Whole-house renovations · Chester · Cheshire · North Wales
Strip-out, structural, roof, first fix, second fix, kitchens, bathrooms, decoration. Every cost visible to you, at cost, with a fixed management fee and a fair ten percent on top. No padded quote, no variation surprises when the walls come down.
Clarity in Simplicity
The renovation pricing trap
A whole-house renovation stacks every unknown in construction on top of one another. Plaster you can't see behind. Joists you can't see under. Wiring installed across five decades by five different sparks. Plumbing runs that dodge around three previous kitchens. A roof that looks fine from the ground and isn't. Damp that only shows up when you strip the render off.
On a traditional fixed-price contract every one of those unknowns gets priced in as a risk premium — often 20 to 30 percent on top of the real cost of the work — plus a five percent "contingency" for the things that turn up. On a £300,000 renovation that's £60,000 to £90,000 you're paying purely to protect the builder's margin. If the unknowns don't bite, they pocket it. If they do, half the time you get a variation on top anyway.
Open-book flips the whole thing. You see the real cost of every trade, every merchant delivery, every steel and every window as we pay for it. You get a fixed management fee agreed on day one and a fair ten percent on top for overheads and profit. On our active Chester renovations at Coney Rough, Vincent Drive and Kennel Cottage, clients are watching the actual spend live on Buildertrend, not waiting for a shock at final account.
Why open-book on a whole-house renovation
Fixed-price renovation quotes carry the biggest padding in the industry — 20 to 30% "just in case", plus a 5% builder's contingency. On a £300,000 renovation that's £60,000 to £90,000 you're paying to protect the builder. Under open-book, that money stays with you.
Once the floors come up and the walls open, houses tell you the truth. Under open-book, historic rot, dead wiring, old lead pipe or perished flashings get shown to you with the real cost of the fix and our flat 10%. No dramatic variation letters weeks later.
On a renovation you're spending real money with real merchants across dozens of trades. Every discount we secure — steel, timber, plasterboard, tiles, sanitaryware — passes through to you at cost. Ten percent on top is our margin, not our merchants'.
What's covered
Opening up ground floors into one space, taking out chimney breasts, installing steel beams, underpinning where needed. Engineer-designed, building-control signed off, and every steel and every bag of grout invoiced at cost plus 10%.
Full rewire and full re-plumb where the existing services aren't fit for the new layout. New consumer unit, new boiler, hot and cold runs, gas, drainage. Part P and Gas Safe registered sub-contractors, priced openly, no hidden mark-ups.
Full re-roofs, re-slating, new felt and battens, fascia and soffit renewal, leadwork, dormers, roof lights and rooflights. Priced from a proper survey — never from a guess based on age.
Internal doors, staircases, skirtings, architraves, bespoke built-ins, feature panelling. New windows and external doors specified for U-value, acoustic performance and aspect. Every specialist package comes through openly at cost plus 10%.
Full kitchen and bathroom refits as part of the wider renovation. Work with your chosen supplier — Wren, Howdens, DIY-Kitchens, Neptune, independent — or source at trade. Fitted properly with all first- and second-fix carpentry, tiling, plumbing and electrics coordinated.
Plastering, painting, flooring, tiling, external render, driveways and gardens where they're part of the scope. Anything not included is called out clearly up front — no surprises about what "finished" actually means.
Where we work
Our base in Rossett puts us within an hour of every renovation we take on — through Chester (Hoole, Handbridge, Christleton, Boughton, Newton, Vicars Cross, Upton, Blacon), out to Tarporley, Tarvin, Tattenhall, Malpas, Farndon and Waverton, across to the Wirral villages, and over the border into Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham. If you're planning a full renovation in this region and want to see every number before you commit, we'll come and walk the house with you.
What clients say
Ben and his team were meticulous in planning and really clear in their communications throughout. From start to finish, the project ran seamlessly and was actually delivered earlier than anticipated. After this positive experience, we're booking for a further renovation and extension project with Built Clear in the next six months.
Jack Best · Google Review · June 2026
Common questions
A full renovation in Chester typically runs £1,800 to £2,800 per square metre for a strip-out-to-shell rework of an existing house, and £2,600 to £3,600 per square metre where structural remodelling, re-roofing and new services are involved. A 180 sqm three-bed rework at the upper end sits around £470,000 to £650,000 in build cost, before fees, VAT, kitchens and landscaping. Because we work on an open book you'll see every trade and merchant invoice at cost plus 10%, not a padded fixed number.
A full renovation of an average three-bed Chester house runs 26 to 40 weeks on site, and a larger house or one with a big extension element 40 to 60 weeks. Timeline is driven by structural design, MEP first fix, roof and glazing lead times, and finish level. We build the whole programme from your plans before quoting and share every gate and milestone on Buildertrend.
Very rarely on a true whole-house renovation. Once the floors, ceilings, wiring and plumbing are open, and the boiler and heating are off, the house isn't habitable. Most clients move out for the strip-out and first-fix phase, then move back in for second fix and finishes if we can phase the works safely. On smaller reworks — a floor at a time, kitchen and downstairs only — living in is sometimes doable. We plan this into the programme up front, not halfway through.
Yes. Listed buildings and heritage properties are handled with the right consents in place — listed building consent, conservation area consent, historic environment liaison where the local authority requires it. We work with heritage-experienced structural engineers and joiners, and we're honest about the trades we'll bring in and the trades we won't touch without a specialist package. Cost plus 10% still applies on every invoice — heritage work is expensive, but we don't add a premium for it.
Yes, and often it's the sensible answer. A logical phase-1 (strip-out, structural, new roof, first fix), phase-2 (second fix, kitchen, main bathroom) and phase-3 (decoration, landscaping, garden room) can be planned so the house is watertight and useable between phases. We'll plan and price each phase openly, agree the management fee for each on its own scope, and keep 10% on the costs across all of it.
Under a fixed-price contract this is where clients get hit hardest — every hidden defect becomes a variation you can't argue with. Under open-book, when we lift floors and find the joists have historic rot, or strip walls and find the wiring is pre-1970s, we show you the real cost of putting it right, add our flat 10%, and keep going. No padded contingency, no dramatic variation orders. You see exactly what we found and what fixing it actually costs.
Discuss your renovation
Whether you've got a full drawings pack ready or you're standing in the house wondering where to start, we'll have an honest, open-book conversation about what it will really cost to renovate.