House Refurbishment Cost London 2026: What to Budget

Refurbishing a typical two-storey London terrace of 80–130 m² costs £15,000–£40,000 for a cosmetic refresh, £45,000–£100,000 for a partial refurbishment with a rewire, new heating and replastering, and £100,000–£220,000 for a full strip-out and refurbishment, or £150,000–£350,000 with a rear or side extension. These are construction costs excluding VAT. On a full refurbishment, allow a further 15–20% for professional fees, planning and party wall costs, plus a contingency.

House refurbishment cost in London: the main ranges

These are the same 2026 figures we publish in our Victorian terrace renovation cost guide and on our home renovations page, for a typical two-storey London terrace of 80–130 m². They cover the construction work only, excluding VAT at 20% and professional fees.

Scope	Typical London cost (excl. VAT)	Per m² (excl. VAT)	What it includes	Time on site
Cosmetic refresh	£15,000–£40,000	Usually priced as a total; roughly £150–£400	Decoration, flooring, new bathroom, kitchen update	4–10 weeks
Partial refurbishment	£45,000–£100,000	£700–£1,100	The above plus replastering, rewire and new heating	12–20 weeks
Full refurbishment	£100,000–£220,000	£1,200–£2,000	Complete strip-out and rebuild of the interior, structural alterations and full M&E replacement	20–32 weeks
Full refurbishment with extension	£150,000–£350,000	Priced with the extension	The above plus a rear or side extension	24–36 weeks

We do not publish a separate band for a full refurbishment with no structural work. The £100,000–£220,000 band and the £1,200–£2,000 per m² rate are for a full strip-out that includes structural reconfiguration, such as opening up the ground floor with steel beams; bigger structural items such as underpinning move a job up the band, and an extension moves it into the next one. Bespoke joinery, underfloor heating and a high-specification kitchen and bathrooms also push a project towards the top.

Terraces and semis: whole-house figures

Per square metre, a partial refurbishment is roughly £700–£1,100 and a full structural refurbishment £1,200–£2,000, excluding VAT. At £900/m², a 100 m² terrace comes to about £90,000, in the partial band. At £1,200–£2,000/m², a full refurbishment of an 80–110 m² house comes to roughly £100,000–£220,000; a larger house finished to a high specification can go beyond it.

A semi-detached house is priced the same way, from its floor area and scope. Many London semis, such as 1930s houses, are larger than a two-storey terrace and have a flank wall to repair, insulate or render, so expect a full refurbishment to sit higher in the band, or above it. Take the floor area from the plan in the listing, apply the rate for the scope the house needs, and treat the answer as a starting point until the house has been visited.

Line items in a refurbishment

Most of the line items below come from our Victorian terrace guide and exclude VAT. The plastering figure is an indicative market rate from a named source, not our price.

Item	Typical cost	Basis
Full rewire, 2-bedroom terrace (80 m²)	£8,000–£12,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT
Full rewire, 3-bedroom terrace (100–130 m²)	£10,000–£16,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT
Full rewire, 4-bedroom house (150 m²+)	£15,000–£22,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT
New combi boiler on existing pipework	£3,500–£6,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT
Full new heating system	£8,000–£15,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT
Heating with ground floor underfloor heating	£15,000–£28,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT
Full replaster, per m² of wall	£30–£40	Indicative: MyJobQuote, updated September 2026; VAT basis not stated
Sash window restoration	£600–£1,200 per window	Alstruct, excl. VAT
Replacement slim double-glazed sash	£1,200–£2,500 per window	Alstruct, excl. VAT
Kitchen, budget to mid-range	£10,000–£40,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT, no extension
Kitchen, high specification	£40,000–£100,000+	Alstruct, excl. VAT, no extension
Bathroom refit, budget to mid-range	£8,000–£24,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT
New shower room or en-suite	£10,000–£18,000	Alstruct, excl. VAT

The rewire figures include the consumer unit, cabling, chasing, sockets, switches, basic light fittings, smoke and CO detectors, testing and certification. Rewiring goes in after the strip-out and before plastering, which is why it costs less in a full refurbishment than in a finished house. If you are weighing a heat pump against a new boiler, see our guide to heat pumps in a Victorian terrace; for bathrooms in more detail, see our renovation guide.

