How Long Does a Renovation Take? The Four Components of a Programme

Most answers to the question "how long does a renovation take?" are misleading. Not out of bad faith, but because they count the wrong thing: the answers usually take account only of the days actually worked on site. A real programme, though, is made of four separate components, and only one of them is "work".

The aim of this article is not to give you a single figure — an honest figure cannot be given without knowing the scope. The aim is to show how a programme is built up, so that you can both form a realistic expectation for your own project and judge whether a programme you are given is sound.

The other articles in this series covered individual subjects: bathroom renovation, kitchen renovation, renovating an older flat and the sequence of works.

1. The four components of a programme

Active work. The days a trade is actually working on site. This is what people mean when they say "renovation time", and in most projects it accounts for less than half the total programme.

Waiting. Time that has to pass because of the chemistry of the materials: membranes drying, screed gaining strength, plaster and render drying, intervals between coats of paint, grout and silicone curing. This cannot be shortened by adding labour. Shorten it and the job finishes early, but the problems appear a few months later.

Procurement. The time for ordered products to arrive: made-to-measure joinery and windows, fabrication of a stone or composite worktop after templating, tiles that are out of stock, imported brassware and appliances. This is the component most often underestimated.

Decisions. The name for time spent waiting for an answer to a question or a choice. When a question is asked on site, that work stops until the answer comes. On projects where decisions were taken in advance this component is close to zero; where they were not, it can reach a significant share of the total.

A sound programme shows these four separately. A programme that says only "three weeks", without saying which component it counted, is not an estimate but a wish.

2. Realistic ranges by scope

The ranges below express the total programme (including waiting), assuming decisions were taken in advance and there is no unusual delay in supply. The exact duration varies with the size of the space, the age of the building, the floor level, lift access and the depth of the scope.

Surface refresh (painting, changing light fittings, minor repairs; services untouched): a few days to one or two weeks.

A single wet room (bathroom or kitchen, complete): two to five weeks. In a kitchen, the wait for worktop fabrication extends this compared with a bathroom.

Flooring and decoration (whole flat, services untouched): two to four weeks.

Comprehensive flat renovation (wet rooms + services + flooring + decoration + windows): two to four months.

Full renovation of an older flat (complete rewire and replumb, insulation, windows, wet rooms, all finishes): three to six months, longer where structural surprises appear.

The breadth of these ranges is not an admission of uncertainty but honesty. The lower end is where everything goes as planned; the upper end is the scenario frequently met in real life.

3. The ranked causes of delay

Renovation programmes slip for particular reasons, and the frequency of those reasons is remarkably consistent.

1. Late decisions. First by a wide margin. The site stops while it waits for an answer; the trade moves to another job and getting them back takes days. And because this delay never appears on an invoice, it usually goes unnoticed.

2. Supply delays. Tiles out of stock, a late appliance, joinery with a long lead time. The insidious part is that it surfaces mid-job and halts the entire chain behind it.

3. Broken coordination. Trades not arriving in the right order: a decorator arriving before the plaster is dry, a joiner arriving before the floor is ready. This is the most common cause where work is let out piece by piece.

4. Unexpected findings. Conditions that emerge during strip-out, particularly in older buildings: failed services, unforeseen structural conditions, hidden damp. This cause cannot be prevented, but it can be managed by leaving a margin in the programme.

5. Building constraints. Working hours, lift access, waste removal, management consents. Not accounted for at the outset, they quietly add to the duration.

Note that the first three are matters of management, not of how hard the work is. The most effective way to shorten a renovation is not to work faster but to fix these three.

4. How to recognise a sound programme

When a programme is put in front of you, ask these five questions; the answers quickly show whether it is realistic.

Are the waiting periods written in? If screed drying and membrane curing do not appear as separate lines, the programme is incomplete.

Is procurement included? Order and fabrication times for worktops, bespoke joinery and appliances in particular should be shown separately.

Are decision deadlines stated? A good programme tells you not only when the trades come but when you have to decide what.

