Where should a renovation start?
At the top and outside: roof, chimneys, gutters, pointing and ground levels. Until the house is dry, money spent on kitchens and plaster is at risk. It is not the exciting end of the job, but it is the order that stops you paying for the same room twice, and we will give you an honest survey of what the fabric needs first.
Can you deal with damp in an old stone house?
Yes, and usually the answer is not chemical injection. Old solid-wall houses get damp from failed pointing, raised ground levels, blocked gutters, cement render and non-breathable finishes trapping moisture. Fixing those causes, with lime where the building wants lime, dries the house out properly.
Do you renovate to a budget?
We quote the scope fixed, and where the budget will not stretch to everything we help you stage it: fabric and structure first, spaces second, finishes last. A staged renovation done in the right order feels slower and costs less than one done in the wrong order.
What about surprises behind the plaster?
Old houses always hold a few. The difference is how they are handled: we price known risks as provisional sums up front, photograph what we find, and price any genuine surprise before touching it. No invoices you did not see coming.
Can we live in the house during the work?
Often, if the job can be zoned floor by floor or end to end, and we set the programme up that way when you need it. For full-house strip-outs with floors up and ceilings down, moving out for the worst weeks is honestly cheaper than living through them, and we will tell you which kind of job yours is.
