Renovation Guides for Brighton & Hove Homes

Brighton is not cheap. That is not a complaint — it is a fact worth understanding before you start comparing quotes. Labour rates in Brighton and Hove sit between the South London bracket and the rest of Sussex, which means a plasterer, a carpenter or a bathroom fitter here will typically cost more than the same trade in Hastings or Chichester, but less than the same trade working in Clapham or Greenwich. The gap is not enormous, but it adds up across a full renovation.

Materials cost broadly the same as anywhere in the UK. Where Brighton starts to add its own friction is in access, parking and the physical logistics of getting trades and materials into older properties. A skip permit on a restricted street in Brunswick Town or a narrow access alley in Kemptown is a genuine overhead. A builder pricing a job in central Brighton knows that a delivery window that closes at 9am, or a road with no parking dispensation, is going to cost time somewhere. Good quotes price this in. Cheap quotes often do not.

The condition of the property is the biggest single variable. Two flats side by side in the same Victorian conversion can cost very different amounts to renovate, because one was maintained properly and the other had a series of quick fixes layered on top of each other over twenty years. Removing cheap DIY tiling, re-doing plumbing that was installed without proper sleeving, pulling out a badly fitted kitchen that was never level — all of that is work that simply has to happen before the new finish can go in. It should appear in the quote, and it often does not appear in the cheap one.

What actually drives the cost of a renovation

The surface finish — tiles, paint colour, kitchen units — is usually the smallest part of what you are paying for. What costs money is preparation: stripping walls to a sound base, levelling floors that have dropped over a century of settling, cutting out and replacing damaged plaster rather than skimming over it, sorting out ventilation before the new bathroom goes in, making sure the electrics are safe before covering them with floor and ceiling finishes. Preparation is invisible when it is done properly. It only becomes visible when it is skipped.

Sequencing also affects cost. If trades are booked in the wrong order — flooring before plastering, decorating before tiling is grouted, kitchen fitted before the skirting is done — there will be damage, rework and delays. Each piece of rework costs money. A project manager or an experienced main contractor costs something upfront, but typically saves more than that in avoided mistakes across a full job.

For a realistic sense of scale: a single bathroom renovation in a Brighton flat — stripped back, properly waterproofed and re-done to a good standard — is a meaningful piece of work involving plumbing, tiling, electrics and joinery. A full flat renovation that covers flooring, kitchen, bathroom, decoration and any necessary electrical or plumbing updates is a substantial project. A full house renovation covering structural changes, multiple bathrooms, a kitchen and all rooms is a significant undertaking. None of these have reliable fixed prices without a site visit, because the condition of what is already there changes everything.

Why two quotes can be very different for the same job

The most common reason two quotes differ by a large amount is not that one contractor is greedy and the other is honest. It is usually that they have not priced the same job. One quote might include removing the existing floor tiles, levelling the subfloor, installing new cement board and then waterproofing before any tiling begins. The other quote might start from laying tiles directly on whatever is already there. Both will produce a tiled bathroom. Only one will still look acceptable in five years.

If you are comparing quotes, ask each contractor to describe what they are doing to prepare the surface — not just what the finished result will be. The description will tell you more than the number.

Renovation costs in Brighton and Hove sit noticeably higher than the national average. Trade rates in the city are broadly comparable to south London rather than the rest of Sussex, and the logistical overheads of working in older, denser streets — skip permits, restricted parking, narrow access — add a real cost that experienced contractors price in and cheap ones do not. The figures below are working ranges based on typical jobs completed in and around Brighton and Hove in 2025 and 2026. They are not guarantees, and any job with unusual conditions, structural complications or premium finishes will sit above the upper figure.

Bathroom renovation costs in Brighton and Hove

A standard bathroom renovation — full strip-out of the existing suite, new waterproofing to wet areas, tiled walls and floor, new sanitaryware and fittings — currently costs between £10,000 and £18,000 for a typical Brighton or Hove flat bathroom. That range covers mid-range tiles and a quality mid-range suite, with plumbing staying in broadly the same position. If you are specifying large-format porcelain (600×600mm or above), a freestanding bath, underfloor heating, or moving the WC or shower position, £18,000 to £35,000 is a realistic range. A like-for-like refurbishment that retains the existing layout, replaces only the suite and re-tiles the walls without touching the floor can be done for £5,500–£9,500, but this approach only makes sense if the existing subfloor and waterproofing are confirmed to be sound first.

The biggest single cost driver in a bathroom renovation is what is found during strip-out. Old cement-based tile adhesive on a lime plaster background, blown plaster behind a bath panel, or a floor screed that has failed over a century-old timber subfloor — any of these requires remedial work before tiling can begin. A bathroom priced without a site inspection is a bathroom priced with those possibilities invisible. The contractor who does a site visit before quoting is the one whose number is more likely to be real.

Cost to renovate a two-bedroom flat in Brighton

A full refurbishment of a two-bedroom Brighton flat — covering a new kitchen, a full bathroom renovation, all new flooring and full redecoration — typically costs £32,000–£65,000 in 2026. That range reflects the difference between a flat that is structurally sound and well-maintained (where the work is mostly removal and replacement) and one that needs replastering, services work and structural attention before the finishes can go in. A flat that also requires a second bathroom, structural wall removal or electrical rewire will sit at £55,000–£110,000 or above, depending on scope.

A lighter refresh — new flooring, redecoration and minor repairs without touching the kitchen or bathroom — costs £9,000–£22,000 for a two-bedroom flat, again depending on the floor areas involved and the specification. For a one-bedroom flat, subtract roughly 25–30% from these figures as a rough starting point, though the kitchen and bathroom costs remain broadly similar regardless of flat size.

