What Order Should You Renovate a House In? Sequence of Works

One of the most expensive mistakes on a home renovation is doing things in the wrong order. Laying engineered timber floors before the plaster has dried, fitting a kitchen before the electrics are tested, or decorating before the plumbing leaks have been found, each of these forces re-work at premium rates. Tradespeople rarely share their schedule with each other; that coordination is the homeowner’s or project manager’s job.

The sequence below is the one used on professionally managed UK domestic renovation projects. It is not arbitrary, every stage depends on the one before it, and the reasoning is explained so you can make sensible judgements when your situation varies from the norm.

Why Sequence Saves Money

Disruption costs multiply when trades re-visit completed work. A plasterer who finishes a room and then has to watch an electrician cut chases through the new plaster, because the cable run was missed, will charge for additional making good at day rates of £200–£350 per day, plus materials. The same applies to:

• A floor fitter who installs boards and then has to lift them to allow a plumber access to a sub-floor waste pipe
• A decorator who prepares and coats walls that subsequently need re-plastering due to ongoing damp
• A kitchen installer who fits units before the structural beam above the kitchen opening has been confirmed adequate

The principle behind all of this is simple: wet trades before dry trades; structural before services; enclosed elements before finished surfaces.

Stage 1: Structural Work and Weatherproofing

Begin with any structural alterations, removing load-bearing walls, installing steel beams (RSJs), underpinning, new foundations for extensions, and new ground-floor slabs. These generate the most disruption, the most dust, and the highest risk of the unexpected. Doing them first means subsequent trades work in a stable, structurally sound building.

In parallel with or immediately after structural work, make the building weathertight:

• Roof repairs or re-roofing
• New or repaired flashings at chimney stacks and parapet walls
• Window and external door replacements (note: bespoke windows are made to order and can take several weeks or more to arrive, so order them before the builder starts)
• External render repairs or new render
• Guttering and downpipes

Why it matters: Any wet-trade work carried out before a watertight envelope is risky. Rainwater ingress after plastering will cause the plaster to fail, mould to develop, and insulation to become saturated. It is better to delay internal work by two weeks than to proceed into a building that still leaks.

Stage 2: First Fix (Services Before Plasterboard)

First fix is the phase where services, electrical cables, plumbing pipework, central heating pipes, drainage runs, and mechanical ventilation ductwork, are run through the structure before walls and ceilings are closed up. Once the walls are boarded and plastered, these elements are inaccessible without destructive investigation.

First-Fix Electrics

The electrician installs all cable runs, back boxes for sockets and switches, and distribution board (consumer unit) positions. In a full rewire of a three-bedroom house, this takes 3–7 working days. All cables must be in the correct positions before boarding, as changing runs after plastering involves chasing (cutting channels in the wall) and making good, which is paid for as extra labour and materials.

Under Building Regulations Part P, a full rewire is notifiable work because it involves new circuits and usually a new consumer unit; additions or alterations close to a bath or shower are also notifiable, but in England kitchens no longer are.¹ Notifiable work must either be carried out by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme (such as NICEIC or NAPIT), who self-certifies it, or be notified to Building Control before work starts.¹

First-Fix Plumbing and Heating

Plumbers install all pipework below floors and within walls: cold-water mains, hot-water distribution, heating flow and return pipes, and waste runs to soil stacks. This also includes positioning the boiler flue and setting out the cylinder or hot-water unit.

Key decisions to make before first-fix plumbing begins:

• Underfloor heating (wet or electric)? Wet underfloor heating pipework is laid at first fix, before the screed that covers it
• Radiator positions? These should be agreed from drawings, radiators go on external walls below windows in most cases, and the pipe run length directly affects system efficiency
• Bath, shower, basin, and WC positions? Moving these after first fix is expensive; moving them after tiling is very expensive

First-Fix Carpentry

Any structural timber work, new stud walls, new floor joists for extensions, flat-roof decking, loft hatch alterations, goes in at first fix. New studwork provides the structure to which plasterboard is fixed; it must be in place, plumb, and true before boarding begins. Door linings are usually fixed at first fix too, so the plasterer can finish up to them.

Stage 3: Plastering

Plastering follows once all first-fix services are complete and tested. The sequence within plastering is:

1. Plasterboard fixed to studwork and ceilings (12.5mm or 15mm boards depending on the application)
2. Board and skim: the plasterer tapes joints, beads external corners, and applies a skim of finish plaster in two thin coats, typically about 2 mm thick in total²
3. Sand-and-cement render or lime plaster where specified (external walls, wet areas before tiling)

A three-bedroom house typically takes a plasterer or small team 5–14 working days to board and skim.

The drying-out period is the most commonly underestimated stage on any renovation. A fresh gypsum skim can give off up to roughly a litre of water per square metre as it dries, and more where thick backing coats are used on masonry, so a full-house plaster on 150m² of wall and ceiling area can release well over 100 litres into the building. For scale, a 25 kg bag of Thistle Multi-Finish skims about 10 m² and is mixed with about 11.5 litres of water.³ Rushing decoration before this moisture has dissipated causes:

• Paint to peel and blister
• Timber skirtings and door frames to absorb moisture and distort
• Adhesive failures in tiles and timber flooring
• Mould growth behind unfixed finishes

As a rule of thumb, allow around 4 weeks before painting and 6 weeks before fixing engineered timber flooring, and check moisture levels rather than relying on the calendar. Running dehumidifiers significantly accelerates drying; commercial units (£40–£100/week to hire) can shorten drying time considerably in a well-sealed building.

Stage 4: Second Fix

Second fix is the phase where services are completed and finishes are installed. It is generally done once plastering is complete and sufficiently dry.

Second-Fix Sequence Within the Stage

The most practical sequence for second fix is:

Door hanging deserves specific mention: hang internal doors after decoration, not before. Painting with doors hung requires care around hinges and risks sticking from paint build-up. It is faster and neater to paint the frame and lining complete, then hang the door as a final act.

Stage 5: External Works and Landscaping

External works, paving, decking, fencing, soft landscaping, are almost always last. There are two reasons:

1. Heavy material deliveries during the main build will damage any finished external surface
2. External drainage connections and service runs to outbuildings are often finalised once the main building layout is confirmed

Do not lay any hard landscaping until you are certain that no further groundworks or services connections will be required. Cutting through newly laid block paving to install an overlooked foul drain costs £800–£2,500 in reinstatement alone.

Common Sequencing Mistakes

Fitting a kitchen before the plastering is dry, moisture causes cabinet carcasses to swell and the kick-board area behind the toe space to develop mould. Allow 6 weeks of drying before kitchen installation.

Flooring before all wet trades, plumbing leaks, snagging, and even changes of mind about layouts all require access that destroys finished floors. Timber flooring is particularly susceptible to swelling from sub-floor moisture.

Final decoration before second-fix electrics are complete, fitting sockets and switches leaves marks and patches on newly painted walls. Get the mist coat and first coats on before the plates go on and leave the final coat until after, or accept the need to touch up.

Starting external landscaping before roof drainage is resolved, a blocked or absent downpipe outlet can flood new paving within one storm event. Confirm all external drainage before signing off any hard landscaping.

Plastering external walls from the inside before fixing the damp issue driving from outside, the new plaster will fail. Always fix the source before applying the internal finish.

The sequence above represents professional practice refined over decades of domestic construction. Deviating from it occasionally makes sense, for example, installing a kitchen in a single room that is not being fully stripped, where all services already exist and the risk of moisture or damage is managed. But departing from it wholesale, in the belief that individual trades know best how to sequence their own work without reference to what comes before and after, is reliably expensive.