Renovation & Remodeling

Renovation is the discipline that touches every other one. A single project can involve taking out partitions, rerouting services, replacing a ceiling, retiling a floor and repainting throughout — and each of those trades has to arrive in the right order or the work gets done twice.

What the work actually involves

We begin with a condition survey of the existing building, because what is behind the wall matters more than what is on it. That survey tells us which walls are load-bearing, where the existing services run, and what is likely to be found once the strip-out starts. Only then do we produce a scope and a programme.

From there the work runs in a deliberate sequence: strip-out, structural alterations, first-fix services, plastering and making good, second-fix services, then finishes. Skipping ahead in that order is the most common cause of rework on a renovation.

Working around occupation

Most of our renovation clients cannot vacate the building. We plan for that from the survey onward — zoning the works, sealing active areas with dust barriers, scheduling noisy activities outside core hours, and keeping critical systems on temporary supplies while permanent ones are replaced.

Where costs usually move

Renovation budgets move for one of two reasons: the client changes the scope, or the building reveals something the survey could not see. We control the first with written variations agreed before work proceeds. We reduce the second by surveying properly rather than pricing off a walkthrough.