These figures assume the property is in Brighton or Hove proper. Work in Portslade, Southwick or further into East Sussex tends to sit 5–10% lower on labour costs, while work in premium central or seafront areas can sit 10–15% higher when access and parking logistics are more complex.

Property maintenance hourly rates in Brighton

For skilled trades working in Brighton and Hove in 2026, day rates typically break down as follows. A general builder or experienced handyman working on straightforward repair tasks charges £35–£55 per hour, or £250–£380 per day. A specialist tradesperson — a tiler, a carpenter, a plumber or an electrician — charges £55–£90 per hour, or £380–£600 per day, depending on the complexity of the work and their current demand. Most trades also apply a minimum call-out charge of one to three hours, so a thirty-minute job will rarely cost less than £90–£150 all-in once travel and call-out are included.

Materials are charged on top of labour in most cases. VAT applies to all trade labour if the contractor is VAT-registered, which most established firms are. Smaller sole traders may not be VAT-registered, which reduces the invoice total but means there is no VAT reclaim available for landlords or businesses that might otherwise recover it.

For ongoing maintenance contracts with landlords — covering reactive repairs and periodic planned works — some contractors offer a retained arrangement or reduced day rates in exchange for a commitment to use them for all works across a portfolio. This can be worth exploring for landlords with multiple properties in the city, particularly where out-of-hours call-outs would otherwise be charged at premium rates.

Handyman versus renovation company — which is right for the job?

A handyman is the right choice for small, self-contained tasks: replacing a tap washer, fixing a door that does not close properly, filling and painting a patch of damaged plaster, replacing a broken fence panel. These are jobs that do not require coordination between trades, do not need building control sign-off, and can be done in a day or less. For this category of work, a handyman is cost-effective and responsive.

A renovation contractor — or a main contractor managing multiple trades — is the right choice for anything more complex. If a job involves more than one trade, or if the sequence matters (plumbing before tiling, electrical first-fix before plastering), managing it yourself with a series of independent handymen costs more in rework, callbacks and time than using a contractor who takes on that coordination. The assumption that self-managing trades is always cheaper falls apart the moment one trade's work affects another's, or something unexpected requires a decision that affects the whole programme.

There is also the question of accountability. If a handyman fits a new tap and it leaks six months later, tracing the cause and getting a remedy can be frustrating. If a renovation contractor completes a bathroom installation and there is a subsequent defect, the contract and the single point of accountability are both much clearer.

Is it cheaper to use one contractor for several trades?

For jobs involving three or more trades — bathroom plus flooring plus decoration, or kitchen plus electrics plus plastering — using a single contractor to manage all trades is almost always more cost-effective than sourcing them independently, once you account for the full cost. The individual day rates of a managed trade may be slightly higher than the cheapest sole trader you could find directly, but against that you must weigh: the time spent managing separate bookings and availability, the cost of delays when one trade is not ready for the next to start, the rework when trades have not coordinated (a plasterer who does not know where the electrician is running cables, a tiler who does not know the floor build-up thickness), and the absence of a single warranty across the finished work.

Where the equation shifts is on genuinely simple, isolated jobs. A single trade, single room, no dependencies — there a sole trader contacted directly is often fine and competitively priced. The complexity threshold, roughly speaking, is two trades touching the same space. Once that is true, the coordination argument for a managed contractor becomes compelling.

What should a landlord budget for end-of-tenancy repairs?

A working landlord maintenance budget for a Brighton or Hove rental property is 1–1.5% of the property's current market value per year, covering routine reactive repairs, annual gas safety checks, periodic electrical inspection, and occasional cosmetic renewal. On a Brighton flat valued at £350,000, that is £3,500–£5,250 per year — which sounds like a lot until you consider what a single unplanned plumbing emergency or a failed boiler costs without a maintained relationship with a contractor.

For end-of-tenancy work specifically, the realistic cost depends heavily on tenancy length, the condition when let, and how well the property was maintained during the tenancy. As a working guide for 2026 Brighton figures: a one-bedroom flat after a standard one- to two-year tenancy typically needs £900–£2,500 of work (redecoration, minor repairs, cleaning to a professional standard, possibly new flooring in one room). A two-bedroom flat needs £1,600–£4,500. A three-bedroom house needs £2,500–£8,000. Properties that were let without a recent refresh and have not had interim inspections are frequently at the upper end or beyond.

The most common end-of-tenancy cost items in Brighton rentals are: repainting throughout, replacing marks and scuffs in flooring and carpets, resealing silicone in bathrooms and kitchens, repairing plaster damage behind removed fixtures, and replacing light fittings that have been changed or damaged. Longer tenancies also accumulate gradual wear on kitchen and bathroom fittings that is not attributable to any single tenant but still needs addressing between lets.

The honest answer to "do I need planning permission for this?" is: it depends, and you should check before you start rather than after. Most internal renovation work — new kitchen, bathroom, flooring, decoration, even removing a non-structural wall — does not need planning permission. But Brighton and Hove has a higher-than-average density of listed buildings, conservation areas and leasehold properties, which means the planning question comes up more often than it would in a straightforward suburban house.

Conservation areas in Brighton and Hove

Brighton and Hove City Council has designated a significant number of conservation areas across the city. These cover much of the older housing stock — the Regency and Victorian seafront areas, Seven Dials, Cliftonville, Hanover, Montpelier, Preston Park and others. Conservation area designation does not prevent renovation, but it does mean that certain external changes — replacing windows, altering the front of the building, changing roofing materials, removing original features — may need planning consent even when they would normally fall under permitted development.

