Home Refurbishment in London

Due to the fact that we live in a country (the UK) with so much history as well as architectural beauty, there’s a need to have what’s commonly called “Conservation Area. A Conservation Area is basically an area which is designated by the local authority and is established in order to protect and enhance areas of historical and architectural interest which includes both rural and urban areas. Therefore, when it comes to refurbishment project in a conservation area, there’s usually a lot of things that needs to be put into consideration as well as hurdles to scale in order to make alterations to your property without any interruptions from the law.

In general, all properties in a conservation area have strict regulations governing the outlook of the houses, as this plays a major role in the appearance of the area as a whole. As a result, if you wish to bring down a building, fence, wall or even railing and the likes, you’ll need to obtain prior consent before you proceed. An easy way to go about any refurbishment plan is to to ensure the usage of exactly the same materials that exists in the current house. When you abide by the rules, you’ll be in a more favourable position to acquire the needed prior consent.

The short and simple answer to the question is yes, you can refurbish a house in a conservation area but subject to the approval of the local authority through a planning permission. And when it comes to submitting a planning application for approval, some are aspects will usually be subjected to more intense examinations than the others. Hence, the need to make sure that your refurbishment plans are all friendly in a similar way to the neighbouring buildings and environment.

In the event whereby you’ve got big refurbishment ideas for your house but a small budget, then you know it’s time to be a bit more creative and apply some cheap and simple tricks. The best possible way to go about this is to invest time in acquiring new skills rather than trying to save up more money to pay a pro to deliver the results you want. After all, the most significant cost when it comes to house refurbishments is usually the labour cost.

The key to making cheap tricks a lot effective in the refurbishment process is by undertaking small tasks that’ll make a huge impact. A great way to start would be by taking it one task at a time rather than rushing to complete all at once. This way, you’ll have enough time to perfect your skills before moving on to the next.

✓ Paint the interior walls. Although this is a simple task but it’ll save you a lot of money if done as a DIY project. To get started, you’d have to text colour options by painting samplex on the wall first. Once done, you can go for the one that adds warmth, dynamism as well as energy to the room.

✓ Fix up your furniture. This involves re-upholstering and refinishing any piece of furniture that appears tired or overly worn (you can leave out the ones that you do not really like or unnecessary items).

✓ Spruce up small but important items used on a daily basis. This includes spray-painting inexpensive picture frames, recovering lampshades with a vibrant paper or patterned fabric, adding throw pillows to armchairs and couches and the likes.

✓ Fix all small things that are broken. This includes activities like patching the nail holes in the wall, repairing the latch on the kitchen cabinet, fixing the gutter, putting a new handle on the door and lots more.

If you’re thinking about refurbishing your house or property but don’t know how to go about it, then you’ve come to the right place. In truth, not every home refurbishment works goes in exactly the same order, however it’ll do you some good to abide by a specific plan in order to avoid both unnecessary works as well as expenses. For instance, how would it feel if you have already closed walls and paint only to realize that there’s a need to include a new plumbing stack that has to go behind the wall? Not good, right? Well, this guide is designed to help you avoid such frustrating situations. Let’s have a look!

✓ Establish a plan. This involves carrying out a good assessment of what you’d like to refurbish and set the priorities like deciding where to start and making sure you have both the time and budget to complete the project.

✓ Set a budget. Establish a final amount that’ll be the threshold to your spending. It’s always good to add an additional 10% to 15% to cover unexpected costs.

✓ Hire a contractor. Carry out a research, reach out to many contractors, compare their prices, work quality as well as integrity before hiring.

✓ Talk to your insurance company. Find out if you have the amount of coverage that suits your needs from your insurance company before and after your project.

✓ Secure permits and order materials. Make sure you check with the latest regulations before commencement. Once done, you can start ordering the required materials.

✓ Start demolition. This is optional as it only applies if space is being added.

✓ Work behind the walls. This include doing all the works necessary behind the walls like plumbing, electrical, heating etc.

✓ Paint and install flooring

✓ Fit in the cabinetry

✓ Add finishing touches. This includes the last details and decorations.

Refurbishing a house brings about a plethora of benefits. These includes an increased sale value, an improvement on your quality of life or even simply to make it more visually appealing. All these are great when you look at them, but one thing that happens to be an hindrance for several homeowners is the cost of getting the project done. You may wish to set a budget, plan and prepare before commencement of the project, but the fact remains that, when it comes to refurbishing a house, nothing is certain. In fact, it’s advised to always expect the unexpected and have a lot of cash in reserve just in case something goes wrong. There are a wide range of factors that can play a key role in the overall cost of a house refurbishment. Minor refurbishment that should cost around £30,000 can easily go up to over a whooping £150,000 for a total transformation. Most of this cost will be expended on labour, and the next most significant expense, which is sourcing materials.

In general, the cost of your refurbishment project will depend on some factors which includes the size of the project, the materials used, the refurbishment or renovation level, the location of the property, the quality of the contractor hired and lots more. To estimate the cost of refurbishing your property, you can follow these simple steps:

✓ Write down a detailed list of all the things that needs to be done per room and try to be as specific as possible.

✓ Carry out a research of the labour cost in your area as well as the raw materials’ cost (here, you can make use of guides such as home advisor).

✓ Add an extra 10 to 15 percent on top of the calculated estimate for uprisings and repairs.

✓ Talk to your contractor to get a more accurate quote.