Is Your Property Tenant Ready? How to Speed up the Renovation Process

Getting your property tenant ready is a big but ultimately satisfying job. It’s the perfect way to breathe new life into an old space, increase the property’s value, and create a space that’s more appealing to prospective tenants.

However, renovations take time (often more than you might think). There is plenty that needs to be done and, depending on the age, project type, and state of the property, the amount of time this will take may vary. However, with each month that passes, you miss out on income from your new tenants. So, it’s understandable you are looking for tips and advice on how to speed up the process.

In this article, we will be sharing how you can speed up your renovation so your tenants can move in sooner.

1. Budget Accurately

One of the biggest hold ups renovation projects experience is due to budgeting failures and running out of money. Budgeting accurately is essential to ensure the smooth running of your property renovation. Be sure to include every cost in your budget, from tools and materials through to contractors and emergency funds.

Many contractors are now offering contactless payments so you can pay for their services onsite, rather than faffing with bank transfers at the end of a long day. Having a budget in place ensures these payments aren’t unexpected and avoids the embarrassment of not being able to make a payment when it’s required. Budgeting your renovation will ensure all costs, both expected and unexpected, are fully accounted for.

2. Make a Plan and Stick to It

If you want to speed up the renovation process and make sure everything gets done that needs to, it’s important to schedule your renovation. After all, when you’re a landlord time is money. The longer your property sits empty, the bigger your financial hit. And while you’re renovating, your property can sit empty for a number of months at least. So, you want the renovations completed as soon as possible so that you can rent your property out.

That’s why we recommend making a plan you can stick to. You should know what you want done, how to achieve it, who is going to help, and when the renovation will take place. Once you have a plan in place with an outline of all the timelines, you can source all the supplies you need and book your contractors in advance so that when the day comes to start renovating, you’ve got everything you need to get the job done.

3. Don’t Try to Tackle Everything Yourself

When you want your renovation to go faster, it’s tempting to tackle everything yourself. And while you may be able to handle the painting or the installation of cupboards and door handles, trying to take on the bigger jobs yourself can lead to injury and costly mistakes. So, it’s always best to seek the help you need when you need it.

Hiring expert contractors is a great way to ensure your renovation goes smoothly. What’s more, it avoids silly mistakes and ensures your property is renovated to the highest standards. Hiring expert contractors will save you so much time and it will also avoid the need to waste days or potentially weeks fixing avoidable mistakes you caused when you tried to do it all yourself.

4. Invest in Renovation Tools

There are many tools and technologies available today that help speed up renovation projects like never before. If you want to speed up your renovation, you should be using these tools to your advantage.

Some of the more menial tasks required during renovation, such as painting the walls, can be achieved in half the time by utilising tools such as electric paint sprayers. While technologies such as room measuring tools can provide detailed and accurate 3D measurements of your space so that work can commence quickly.

These are just a couple of examples. However, investing in tools and technologies like these can be a great way to speed up your renovation process, minimise human error, and ensure a professional finish.

5. Tackle the Little Jobs Yourself

It goes without saying that renovation projects take time. However, as you can already see, there are many ways you can speed up the process. One such way is to tackle the little jobs yourself. This could be things like tidying up the garden, sweeping up at the end of the day, prepping a room for painting, sanding down the skirting boards, or peeling wallpaper.

Tackling the little jobs yourself is a huge time saver and it can also save you money by reducing the number of jobs you need to hire contractors for. Whether you consider yourself good at DIY or not, there are plenty of little jobs that come with a home renovation project and committing yourself to these can be a great way to boost project momentum and speed up the process.

6. Prioritise Clear and Helpful Communication

Many renovation projects are held up by ineffective communication. When you are unclear about your goals, what you want done, and who you’ve hired for the job, it can be difficult for contractors to know what they’re doing.

Prioritising clear and helpful communication is essential whether you have a whole team of contractors working for you or just a friend helping you out. Clear communication helps avoid mistakes and disputes that can be a huge waste of time. Sometimes, the best way to speed up your home renovation project is simply to communicate better.