The practical effect for most homeowners is modest: if your work is internal, conservation area rules rarely affect you directly. But if you are changing windows to double glazing, converting a bay window, adding a roof terrace, or altering anything visible from the street, it is worth checking with Brighton and Hove City Council's planning department before committing. The Pre-Application Advice service is useful for exactly this kind of question.

Listed buildings

Brighton has a notable stock of listed buildings — Grade I, Grade II* and Grade II — concentrated particularly in the Regency seafront areas and the older central streets. If your property is listed, or if it is part of a terrace or conversion where any part of the building is listed, the rules tighten considerably. Listed building consent is required for any works that would affect the character of the building, which in practice can include internal alterations, changes to original plasterwork, replacement of original windows or doors, and even certain decorative changes.

If you are buying a listed property in Brighton with plans to renovate, it is worth getting specific listed building advice before exchange of contracts. The scope of permitted work is narrower than most buyers assume, and unauthorised work on a listed building is a criminal offence regardless of whether planning permission was technically required for the same work on an unlisted property.

Leasehold flats and freeholder consent

A large proportion of Brighton flats are held on long leases. This matters for renovation in ways that planning permission does not cover. The lease itself — not planning law — is what governs what you are allowed to do to the property. Most residential leases contain clauses about: alterations to the flat's layout or structure; fitting hard flooring over a certain area; changes to plumbing or drainage that could affect other flats; works that would affect the structure or external appearance of the building; and working hours that may disturb other residents.

In practice, this usually means that if you want to remove a wall, change the floor surface in a significant way, move a bathroom, or make any structural alteration, you need to get written consent from the freeholder or the managing agent before starting. Proceeding without that consent — even for work that seems minor — can leave you in breach of lease, which can create problems when you come to sell or re-mortgage.

The Party Wall Act

The Party Wall Act 1996 applies to work that affects a shared wall with a neighbouring property, or to excavations close to a neighbouring boundary. For a typical Brighton terrace — where you may share party walls on both sides — this comes into play if you are removing a structural wall adjacent to a party wall, altering the wall thickness, building a rear extension, or doing significant structural work near the boundary. The Act requires you to serve notice on your neighbour before starting such work, and to give them an opportunity to appoint a surveyor if they have concerns. This is not a complicated process, but it takes time, and starting work before serving the right notice can expose you to an injunction.

Building Regulations and planning permission are not the same thing, and confusing them is one of the more common mistakes homeowners make. Planning permission is about what a building looks like and how it is used. Building Regulations are about whether it is structurally sound, safe, energy-efficient and fit to live in. You can need one without the other, or both, or neither, depending on what you are doing.

Most decorating, floor replacement and kitchen refitting does not require Building Regulations approval. But certain categories of work always do — and failing to get it means the work is technically unregistered, which will usually come up when you try to sell or remortgage the property.

Structural alterations

Removing or altering a load-bearing wall always requires Building Regulations approval and a structural engineer's specification. This is non-negotiable. The Building Control officer will want to see calculations showing what is taking the load, the specification for the steel beam or other structural element, and evidence that the installation was done correctly — either through a Building Control inspection or, in some cases, through a contractor using the Competent Person Scheme where it applies.

In Brighton's older terraces, the question of which walls are load-bearing is not always obvious. Many Victorian houses were built with a mix of solid masonry partitions and lighter timber-framed walls, and not all of the masonry walls are structural in the way you might assume. Before opening up a wall, a structural engineer's assessment is worthwhile even if you think you know what is there.

Electrical work

Since Part P of the Building Regulations came into force, most electrical work in kitchens, bathrooms and outside is notifiable. This means it must either be carried out by a registered electrician who self-certifies through an approved scheme (NICEIC, NAPIT and others), or it must be inspected and certified by your local Building Control authority. Replacing a like-for-like socket or a ceiling light fitting in an ordinary room is generally not notifiable. Running new circuits, adding sockets in a kitchen or bathroom, installing an electric shower or underfloor heating system, or carrying out a consumer unit change all are.

The practical implication is that if your renovation involves any significant electrical changes — and most kitchen or bathroom renovations do — you want a Part P registered electrician who can self-certify the work and provide you with an Electrical Installation Certificate. Without that certificate, you cannot demonstrate to a buyer or mortgage lender that the electrical work was properly approved.

Bathrooms and ventilation

Bathroom ventilation is covered by Part F of the Building Regulations, which specifies minimum extraction rates for rooms containing a bath or shower. In practice, this means a bathroom without an openable window needs a mechanical extractor fan capable of extracting a minimum of 15 litres per second when in use, with an overrun timer to clear residual moisture. A toilet-only room without a window needs a minimum of 6 litres per second.

These are minimum figures. In practice, a bathroom with a large shower, a bath and a couple of regular users needs more extraction than the minimum to prevent mould and condensation problems. The fan specification matters, as does the position — a fan installed in a corner with no clear path to the outside air will not perform anything like its rated capacity. Ducting should be as short and straight as possible; each bend in the duct run reduces effective extraction.

Sound insulation in flats

Part E of the Building Regulations covers sound insulation in dwellings. If you are converting a house into flats, or if you are doing significant structural work to a floor or ceiling between two dwellings, you may need to demonstrate compliance with Part E. For an ordinary flat renovation where you are replacing the floor covering, Part E does not automatically require a formal test — but the lease almost certainly has its own requirements about impact sound transmission, and those can be more demanding than the regulation minimum.