Is the critical path identified? Which delays hold up the whole programme, and which have no effect? A programme that makes this distinction can be managed.

Is there any float? In older buildings especially, a programme with no allowance for surprises becomes invalid at the first one.

5. Living in during the works: why it takes longer

A renovation carried out while the home is occupied takes markedly longer than one in an empty property, and not because the trades slow down.

There are three structural reasons. First, the home is divided into zones and the work becomes sequential: jobs that could have run at the same time have to be done one after another. Second, every move between zones brings time for setting up protection, cleaning and tidying. Third, the daily working window narrows; noisy work has to fit around the family's life.

Against that, living in has a real advantage: there is no cost of temporary accommodation. The decision should be made by comparing those two costs. In practice, work confined to a single wet room or a single room proceeds comfortably with the home occupied; for comprehensive renovations covering the whole of the services, moving out usually reduces both the duration and the total cost.

6. Three things that genuinely shorten a programme

Finishing the decisions in advance. Closing out product, dimension and layout decisions before strip-out begins is the single largest gain. A week spent on paper is cheaper than three weeks spent on site.

Ordering long-lead items early. Worktops, bespoke joinery, windows and appliances should be ordered before their turn arrives. While they are awaited, the site can progress with other work.

Bringing coordination under one roof. Letting the work out to separate trades looks cheaper on paper; but because nobody is managing the sequence, the programme lengthens and idle days generate an indirect cost. We set out the logic of pricing in our article on how interior design fees are determined, and the process as a whole in our article on the complete home renovation process.

Five common mistakes

1. Building the programme from working days alone. Without waiting and procurement, a programme is invalid in its first week.

2. Leaving decisions to the site. The site stops while it waits for an answer, and that stoppage rarely shows up on an invoice.

3. Ordering long-lead items late. A worktop or a joinery item ordered when its turn arrives holds up the whole chain.

4. Leaving no float. In older buildings especially, the first surprise invalidates a programme with no allowance.

5. Speeding up by cutting drying times. The days gained come back a few months later as blistered paint and opened grout.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does renovating a flat take?
It depends on scope. A surface refresh takes a few days to two weeks; a single wet room two to five weeks; flooring and decoration two to four weeks; a comprehensive flat renovation covering wet rooms, services and finishes two to four months. In an older building, a full renovation covering all the services and insulation can run to three to six months. These ranges include waiting periods.

Why do renovations take longer than expected?
The most common cause is late decisions: the site stops while waiting for an answer, the trade moves to another job, and getting them back takes days. The second is delay in material supply, the third is trades not arriving in the right order. Fourth come unexpected findings during strip-out in older buildings. The first three are matters of management rather than the difficulty of the work.

Can a renovation be speeded up?
Partly. Finishing the decisions before strip-out, ordering long-lead items early and bringing coordination under one roof shorten the programme noticeably. Drying and curing times, by contrast, cannot be shortened; cut them and the job finishes early but the problems surface a few months later.

Does it make sense to live in during a renovation?
It depends on scope. Work confined to a single wet room or one room can comfortably be carried out with the home occupied. But in comprehensive renovations covering all the services, living in extends the programme markedly; because the home is divided into zones, work that could have run in parallel becomes sequential, and every move between zones brings protection and cleaning time. In those cases moving out usually reduces both the duration and the total cost.

What does a sound renovation programme look like?
It shows active work, waiting, procurement and decisions separately. Waiting periods such as screed drying appear as their own lines; order and fabrication times for long-lead items such as worktops and joinery are included; it states which decisions you have to make and by when; it identifies which delays hold up everything else; and, particularly in older buildings, it leaves float for surprises.

Let us build your programme together

At Kaya + Partners we build the programme not as a wish but as a works schedule broken into its components: a decision calendar, a procurement plan, the sequence of works and site coordination all run from one place. Among the interior design practices working in Ankara, what sets us apart is that design and delivery sit within the same team. For refurbishment in commercial premises, see our Ankara commercial refurbishment page.

To discuss your project, get in touch with us; you can review our completed work on our projects page.