It depends on scope, but a full home refurbishment typically runs 12–24 weeks. We give you a clear, realistic programme before any work starts, and keep you updated throughout.

Yes. We manage planning applications, building regulations and structural sign-off where needed, and work with trusted architects and structural engineers so you don't have to coordinate it all.

Fully. Alico Engineering carries full public liability insurance and all electrical, gas and heating work is completed by certified engineers to current UK regulations.

We're based in central London and take on residential projects across London and the surrounding areas — Hampstead, Kensington, Chelsea, Islington, Barnet and everywhere in between.

Tell us about your project using the form and we'll be in touch to arrange a site visit, scope the work and provide a detailed written quote.

Absolutely, ask us on the call and we'll share recent projects similar to yours, and references from clients in your area.

For a typical London house, allow 12–24 weeks on site once work starts, and add lead time before that for design, structural calculations, Building Control and any party wall awards. Structural work, listed building consent or a difficult access position will extend it. We give you a realistic programme with the quote rather than an optimistic one.

Sometimes, on a phased project where we can isolate a floor and keep a working kitchen and bathroom. For a whole-house refurbishment involving a rewire and heating replacement it is usually neither comfortable nor faster, and we'll say so. We'd rather tell you before you commit than halfway through.

Both. If you already have an architect we'll price and build to their information and coordinate with them through the job. If you don't, we work with structural engineers and designers we trust and can bring them in — you're not obliged to appoint a design team before you talk to us.

On a period property, you generally will — a failed lintel, buried services, previous work that was never certified. We tell you as soon as we find it, price the remedy against the original scope, and get your agreement before proceeding. Nothing goes on the final account that you haven't seen coming.

Yes. We make the Building Regulations application, book the staged inspections, and issue the gas, electrical and structural certificates at handover. You end the project with the paperwork you'll need when you come to sell.

Often not. Many single-storey rear extensions on a house fall within permitted development, subject to depth, height and boundary limits. But permitted development rights don't apply to flats, are restricted in conservation areas, and can be withdrawn entirely by an Article 4 Direction. We check your specific address rather than assume, and we recommend a Lawful Development Certificate even where permission isn't needed.

A single-storey rear extension is typically 10–16 weeks on site. A wrap-around or double-storey is usually 16–26 weeks. Add lead time in front of that for design, structural calculations, planning determination where required, and party wall awards — that front end is frequently longer than the build itself.

If you're building on the boundary, cutting into a shared wall, or excavating within three metres of a neighbour's foundation at a lower depth, then yes. Notices need serving two months before work starts for party wall work, one month for excavation. We flag this at quote stage so it doesn't become the thing that delays your start date.

Yes, and we'd rather see them early. Reviewing a set before it goes to tender usually surfaces two or three details that are expensive to build as drawn and cheap to resolve on paper.

Yes — foundations, drainage, temporary support and steelwork are all in-house rather than subcontracted out. It's the phase where coordination matters most and where a split programme causes the most delay.

Many rear dormer conversions on a house fall under permitted development, within volume limits and provided nothing extends beyond the existing roof plane at the front. Flats have no permitted development rights at all, conservation areas restrict them, and an Article 4 Direction can remove them. Mansards and ridge alterations almost always need a full application.

Roughly 2.4 metres from the top of the existing ceiling joists to the ridge gives you comfortable options once the floor build-up and rafter insulation are allowed for. Below that it can still be done by lowering the ceilings beneath, but that's a materially larger and messier job and we'd rather set that expectation at the survey.

Usually, yes. Once you have a third storey, Building Regulations require a protected escape route from the loft down to the final exit — in practice that means fire doors to habitable rooms off the stairwell on every floor, plus interlinked mains smoke alarms. It's a real cost and we include it in the quote rather than discovering it at inspection.

Most people do. The bulk of the work happens above the existing ceiling and off a scaffold. The exception is the week or so around cutting in the staircase, when the floor below is genuinely disrupted.

If the new floor joists or a steel bear into a shared wall — which on a terrace or semi they almost always do — then yes, notice needs serving. Two months before work starts for party structure notices.

A straightforward cellar conversion with adequate head height can be 8–12 weeks. A lowered floor with underpinning is typically 20–30 weeks. A full excavation under a house is usually 9–18 months including the consents. The party wall and planning process in front of the build is often six months on its own.

A correctly designed and installed Type C system with twin pumps, battery backup and accessible maintenance points is the industry standard for habitable basements and comes with an insurance-backed guarantee on the membrane. What no one can honestly guarantee is a system that is never serviced — the pumps and drainage channels need periodic inspection, and we set that out at handover.