The standard test for sound insulation is measured in decibels of airborne sound reduction and impact sound pressure level. In practical terms, this means the difference between a good acoustic underlay and a basic one is measurable and real — not just a marketing claim. For flats in converted Victorian and Edwardian houses, where the floor construction is typically suspended timber with no acoustic insulation at all, the floating floor system chosen for a renovation can make a significant difference to the relationship with the flat below.

Brighton and Hove's housing stock is more varied than most UK cities of similar size, and the type of property you are working with shapes almost every decision in a renovation. What works well in a 1970s purpose-built flat can cause problems in a Regency conversion. What is standard in a 1930s semi is different from what is appropriate in a Victorian terrace with original lime plaster walls. Understanding the building first is not pedantry — it is the difference between a renovation that lasts and one that needs redoing.

Regency and early Victorian properties

The Regency-era stock — particularly in the Brunswick, Kemp Town and Cliftonville areas — represents some of the most architecturally significant housing in the city, and also some of the most technically demanding to renovate. These buildings were constructed with solid masonry walls (brick or stone), lime mortar jointing and lime plaster internally. They breathe. That word gets used loosely, but what it means in practice is that moisture moves through the wall fabric as part of the building's normal functioning, rather than being blocked and directed outward through a cavity.

The problem arises when modern materials are introduced without understanding this. Modern cement render, impermeable paint systems and gypsum-based plasters applied to lime-mortared walls can trap moisture rather than allowing it to move. The moisture finds another route — usually through the plaster face, behind skirting boards, or at the base of the wall — and the result looks like damp, because it is. The solution is not more waterproofing. It is using compatible materials: lime plaster, breathable paint, appropriate ventilation.

Many of these properties are also listed or in conservation areas, which adds the planning dimension described above. And they are often converted into flats, which adds the leasehold dimension.

Victorian terraces

Brighton's Victorian terraces — in Hanover, Preston Park, Fiveways, Elm Grove and similar areas — are broadly better understood by the building industry than the Regency stock, but they have their own characteristics. Suspended timber floors at ground level are standard, and they often have some degree of movement, particularly closer to the walls. Subfloor ventilation is important; if the airbricks have been blocked over the years (very common), the timbers can suffer, and the floor can be more flexible than expected.

Original sash windows in Victorian terraces are generally repairable and draught-proofable without replacement, and in conservation areas this is often the preferred approach anyway. Where windows have already been replaced with poor-quality UPVC, the draught-proofing is sometimes worse than the originals — bad-fitting UPVC lets cold air in at the frame and provides no acoustic separation from the street.

Victorian kitchens were typically rear additions or ground-floor back rooms, and they often have the most complex combination of conditions: external walls on multiple sides, proximity to drainage, original tiled or quarry-tiled floors that may conceal earthwork or broken hardcore beneath. Before a kitchen renovation in a Victorian property, the floor condition deserves specific attention.

Converted flats in older buildings

The majority of conversions from house to flat in Brighton happened piecemeal throughout the twentieth century, and the quality of those conversions varies considerably. In a well-done conversion, there will be proper separation between flats, decent fire stopping, adequate sound insulation and sensibly routed services. In a poorly-done one, the drainage from the flat above may pass through your bathroom ceiling, the ceiling between flats may be just original floor boards and plaster with nothing between, and the electrical installation may date from decades before current standards.

Before renovating a flat in an older conversion, it is worth understanding what is actually there. The ceiling above your living room might be straightforward plasterboard. Or it might be the floor of the flat above, with Victorian boards and an original 1930s plaster ceiling beneath. Opening it up could be simple — or it could change the acoustic performance of the flat above in ways that affect your relationship with your neighbours and potentially your lease obligations.

Lower-ground and basement flats

Brighton has a significant number of lower-ground-floor flats, particularly in the older terraces and the seafront area. These are the flats that sit partly or fully below pavement level — sometimes with a lightwell, sometimes with a rear garden at a lower level than the road. They are popular, often large relative to price, and genuinely challenging to get right in terms of damp and ventilation.

The issue is not usually rising damp, though that can exist. More commonly it is a combination of below-grade walls that are cooler than the interior air, limited natural ventilation, and condensation forming on those cooler surfaces. The visual result — dark patches, mould at skirting level, black spots on wall corners — is the same whether the moisture is coming from outside or being generated by normal living and not extracted. The solutions are different. A breathable decoration system and a properly specified mechanical ventilation strategy will address condensation. A tanking or drainage membrane system addresses genuine water ingress. Using one approach to solve the other's problem tends not to work.

1930s semi-detached houses

The 1930s housing in Hangleton, Portslade, Patcham and parts of Hove is generally more straightforward to renovate than the older stock. Cavity walls offer better thermal and moisture performance than solid masonry, and the floor plans are more regular. The challenges tend to be cosmetic legacy — Artex ceilings that may predate the 1980s asbestos regulations (and may therefore need testing before work begins), old boiler systems that need upgrading to work with modern radiators or underfloor heating, kitchens that were fitted in the 1990s and are now at end of life.

Cavity walls from this era were not insulated when built, and filling the cavity with insulation is a popular upgrade. This is generally effective, but the quality of installation matters. Poorly injected cavity fill can leave cold bridges, and in some coastal-exposed elevations the cavity fill can allow wind-driven moisture to migrate across to the inner leaf. If you are considering cavity wall insulation, the condition of the external render or brick pointing should be checked first.

Materials decisions in renovation tend to happen late in the planning process, because they are the visible part — the part you can browse online and collect samples for. The difficulty is that the right material for a room is determined by the building it sits in, the conditions it will face, and the use it will get. Choosing finishes before understanding those conditions produces results that look fine initially and begin to fail within a few years.