VAT on a house refurbishment

• Standard rate. HMRC's VAT Notice 708 says work to an existing building is normally standard-rated, so most refurbishments of a lived-in home carry VAT at 20%. All our ranges above are before it.
• 5% for a long-empty home. Renovating a home that has not been lived in for the 2 years before work starts can be reduced-rated at 5% (section 8 of the notice). For a buyer there is a further rule: if the house was empty for the 2 years before you bought it, and the work is done for you within a year of buying it, the 5% rate can still apply while you live there, if the conditions in paragraph 8.3.4 are met.
• Energy-saving materials. Installing qualifying energy-saving materials, such as insulation and heat pumps, in a home in Great Britain is zero-rated until 31 March 2027, after which it reverts to 5%.

Whether a reduced rate applies depends on facts such as the history of the property, so ask your accountant or HMRC before you rely on it.

Professional fees, approvals and neighbours

On a full refurbishment, allow a further 15–20% of the construction cost for professional fees (architect, structural engineer), planning and party wall costs, with VAT on top. Internal work rarely needs planning permission, but building regulations apply to structural alterations, rewiring, new heating, new bathrooms and replacement windows. Cutting steels into a shared wall or underpinning usually needs party wall notices: see our guides to removing a load-bearing wall and party wall agreement costs. In a conservation area, external changes such as windows can need consent; see conservation areas in London.

Contingency

Older London houses hide problems until they are opened up: rotten joists, failed lintels, damp, old lead pipework and, in any building built or refurbished before 2000, possible asbestos, which HSE says to assume is present until it has been checked. The Federation of Master Builders suggests setting aside 10% of the total project cost as a contingency, and around 15% or more for older homes or structural alterations (FMB guidance, February 2026). Our quote is fixed for the agreed scope; the contingency is for what nobody could see before the strip-out and for changes you choose to make, and any extra work is priced in writing before it goes ahead.

What to budget before you exchange

On a house that needs work, the real price is the purchase price plus the works. Before you exchange, budget for:

• the construction cost from the bands above, for the scope the house needs rather than the scope you hope for;
• VAT at 20% on that cost, unless a reduced rate clearly applies;
• 15–20% for professional fees, planning and party wall costs on a full refurbishment;
• a contingency of at least 10%, more for an older house or structural work;
• somewhere else to live for part of a full refurbishment, when the house will be without power, water or heating at times;
• a RICS Home Survey: RICS says Level 3 suits a large, older or run-down property, or a buyer planning major works.

A survey tells you what is wrong, but not usually what putting it right will cost. Our pre-purchase advice fills that gap: we visit with you or review the house by video, read your survey and give you a written, itemised budget for the essential repairs and the works you plan, from £500 + VAT, credited in full if you appoint Alstruct for the works within six months of the report. We price the works; we do not value the property. Ask your conveyancer about certificates for past building work and anything in the title or lease that affects your plans.

From our projects

Getting a fixed price

After a site visit we send a fixed, itemised quote for the agreed scope, set out trade by trade with no provisional sums for items we have not properly scoped, on a JCT contract with a defined programme. Every job carries our 10-year workmanship warranty, which passes to a new owner if you sell.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• HMRC: buildings and construction (VAT Notice 708)
• GOV.UK: extension of VAT energy-saving materials relief
• GOV.UK: when you need building regulations approval
• HSE: find out if asbestos could be present in your building
• Federation of Master Builders: how to keep your renovation on budget
• RICS: house surveys, the types and benefits of an RICS Home Survey
• MyJobQuote: how much to plaster a room (updated September 2026)

Figures are 2026 London guide ranges, checked on 13 November 2026. Your own price depends on the house, the layout and the finishes, and is fixed after a site visit.