The new kitchen at the Cold Norton house with stone worktops and central island, fitted as part of the whole house refurbishment.

Case study

Cold Norton: a whole house refurbishment, handed over on the day promised

The owners bought a house they could see past: an older property of a dated design, bought at a sensible price precisely because it needed a complete refurbishment. They were on a very tight timeline, with handover promised before Christmas. Around ninety days after we started, we handed over on the day we said we would.

Location	Cold Norton, in the Maldon district of Essex, the same district as Wickham Bishops and within easy reach of Chelmsford
Service	Whole house renovation
Project type	Whole house refurbishment and layout change
Value	£1.5 million
Duration	Around ninety days, handed over on the day promised

The brief

The brief and the challenge

The house was old fashioned in the full sense: a layout that did not suit how the family wanted to live, and finishes that dated every room. The owners knew this when they bought it, and they bought well because of it. The brief was a complete refurbishment, top to bottom, with the layout rethought rather than just redecorated.

The challenge was the clock. A fixed handover date changes how a project is run: the programme is built backwards from that date, materials are ordered before the first skip arrives, and every trade is sequenced with no slack hidden in the plan.

What we did

What Madisons did

We changed the room layout to make the house work, then fully reboarded and reskimmed every wall and ceiling so each room started from a clean, true surface. A modern staircase replaced the old one. Three new bathrooms went in. At the back, we opened up the space, installed sliding doors onto the garden and levelled the patio so inside and outside meet properly. The kitchen is new throughout, finished with stone worktops.

All of it ran under SMSTS qualified site management, sequenced trade by trade to the promised date, and finished to the same standard our deadline free projects get. The date moved nothing on quality.

The result

A full house renovation completed in around ninety days, handed over on the day promised. The owners bought an old fashioned house at the right price and got back a home that works the way modern family life does.

Client video testimonial

The owners tell the story of this renovation better than we can: the house they bought, the work, and the handover on the day promised.

Read the transcript

Man: Working with Craig has been pretty amazing, to be honest. We gave him probably the shortest time span he’s ever done. From when he first came around, we wanted it started as soon as possible. I think it was within three or four weeks that he was straight back on site. All the guys were ripping out the old house. It’s been really good along the way.

I think when we originally went to Craig with plans that I sort of drew up myself, he came up with much better plans that were a sort of better value that we could add to the house, and spend obviously less than what we were looking to spend. So that’s great, from someone who didn’t just come in and give us a, “Yeah, I’ll do whatever you want.” He actually gave us some advice and made things a lot better. So yeah, it’s been really great. He’s become sort of a friend as well. It’s a bit crazy. So, yeah, no, it’s been really enjoyable.

All the guys are really great as well. All of his team, really clean and always here to help. And nothing was ever too big of an ask. Even if he was walking around and you see something, you could just mention it to him and it was easily done. So yeah, that’s been really good.

I think you’ve had the same sort of experience, haven’t you? A lot less hands-on than I have. Obviously, I’ve been here a little bit more, so it’s been more on the telephone for you, hasn’t it, [inaudible]?

Woman: Yeah, no, I think he’s been, yeah, absolutely done more than we expected with the build. And yeah, even at the beginning, all the time, before he even committed to the project, he was around for hours on end, drawing up plans, changing things, giving us ideas. And that’s before we kind of committed to even working with him. So it was really good.

Man: Yeah, I don’t think you get that very often. And obviously, we hadn’t even paid him any money before he’d started to help us already. So it’s refreshing that someone like that is out there.

The clients’ own words as spoken in the film; one repeated phrase is trimmed and a few words that cannot be made out are marked.

Gallery

Before, during and after

Before

The house as the owners bought it: dated rooms, the old kitchen, and the staircase that would come out.

The old Cold Norton kitchen with its patterned floor tiles and part-stripped walls, the ceiling already opened above it.

The original red-carpeted open-tread staircase at Cold Norton, with strip-out beginning in the hallway beyond.

The dated hallway and red-carpeted staircase, the furniture sheeted over as the work started around it.

The Cold Norton hallway and landing with the old staircase, carpets already lifted to the bare floor.

Under the old staircase at Cold Norton: dated joinery and lifted floors at the start of the work.

A dated bedroom stripped of its furnishings, radiator removed and sizing notes pencilled on the wall.

A plain, dated bedroom at Cold Norton as bought, bare boards and an old radiator under the window.

The strip out

The house taken back: ceilings opened to the joists, props under the structure and the new openings formed.

Props and a lifting hoist in place where a new structural opening is being formed, the digger at work through the window.

A ceiling at Cold Norton opened back to its joists, the old pipework and wiring exposed for renewal.

A new bathroom at first fix: stud walls, membrane and pipework in place, the shower tray waiting to go in.

New stud partitions and plasterboard going in against the old tiled walls of a stripped bathroom.

Reboarded and reskimmed

Every wall and ceiling brought back to a clean, true surface, the new staircase in, and the first coats going on.

A reboarded ceiling in a Cold Norton bedroom, walls stripped back and boards stacked ready for plastering.

A Madisons operative in company uniform working at a window reveal beneath a freshly plastered ceiling.

The new staircase in place at Cold Norton, primed and ready for finishing, with the team at work in the room beyond. — The new staircase in, where the old open treads came out.

A bedroom skimmed and mist coated, back to clean, square surfaces before final decoration.

A reskimmed and painted bedroom, the loft ladder down from the newly lined hatch.

A freshly plastered and painted bedroom, with the last of the old wall surfaces still visible in the room beyond.

The hallway plastered, painted and lit, downlights in and a drying heater running as decoration starts.

The entrance hall taking shape: the new staircase wall skimmed, materials by the front door and the heater drying the fresh work.

After

Kitchen run at the Cold Norton house with integrated ovens, stone worktops and pendant lighting.

Kitchen island at the Cold Norton house looking out to the garden through the new sliding doors.

Stone worktop and undermounted sink detail in the new Cold Norton kitchen.

Open plan living space at the rear of the Cold Norton house with new sliding doors onto the garden.

The new staircase at the Cold Norton house with white spindles and grey carpet.

Main bedroom at the refurbished Cold Norton house.

Family bathroom at the Cold Norton house with mosaic feature strip, one of three new bathrooms.

New en suite shower room at the Cold Norton house with black towel radiator.

Ground floor cloakroom at the Cold Norton house with compact basin and black towel radiator.

Children's playroom at the refurbished Cold Norton house with glazed double doors.

Child's bedroom at the refurbished Cold Norton house.

Second child's bedroom at the refurbished Cold Norton house

Project FAQ

How long did the Cold Norton refurbishment take?

Around ninety days, and it was handed over on the day promised, before Christmas as the owners needed. The date was fixed before we started, so the programme was built backwards from it, with materials ordered before the first skip arrived.

What did the project involve?

A complete refurbishment with the layout rethought: rooms rearranged to suit the family, every wall and ceiling reboarded and reskimmed, a new modern staircase, three new bathrooms, sliding doors onto a levelled patio, and a new kitchen finished with stone worktops.

Can you work to a fixed deadline on our project?

We treat a deadline as a design constraint like any other: plan for it, then keep it. What Cold Norton shows is that the date moved nothing on quality, because the finish went in to the same standard our deadline free projects get. Tell us the date that matters and we will programme honestly against it, including telling you if it cannot be done.

A deadline we can build to

We respond to every enquiry within 24 hours.

Get a quote