Impartial UK renovation notes
Renovation, explained.
By engineers, not salespeople. Clear notes on planning, building regs, costs, lofts and extensions in the UK.
675 free notes · 81h 37m of reading · updated daily · one search across notes, tools and templates
Results
Highlights
All notes →
Complete guides
All notes →15 long notes that hold a subject together, from the first question to the finished job. Each one links every shorter note we have on it, so start here when the subject is new to you.
Tool
The UK renovation map
Trades, professional practices and merchants, placed on a map so you can see who is near the job. Nobody pays for a listing and nobody pays for a booking, so the order is geography and nothing else.
- 5,200+
- firms placed
- 29
- cities
- 820+
- towns
Loads one category at a time, so you see what you asked for.
Browse by topic
All notes →Every note sits in one of these 32 topics. A topic page gathers the whole subject in one place, pillar note first, so it is the quickest way in when you know roughly what you are after but not which note you want.
Roadmaps
Each one is a job in the order it actually happens, with what has to be settled before the next stage can start. Pick one in your account and it becomes your plan.
All roadmaps →
Loft conversion, start to finish 13 stages · 33 notes First gate: A type that fits your roof, and a cost you would actually spend. → 
Planning your extension 13 stages · 34 notes First gate: A cost per square metre you believe, and an all-in figure with the extras in it. → 
Planning permission, decoded 6 stages · 11 notes First gate: A clear view of whether your proposal fits within permitted development. → 
Hiring a builder without regrets 8 stages · 18 notes First gate: A scope you could hand to three firms and get comparable answers. → 
Renovating a house: where to start 13 stages · 33 notes First gate: A clear view of the condition of the house and the order the problems come in. → What it actually costs: materials & labour build-ups
Full cost index →Standard 2026 build-ups for the four most common projects, split into materials and labour, with every figure linked to the note behind it. Use them to sanity-check quotes line by line.
The toolkit
The working tools behind the notes. Free; the home file needs an account, which is also free. Scroll sideways, or use the arrows.
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