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Just bought a property

You've Got the Keys. Now What Actually Needs Doing First?

You bought below the street's ceiling price because it needs work. You can see what it should be — a bigger kitchen, a proper bathroom, one less chimney breast, a layout that makes sense. What you need now is somebody who can tell you what is possible, what it costs, and what order to do it in.

We work on a lot of recently completed purchases across Greater Manchester — houses bought below the street's ceiling because the kitchen is from 1988, the bathroom is avocado, and there is a wall in the wrong place. The owners are not developers. They are people who want to live in the house, do it once, do it properly, and know that the money is still there when they eventually sell.

The first conversation is always the same three questions: what can this house physically take, what will it cost, and in what order should it happen? We answer all three at survey stage, before you have committed to anything.

Book a survey and fixed quote07932 955295

Sound familiar?

What people tell us in the first week after completion

These are the six conversations we have most often with new owners. If one of them is yours, the answer underneath is where to start.

“The kitchen and dining room are two poky rooms and I want one big one.”

Almost every 1930s semi and Victorian terrace we look at has the same problem: a small rear kitchen, a separate dining room, and a load-bearing wall between them. Take that wall out with a properly calculated steel and you get the open plan kitchen-diner the house was never built with. We handle the structural engineer's calculations, the steel, the padstones, the Building Control notification and the making good, so you get one price and one team rather than four.

Open plan kitchen conversions

“There's a chimney breast eating the best wall in the bedroom.”

A redundant chimney breast can swallow a metre of floor space in a small bedroom and makes furniture placement impossible. Removing it on one floor with gallows brackets or a steel typically takes three to four days. Taking the whole thing out including the stack, with the roof made good, takes five to seven. Both need Building Control sign-off, and both need the flue dealt with properly so you do not get condensation staining through the new plaster in a year.

Chimney breast removal

“The bathroom is tiny and there's a box room right next to it.”

First-floor structural work is where a lot of value sits. Knocking a box room into the bathroom gives you a family bathroom that actually works. Going the other way — splitting an oversized bedroom to create a fourth — can move a house into a different bracket. Both need the floor structure checked and the loading understood before anything comes out. We survey first and tell you which one the house can take.

Structural work & load-bearing walls

“The door is in the wrong place and the layout makes no sense.”

Moving a doorway, blocking up an old one, forming a new opening between two rooms, or squaring off an awkward hallway are small jobs that change how a house feels every single day. Some are non-structural and can be done in a day or two. Others sit in a load-bearing wall and need a lintel and a Building Control notice. We tell you which is which before you plan the rest of the work around it.

Layout alterations & new openings

“The survey flagged the roof and I don't know how serious it is.”

Homebuyer's reports flag roofs constantly, and the wording rarely tells you whether you are looking at a few slipped tiles or a full re-roof. We will read the report with you, get up there, and give you a straight answer. Roofing, scaffolding, and rainwater goods are coordinated as part of your programme, so the fabric is right before you spend money on plaster and kitchens underneath it.

Talk to us about the survey

“I want to live in it for a few years, then sell it on.”

That changes the specification, and it should. Work that is invisible at resale — the fabric, the roof, damp, wiring — has to be right or it comes back as a retention on your buyer's survey. Work that shows — kitchen, bathroom, floors, decoration — should be specified to still look current in four or five years, not to chase a trend. We will tell you honestly where money returns in your postcode and where it does not.

Full property renovation

Sequence

What to do first, and in what order

Getting the order wrong is the single most expensive mistake new owners make. A kitchen fitted before a wall comes out is a kitchen paid for twice.

  1. Step 01

    Deal with what the survey found

    Roof, damp, drainage, rot, structural movement. Fabric problems get worse and every one of them ruins finished work done above it. This comes first even when it is the least exciting money you will spend.

  2. Step 02

    Do the structural work and layout changes

    Wall removals, chimney breasts, new openings, moved doorways. Anything that changes where walls and openings sit has to happen before first fix, because it decides where sockets, radiators, pipework and lighting go.

  3. Step 03

    First fix: electrics, plumbing and heating

    Rewire or partial rewire, consumer unit, boiler and pipework, ventilation. Done with the new layout already in place so nothing has to be chased back out later.

  4. Step 04

    Plaster, floors and joinery

    Plastering, screeds, internal doors, skirting and architrave. The house stops looking like a building site at this point, which is usually the week people relax.

  5. Step 05

    Kitchen and bathroom

    Fitted last so they are not damaged by the trades working around them. Bathrooms are tanked properly before tiling. Kitchens go in once floors are level and services are where they should be.

  6. Step 06

    Decoration and handover

    Final decoration, and a handover pack with your Building Control completion certificate, electrical certificates, Gas Safe documentation and product warranties. Keep it — your buyer's solicitor will ask for it.

