Renovation sequence for an interior design project, without rework

The renovation order for an interior design project, without rework — the short answer

The studio runs every renovation to a finished interior design project in the same order: the technical documentation is handed over for construction, rough works follow its drawings and details, then come the building services, tied to the approved layout, and only after that the final finishes. Design supervision doesn't just cover the final handover: it accompanies each of these stages, checking the result against the project while a deviation can still be put right without loss.

Below is what lies behind each step of this order, where deviations from the project happen most often in practice, and what to do if a contractor suggests departing from the drawings.

The order of stages: from demolition to handover

Below is the actual sequence of works on site, as it is built into the turnkey renovation service: what happens at each stage, and what needs to be ready before it can start.

1. Demolition. Finishes and structures that don't match the interior design project are removed, including all of the developer's plaster where its quality isn't good enough for the final finishes to come. It starts once the interior design project is approved and, if the layout is changing, once approval for that has been obtained.
2. Partitions. Partitions are built and taken down according to the project layout. It starts once demolition is finished, when the base is cleared down to the slabs and load-bearing walls.
3. First-fix building services. Electrics, water supply and drainage are run in to the positions given in the technical documentation: the heights and outlet points set in the drawings. It starts once the partitions are up and the final geometry of the rooms is visible.
4. Screed and plastering. Floors and walls are levelled for the final finishes, covering over the services that were run in. It starts once the first-fix building services are installed and checked.
5. Ventilation and climate control. Ventilation and air-conditioning systems are installed — from the main ductwork to custom details such as a concealed extractor. It starts once the screed is finished: its height determines how the equipment will fit in.
6. Final finishes. Floor and wall coverings are laid, and painting and final plastering are done — to the samples approved at the project stage. It starts on the prepared rough base, once the building services are covered over.
7. Doors and plumbing fixtures. Doors, plumbing fixtures and electrical fittings are installed — sockets, switches, prepared outlet points. It starts once the final finishes are ready and the openings and fitting positions can be checked precisely.
8. Furniture. Furniture is placed and assembled according to the project — with bespoke pieces this is work spread out over time, with its own lead times. It starts once the final finishes are ready and the plumbing fixtures are installed.
9. Handover. The property is handed over as a whole: the process and the result are checked against the project, and the warranty obligations are recorded. It starts once all the previous stages are complete and checked.

Why the order matters: redoing work affects already-finished neighbouring work

Technical documentation ties decisions together: the height of a niche is set together with the ceiling line, the position of a socket together with the furniture layout, a cladding joint together with where it meets the neighbouring surface. As long as the work follows this order, fixing one detail doesn't require touching the rest.

The problem arises when the order is broken — for example, the final finishes are started before the building services are fully tied to the layout, or a material is changed mid-way through the work without recalculating the neighbouring decisions. Then a deviation found later doesn't mean a small fix but dismantling structures that are already installed: to correct one detail, whatever was built around it has to come down.

Rough works from drawings, not ‘from memory’

Technical documentation fixes what can't be judged by eye on site: the heights of ceilings and decorative surrounds, the positions of service points, wall elevations, bespoke furniture details. It's the only document that the designer, the site foreman and the subcontractors all read the same way, and it's this document, not a verbal agreement or the crew's previous experience, that the rough works should follow.

When the rough-works stage relies on the drawings from the very start, the following stages — building services and final finishes — already have a precise base to install onto. When a crew works ‘from memory’, discrepancies build up gradually and only become visible once fixing them is already expensive.

Where deviations from the project happen most often

In the studio's experience, deviations concentrate at a few predictable points — where a decision from the drawings is translated into material on site:

- textures and materials — what actually goes on the wall or floor differs from what's specified in the schedule and approved on the samples;
- cladding joints and seams — the joint width and level difference between neighbouring tiles or panels;
- the positioning of service points — sockets, switches, water and ventilation outlets shift relative to the marks on the drawings;
- complex details — niches, portals, concealed doors, multi-level ceilings, where installation departs from the drawings for a technologically ‘simpler’ approach that doesn't match what the project intended.

A typical case from the studio's practice: on a scheduled site visit, design supervision recorded that the positioning of the electrical outlets didn't match the project — the sockets and switches had drifted from the drawing marks. The work was sent back to the crew with a requirement to check every point against the documentation and correct the installation before moving on to the final finishes. The same visit also flagged window reveals of uneven depth — another detail that isn't obvious by eye but shows up in the project.

The role of design supervision in the renovation sequence

Design supervision works as a regular cycle, not a one-off handover at the end: scheduled site visits happen weekly, 4–6 times a month on average, plus unscheduled visits as needed. At least two specialists come to every visit — a designer and a design-supervision engineer — and the studio prepares a report with photos after each one.

This regularity is exactly what keeps the renovation sequence in place: a discrepancy with the project is caught at the stage where it isn't yet ‘built over’ by the next layer of work, rather than at the final handover, when redoing it means dismantling finishes that are already in place. The minimum term for a design-supervision contract is three months, covering the main construction stages from rough works to handover. More on exactly how the oversight works is in the article ‘Design supervision: what it is and why it matters on site’.

What to do if a contractor suggests departing from the project

Swapping an item (a material, a detail, sometimes even the installation method) happens regularly on site: the specified material has been discontinued, a detail is technically awkward to reproduce as drawn, or the contractor has something similar but not quite right to hand. That isn't a problem in itself, as long as it's resolved through approval rather than ‘on the fly’.

The studio handles these approvals in writing: the decision is recorded in the site report, so that the client, the contractor and the designer all have the same account of what was changed and why. The rule is simple — any swap is confirmed before installation, not explained after the fact, when the item is already in place and taking it apart means losing both the material and the time.

The renovation sequence is a continuation of an interior design project: the project sets the order in the drawings, and design supervision makes sure construction doesn't break that order. More on the service is on the design supervision page; and on how technical documentation becomes the basis for that order, see the page on the interior design project.