London Building Work: The Questions People Actually Ask

As a general guide published across our cost guides, a budget refresh runs £3,500 to £6,000 for a small ensuite and £6,000 to £9,000 for a full family bathroom. A mid-range full refit runs £6,000 to £9,500 for a small ensuite and £9,000 to £15,000 for a full bathroom. A premium wetroom or ensuite runs £9,000 to £14,000 for a small room, rising to £16,000 to £28,000 or more for a full wetroom conversion. Actual pricing always depends on a site survey rather than a fixed figure, since layout changes, waterproofing and sanitaryware specification all move the price.

As a general guide published across our cost guides, a light refresh, decoration, flooring and minor repairs, runs roughly £800 to £1,200 per square metre. A mid-range refurbishment with a new kitchen, bathroom, rewire and replaster runs £1,200 to £1,800 per square metre. A premium refurbishment involving structural work, full M&E and a high-spec finish runs £2,000 to £2,800 or more per square metre. Structural work, the condition behind existing surfaces and site access all move the figure beyond these broad bands, which is why we survey the property and quote by category rather than a single lump figure.

As a general guide published across our cost guides, pitched roof coverings run from £120 to £220 per square metre for concrete tile, £150 to £260 per square metre for clay tile and £180 to £320 per square metre for natural slate. Flat roofs run from £70 to £100 per square metre for felt, £80 to £120 per square metre for EPDM rubber and £90 to £130 per square metre for GRP fibreglass. A typical semi-detached re-roof in concrete tile, around 45 to 60 square metres, runs £5,400 to £13,200. Access, roof shape and the condition of the timber underneath all move the final figure, which is why we survey the roof before quoting.

As a general guide published across our cost guides, a budget flat-pack refit runs £6,000 to £10,000 for a small galley kitchen and £10,000 to £16,000 for a larger open-plan kitchen-diner. A mid-range refit runs £12,000 to £18,000 for a small galley kitchen and £18,000 to £28,000 for a larger open-plan layout. A premium bespoke refit runs £20,000 to £30,000 for a small galley kitchen, rising to £30,000 to £50,000 or more for a larger open-plan kitchen-diner. Cabinetry type, worktop material and whether the layout is changing all move the price considerably.

Most established building contractors are VAT-registered, and VAT applies to labour and materials on most residential refurbishment work in the UK. It's worth checking whether a quote is shown inclusive or exclusive of VAT before comparing prices between contractors, since a quote that looks lower on paper sometimes just hasn't added VAT yet. We factor VAT into the figures we quote so there isn't a surprise added at invoice stage.

Get more than one quote, but check each one is pricing the same scope in the same level of detail before comparing headline figures, since a lower number sometimes just means a shorter list of what's actually included. A quote that comes in 40 to 60% under everyone else is rarely a genuine saving, more often it's a way of winning the job cheaply before the price creeps up once you're committed, through changes that individually seem reasonable but add up. Ask for a written, itemised quote that breaks labour, materials and provisional sums into separate lines, so you can see exactly what's driving the cost rather than comparing one lump figure against another.

Ask what deposit is required upfront, since reputable contractors typically ask for 10 to 25% with the rest staged against completed work. Ask for a written quote rather than a verbal figure, and whether it breaks down labour, materials and provisional sums separately. Ask to see proof of public liability insurance and a verifiable business registration. Ask how unexpected finds, such as damp or old wiring behind a wall, are priced and agreed, and whether extra work is confirmed before it happens rather than appearing on the final invoice. Be cautious of a contractor who can start immediately with no other jobs on, since genuinely busy, well-regarded contractors are usually booked weeks or months ahead.

No, not typically. Legitimate builders generally ask for a deposit of 10 to 25% of the total contract value upfront, with the remainder staged against work actually completed. A contractor asking for half or more of the total before any work starts leaves you with little leverage if the job is delayed, abandoned partway through, or the standard of work turns out to be poor. Structuring payment against completed stages, rather than a single sum upfront, is standard practice among reputable contractors and protects you if anything goes wrong partway through the project.