What it costs

Indicative Greater Manchester ranges, so you can sanity-check a budget before we visit. Every one of these is priced properly after a survey — these are not quotes.

  • Load-bearing wall removal with steel, including Building Control£1,800 – £5,500
  • Chimney breast removal, single floor£1,900 – £3,200
  • Chimney breast and stack removal with roof made good£3,500 – £6,000
  • New internal opening or relocated doorway£650 – £1,800
  • Full bathroom, tanked and tiledfrom £5,500
  • Fitted kitchen, supply and installationfrom £8,500
  • Whole-house renovation, three-bedfrom £35,000

Living in it while the work happens

Most people do, for most of the programme. We work room by room, seal off the areas in progress with dust barriers, keep one working bathroom and a functioning kitchen for as long as the sequence allows, and clear the site at the end of every day.

There are two points where moving out is worth it: the week the only bathroom is stripped, and the first-fix period on a full rewire when power and heating are intermittent. We flag those dates in the programme up front so you can arrange it.

Paperwork that matters at resale

Structural alterations, new bathrooms and electrical work are all notifiable. We notify Building Control, arrange inspections, and hand you the completion certificate along with electrical installation certificates, Gas Safe documentation and product warranties.

When you sell, your buyer's solicitor will ask for exactly this. Work done without it can cost you weeks and a price reduction — which is why we treat the handover pack as part of the job rather than an extra.

Resale

Spending it where it comes back

If you plan to sell in a few years, the specification should reflect that.

Across the areas we cover, the work that consistently returns more than it costs is the same short list: opening up a cramped rear kitchen into a kitchen-diner, adding a second bathroom or en-suite where the footprint allows, removing chimney breasts so bedrooms become genuinely usable, and replacing a dated bathroom. Those four change how a house shows and how it is valued.

The work that rarely returns its cost is anything highly personal, anything that removes a bedroom, and expensive finishes in a postcode that will not carry them. We will tell you before you spend the money, not after. If a £16,000 kitchen will not move the achievable price in your street, we will say so and suggest where that budget does more.

Structural work

See scope, timings and pricing

Open plan conversions

See scope, timings and pricing

Chimney breast removal

See scope, timings and pricing

FAQs

Questions new owners ask us

Can I remove a load-bearing wall in a 1930s semi?

Usually yes. The wall between the kitchen and dining room in a typical 1930s semi is load bearing, and it comes out with a steel beam sized by a structural engineer and supported on padstones. It needs Building Control notification and sign-off. We survey the property, arrange the calculations and give you a fixed price that includes the steel, the temporary propping, the making good and the certificate.

Do I need Building Control approval to move an internal door?

If the door is in a non-load-bearing stud wall and you are not affecting fire escape routes, generally no. If it is in a load-bearing wall, or you are altering a wall that protects the escape route from the bedrooms, then yes — the new opening needs a lintel and a Building Control notice. We check which applies before quoting so there are no surprises when you come to sell.

Should I do the structural work before the kitchen?

Always. Removing a wall or a chimney breast after a new kitchen is in means dust, damage, and moving services that have just been installed. Structural changes decide where everything else goes, so they come first, followed by first fix, then plaster, then the kitchen and bathroom.

How long does a full renovation take if I'm living in the property?

A whole-house renovation on a three-bedroom property typically runs six to twelve weeks depending on scope. Living in it is possible for a lot of that but adds time, because we work room by room and keep dust barriers up. The weeks the bathroom is out and the weeks of first fix are the hardest, and most people move out for those.

Will removing a chimney breast affect my mortgage or a future survey?

Only if it is done badly or without paperwork. A surveyor's concern is whether the breast above has been left unsupported and whether the work was signed off. Done with the correct support and a Building Control completion certificate, it is a non-issue at resale. Done without, it can hold up a sale.

Can you quote from my homebuyer's survey?

We can use it as a starting point, and it is genuinely useful for spotting what the seller did not mention. But surveys are deliberately cautious and vague, so we still visit and look ourselves before pricing. Bring the report to the survey visit and we will go through the flagged items one by one.

What does it cost to renovate a house you've just bought?

As a guide across Greater Manchester: a load-bearing wall removal with steel and Building Control typically runs £1,800 to £5,500; a single-floor chimney breast removal £1,900 to £3,200; a bathroom from around £5,500; a kitchen from around £8,500. A full whole-house programme on a three-bed usually starts around £35,000. We price the actual property after a survey rather than working from averages.

Do you work with people who aren't landlords?

Yes. A large part of our work is private buyers who have just completed on a house that needs work. The process is the same — survey, fixed written price, dated programme, one contractor for the whole job — and the paperwork you get at the end matters just as much when you come to sell.

Bought it. Now find out what it will actually cost.

Send us the address and what you are thinking. We survey, tell you what the house can take, and give you a fixed written price with a dated programme.

Request a quote07932 955295