Old wiring, cold rooms, damp patches and a layout that no longer suits the family: most homeowners come to us with a house that works against them. A well-planned house renovation fixes what is hidden in the walls first, then gives you the rooms you actually want to live in.
A full house renovation of a typical three-bedroom home costs £43,530 to £110,350, with an average of about £76,690 plus VAT (Checkatrade house renovation guide, September 2026). A light refurb usually takes 2 to 6 weeks, while a full house refurbishment typically runs 3 to 6 months (BookaBuilderUK, 2026).
5K Construction has more than 10 years of building experience and 500+ completed projects across Wolverhampton and the West Midlands. One team plans and manages your renovation and refurbishment, from the site survey and strip-out to the final snagging visit.
The two words are often used as if they mean the same thing, but they describe different amounts of work. Knowing which one you need keeps the budget and the timescale realistic from the start.
| Refurbishment | Renovation | |
|---|---|---|
| What it means | Refreshing and updating a home that is sound | Repairing or rebuilding parts of a home that are worn out or failing |
| Typical work | Decorating, flooring, a new kitchen or bathroom, partial rewire | Full rewire, new central heating, replastering, damp proofing, roof and windows, structural alterations |
| Approvals | Usually none, apart from electrical certificates | Often building regulations approval, and sometimes planning permission or listed building consent |
| Typical timescale | 2 to 6 weeks for a light refurb | 3 to 6 months for a full house refurbishment |
| Typical cost, three-bedroom house | £25,000 to £45,000 for a light refurb | £85,000 to £150,000 or more for a full refurb |
Source for timescales and costs: BookaBuilderUK house refurbishment guide, 2026.
From a whole-house renovation to a rental flat that needs to pass its safety checks, these six services cover the work most homes need at some point.
A full house renovation takes a home back to its structure and rebuilds it room by room: rewire, central heating, replastering, kitchen, bathroom, flooring and decoration. For a three-bedroom house this typically costs £43,530 to £110,350 plus VAT (Checkatrade, September 2026), and usually takes 3 to 6 months.
A house refurbishment updates a home that is structurally sound: new flooring, a new kitchen or bathroom, partial rewiring, plastering and decoration. A light refurb of a three-bedroom house typically costs £25,000 to £45,000 and a medium refurb £45,000 to £85,000 (BookaBuilderUK, 2026).
Older homes built with solid walls rely on moisture being able to evaporate from the brick and plaster. Period property renovation uses breathable materials such as lime mortar and lime plaster, so that repairs do not trap damp in the walls (SPAB technical advice note).
Structural alterations change how a house is held up: removing a load-bearing wall for an open plan kitchen, widening an opening or adding a steel beam. An installed 3m steel beam typically costs £800 to £1,100 and takes 1 to 2 days, and structural engineer calculations about £250 (MyJobQuote, July 2026).
Rental property refurbishment gets a let home ready for the next tenant and keeps it legal: an EPC of at least E, an electrical inspection at least every 5 years, a yearly gas safety check, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms where the rules require them.
When several trades work on a home, someone has to plan the order, book each trade and check the work before it is covered up. Under CDM 2015, the principal contractor on a domestic project with more than one contractor normally takes on the client's legal duties (HSE).
A full house renovation of a three-bedroom home costs £43,530 to £110,350, with an average of about £76,690 plus VAT (Checkatrade, September 2026). Measured by floor area, refurbishment typically costs £500 to £1,500 per square metre, and labour in London and the South East is commonly 20% to 40% higher than in the Midlands (BookaBuilderUK, 2026).
| Level | Typical scope | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Light refurb | Painting, flooring, minor repairs, basic kitchen update | £25,000 to £45,000 |
| Medium | New kitchen and bathroom, partial rewire, plastering, flooring | £45,000 to £85,000 |
| Full | Full rewire, new heating, structural changes, high-spec finishes | £85,000 to £150,000 or more |
Source: BookaBuilderUK house refurbishment guide, 2026.