Yes, it's worth asking to see this before any work starts. Public liability insurance covers damage to your property or injury to someone on site during the works, and a contractor unwilling to show a valid certificate on request leaves you exposed if something goes wrong. Checking for insurance takes a few minutes and tells you far more about how a business operates than a portfolio of finished photos on its own. It's also worth checking for trade body membership and a verifiable Companies House registration alongside insurance, since together they give you someone to hold accountable if the work is damaged or defective.

A few checks together give a reasonably clear picture: a verifiable Companies House registration, a valid public liability insurance certificate shown on request, trade body membership where relevant to the work, a written quote rather than a verbal estimate, and references or reviews you can actually verify rather than take on trust. Genuinely busy, well-regarded contractors are usually booked weeks or months ahead, so suspiciously instant availability paired with pressure to book immediately for a discount is worth treating with caution rather than reassurance.

A few signs point to replacement rather than another repair: tiles or slates that are visibly slipped, cracked or missing after storms, daylight visible through the roof timbers from inside the loft, damp patches or staining spreading across ceilings, a roofline that sags or dips when viewed from the street, or a flat roof holding standing water for more than 48 hours after rain has stopped. Calling a roofer for patch repairs more than once a year without the underlying problem going away is also a sign the roof itself needs addressing, not just individual defects.

Common signs include slipped, cracked or missing tiles or slates, particularly after storms, heavy moss or algae growth lifting tiles, lead flashings around chimneys or valleys that look cracked, displaced or missing, brown staining or damp patches spreading across bedroom or loft ceilings, and a flat roof's felt cracking, bubbling or holding standing water. A roof covering approaching or past its expected lifespan, commonly 15 to 20 years for felt or 40-plus years for ageing tiles, is also more likely to be showing several of these signs at once rather than a single isolated defect.

In most cases, no. Replacing a roof with the same or a very similar covering usually falls under permitted development, provided the property isn't listed and there's no Article 4 direction removing that right locally. Conservation areas can be more restrictive, particularly if you're changing the material, such as going from slate to tile, or adding rooflights on a front elevation. Building Regulations approval is a separate matter and usually applies regardless of whether planning permission is needed, mainly because of current requirements around thermal performance. We check the specific planning constraints for an address before finalising a specification.

A straightforward pitched roof replacement on an average terraced or semi-detached property often takes one to two weeks depending on size and access, while flat roofs and more complex roofscapes, such as those with dormers or multiple valleys, can take longer. Weather can affect the programme, since coverings generally need to go on in dry, settled conditions.

Check that any quote is priced against your specific borough's published licensing scheme rather than a generic checklist, since room sizes, amenity ratios and conditions vary by borough. Ask whether statutory costs, such as a structural engineer's calculations or a building control fee, are included in the quote or missing from it, since a suspiciously low figure sometimes leaves these out only for them to appear later. Ask for photographic evidence, product certificates for fire doors and alarm systems, and a written specification of completed works, since that's what you'll need for a licence application or an inspecting officer. Be wary of a blanket per-property day rate given without a proper survey, and treat sudden availability from a contractor who can start immediately with some caution.

No. Licence application fees are set and collected by the local council, not the contractor carrying out the works, and they vary by borough. A building quote should cover the physical works needed to meet licensing standard, fire doors, alarms, room reconfiguration and similar, with the council's application fee paid separately as part of the licence application itself.

It depends on the scale of the shortfall identified in a fire risk assessment or licence conditions. A property needing fire doors, interlinked alarms and some fire-stopping can often be turned around in a matter of weeks once survey and pricing are agreed. A full conversion involving new partitions, room reconfiguration or added bathrooms and kitchens takes considerably longer, since plumbing, electrics and building control sign-off all extend the programme. We price against the specific list of works the applicable licensing conditions require rather than a generic timeframe, and confirm a realistic programme once the property has been surveyed.

Under the national mandatory licensing conditions, a room used as a bedroom by one person aged 10 or over needs at least 6.51 square metres, two adults sharing a room need 10.22 square metres, and a room for a single child under 10 needs at least 4.64 square metres. These are baseline figures rather than the final word, since a number of London boroughs running additional or selective licensing schemes apply their own room size standards on top of the national minimums, and ceiling height can reduce the usable floor area further where a room has a sloped ceiling. The specific scheme covering a property's borough should always be checked before treating any figure as fixed.