006 04 AUG '26
BEFORE THE BUILDER:
Studio JKL’s Renovation Guide to Making Better Decisions Early
‘Great homes aren’t decorated at the end. They’re designed from the start’.
A major renovation can begin with an exciting vision — but quickly become hundreds of interconnected decisions:
How will the family actually use the ground floor?
Which walls should move?
Do I need to extend and how big would the extension need to be?
Where should the kitchen sit?
Where does the lighting need to go?
What happens to storage?
What joinery is required?
Which materials belong together?
And, importantly, what needs to be decided before the builder can accurately price and build it?
The earlier these questions are considered, the more confidently you can move forward.
01 — BEFORE YOU GET THE BUILDER INVOLVED
Your builder can price what has been designed. They can't price what hasn't.
One of the most common approaches to renovation is:
Get the builder’s quote → establish the budget → work out the interiors afterwards.
It sounds sensible.
But there is a problem.
At the beginning of a project, a builder can only make allowances for many of the things that haven't yet been designed or specified.
A kitchen may be allowed for — but which kitchen?
Lighting may be included — but how many fittings, where are they positioned and what type?
Bathrooms may have an allowance — but which sanitaryware, brassware, tiles, mirrors and joinery?
Flooring may have a figure attached to it — but which material, in which areas, with what preparation and detailing?
These aren't necessarily fixed costs.
They're placeholders for decisions that haven't been made yet.
And this is where renovation budgets can begin to move.
The better sequence:
VISION → SPATIAL DESIGN → DETAILED DESIGN → SPECIFICATION → PRICING → CONSTRUCTION
Rather than asking a builder to price an unfinished idea, the design process establishes what is actually being built.
That means your architect, designer, builder and specialist suppliers are working towards the same picture.
It also gives you something far more valuable:
Confidence in the decisions you're making.
02 — THE FIVE DECISIONS TO MAKE EARLY
You don't need to choose every cushion before construction starts.
But there are decisions that should happen much earlier than most homeowners realise.
1. How will you live?
Start with the life, not the room.
How do you move through the house in the morning?
Where do children drop their things?
How do you entertain?
Where do you want to retreat?
Do you need spaces that can change throughout the day?
The answers should influence the architecture and spatial planning — not be squeezed into whatever space is left afterwards.
2. How will the spaces connect?
A floor plan isn't simply a collection of rooms.
The relationship between them determines how a home feels.
Consider circulation, sightlines, natural light, privacy, furniture placement, storage and the transition between formal and everyday spaces.
A beautiful room can still fail if it doesn't work in relation to the rooms around it.
The best homes are designed as one connected experience.
3. What needs to be built in?
Joinery, kitchens, wardrobes, media units, bathrooms, lighting and electrical requirements can all affect the architecture.
These aren't finishing touches.
They can determine wall positions, ceiling details, service locations, electrical points and available space.
Resolving them early is usually far easier than trying to accommodate them once construction is underway.
4. What should you invest in?
A renovation budget isn't simply about spending more.
It's about knowing where investment genuinely changes the result.
Some elements deserve significant attention because they affect how the home feels and functions every day.
Others may not justify the premium.
The objective isn't to make every decision expensive.
It's to make every decision intentional.
5. How will everything work together?
This is the part that's easiest to underestimate.
A kitchen can be beautiful.
A bathroom can be beautiful.
A lighting scheme can be beautiful.
A piece of joinery can be beautiful.
But if each has been designed independently, the house can still feel fragmented.
'Exceptional homes aren't created by making hundreds of good decisions. They're created when every decision serves one complete vision'.
03 — WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE DESIGN COMES FIRST?
When the design is developed properly before construction, you can begin to resolve the things that otherwise become expensive questions on site.
You can establish:
Spatial planning
How the house will flow and how each space connects.
Furniture layouts
How rooms will actually be used before walls, sockets and lighting are fixed around them.
Lighting & electrical planning
Where light is needed, how it will be controlled and how it supports the architecture and atmosphere.
Kitchens, bathrooms & joinery
The detailed elements that often involve the greatest coordination between design and construction.
Materials & finishes
The palette, materiality and detailing that bring the vision together.
Technical information
Drawings, schedules and specifications that allow contractors and suppliers to understand exactly what is required.
Coordination
Ensuring architects, builders and specialist trades are working from one coherent design rather than solving individual problems in isolation.
THE RESULT?
Not simply a more beautiful house.
A renovation with:
Fewer unknowns.
Fewer reactive decisions.
Fewer compromises.
Greater control over investment.
A clearer brief for your project team.
And confidence that the decisions being made today support the home you want to live in tomorrow.
WHERE STUDIO JKL COMES IN
This is why we believe interior design should be involved from the beginning — not brought in once the architecture is finished.
Studio JKL works alongside homeowners, architects, contractors and specialist consultants from the earliest stages of a renovation.
We bring together architecture, interiors, lighting, joinery, materiality and craftsmanship into one cohesive vision.
Our role isn't simply to make the finished house look beautiful.
It's to think ahead.
To ask the questions that haven't yet been asked.
To resolve the details before they become problems.
To challenge decisions when the easier option isn't the right one.
And to protect the vision from the first sketch through to the final detail.
Because the most expensive renovation decisions aren't always the ones with the highest price tag.
Sometimes, they're the decisions you didn't know you needed to make.
PLANNING A RENOVATION?
If you're at the beginning of a renovation and aren't sure what needs to happen — or in what order — we'd be happy to have an initial conversation.
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