What are the different levels of refurbishment?

There are three levels of refurbishment: light, medium and heavy. Light is decoration and repairs. Medium renews kitchens, bathrooms and finishes. Heavy takes the property back to brick and renews the services and plaster along with everything else.

Light refurbishment covers paint, minor repairs, new flooring and light fittings. We price decorating from £400 a room and repainting a whole three-bed house from £4,000. This is the level most landlords want between tenants and most sellers want before the photos are taken.

Medium refurbishment adds the fitted rooms. A bathroom refresh starts from £4,500 and a full bathroom refit from £7,000, alongside a new kitchen, flooring throughout and full redecoration. Wiring and pipework get patched and extended rather than replaced wholesale. On a 1930s semi in decent order, this level usually gets the house feeling new without opening up the fabric.

Heavy refurbishment is close to a whole-house renovation, which we price from £1,200 per square metre. Full rewire, new plumbing and heating, replastering, new kitchen and bathrooms, every surface renewed. It is the right level for ex-rental flats and probate houses that have not been touched in thirty years. Which level yours needs only becomes clear on a survey. We look at the wiring, pipework and plaster before quoting, then give a fixed written figure, and the price we quote is the price you pay.