What is it called when you fix up an old house?

Fixing up an old house is called renovating it, or restoring it if the aim is to put original features back the way they were. The two words pull in different directions. Renovation brings a property up to modern standards: rewiring, new plumbing, insulation, a kitchen and bathrooms that work. Restoration repairs and reinstates what the house had when it was built, things like sash windows, cornices, ceiling roses and original floorboards.

Most period jobs we do are both at once. A typical Victorian terrace in Dulwich or Crystal Palace gets renovated behind the walls (wiring, heating, damp treatment) and restored on the surfaces the period character depends on. Ripping out a sound set of four-panel doors to fit flat modern ones is renovation done badly. It takes value off the house rather than adding it.

Listed properties are a separate case. If the building is listed you need listed building consent for almost anything beyond decoration, inside and out, and unauthorised work is a criminal offence, not just a planning breach. In conservation areas, and large parts of Dulwich and Crystal Palace are covered, the controls mainly apply to the outside. For those houses the honest word is conservation or restoration, and the contractor needs to have done it before. Ask to see a period property they have finished, not just the photos.