Final Words

So, there you have it, 6 strategies you can use to help speed up the renovation process. We hope these tips will help your project go smoothly so that your tenants can move in far earlier than initially expected.

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Transparent data promise

Where does the raw data come from?

Property listings seen on rightmove.co.uk, zoopla.co.uk and onthemarket.com.

How often is the data updated?

The data is updated in near real-time.

What time period does the data cover?

This is a real-time market snapshot - the data covers currently listed properties. Once properties are removed from the portal, they are soon removed from this tab.

How is the raw data processed?

Duplicates from multiple sources are matched and reconciled as far as possible. Listings with obvious errors, where price or number or bedrooms appear out of range, are discarded.

What are the statistics used?

Averages shown are the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property listings seen on rightmove.co.uk, zoopla.co.uk and onthemarket.com.

How do you know the square footage of properties?

We use proprietary technology to read the square footage of properties from agent floorplans. Although we cannot determine the square footage for all properties, we can usually get sufficient coverage. Agents are sometimes known to inflate square footage, and this should be borne in mind as a weakness of this data.

How often is the data updated?

The data is updated in near real-time.

What time period does the data cover?

This is a real-time market snapshot - the data covers currently listed properties. Once properties are removed from the portal, they are soon removed from this tab.

How is the raw data processed?

Duplicates from multiple sources are matched and reconciled as far as possible. Listings with obvious errors, where price or number or bedrooms appear out of range, are discarded.

What are the statistics used?

The average shown is the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property "price paid" data provided by the Land Registry.

How often is the data updated?

Once per month when released by the Land Registry, typically towards the end of each calendar month covering up to the end of the previous calendar month.

What time period does the data cover?

You can customise the time period using the filter at the top of the view. The default time period is up to 9 months back from today's date. The latest data covers the period up to 2024-07-31, although some sales that took place before this date may still be added in the coming months.

How is the raw data processed?

No additional processes are applied to this data.

What are the statistics used?

Averages shown are the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property "price paid" data provided by the Land Registry, and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data provided by Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities.

How do you know the square footage of properties?

We match the Land Registry data to EPC data provided by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities. Due to the fact that not all properties sold have had an EPC and vagaries of addressing in the UK, we are not able to determine the square footage of all properties, but we can usually get sufficient coverage.

How often is the data updated?

The private paid data is updated once per month when released by the Land Registry, typically towards the end of each calendar month covering up to the end of the previous calendar month. The energy performance certificate database is updated monthly.

What time period does the data cover?

You can customise the time period using the filter at the top of the view. The default time period is up to 9 months back from today's date. The latest data covers the period up to 2024-07-31, although some sales that took place before this date may still be added in the coming months.

How is the raw data processed?

No additional processes are applied to this data.

What are the statistics used?

The average shown is the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property listings seen on rightmove.co.uk, zoopla.co.uk and onthemarket.com.

How often is the data updated?

The data is updated in near real-time.

What time period does the data cover?

This is a real-time market snapshot - the data covers currently listed properties. Once properties are removed from the portal, they are soon removed from this tab.

How is the raw data processed?

Duplicates from multiple sources are matched and reconciled as far as possible. Listings with obvious errors, where price or number or bedrooms appear out of range, are discarded.

What are the statistics used?

The average shown is the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Room let listings on SpareRoom, the UK's biggest room letting website.

How often is the data updated?

The data is updated in near real-time.

What time period does the data cover?

This is a real-time market snapshot - the data covers currently listed properties. Once properties are removed from SpareRoom, they are soon removed from this tab.

How is the raw data processed?

Listings with obvious errors, where price or number or bedrooms appear out of range, are discarded.

What are the statistics used?

The average shown is the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property listings seen on rightmove.co.uk, zoopla.co.uk and onthemarket.com.

How often is the data updated?

The data is updated in near real-time.

What time period does the data cover?

This is a real-time market snapshot - the data covers currently listed properties. Once properties are removed from the portal, they are soon removed from this tab.