| Item | Typical cost | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Full rewire | £4,000 to £8,500 | £6,250 |
| Central heating | £3,000 to £8,500 | £5,500 |
| Replastering walls and ceilings (re-skim) | £5,000 to £12,500 | £8,750 |
| Replastering walls and ceilings (hack off and replaster) | £16,000 to £32,000 | £26,500 |
| Damp proofing course | £500 to £5,000 | £2,750 |
| Windows | £2,500 to £8,000 | £5,250 |
| New roof | £6,500 to £18,000 | £12,250 |
| Kitchen | £7,000 to £25,000 | £17,500 |
| Knocking down internal walls | £500 to £3,500 | £2,000 |
| Replacing skirting throughout | £2,200 to £3,800 | £3,000 |
| Painting walls and ceilings | £5,000 to £7,000 | £6,000 |
Source: Checkatrade house renovation guide, September 2026. A new bathroom averages about £7,000; see our Bathroom Installation guide for a full breakdown.
| Trade | Day rate (average) |
|---|---|
| Electrician | £250 to £400 (£325) |
| Plumber | £250 to £400 (£325) |
| General builder | £200 to £250 (£225) |
| Plasterer | £200 to £250 (£225) |
| Carpenter | £200 to £250 (£225) |
| Painter and decorator | £150 to £250 (£200) |
| Labourer | £150 to £180 (£165) |
Source: Checkatrade, June 2026. Ask each trade whether they price by the day, by the hour or by the job.
Work from the outside in and from the structure out: make the house dry and sound, then fit what goes inside the walls, and finish with what you see. Doing it in this order means nothing new is damaged by the next trade.
| Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Strip-out | 1 to 2 weeks |
| First fix | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Second fix | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Finishing | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Light refurbishment, whole house | 2 to 6 weeks |
| Full house refurbishment | 3 to 6 months |
Source: BookaBuilderUK, 2026. A full rewire on its own takes about 6 to 15 days (Checkatrade).
Most internal house renovation work does not need planning permission, but much of it is covered by building regulations. The table shows what usually applies to each type of work.
| Work | What usually applies | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Moving internal walls | No planning permission needed | Planning Portal |
| Removing a load-bearing wall | Building control approval, with a structural engineer's report and calculations | Planning Portal |
| Rewiring and new circuits | Notifiable under Part P; certified through a competent person scheme or signed off by building control | IET |
| Replacement windows and doors | Building regulations apply to all replacement glazing; a registered installer issues a certificate, otherwise building control checks the work | Planning Portal |
| Re-roofing, replacing a ground floor or re-covering an external wall | Part L: renovating 50% or more of an element, or 25% or more of the building envelope, is controlled, and insulation should be upgraded where cost effective | East Suffolk Council building control |
| Boiler, gas supply or gas appliances | A Gas Safe registered engineer, by law | RoSPA |
| Work on or near a shared wall | Party wall notice to the neighbour between 2 months and a year before work starts | GOV.UK |
| Listed buildings | Listed building consent for alterations that affect the building's character | City of Wolverhampton Council |
| Houses in a conservation area | Stricter controls on external changes; check with the council first | City of Wolverhampton Council |
Asbestos can be found in any building built before 2000 (HSE). In homes it can hide in textured ceiling coatings, old floor tiles under carpets, boiler and pipe lagging, partition boards, soffits, and cement roofs, gutters and downpipes (HSE asbestos locations). Suspect materials should be checked before the strip-out, not after.
Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, known as CDM 2015, a homeowner's client duties pass to the contractor on a single-contractor job, or to the principal contractor when several contractors are involved (HSE). Ask who is taking on that role before work starts.
Keep every certificate: the building control completion certificate, the electrical certificate, the gas safety record and the window certificate. Buyers' solicitors ask for them.
Old solid-wall houses were built to let moisture in and let it out again. Seal them with the wrong modern materials and the water that gets in has nowhere to go, which is how many period homes end up with damp they never had before.