Paint systems for older Brighton properties

The paint question is not really a paint question — it is a substrate question. On a modern plasterboard wall in a new build, a standard vinyl emulsion is perfectly adequate. On a lime-plastered wall in a Victorian or Regency property, the same paint can be a problem. Vinyl and acrylic paints form an impermeable film. Applied to a wall that contains moisture — or that is in a building that naturally cycles moisture through its fabric — that film can prevent evaporation, causing the moisture to accumulate behind the paint film and eventually force it off the wall.

The alternative is mineral paints or limewash-based systems, which are vapour-permeable and allow the wall to breathe. These are not specialist products requiring unusual sourcing — most good builders' merchants stock them, and several well-known brands produce products specifically marketed as breathable. They do cost more than standard emulsions, and they require more careful application. But on the right substrate, they last significantly longer and behave more predictably.

For external walls in Brighton — particularly south- and west-facing elevations exposed to Channel weather — the paint system needs to be durable against wind-driven rain and UV. A specialist masonry paint with good weather resistance is appropriate. Silicone-modified masonry paints offer good water rejection while still allowing some vapour movement. The key is preparation: any paint system on exterior masonry will fail quickly if applied over poorly-pointed joints, failing render, or surfaces that have not been properly cleaned and primed.

Flooring for flats: acoustic considerations

In any flat renovation, the floor finish decision is as much an acoustic decision as an aesthetic one. Impact noise — the sound of footsteps, dropped items and chair legs on a hard surface — travels through floor structures with surprising efficiency, particularly in older buildings where the floor construction is entirely timber with no acoustic insulation. In a purpose-built block from the 1960s or later, there is usually some concrete structure that attenuates impact noise significantly. In a Victorian conversion, there typically is not.

The standard acoustic solutions for a floating floor installation in a flat are: a high-density acoustic underlay beneath LVT or laminate, a floating timber sub-deck (raised on acoustic cradles or resilient pads), or a poured screed over resilient acoustic insulation. Each offers different performance levels and different installation complexities. For most residential flat renovations, a good acoustic underlay beneath LVT provides a meaningful improvement over a bare subfloor. For situations where the lease specifies a minimum sound reduction requirement, or where there is a documented dispute with the flat below, the higher-specification floating deck or screed system is more appropriate.

LVT (luxury vinyl tile) is currently the most popular choice for flat renovations because it is thin, dimensionally stable, waterproof and reasonably comfortable underfoot. The quality variation within the LVT category is significant — entry-level LVT can show wear within a few years in a busy hallway, while a good-quality commercial-grade LVT with a 0.55mm wear layer is effectively indestructible in normal residential use. The wear layer thickness is the single most important specification.

Engineered wood is a popular choice where clients want the warmth and texture of real timber. Unlike solid wood, engineered boards are more dimensionally stable across the humidity range typical of a heated home — a genuine advantage in Brighton, where seasonal humidity variation can be significant. The core is typically plywood or HDF with a real timber veneer on top; the thickness of that veneer determines whether the floor can be sanded and refinished later. A 3mm or 4mm top layer can be sanded once or twice over the floor's lifetime. A 0.6mm veneer — which appears on some cheaper products marketed as engineered wood — cannot be sanded at all.

Bathroom waterproofing

The tile is not the waterproofing. This is the single most misunderstood aspect of bathroom renovation. Ceramic and porcelain tiles are impermeable, but the grout joints between them are not. Over time, grout absorbs water, the silicone seal around the bath or tray fails, and moisture finds its way into the substrate behind. If that substrate is plasterboard without a waterproof backing, the result is a saturated wall structure that can take months to show visible signs of failure and will need full strip-out to fix properly.

The appropriate waterproofing for a wet area — shower enclosure, around a bath, behind a wet room floor — is a tanking membrane or a liquid waterproof system applied to the substrate before tiling. This can be a sheet membrane bedded in modified adhesive, a brush-applied tanking slurry, or a proprietary liquid-applied system. Any of these, applied correctly to the full wet area and taken into the floor-wall junction, will outlast the tiles above it. Tiling directly onto standard plasterboard with no backing waterproofing is not acceptable practice regardless of how good the tile adhesive is.

Most visible defects in a property are symptoms, not the problem itself. Treating the symptom without understanding the cause is one of the most reliable ways to spend money twice. This section covers the defects that come up most often in Brighton and Hove renovation work — not as a comprehensive diagnostic guide, but as a starting point for understanding what might be behind them.

Why paint keeps peeling

Paint peels off walls for several different reasons, and the right response depends on which one applies. In a coastal city like Brighton, salt is a genuine factor — particularly for properties within a short distance of the seafront. Salt carried in on sea air gets into walls and, when it is wet and dry cyclically, it expands and contracts in a way that breaks the bond between paint and plaster. This is called efflorescence in its more obvious form (white crystalline deposits on the surface), but it can also appear simply as bubbling and peeling paint with no white powder visible.

Fresh plaster is another common cause. New gypsum plaster needs to dry out fully before decoration — typically several weeks in a heated environment, longer in winter or in rooms with limited ventilation. Painting over plaster that is still releasing moisture traps that moisture behind the paint film, which peels. The solution is straightforward in principle (wait longer before painting) but is regularly skipped on jobs where the finishing trades are booked in before the plaster has had adequate time.

Mismatched paint systems cause peeling too — particularly when an oil-based paint has been applied over a water-based one, or vice versa. The two materials have different rates of expansion and contraction and different surface energies; in practice, they often do not bond reliably. If you are painting over an existing surface and do not know what is there, a shellac-based primer that accepts both oil and water-based topcoats over it is a safe approach.