How is the raw data processed?

Duplicates from multiple sources are matched and reconciled as far as possible. Listings with obvious errors, where price or number or bedrooms appear out of range, are discarded. Yields are calculated by comparing only properties with the same number of bedrooms, e.g. 3-bedroom properties for rent with 3-bedroom properties for sale.

What is the yield calculation used?

The calculation used is (average_weekly_asking_rent * 52 / average_asking_price), expressed as a percentage. It is a top-line gross yield, meaning no expenses are considered.

What are the statistics used?

The average shown is the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property listings seen on rightmove.co.uk, zoopla.co.uk and onthemarket.com.

How often is the data updated?

The data is updated in near real-time.

What time period does the data cover?

This is a real-time market snapshot - the data covers currently listed properties. Once properties are removed from Zoopla, Rightmove or Spareroom, they are soon removed from this tab.

How is the raw data processed?

Duplicates from multiple sources are matched and reconciled as far as possible. Yields are calculated by comparing only properties with the same number of bedrooms, e.g. 3-bedroom properties for rent with 3-bedroom properties for sale. For the SpareRoom data, hypothetical properties consisting of two to six average double rooms with shared bathrooms are used to derived average rent. For all sources, listings with obvious errors, where price or number or bedrooms appear out of range, are discarded.

What is the yield calculation used?

The calculation used is (average_weekly_asking_rent * 52 / average_asking_price), expressed as a percentage. It is a top-line gross yield, meaning no expenses are considered.

What are the statistics used?

The average shown is the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property "price paid" data provided by the Land Registry.

How often is the data updated?

Once per month when released by the Land Registry, typically towards the end of each calendar month covering up to the end of the previous calendar month.

Zoopla Zed-index

What time period does the data cover?

The data covers transactions in the last six years

How is the raw data processed?

No additional processes are applied to this data.

What are the statistics used?

The average shown is the interquartile mean, a type of average that is insensitive to outliers while being its own distinct parameter. The 80% range means that 80% of the listed properties fall inside this range.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property listings seen on rightmove.co.uk, zoopla.co.uk and onthemarket.com.

How often is the data updated?

The listings data is updated in near real-time. The Land Registry data is updated once per month when released, typically towards the end of each calendar month covering up to the end of the previous calendar month.

What time period does the data cover?

The price paid data shown goes back to January 2015. The listings data is a real-time market snapshot - the data covers currently listed properties. Once properties are removed from the portal, they are soon removed from this tab.

How is the raw data processed?

Duplicates from multiple sources are matched and reconciled as far as possible. Listings with obvious errors, where price or number or bedrooms appear out of range, are discarded.

What are the calculations used?

Average sales per month are for the last 3 finalised months. Turnover is average sales per month divided by total for sale. Inventory is 100 divided by turnover.

Where does the raw data come from?

Property listings seen on rightmove.co.uk, zoopla.co.uk and onthemarket.com.

How often is the data updated?

The listings data is updated in near real-time. The Land Registry data is updated once per month when released, typically towards the end of each calendar month covering up to the end of the previous calendar month.

What time period does the data cover?

This is a real-time market snapshot - the data covers currently listed properties. Once properties are removed from the portal, they are soon removed from this tab.

How is the raw data processed?

Duplicates from multiple sources are matched and reconciled as far as possible. Listings with obvious errors, where price or number or bedrooms appear out of range, are discarded.

Where does the raw data come from?

We receive data on the extent and corporate ownership of all land titles in England & Wales from the Land Registry.

How often is the data updated?

The data is updated once per month when released, typically in the first few days of each calendar month.

What time period does the data cover?

This is an ownership snapshot - the data represents ownership as recorded by the Land Registry at the last monthly export.

How is the raw data processed?

No additional processes are applied to this data.

Where does the raw data come from?

We source different expert forecasts Savills, Knight Frank, OBR

How often is the data updated?

The data is updated annually when new forecasts are released, typically towards the beginning of the year.

How is the raw data processed?

We calculate a consensus forecast using a simple mean average.