Durations by project type
| Project | On site | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Bathroom | 2–4 weeks | Drainage falls; waterproofing cure time; access |
| Kitchen | 1–2 weeks fitting | Manufacture and delivery, which is the real duration |
| Repaint, internal | 1–2 weeks | Preparation, which is most of the work |
| Full external repaint | 1–3 weeks | Weather windows; stripping failed coatings |
| Terrace waterproofing | 1–3 weeks | Forming falls; weather; whether the substrate is sound |
| Full house renovation | 4–10 months | What the investigation found; access; long-lead items |
| Cave house restoration | 5–12 months | Strip-out volume, moisture works, structural repair |
| Extension | 3–8 months | Junction detailing; approvals before it |
| New villa | 9–18 months | Everything |
| Hotel refurbishment | One closed season | Fixed end date; long-lead ordering |
These are on-site durations from ordinary practice. They exclude approvals, which on a permitted project frequently take longer than the works.
The part before the part
Owners think about construction duration. The elapsed time from decision to finished building is usually dominated by everything else.
- Investigation — one to three weeks on a renovation, and it is what makes the price real. Skipping it does not save time; it moves the discovery into the middle of the job.
- Design — four to twelve weeks, and client decision speed is the main variable.
- Approvals — months on a permitted project, and longer with archaeology or a designated settlement. See how long a permit takes.
- Long-lead procurement — manufacture plus a crossing. Joinery, glazing and specific tiles routinely govern the finishing date rather than the labour.
- Waiting for the right season — a permit issued in May usually means an October start on a settlement property.
A useful rule of thumb: for a permitted renovation, double the on-site duration to get a realistic decision-to-keys elapsed time, and add more if there is any legalisation or archaeology in the file.
The five things that actually delay a job once it starts
- What the strip-out found
- On an old building, unexpected findings are normal rather than exceptional. The difference between contractors is whether you hear about them immediately or at the final account. Investigation before pricing reduces this a great deal but never to zero.
- Client decisions
- Consistently the largest controllable delay. Tile, sanitaryware, ironmongery and joinery selections have lead times; deciding them in month seven is what makes month nine late.
- Free-issue material arriving late
- Where an owner supplies goods themselves and the date is not committed to the programme.
- Ferry and weather
- Real, unevenly distributed across the year, and the reason a programme carries float. See getting materials here.
- Trade availability after a slip
- The compounding effect. A four-day gap can become three weeks because the crew has started elsewhere. This is the core argument for single-source contracting.
What a realistic programme looks like
Ask to see the programme before signing, and check three things.
- Is the float visible? Float hidden inside each trade's duration is float that will not be there when the ferry is cancelled. It should be a named allowance.
- Are long-lead items on it? Not as a note — as activities with order dates, so you can see what governs the finish.
- Are the inspection points on it? Reinforcement before pours, falls before screeds, waterproofing before tiling. If they are not programmed, they will be squeezed.
How to make it faster
Genuinely available levers, in order of effect.
- Decide finishes before the site starts. The single biggest thing an owner controls.
- Investigate before pricing. It adds two weeks at the front and routinely saves more than that later.
- Resolve the permit position early — cadastral, legalisation, designation — before spending on design.
- Book in autumn for the closed season, so you are not competing for crews.
- Accept equivalent substitutes where a specified item has a long lead time and a comparable one is available.
- Nominate one decision-maker with authority. Where a family disagrees by email across time zones, everything waits.
- Do not change your mind after manufacture starts. A change after a long-lead item is in production costs the slot on the boat as well as the item.
A realistic timeline for a typical renovation
A full renovation of an ordinary Santorini house, needing a permit, with reasonable access. Composite rather than a real project, and representative of what we see.
| Month | What is happening | Who is waiting on whom |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Site visit; investigation and opening up | Nobody — this is the fastest month |
| 2 | Priced scope; title and cadastral checked | Client reviewing |
| 3–4 | Architect develops scheme; engineer engaged | Client decisions on layout |
| 5–6 | Settlement review where applicable; structural design | The approval body |
| 7–8 | Permit file assembled and submitted | Completeness of the file |
| 9–11 | Permit in process; long-lead items identified and frozen | Client on finish selections |
| 12 | Permit issued; contractor mobilises; long-lead ordered | Nobody, if the selections were made |
| 13–14 | Strip-out, structure, first fix | Findings from strip-out |
| 15–17 | Waterproofing, plaster, second fix, finishes | Long-lead deliveries |
| 18 | Snagging, handover, documentation | Joint inspection |
Eighteen months for six months of construction. That ratio is normal here and it is the single most useful thing to understand before you start.
Phasing, when the programme does not fit
Some projects genuinely cannot be done in one run, and planning that is far better than discovering it.
- A property that must be lettable each summer. Two shorter closed-season phases with the property usable between them, rather than one long programme that overruns into June.
- A budget released over time. Phase by building element rather than by room — get the envelope, waterproofing and services done first, then finishes later. Doing it room by room means opening the same walls twice.
- A project awaiting an approval. Do the non-permitted work now and the permitted work when the permit issues, provided the boundary between them is genuinely clean.
- A large cave restoration. Strip-out, structural and moisture works in one season; finishes in the next. The first phase is the one with all the uncertainty in it.
Questions people actually ask
Can you do it faster if I pay more?
Marginally, by putting more people on activities that can be parallelised. What money cannot accelerate is curing time, manufacture, ferry schedules or approvals — which is where most of the duration actually sits.
Why did my neighbour's renovation take half as long?
Usually access, scope, or what the strip-out found. An accessible property with sound structure and no permit requirement is a genuinely different project from a caldera cave house with an unauthorised terrace in its history.
Can I live in the property during the works?
Sometimes, with usable areas, dust separation and noise hours agreed before pricing. It extends the programme and it is occasionally the right trade-off — we will show you both sets of numbers.
What is the shortest realistic full renovation?
Four months on site for a straightforward accessible property with no structural surprises, everything decided in advance and no permit requirement. That is the best case, not the expectation.
Will you commit to a completion date?
To a programme with stated float and weekly reporting against it, yes. To a date irrespective of ferry cancellations and supplier lead times, no — and neither should anyone else.