Damp — the different types and why they matter

In the UK, almost every moisture-related problem in an older property is categorised loosely as "damp," but the word covers at least three distinct mechanisms that require different solutions. Getting a damp survey that does not distinguish between them is largely useless.

Rising damp — the classic damp-proof course failure — involves water from the ground migrating upward through the wall structure by capillary action. It is less common than it was historically, but genuine rising damp does occur, particularly in properties where the original damp-proof course has failed or been bridged (for example, by external ground levels being raised above the DPC line through later landscaping or path laying). It appears as a characteristic tide mark on the lower section of a wall, typically between 300mm and 1,000mm above floor level, and tends to be consistent in appearance across the wall rather than localised.

Penetrating damp arrives from outside through a specific defect — a failed mortar joint, a crack in render, a leaking parapet gutter, a window that is not properly sealed to its frame, or a flat roof with failing membrane. It is localised to the area above the defect, and often follows a damp streak that tracks from a specific point. In Brighton's coastal terraces, penetrating damp on south-facing or west-facing elevations is common because those faces take the most direct weather. In many cases the source is straightforward: failed pointing, cracked render, or a leaking gutter or downpipe that needs repairing rather than the wall being treated at all.

Condensation is the most common moisture problem in flats and in rooms with limited ventilation, and it is frequently misdiagnosed as rising or penetrating damp. Condensation forms on cooler surfaces when warm, humid air comes into contact with them. In a poorly ventilated flat, those surfaces are typically the outer corners of rooms (thermal bridges), the bottom of north-facing walls, the area around single-glazed windows, and any surface that is slower to warm up than the rest of the room. The moisture is not coming from outside or from the ground — it is being generated by cooking, bathing, breathing and drying laundry inside the property, and it has nowhere to go.

The response to condensation is improved ventilation and, where possible, improved thermal performance of the surfaces where it is forming. Painting the affected area with a mould-resistant paint addresses the mould but not the moisture. A dehumidifier reduces symptoms but does not solve the problem if the source of moisture generation is not addressed alongside it.

Blown plaster and what it means

"Blown" plaster is plaster that has detached from its background — you can hear it if you tap the wall, as it produces a hollow sound rather than a solid one. It does not always fall off immediately; blown plaster can remain in place for years before it finally fails. But it is a sign that the bond between the plaster and the wall behind has broken down, and decorating over it will not re-bond it.

In older properties, blown plaster on lath-and-plaster ceilings and walls is extremely common and is usually the result of age, movement, or moisture at some point in the building's past. The options are: remove the blown sections and re-plaster like-for-like; remove the entire lath-and-plaster and replace with plasterboard; or, in some cases, inject specialist consolidation products to re-attach the plaster to the lath. Each approach has its place — the choice depends on how extensive the blowing is, the sensitivity of the surface (a decorative plaster ceiling in a period property warrants more care than a standard wall), and the budget for the work.

On a gypsum-plastered wall in a more recent property, blown plaster is usually moisture-related — either from a nearby leak, from rising damp at the base, or from condensation over an extended period. Replastering the blown section without addressing the moisture source will result in the new plaster blowing within a similar timescale.

Noisy and bouncy floors

Suspended timber floors — the norm in Victorian and Edwardian properties in Brighton — make noise. Some creaking in older floor systems is essentially normal and is caused by boards moving against each other or against the joists as the timber responds to temperature and humidity. But excessive movement in a floor, or a floor that feels springy to walk across, usually indicates something more than normal seasonal movement.

Common causes include: joists that have been notched or drilled for services runs and have lost structural capacity as a result; joist ends that have deteriorated at the wall bearing (often due to moisture from below if the subfloor ventilation is poor); boards that have never been properly fixed to the joists; and subfloor ventilation that has been blocked, allowing moisture to affect the timber from below. Any of these conditions can make a floor feel insecure and, if left unaddressed, can progress to a point where the floor system needs significant structural intervention.

Before fitting any new floor finish over a suspended timber floor, the condition of the subfloor deserves proper investigation — not just a visual check from above, but ideally access to the underside through a floor hatch or a lifted board. The cost of this investigation is modest; the cost of a failed floor installation over a subfloor that was not properly checked is not.

The order in which renovation work happens is not a minor logistical detail. It is one of the more important decisions in the whole project. Trades done in the wrong sequence damage each other's work, create rework, and add to cost and time. This is not a theoretical risk — it is something that happens on badly managed jobs with real regularity.

The right sequence for most renovation projects

The general principle is to work from the inside out, from the structure outward to the finish, and from the top of the building downward. Strip-out comes first — removing anything that is leaving, including old kitchens, bathrooms, floor coverings and damaged plasterwork. This is the stage when hidden defects become visible, and it is the right time to find them.

After strip-out, structural work happens — wall removals, beam installations, anything that involves making holes in the structure. Then first-fix services: the electrical cables, plumbing pipes and any ventilation or heating pipework that will be concealed within walls, floors or ceilings. Then plastering, which covers up the first-fix work. Then second-fix services: sockets, switches, radiators, valves, the visible elements that are fitted once the plasterwork is complete and dry. Then flooring — at least in areas where the floor is not going under a kitchen or bathroom. Then kitchens and bathrooms, which go in over the finished floor in most cases. Then decoration — painting and papering. Then the floor finish in areas that were not laid earlier. Then snagging.

The sequence gets complicated by lead times. If the kitchen is on a twelve-week lead, the kitchen installation cannot happen until week twelve even if the room is ready at week eight. If the staircase refurbishment requires a specialist joiner who is booked out for several weeks, the programme needs to account for that. Good project planning anticipates these bottlenecks and works around them rather than discovering them when a trade arrives and finds they cannot start because something is not ready.

