Groundwork InteriorsDesign and renovation

Process

Six stages, and you always know which one you are in.

Most of the anxiety in a renovation comes from not knowing what happens next, or how long it will last. So this is the whole thing, in order, with the durations we actually work to and what we need from you at each point.

01

First visit

About 90 minutes, free within 25 miles

We come and look. You show us the space and tell us what is wrong with it. We ask a lot of questions about how you use it, who else uses it, and what you have already tried. Nobody draws anything.

By the end of it you will have an honest view on whether the thing you want is achievable for the money you have, and whether we are the right studio for it. Some first visits end with us recommending someone else.

What we need from you

An hour and a half, and everyone who has a say in the decision in the room at the same time.

02

Survey and brief

One to two weeks

We measure the space properly, including the things nobody measures: ceiling heights at four points, window reveals, floor levels, where the drainage runs, which way the joists span, and what the walls are actually made of.

Alongside that we write the brief. It is a plain document listing what the space has to do, in order of importance, and it is the thing we both sign before any design happens. Nearly every project that goes wrong went wrong here.

What we need from you

Access, and an hour to go through the draft brief and tell us where we have it wrong.

03

Concept and layout

Two to three weeks

Two or three ways the space could work, drawn in plan at a proper scale. Not renders. Plans, because a plan is the only drawing that tells you the truth about whether you can open the fridge.

Each option comes with what it costs relative to the others and what it gives up. There is always a trade off and we would rather show it to you than hide it inside a preferred option.

What we need from you

A decision. This is the stage where a week of thinking saves a month later.

04

Detailed design and specification

Three to five weeks

The chosen layout becomes a set of drawings a builder can work from: joinery elevations, construction details, an electrical and lighting plan with every socket and switch positioned, and a written specification naming every finish and fitting.

Paint colours are chosen at this stage, tested on boards in your actual light. So are handles, taps, tiles and the things people usually leave until the walls are up, which is the most expensive moment to choose anything.

What we need from you

Attendance at two review meetings, and the patience to decide on tiles in February for a job that starts in May.

05

Tender and build

Two weeks to tender, then the build

The drawing set goes to three contractors with identical information and a clear list of exclusions. When the quotations come back we go through them line by line and find what is missing from each, because the cheapest is usually the one with the least in it.

Then the work. On a project managed job we are on site weekly or twice weekly, every variation is priced and agreed in writing before it is built, and you pay against valuations rather than against invoices.

What we need from you

Decisions inside two working days when something is found behind a wall, which does happen.

06

Snagging and handover

Two to four weeks after completion

We walk the job with you and make a list. Everything on it gets fixed, and a retention held back from the contractor is what makes that happen rather than a request that it happen.

You get a folder: warranties, electrical and gas certificates, paint references with the exact colours and finishes, appliance manuals, and the contact details of everyone who worked on it. In five years when a hinge fails you will know who fitted it.

What we need from you

A walk round with fresh eyes, ideally on a bright morning, pointing at everything that bothers you.

The honest version

Two to three months of a renovation happen before anyone arrives with a van.

Adding those durations up gives eight to twelve weeks from the first visit to starting on site, before any consent is added to it, and people are consistently surprised by that. It is not slowness. It is the survey, the brief, the decisions and a tender that takes long enough to be worth running.

On the loft conversion in a 1930s semi, three months of a six month programme were paper. On the living room in a listed farmhouse, listed building consent alone took just over four months, which is covered in what it is really like to work on a listed building.

The compensating fact is that a job designed properly runs to time on site, because the decisions have already been made. The projects on this site were delivered within their programmes, and the reason is entirely stages two, three and four.

If you are staying in the house through the build, stage five is the one to prepare for, and there is a practical checklist in living in the house while the work happens.