It depends entirely on your borough and whether you're extending beyond the existing footprint. Converting an existing cellar with no external alteration often doesn't. Excavating under a garden, forming a lightwell, or altering the front elevation almost always does — and several London boroughs, RBKC especially, apply specific and restrictive basement policies. Check locally before you design.

For any excavation near their foundations, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 requires notice. In practice you should expect surveyors to be appointed, a schedule of condition of the neighbouring property to be recorded before work starts, and an award setting out working hours, monitoring and access. Handled early it's administrative. Handled late it stops the job.

In prime central London, where floor area is the constraint and the plot can't be extended outwards, frequently yes. Further out, an extension or a loft will almost always give you more usable space per pound. We'll tell you honestly which one your property suits.

Yes. We install kitchens from any supplier. It helps enormously if we can see the design before it's ordered — a twenty-minute review usually catches a service clash or an appliance that needs a circuit nobody has allowed for.

A straight replacement in the same layout is usually 2–3 weeks. Moving the kitchen, opening a wall or relocating drainage typically makes it 4–8 weeks. Add one to two weeks for stone worktops, which can only be templated once the units are in.

The cabinetry itself, no. But new electrical circuits are notifiable under Part P, gas work must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, structural openings need calculations and approval, and drainage alterations and ventilation are covered too. In practice most real kitchen projects touch at least one of these.

Usually. The constraints are drainage — how far you can run a waste with adequate fall before you need a pumped solution — and extraction, which needs a viable route to an external wall. Both are worth establishing before the design is finalised.

A same-layout replacement is typically 2–3 weeks. Moving the WC, forming a wet room or altering the floor structure usually makes it 3–5 weeks. Tanking and screeds have curing times that can't be rushed, which is often what people underestimate.

Usually yes, but the floor structure has to be checked first — a graded screed adds weight, and a linear drain needs depth within the floor build-up. On a traditional timber floor it's very often achievable with the right former; on some spans it needs the joists strengthening.

Electrical work in a bathroom is notifiable under Part P, and ventilation is covered by Part F. Adding a new bathroom where there wasn't one, or altering drainage, brings in more. A like-for-like replacement with no new circuits generally doesn't, but the electrical certification still matters.

A mechanical extract fan ducted to the outside, sized for the room and ideally on a humidity sensor or overrun timer. Venting into a loft void rather than through the roof or wall is common in older installations and causes condensation problems above the ceiling.

You need an engineer. Any beam supporting a load requires calculations, and Building Control will not sign the work off without them. We work with chartered structural engineers routinely and will arrange it — but no reputable builder installs a beam to a size they've guessed at.

The physical work on a single opening is typically one to two weeks including temporary support, beam installation, making good and fire protection. The design, calculations, Building Control application and any party wall notice in front of it usually take longer than the build.

Yes, on any floor. What matters is what happens to the stack above the point of removal — it has to be supported, normally on gallows brackets or a beam, and that support has to be designed. Removing a breast and leaving the stack above unsupported is one of the more dangerous things done to London houses and it turns up in surveys constantly.

No, and it's often not. Where movement is caused by a tree drawing moisture from clay, or by a leaking drain, the correct first step is removing the cause and monitoring. Underpinning is expensive, disruptive and affects future insurance — it should follow a diagnosis, not substitute for one.

Yes. You receive the engineer's calculations and the Building Control completion certificate. Keep both — they are the first things a buyer's surveyor will ask for.

Very possibly. Listed status covers the whole building, inside and out, and applies to anything affecting its special character — internal doors, fireplaces, staircases, plaster, panelling and layout changes included. It is separate from planning permission and required in addition to it. Unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal offence, so this is one to establish before starting rather than after.

It depends on the borough and on whether an Article 4 Direction is in place. Many conservation areas require timber windows matching the original profile and will refuse uPVC. Slim-profile double glazing in a timber frame is often acceptable where standard units are not, and secondary glazing is usually permitted where replacement isn't.

It exists but it is diagnosed far more often than it occurs. In most period houses we survey, the damp turns out to be a failed gutter or downpipe, raised external ground levels bridging the DPC, cement render trapping moisture in a solid wall, or condensation from inadequate ventilation. A chemical injection into a wall that has one of those problems doesn't fix anything.

Yes, but the material matters more than the U-value. Breathable insulation — wood fibre with a lime finish — allows the wall to continue managing moisture. Closed-cell insulation applied directly to solid masonry can trap moisture at the interface and cause decay in embedded timbers. We'd rather achieve a slightly lower thermal improvement than create a problem in the fabric.