How to compare renovation quotes meaningfully

Comparing three quotes by total number alone is almost always misleading. The question is not which contractor has the lowest number — it is which contractor has priced the most complete scope. A quote that includes stripping out the existing floor tiles, levelling the subfloor, installing cement board, applying full waterproofing and then tiling is a different quote from one that starts from applying tile adhesive to whatever is already there. Both might produce a tiled bathroom. Only one is priced to last.

The most useful thing to do when comparing quotes is to ask each contractor to describe their method, not just their price. Ask how they will handle the subfloor. Ask what they will do if they find a problem behind the tiles. Ask who coordinates if there are multiple trades. Ask what is specifically excluded. The answers will tell you more about the quality of the work than the number at the bottom of the page.

Exclusions are particularly important. A quote that appears comprehensive may exclude waste disposal (which can add several hundred pounds to a bathroom strip-out), making good after first-fix (which can add a significant amount to a job with extensive electrical changes), or specialist access equipment (relevant in Brighton terraces where scaffolding or a tower on the pavement requires a permit). Know what is not included before you compare the included price.

Living through a renovation

Most people underestimate the disruption of a renovation in progress, particularly a full flat or house renovation. Dust travels further than expected. Noise is present earlier in the morning than feels reasonable. Access is repeatedly needed at inconvenient times. The project takes longer than the initial programme suggested, usually because something was found during strip-out that had to be addressed before the next stage could proceed.

If the project allows it, moving out for the most disruptive phase — typically the strip-out and structural work — is genuinely worthwhile. Living around a kitchen installation or a decoration phase is manageable. Living around a full strip-out with grinding, drilling and dust generation is not something most people want to do for longer than necessary.

The practical issues to think about before work starts: where will you eat and cook if the kitchen is out of action? Where will you shower if both bathrooms are being done simultaneously? Where will tradespeople store materials and park? Is there a secure space for materials and tools overnight? Who is the single point of contact for decisions when you are not on site? Answering these before the project begins prevents a significant amount of frustration during it.

Snagging — the final phase

Snagging is the process of identifying and rectifying minor defects at the end of a project before it is signed off. Every renovation has a snag list; the only question is how it is handled. A good contractor will carry out their own check before asking the client to do theirs, and will address anything identified promptly and without dispute. A poor contractor will dispute items, drag their feet or consider the job finished the moment the last trade has left the site.

When snagging, be systematic. Work room by room. Check that all doors hang properly and close without binding. Check that all skirting boards and architraves are flush and properly painted. Check grout lines for consistency. Check that all switches and sockets are level. Check that the paint finish on walls is consistent without holidays or runs. Check the silicone sealant at all junctions. Make a written list with photographs and share it formally — not verbally. A signed-off snag list provides clear reference if anything is disputed later.

One of the most consistent gaps in the conversation between homeowners and contractors is timescale. Clients often underestimate how long a project will take; contractors sometimes underestimate it too, particularly when the quote is based on a walkthrough rather than a fully specified scope. This section gives working timescales for common renovation jobs in Brighton and Hove, explains what should happen before any work starts, and covers the practical questions around deposits and waste removal that rarely get asked early enough.

How long does a bathroom renovation take?

A standard full bathroom renovation in a Brighton or Hove flat — strip-out, waterproofing, tiling walls and floor, fitting a new suite, second-fix plumbing and electrical — takes 7 to 12 working days in a straightforward case. That is one to two and a half weeks of consecutive working days, and it assumes the walls and floor are in acceptable condition once the old suite comes out. If the existing tiles come off to reveal a failed screed, significant blown plaster or plumbing that needs rerouting, add three to seven working days for the remedial work before tiling can begin.

The most common causes of a bathroom overrun are: unexpected condition of the substrate (far more common in older Brighton properties than people expect), bespoke tiles or sanitaryware on a longer lead time that was not confirmed before work started, and the drying time required after tanking and screeding before tiling can proceed. For a bathroom renovation in a Victorian or Edwardian flat, allow three to four weeks in your planning to be safe rather than optimistic.

How long does a full flat refurbishment take?

A full two-bedroom flat refurbishment — covering kitchen, bathroom, all flooring and full redecoration — typically takes 8 to 14 weeks from start to handover in Brighton and Hove. A light refresh covering only decoration and flooring in a flat that is otherwise sound can be done in 2 to 4 weeks. A renovation that also involves structural work, services upgrades or a second bathroom should be programmed at 14 to 24 weeks.

The single biggest driver of programme extensions is the kitchen lead time. Most mid-range and higher kitchens are on 6 to 12 week lead times from order to delivery. A programme that does not order the kitchen on day one — before first-fix even starts — will not be ready to install the kitchen until well after the rest of the flat is finished, leaving the client without a usable kitchen for longer than necessary. The second biggest driver is discoveries during strip-out, which happen on the majority of older Brighton and Hove properties and should be budgeted for in both time and cost from the beginning.

Can I live in the property during the renovation?

Whether you can live in the property during a renovation depends almost entirely on which phase is being carried out. During strip-out and any structural work — the noisiest, dustiest, most disruptive phase — it is not practical for most people, and for families with young children or anyone with respiratory sensitivity, it is a genuine health consideration. Dust from grinding tile adhesive, cutting timber and opening plasterwork travels throughout a property regardless of the dust sheets, and the noise level of demolition work is difficult to coexist with.

During second-fix, decoration and fitting phases, living alongside the works is much more manageable. The noise reduces significantly, the mess is more contained, and individual rooms can be handed back progressively. For a full flat renovation, the most practical arrangement is to move out for the first two to four weeks covering strip-out and structural or plastering work, then return once the property reaches a dusty-but-liveable stage.

