Full house renovation: from bare shell to move-in ready

A full house renovation means everything behind the walls is redone: pipes, wiring, ventilation, floors and often the layout. Sometimes the home is first taken back to a bare shell, the structure of walls, floors and roof. At Tommy's Service a complete renovation starts from around €1,500 per m², and an apartment takes three to five months. Below: when a full renovation makes more sense than room by room, the order of the work, how an extension fits in, and what has to be arranged before the first wall comes down.

When a full renovation beats room by room

Renovating one room at a time feels easier to manage. But if you replace the bathroom, the kitchen and the floors within a few years, you pay three times for demolition, dust screens, waste removal and opening up the same pipes. A full renovation is usually the better choice when:

• the pipes and the fuse box date from when the house was built, or something has already leaked;
• the layout no longer works: a closed kitchen that should open up, a second bathroom, an extra bedroom;
• the home is poorly insulated and floors, walls or the roof will be opened anyway;
• you have just bought and haven't moved in yet;
• an extension or extra storey is planned, so old and new become one space.

A home that is technically sound and only needs new finishes doesn't have to go back to the shell. Then a targeted renovation of the bathroom or the kitchen is the smarter choice.

Shell: one word, two situations

The shell (casco in Dutch) is the bare structure of a building: load-bearing walls, floors, roof and facade, without finishes. The word comes up in two situations.

In an existing home, a strip-to-shell renovation means everything comes out down to that structure: tiles, ceilings, non-load-bearing walls, pipes and sometimes the screed. The home is then rebuilt from the inside. This is common in pre-war townhouses, canal houses and apartments that haven't been updated for decades.

In new-build, developers sometimes hand over a shell home: the envelope and basic services are in place, but floors, wall finishes, the kitchen and the bathroom are missing or basic. What exactly is included is in the project's technical description. Further down: how to finish such a home.

The order of a full renovation

A large renovation follows a fixed order. Skip or swap a step and you end up opening work that was already finished.

The most expensive moment to change your mind is after phase 6. Moving a socket then means cutting into fresh plaster; moving a toilet means a new drain through a finished floor. That's why we choose all materials with our clients in phase 2, before anything is demolished. What the phases look like in practice: your renovation from first visit to handover.

Adding an extension at the same time

If a rear extension or an extra storey on a flat roof is planned, a full renovation is the moment to build it. The rear wall is opened on a steel beam, the floor levels of old and new are matched and one continuous floor runs through, often with underfloor heating. Doing it together saves a second round of demolition and a second round of dust through the whole house.

An extension in Amsterdam and Amstelveen usually needs a pile foundation, because the load-bearing sand layer lies deep below the soft peat and clay. That drives a large part of the cost and the timing. Prices per m², foundations and permit fees are in what an extension costs; extensions we have built are on house extensions.

Permits, asbestos and the demolition notice

Since 1 January 2024, building and renovating in the Netherlands fall under the Omgevingswet (Environment and Planning Act). Interior work is often permit-free, but removing a load-bearing wall, building an extension or changing almost anything in a listed building usually needs a permit. The permit check in the Omgevingsloket shows what applies to your address. More in permit or no permit and permits, monuments and VvE.

A full renovation also needs a demolition notice (sloopmelding). If more than 10 m³ of demolition waste is released, or asbestos is removed, the demolition has to be reported to the municipality at least four weeks before it starts, through the Omgevingsloket. With asbestos the notice always applies, even for less waste. If asbestos turns up unexpectedly during the work, work in that spot only continues after an asbestos survey (Informatiepunt Leefomgeving). In older homes we prefer to plan that survey before demolition, so the schedule doesn't stall halfway.

Finishing a shell new-build apartment

Buy a shell new-build home and you get the keys to a home without finishes. There are two routes: extra work through the developer before handover, or your own contractor after handover. Through the developer, everything is ready on the handover date, but your choice is limited to the buyer's options list. With your own contractor you choose freely, and work can start the day you get the keys.

The sequence is shorter than in an existing home, because nothing needs demolishing: complete the services, lay the floor build-up, finish walls and ceilings, then the bathroom, kitchen, floors and joinery. Check the technical description first: where the connection points are, whether underfloor heating is in the screed, and what sound insulation the owners' association requires under a new floor.

Property developers can also work with us on the premium finishing of apartments and houses, with the same teams and the same finish as for private clients.

Where the budget of a full renovation goes

A large part of the money goes into work you won't see later: structure, pipes, wiring, ventilation, insulation and a flat, sound base. That is exactly what decides whether the finish still looks sharp in ten years. A tile on a floor that moves will crack; a wooden floor on a screed that isn't dry enough will cup. What premium means in these layers: what premium really means.

Market prices per m² for a light, average and complete renovation, with Amsterdam surcharges and fees, are in renovation cost per m². A complete renovation by Tommy's Service starts from around €1,500 per m²; for an 80 m² apartment that is a budget from around €120,000. Most work carries 21% VAT. The reduced 9% rate only applies to insulating, painting, plastering and wallpapering in homes older than two years (Belastingdienst).

Timing, and whether to stay in the house

A fully renovated apartment takes three to five months. A larger house with an extension takes longer. Design and preparation come first; if a permit or owners' association approval is needed, add six to twelve weeks before work can start.

We advise against living in the house during a full renovation. Dust screens keep the rest of the house clean, but there are weeks without a kitchen, a bathroom and sometimes power. Living elsewhere also shortens the build, because the work doesn't have to be phased room by room.

One main contractor or separate trades

A full renovation easily involves ten trades: demolition, structure, carpentry, electrics, plumbing, ventilation, plastering, tiling, flooring and painting. With separate trades you are the planner, and delays happen in the handovers between them. With one main contractor you have one contract, one schedule and one person responsible from day one to handover.

Before you sign, check what the quote includes and what it doesn't, how extra work is agreed and how payments are tied to progress. A checklist is in how to check a contractor, and why the lowest price often turns out the most expensive is in the real cost of cheap renovations.

How Tommy's Service runs a full renovation

We renovate whole apartments, canal houses, townhouses and villas in Amsterdam, Amstelveen and across Noord-Holland. Our own teams handle carpentry, joinery and finishing, trusted partners the electrics and plumbing, and one site manager is responsible for the whole project. Kitchens, wardrobes and bathroom vanities are made to measure in our own workshop. We take on projects from around €15,000; for a whole home the budget starts at around €1,500 per m².

Want a first estimate? In the cost calculator you choose the rooms and the work. For a full renovation we're happy to visit: whole-home renovation.