Renovation contractor in Hoofddorp Renovating Hoofddorp, from Pax to Floriande

A town on a former lake

The Haarlemmermeer fell dry on 1 July 1852, after steam pumping stations had emptied the lake inside a ring dike of almost 60 kilometres. A year later two villages were planned in the new polder; one of them, Kruisdorp, was renamed Hoofddorp in 1868. Its oldest streets follow the Hoofdweg along the Hoofdvaart canal and the Kruisweg that crosses it, and five of Hoofddorp's nine national monuments stand on the Hoofdweg, among them the Hoofdvaartkerk, the old town hall and the De Eersteling mill.

Hoofddorp grew in layers

The village only really started to grow in the 1960s, with Plan Eyke and Kalorama, and around 1970 came Graan voor Visch with some 1,200 homes. In the 1970s the Haarlemmermeer, and Hoofddorp above all, was designated a growth centre: Pax, Bornholm, Overbos and Toolenburg date from that period. Floriande followed in the first years of this century, and Tudorpark from 2016. Of Hoofddorp's more than 33,000 homes, the large majority were built after 1970.

What that means for a renovation

Many houses from the growth-centre years are now forty to fifty years old: the age at which the kitchen, the bathroom and the installations are due, and a rear extension or a dormer gives a family the space it needs. In Floriande and the newer areas the house itself is younger, and the work is more often a kitchen, a bathroom or built-in cabinetry. In apartment buildings the owners' association (VvE) has its own rules for floors, acoustics and working hours. And because the polder is a former lake bed, the foundation of an extension is calculated for the ground on site, not by rule of thumb.

What we do in Hoofddorp

• Complete renovations of family houses and apartments, with one site manager from start to handover.
• Kitchens: bespoke, or IKEA kitchens fitted with premium fronts and stone worktops.
• Bathrooms with walk-in showers, underfloor heating and natural stone.
• Rear extensions and loft conversions with a dormer, including the permit application.
• Floors, stairs, built-in cabinetry, windows and doors.

Badhoevedorp

Badhoevedorp, on the Ringvaart opposite Amsterdam's Sloten, was expanded from the 1930s as a garden village near Amsterdam, and from the late 1930s to the early 1970s it was the largest village in the Haarlemmermeer. From 1967 until April 2017 the A9 motorway ran straight through it; since the road was moved, new homes are being built on the old route. We take on renovations in Badhoevedorp as well.

Permits and street rules in Haarlemmermeer

Internal renovation usually needs no permit. An extension, a dormer or a change to the façade does: you apply through the national Omgevingsloket, and we prepare the drawings and the application. If your house is a national monument, as some buildings on the Hoofdweg are, other changes need a permit too. Using the street for anything other than its normal purpose, such as a container or pallets of materials, needs a permit from the municipality under its local ordinance (Verordening fysiek domein).

Living in Hoofddorp or elsewhere in the Haarlemmermeer? Ask for a free visit - we reply within one working day. For a first indication of the cost, try our online quote calculator.