Home Renovations and Refurbishment in Arundel
In the old part of town, the muck leaves through the hall
Price a renovation on one of these terraces and the first question is not the kitchen. It is how a ton of rubble gets from the middle of your house to a lorry. A good many of them have nothing at the back — no side alley, no gate, no gap between you and next door — so the only route out is the front door onto a lane that is steep, narrow and parked both sides.
Which means bags, a hallway and a vehicle that waits, loads and goes, since nothing can stand out there for much over an hour. That is hours of labour before a single wall is touched, and it belongs on the quotation as its own item. When we come to look, we walk the route the spoil will take before we cost the work it comes out of.
Two things worth saying straight. We have not built in Arundel — we cover it, we have priced work here, and there is no finished job of ours in the town to show you. And the handling above is the part most quotations leave out entirely, because a builder who has not walked your hallway has not allowed for it.
Want the building read before you commit? Book a free site visit. Building in West Sussex since 2002. Whatever we have running at the moment is set out on what we are on site with now.
Taking something down is a consent, not a decision
Renovations trip over this more than any other rule. Inside a conservation area demolition is controlled in its own right, and that reaches structures as well as buildings — a garden wall included. The obvious move on a landlocked plot, dropping a boundary wall to get plant into the back, is a planning question long before a logistics one.
Trees run on their own clock: six weeks' written notice to the council before anything but the smallest is felled, topped or lopped. Where a mature tree stands between road and works, those six weeks belong in the programme.
Establish which authority you are dealing with first
Arundel parish is split. Its northern part lies inside the South Downs National Park, where the National Park Authority is the planning authority. The town is administered by Arun District Council — evidenced by Arun's own weekly list, which carried a rear extension, loft conversion and window changes at 59 Tarrant Street under AB/142/25/HH.
The boundary runs through the parish, so the answer turns on your postcode rather than on the town name. We will not draw it for you: the Authority's own map warns its line is only an approximation. Building control is simpler. Arun District Council retains it throughout the district, National Park or not, so the inspector is the same either way.
One more thing worth settling before a designer starts. On a listed building the consent reaches indoors as well, so internal walls, fireplaces and panelling are caught along with the elevations.
What holds a job like this together
A long strip-out in a house you are still living in is won on paperwork as much as on trades. Itemised quotations past 200 lines with every assumption and exclusion written down. A payment schedule agreed before a tool leaves the van, then fortnightly valuations, a 5% deposit as standard, 5% retained to practical completion. CDM documentation, method statements, a health and safety file. James as the one person you ring throughout.
Work runs from full back-to-brick renovations through to single bathrooms, and the documentation does not change with the size. See our quotation process and building works and renovations.
All workmanship guaranteed for 24 months from completion. Manufacturer warranties on all materials and installed products passed to you in full — many run to 10 years or more. Structural work is signed off by Building Control and covered by our £2m public liability insurance. We're working towards an insurance-backed guarantee scheme and will offer it as soon as we're eligible.
Send the list, however long, and it comes back priced item by item. Call 07470 078236 or use WhatsApp. Company No. 16870716, with £2m public liability and employers' liability behind it.