Planning a House Renovation — What to Do First

Renovating an entire house can feel too big to take on as one project, and rightly so — that's why it's best to divide the work into logical phases in advance, instead of doing it chaotically as each problem comes up.

The first phase is usually the exterior — roof, facade and joinery — since they determine whether the house will be protected from damp and heat loss while you work on the interior. There's little point investing in interior finishes if the roof or facade is still letting in moisture.

The second phase is installations — electrics and plumbing, especially if they're old and you're planning to replace them. It's better to open the wall once and deal with everything at the same time than to do it in several rounds over the years.

Only at the end come surfaces and furniture — plastering, painting, tiling, flooring and installation. You can carry out this order in phases spread over a longer period, tailored to your budget, as long as you respect the basic logic — exterior before interior, installations before finishing.