The best way to renovate an apartment in phases is to decide the whole plan first, then do the work that is hidden and hard to change — services, layout, wet-room waste — before the visible finishes. The worst approaches start with finishes, split services room by room without a plan, or leave decisions about kitchens and bathrooms for later. A phased plan should state what each stage includes and how the next one will connect without breaking what is done.
Why phase a renovation at all?
Owners phase renovations for good reasons: spreading cost, living in the flat while some rooms are done, letting it between stages, or simply wanting to see how they use the space before committing. None of these is a problem. The problem is phasing without a plan, which almost always means undoing earlier work. The difference between a good and a bad phased renovation is decided before the first phase starts.
What is the best order for a phased renovation?
- Plan the whole flat first: final layout, kitchen and bathroom positions, electrical points, heating.
- Phase one: services and layout. Renew the electrical installation through the authorised partner installer, run supply and waste to their final positions, build any new partitions, and lay heating circuits if planned. Leave connections capped where future rooms will use them.
- Phase two: wet rooms. Bathroom and kitchen, which depend on the services already being in place.
- Phase three: floors and walls. Flooring, wall smoothing and painting, ideally across the whole flat at once for continuity.
- Phase four: details. Joinery, wardrobes, lighting upgrades, decoration.
Phase one is the most disruptive and the least visible, which is why owners are tempted to skip it. It is also the one that protects everything after it.
What are the worst ways to phase a renovation?
- Finishes first. New floors and paint, then services a year later, means breaking the new floors and paint.
- Room by room without a services plan. Each room gets its own patch of new wiring connected to the old circuits, and the installation ends up a patchwork that still needs renewing.
- Floors laid before the kitchen layout is fixed. When the kitchen arrives, the floor under the units or around a new island no longer fits.
- Bathroom done without renewing its waste. The old pipe under the new tiles is the next leak.
- Different contractors for each phase with no shared plan. Each one undoes or works around the previous one.
Can you live in the flat between phases?
Often yes, and that is one of the main reasons for phasing. Phase one is the hardest to live through, because water and electricity are interrupted and dust is everywhere; many owners stay elsewhere for it. Later phases can be organised with the work area sealed and one bathroom kept usable. Tell us how you plan to use the flat at each stage and we will design the phases around it.
How do you keep phases connected?
With a written plan and good records. The quote for the whole flat can be split into phases, so each one has its own lines and the next one starts where the previous one ended. Capped pipe ends, spare conduits for future cables and labelled circuits on the fuse board make later phases straightforward. Photos of everything before it is covered help whoever works on the next phase, whether that is us or someone else.
Whatever happens later, keep the electrical installation certificate from the partner installer and the photos together with the property documents.
Which items can safely wait?
Items that sit on the surface and do not affect services or layout can be left for later without risk: paint, decorative lighting, wardrobes, internal doors, some floor finishes in bedrooms, and kitchen or bathroom upgrades that reuse the same service positions. Items that cannot safely wait are electrical safety problems, active leaks, damp from an identified source and anything that would mean opening new finishes later.
For a broader view of how scope decisions affect the whole job, see our full renovation page and the article on cost in older apartments.
Does phasing work in a rental flat?
It can, and it is common: one phase during each gap between tenancies. The same rule applies, though. The services phase should come first and be completed in one go, even if it means a longer gap once, because rental flats are where patchy services cause the most calls. After that, bathroom, kitchen and finishes can follow in later gaps without disturbing what is already done. Tell us the dates the flat is free and we will propose phases that fit them.
Bauman Raymond Attila · Reforma Pisos Málaga · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
