A successful renovation is first of all a question of order. Each trade prepares the ground for the next, and every inversion is paid for in rework, delays and damaged finishes. Here is the timeline I follow, and what I have seen when it is not followed.
The question looks simple, and yet it is the one that saves or sinks a project. The logic fits in one sentence: you go from structural to decorative, from dirty to clean, from hidden to visible. Everything that breaks, drills or wets comes before everything that shows. Here is the full sequence.
| Stage | What happens | Why at this point |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Demolition | Removal of partitions, old coverings, fittings | You discover the real condition of the building before committing to the rest |
| 2. Structural work (gros œuvre) | New openings, structural repairs, roof | The messiest part, and everything else rests on it |
| 3. Services | First-fix electrics and plumbing, conduits, waste pipes | Chases and holes are cut while walls and floors are bare |
| 4. External joinery and insulation | Windows, doors, insulation, membranes | The building becomes airtight: drying and the secondary works can begin |
| 5. Plastering | Wall linings, partitions, ceilings, renders | It closes up the services and gives the final volumes |
| 6. Screed and floor substrates | Screed, levelling compound, drying | Cannot be compressed: a screed dries about 1 week per cm |
| 7. Interior joinery and painting | Doors, skirting boards temporarily set aside, paintwork | You paint without fearing knocks from the heavy work |
| 8. Floors and finishes | Wood flooring, fine tiling, skirting boards, kitchen, sockets and switches | The most fragile comes last, on a clean site |
The wood floor laid too early. A beautiful solid oak floor laid on a screed that had not finished drying: six months later, the boards had cupped, curved like roof tiles. The was still releasing its moisture, and the wood drank it. Rework: full sanding when it can be saved, taking the floor up when it cannot, often more than €1,000. A simple moisture test would have been enough.
The bathroom tiled before the final plumbing. The tiler came through, then the client wanted to move the shower 40 cm. Brand-new tiling had to be cut open again to re-run a waste pipe. The stage does not forgive improvisation: you freeze the plans before, not during.
The painting before the electrician. Walls finished, then along came the American-style fridge that needed a dedicated circuit: a chase cut into a brand-new wall, a paint touch-up visible forever. A fortnight's delay for one socket.
The gold-underlined words are explained on hover. All definitions are in the joinery glossary.
My honest opinion as a joiner, and I hold to it: floors last, always, and never mind if everyone is impatient to see the parquet. I have seen too many beautiful wood floors massacred by the trades that followed: the plasterer's ladder, a falling tile offcut, plaster ground into the grain of the wood. When a coordinator asks me to lay the floor 'to keep things moving', I say no. It is the most fragile item on the site and the most expensive to redo.
On paper, everyone agrees. In real life, the plumber is two days late, the plasterer turns up anyway, and the order explodes. That is why coordination is a real job: on my full renovation projects, you have a single point of contact who schedules the trades and checks every handover. And if you manage your own tradesmen, start with a pre-works advice visit: we set out the timeline of your project together, and you know who to call, and when. For the initial diagnosis of an old house, also read where to start renovating an old house.
For a house, allow 4 to 8 months of actual work depending on the surface area and the starting condition, not counting lead times for windows and doors and drying times that cannot be squeezed. Beware of over-optimistic schedules: a calendar that does not allow for the screed to dry is a false calendar.
Yes, provided you respect the order within that zone and the services that cross it have already been run. You can finish a bedroom and a shower room so you can live on the site. What you cannot do is fit the finishes in a room that the conduits for the other rooms will have to cross again.
Someone has to, otherwise it is you, by default, in the evening after work. On my renovation projects, I play that role: a single point of contact who schedules the electrician, the plumber and the plasterer in the right order, and who checks that each one leaves the site ready for the next.
I come and see your project, we set out the timeline together, and you know exactly who steps in when. The quote is free and the decision is yours. I speak English, so feel free to call or write in English.
+33 6 03 57 45 47Reply within 48 hours, or in writing: contact@agencementklein.fr
