactly what's driving the cost.