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) sets out the main risks (SPAB technical advice note, 2020):
| Material | What happens on an old solid wall | Better choice |
|---|---|---|
| Hard cement render | Forms hairline cracks as it sets; water gets in and cannot evaporate | Lime render |
| Dense cement pointing | Forces moisture out through the brick or stone, which then decays faster | Soft lime mortar, weaker than the masonry around it |
| Impermeable paint | Water gets behind the paint film, causing blistering and frost damage | A permeable finish such as limewash |
| Synthetic modern coatings | SPAB advises that none should be applied to the masonry or plaster of historic buildings | Permeable lime-based mortars, plasters and renders |
In a house renovation, taking out a wall is often the change that makes an older house work for modern family life, usually by joining the kitchen and dining room into one open plan space. If the wall is load-bearing, a steel beam carries the load instead.
| Item | Typical cost or time |
|---|---|
| Structural engineer calculations | About £250; full-service fees £300 to £500 |
| Building regulations fee | £200 to £500, depending on the local authority |
| Installed steel beam, 2m span | £650 to £840 |
| Installed steel beam, 3m span | £800 to £1,100 |
| Installed steel beam, 4m span | £900 to £1,280 |
| Installed steel beam, 5m span | £1,150 to £1,500 |
| Time on site | 1 to 2 days; 2 to 4 days for larger or more complex jobs |
Source: MyJobQuote RSJ installation guide, July 2026. Making good the plaster, flooring and decoration around the new opening is extra.
A rental property refurbishment between tenants is the best time to fix what a safety inspection or EPC assessor would flag. In England, these are the main legal standards a let home has to meet.
| Standard | What the landlord must do | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Energy efficiency (EPC) | No new or continuing let below EPC band E without a valid exemption; the cost cap for improvements is £3,500 including VAT. The government is exploring a move towards band C by 2030 | GOV.UK, May 2026 |
| Electrical safety (EICR) | Inspection and testing by a competent person at least every 5 years; a copy to tenants within 28 days; remedial work within 28 days; fines of up to £30,000 | Wandsworth Council |
| Gas safety | A yearly gas safety check on each appliance and flue by a Gas Safe registered engineer; a copy of the record to tenants within 28 days of the check | GOV.UK |
| Smoke alarms | At least one smoke alarm on each storey with a room used as living accommodation | City of York Council |
| Carbon monoxide alarms | A carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance, excluding gas cookers | City of York Council |
| Fire safety | Tenants must have access to escape routes at all times, and supplied furniture must be fire safe | GOV.UK |
Often, yes, if the work is phased so that you always have somewhere to sleep, wash and cook. During a full rewire, a full strip-out or work on the only bathroom, many families move out for a few weeks, because power, water and heating will be off for parts of those stages.
| Approach | Works best when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Stay in and phase the work | The house has a spare room and a second toilet, or the work is room by room | Dust, noise and a longer overall programme |
| Move out for the messy stages | The rewire, replastering and strip-out happen at the same time | The cost of somewhere else to stay |
| Move out for the whole project | A full house renovation with structural alterations | Rent on top of the renovation budget |
The biggest house renovation savings come from tax relief that homeowners miss and from spending in the right order. Homeowners have spent around £52,000 on average on renovations over the past five years, according to research cited by the FMB in June 2026, so small percentages add up.
| Relief | Who it applies to | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 5% VAT on renovation | Homes that have been empty for 2 years or more immediately before the work starts | HMRC VCONST07420 |
| 5% VAT on conversions | Converting a non-residential building into a home | HMRC VAT Notice 708, August 2026 |
| 0% VAT on energy-saving materials | Professionally installed energy-saving materials such as insulation, until 31 March 2027 | FMB, June 2026 |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme | A grant of up to £7,500 towards a heat pump | FMB, June 2026 |
The empty homes relief is assessed per contractor, so any trade that starts after the house is lived in again charges the standard rate. Keep evidence of how long the house stood empty, such as council tax records.
If the house is in the right place but the rooms are wrong, a renovation with a knock-through often solves it for less than an extension. If you need more floor space, compare the cost of a renovation with House Extensions or Loft Conversions; research cited by the FMB found that extensions and loft conversions can add up to 24% to a home's value.
Most home renovation overspends come from doing jobs in the wrong order or finding problems too late. These are the most common, and the most expensive to put right.