The specific question of kitchen and bathroom availability is worth thinking through concretely before work begins. If both bathrooms are being renovated simultaneously, you need an alternative. If the kitchen is out of commission for six weeks, you need a plan — whether that is a temporary kitchen area, eating out, or temporary accommodation. Identifying these pinch points in advance is more useful than discovering them on day one of a project.

What happens before renovation work begins?

A well-run renovation project does not start on site before several things are confirmed. First, a proper site visit and survey by the contractor — not a walkthrough, but a systematic look at the condition of the property with the scope of work in mind. Second, a written quotation that specifies what is included, what is excluded, what the programme looks like, and what happens if something unexpected is found. Third, agreement on materials and finishes — floor tile, kitchen supplier, paint colours — so that there is no delay waiting for client decisions once trades are on site.

If the property is a leasehold flat, freeholder or managing agent consent for any structural or major alterations needs to be obtained before work starts, not during it. This process typically takes two to six weeks and can take longer if the managing agent is slow to respond or if the consent requires a solicitor's licence. Starting structural work without freeholder consent is a breach of lease that can have consequences when you come to sell or remortgage.

Materials with long lead times — particularly kitchens, bespoke tiles and sanitaryware — should be ordered at the point of contract signing, not when the relevant phase is approaching. A kitchen ordered on week six of a twelve-week project will not be ready to install until week eighteen. Order it on day one and it arrives when you need it.

Do I need planning permission for renovation work?

For most internal renovation work — new kitchen, new bathroom, new flooring, redecoration, removal of a non-structural partition wall — planning permission is not required. The work is internal, it does not change the use of the property, and it does not affect the external appearance of the building. This is true regardless of whether the property is in a conservation area, unless the work somehow affects the external fabric.

Where the planning question becomes relevant: any external changes (replacing windows, adding a dormer, altering the roof line, extending the building); internal structural changes to a listed building; converting a property to a different use (house to flats, or adding an annex). Brighton and Hove has a large number of conservation areas and listed buildings, and properties within them are subject to more scrutiny on external changes than elsewhere. The Pre-Application Advice service run by Brighton and Hove City Council is a practical way to check before committing to work that might require consent.

Building Regulations approval is a separate matter from planning permission and applies to a different range of work — structural alterations, electrical changes in kitchens and bathrooms, new boiler installations, and more. Many renovations that do not need planning permission do need Building Regulations approval. The two are frequently confused, and the distinction matters because Building Regulations sign-off is what you need to show a buyer or mortgage lender when you come to sell.

Who removes the waste from a renovation?

Waste removal should be explicitly confirmed in writing before work starts — never assumed. A renovation generates a significant amount of material: old tiles, plasterboard, timber, pipework, kitchen units, flooring. For a full bathroom renovation, the skip or waste runs alone can cost £400–£900. For a full flat renovation, waste disposal costs £1,000–£3,000 depending on volume and whether a skip or repeated van loads are used.

In Brighton and Hove, placing a skip on a public road requires a permit from the council. Not all streets allow skips, and permit applications take several days to process — so this needs to be organised before the skip is needed, not when the first load is ready. Some streets in the city centre, the seafront terraces and the Brunswick area have restrictions that make road-placed skips very difficult to arrange; in these cases, waste is typically removed by repeat van loads, which takes more time but is often the only practical option.

If your quote does not explicitly include waste removal, ask for a separate cost before accepting it. Comparing two quotes where one includes waste removal and one does not, without adjusting, is comparing different jobs.

Do I need to arrange the trades separately?

If you are using a main contractor or a renovation company, no — trade coordination is their responsibility. The plumber, the electrician, the tiler, the plasterer and the decorator work under the main contractor's programme, and their scheduling, sequencing and any disputes between them are managed by the contractor. Your contact is a single person or company; accountability for the finished result sits with them.

If you are sourcing trades directly — finding your own plumber, your own tiler and your own decorator separately — then yes, the coordination is yours. This can work for experienced clients managing straightforward sequences, but it breaks down whenever a trade arrives and finds they cannot start because the previous trade is not finished, or when work done by one trade causes a problem with another's. The most common issues are: a plasterer who plasters over an electrical cable run that was not yet inspected; a tiler who starts on a floor that has not been given sufficient time to cure; a decorator who begins before the plumber's second-fix leaks are confirmed dry. Each of these is a project management problem, and the cost of getting it wrong falls on whoever owns the coordination.

What deposit does a renovation contractor ask for?

A reputable renovation contractor in Brighton will typically ask for a start-of-works deposit of 10–25% of the contract value, with further payments at agreed milestones — commonly after first-fix completion, after second-fix and tiling completion, and a final balance on practical completion. For smaller jobs (a single bathroom, a floor installation), payment may simply be split: deposit on start, balance on completion.

The deposit serves a legitimate purpose: it covers the contractor's initial material purchases and allows them to commit labour to your start date. A contractor who asks for no deposit is unusual — it may indicate they are in financial difficulty and intending to fund your job from the previous client's final payment. A contractor who asks for 40–50% or more before starting, or for full payment in advance, is a red flag that should give pause regardless of how compelling the quote looked.

Staged payment structures protect both parties. You retain financial leverage at each stage; the contractor receives payment as work is completed rather than long after. If anything is disputed, staged payments give both sides an incentive to resolve it rather than walk away. Always confirm the payment schedule in writing before work begins, and match each payment to a defined milestone rather than a date — dates slip; milestones do not, because they are tied to what has actually been done.