Yes, routinely. On listed work a heritage statement is usually required with the application, and an early pre-application conversation with the conservation officer saves far more time than it costs.

Yes. All gas work is carried out by Gas Safe registered engineers, and you receive the installation and commissioning certificates on completion, with the installation notified to Building Control.

A straight swap in the same position is usually one to two days. Relocating the boiler, changing system type, or replacing pipework alongside it typically takes three to five days. A full heating installation across a house is generally one to two weeks.

Underfloor suits new build-ups, ground floors and solid screeds, runs at lower flow temperatures and frees up wall space. Radiators respond faster and are far less disruptive to retrofit on an existing suspended floor. Most of the houses we work on end up with underfloor downstairs and radiators above, which is usually the sensible answer rather than a compromise.

We install and design wet systems to run at lower flow temperatures, which is what determines whether a heat pump will work in a property. Even where you're fitting a gas boiler now, designing the emitters for a lower flow temperature means the system doesn't need replacing when you change the heat source.

For clients whose properties we maintain, yes — see our property maintenance service. We are not a general 24-hour emergency plumbing service.

For a typical three or four bedroom house, allow two to four weeks, split roughly evenly between first fix and second fix with plastering in between. It's considerably faster and cheaper in an empty property than an occupied one.

It's much easier if you can. Floors come up, walls are chased and power is intermittent throughout. Where staying is unavoidable we phase it floor by floor and keep working circuits, but it extends the programme.

Get an EICR — an Electrical Installation Condition Report. It inspects and tests the existing installation and reports coded defects. It's the honest way to answer the question, rather than taking a quote from someone who benefits from the answer being yes.

Yes. The main constraint is usually the incoming supply capacity rather than the charger itself — we assess the existing main fuse and load before specifying, and can install load management where the supply won't take a full-rate charger alongside everything else.

Yes — an Electrical Installation Certificate with the full schedule of test results, plus notification under Part P. It's issued as a matter of course, not on request.

No. We take on maintenance for properties we didn't build — it just starts with a proper survey and condition report so we understand the house first. Clients whose refurbishment we carried out do get faster response, simply because we already hold the information.

A planned annual visit typically covers the gas appliances and safety inspection, an electrical condition check, roof and rainwater goods, water systems and pressure, and any basement or pump equipment. You get a written report listing what was checked, what was fixed on the day, and what needs budgeting for.

For properties on a maintenance agreement, we hold response times as part of the agreement and prioritise accordingly. We are not a 24-hour emergency call-out service for the general public — our response commitments are to clients we look after.

For clients on a maintenance agreement, yes, including for properties that are empty or used part of the year. It's a common arrangement for second homes and properties between lettings.

It's set out in the contract for each project and confirmed in writing at handover, so you know exactly what's covered and for how long before work starts rather than after.

Tell us. Snagging doesn't close because a schedule was signed — things surface once a house is lived in and heated, which is exactly what a defects period is for.

Usually not, in the first year. New plaster and screeds dry out and the structure moves through its first heating season, and fine cracking at junctions is a normal part of that. We fill it as part of aftercare. Cracking that's wider, diagonal or stepped through masonry is a different matter and we'll look at it properly.

Yes. We can carry out an independent snagging inspection and produce a written schedule, whether or not we go on to do the remedial work.

Not for the general public. We hold priority response commitments for clients on a maintenance agreement and for properties we've refurbished. If you're not a client, a national emergency service will get to you faster than we can, and we'd rather say so.

Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 straight away — before you call us. Turn the supply off at the meter if you can do so safely, open windows, and don't operate electrical switches or naked flames. That line is staffed 24 hours and is the right first call.

It starts with a survey and a condition report on the property, after which we can put a planned maintenance agreement in place that includes priority response. Get in touch and we'll arrange the visit.

Annually. A Gas Safe registered engineer must inspect all gas appliances and flues every twelve months, and the record must be given to existing tenants within 28 days of the check and to new tenants before they move in.

At least every five years for privately rented property in England, and at the start of a new tenancy where the existing report has expired. Any C1, C2 or FI coded items must be remedied within 28 days, with written confirmation supplied to the tenant and, on request, the local authority.

Yes. We'll agree a value below which routine reactive repairs proceed without prior approval, and above which you get a quote before anything starts. It's what keeps small repairs from becoming a bottleneck.

Yes — decoration, repairs, compliance certificate refresh and making good, scheduled to the void window so the property is ready to re-let rather than waiting on a trade.

Both. Portfolios benefit most, because the planned schedule and certificate tracking is where the real time saving is, but we take on individual properties too.