A renovation involves more trades than most building projects, so we run it as one managed project with one point of contact.
| You get | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| One point of contact | You are not chasing five trades for answers |
| Trades booked in the right order | No electrician waiting for a plasterer, or the other way round |
| Checks before work is covered | Problems are fixed while they are cheap to fix |
| Building control coordinated | Inspections happen at the right stages |
| Weekly updates | You always know what is next and what it costs |
| A clear role under CDM 2015 | The principal contractor takes on your client duties |
The right renovation builders and refurbishment contractors find the problems before they price the job, and keep every trade working in the right order. This is what you get with 5K Construction.
10+ years and 500+ projects.Renovations, extensions, lofts, kitchens and bathrooms across Wolverhampton and the West Midlands.
Survey before price.We check the structure, damp, wiring and heating first, so the quote reflects your house, not a guess.
Builders, not just a finishing team.Structural alterations, steelwork and building control are handled by the same team as the plastering and decoration.
Older homes understood.Breathable materials and lime mortar where a solid wall needs them.
Landlords looked after.Refurbishment planned around EICR, gas safety and EPC requirements.
A clear written quote.A schedule of works, inclusions, exclusions and VAT set out in writing.
Local and easy to reach.Based at 40A Oaklands Rd, Wolverhampton WV3 0DS, and open seven days a week.
Accountable.Our insurance and trade accreditations and our complaints procedure are published in full. Find out more about our Wolverhampton building company.
A full house renovation of a typical three-bedroom home costs £43,530 to £110,350, with an average of about £76,690 plus VAT, according to Checkatrade's September 2026 guide. A light refurb usually costs £25,000 to £45,000. Labour in London and the South East is commonly 20% to 40% higher than in the Midlands.
A full house refurbishment typically takes 3 to 6 months, while a light refurbishment takes 2 to 6 weeks. Within a full project, the strip-out usually takes 1 to 2 weeks, first fix 2 to 4 weeks, second fix 2 to 4 weeks and finishing 2 to 3 weeks. Structural work and approvals add time.
Refurbishment refreshes a home that is already sound, with work such as decorating, flooring, a new kitchen or a partial rewire. Renovation repairs or rebuilds parts that are worn out, such as the wiring, heating, plaster, roof or structure. Renovation usually costs more, takes longer and more often needs building regulations approval.
Work from the outside in. Survey the house, get approvals, then make the roof, windows and walls weathertight. Next comes the strip-out, structural alterations, damp treatment and insulation, then first fix electrics and plumbing, plastering, second fix, decoration and flooring. Finish with snagging and collect every certificate at handover.
Usually not for internal work. Moving internal walls does not need planning permission, but removing a load-bearing wall needs building control approval and a structural engineer's calculations. Listed buildings need listed building consent for changes that affect their character, and conservation areas have stricter controls on external changes.
Often, yes, if the work is phased so you always have somewhere to sleep, wash and cook. Many families move out for a few weeks during a full rewire, replastering or strip-out, when power, water and heating are off for parts of the day. Agree the phasing before work starts.
Usually, yes. Building work on an existing home is charged at 20% VAT unless the contractor is below the VAT registration threshold. Renovating a home that has been empty for 2 years or more can qualify for 5% VAT, and professionally installed energy-saving materials such as insulation are zero-rated until 31 March 2027.
In England, a rental home needs a yearly gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer, an electrical inspection at least every 5 years, a smoke alarm on each storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in rooms with a fixed combustion appliance. Its EPC must be E or above unless exempt.
Use materials that let solid walls breathe. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings advises lime render and soft lime mortar instead of hard cement, warns that impermeable paints trap moisture, and advises against synthetic coatings. Fix the cause of any damp first, such as leaking gutters or high ground levels outside.
Before and after photos from real homes show what a house renovation can do with the space you already have.
We renovate and refurbish homes from our Wolverhampton base and across the towns below.
A good renovation starts with knowing what is behind the plaster, under the floor and in the roof. Book a site survey and we will inspect the house, talk through what you want from it, and follow up with a schedule of works and a written quote.
