Whole-house refits, flats and period homes. Grant runs every job and is the person you deal with from the first visit.
County Structures is a small, family-run building firm doing house renovation in Brighton and Hove. We’ve been in the building trade for over 35 years. Most of our refurbishment work is on older houses and flats, where the job is rarely just a new kitchen and a coat of paint.
On a typical job we strip out, put right what’s wrong with the structure, and run new plumbing and electrics. Then we plaster, fit and finish. Plumbing and electrics are covered under us, so you aren’t chasing separate trades.
Some jobs need drawings, planning or building control. We manage that side as well, with architects, surveyors and structural engineers we work with regularly. Our design and build page explains how that works.
Much of Brighton is Victorian and Edwardian terraces, with Regency townhouses nearer the seafront. These houses have solid walls, lime mortar and timbers that have been patched many times over. Cement and modern plasters in the wrong place trap damp and can do more harm than good. Salt air off the sea doesn’t help either.
We’ve worked on listed property in the city before. One job was an 1850s listed building in Brighton that we converted into four top-end apartments. On a listed house you need listed building consent before changing anything that affects its character, inside or out. Conservation areas add their own limits on outside changes, and we’ll tell you early if your plans are likely to need either.
A full refurbishment usually means the house is empty, or close to it, while we work. That lets us do the messy jobs in the right order and finish each one once. A typical whole-house refit includes:
We write a programme of works before we start, so you know roughly what happens each week. Lifting floors sometimes turns up rot or an old repair that has failed. When that happens we show you, explain the options and price the fix before we carry on.
Flats bring their own rules. Your lease may need the freeholder’s consent before any structural or layout change. Access and working hours are often limited, and there are neighbours above, below and beside you. We plan deliveries and noisy work around all of that.
Noise is a common complaint in converted Brighton flats. The cheapest time to deal with it is when the floors are up, so we often add soundproofing to a flat refit. We also converted the top two floors of a Victorian house into two self-contained flats, and finished within days of the date we’d predicted.
Planning a renovation?
Call Grant on 07885 325954 or the office on 01273 950800 and we’ll come and look at the house for free.
Damp is one of the first things we check on a renovation. In older houses it usually gets in from outside. Blocked gutters, bridged damp courses, high ground levels and failed pointing are the usual causes. So is cement render on walls that were built to breathe, and condensation from kitchens and bathrooms with no proper extraction.
We fix the cause before covering anything up. That might mean lowering a path, repointing in lime or fitting decent extract fans. Plastering over a wet wall without doing this just brings the damp back within a year or two.
Renovations often slip because the builder is waiting for an outside plumber or electrician. We do both ourselves. First fix goes in while walls and floors are open, and second fix follows once plastering is done.
In older houses we often find lead or iron pipework, old fuse boxes and wiring that has been added to over the years. We’ll tell you straight what should be replaced and what can stay. Electrical work is tested at the end, and anything notifiable is signed off through building control or a registered scheme, so you have the certificates.
Before pricing, Grant walks round the house with you and asks the questions that shape the job:
You then get a written quote. Grant leads the job, so you have one person to call rather than a list of subcontractors. If you change something along the way, we price the change in writing before doing it. That keeps the final bill close to what you expected.
Every house is different, so we only give a firm price after a visit. As a rough guide, national cost guides for 2026 put a full renovation at around £1,200 to £1,800 per square metre. The South East usually runs higher. A lighter refit with no structural work costs much less.
On a typical Brighton terrace, the big costs are structural changes, rewiring, new heating, and the kitchen and bathrooms. Once we’ve seen the house we give you a written quote.
It can be. It depends on the size of the house and what needs doing. £40,000 might cover a new kitchen, a bathroom and decorating in a small house with sound wiring and plumbing. It rarely covers a full strip-out with rewiring, new heating and structural work in a three-bed terrace.
Tell us your budget at the start. We’ll say honestly what it will cover and what could wait.
Structural work, kitchens and bathrooms usually cost the most. Hidden repairs come close behind: rot, failing wall ties, old wiring or damp. That’s why we check the structure early, before you spend time choosing finishes.
Starting without a clear plan and a written price is the big one. We also see new kitchens fitted before the damp was fixed, and finishes chosen before the layout was settled. Skipping building control on work that needs it causes trouble when you come to sell.
Changing your mind halfway through costs money too. We try to settle the main decisions before work starts.
Yes. Grant comes out to look at the job at no cost, and the written quote carries no obligation.
We do, as part of the job. If drawings are needed we bring in an architect we know, and we deal with building control through the build. On listed or conservation-area houses we’ll flag the consents you need before anything is priced.
We’ll visit, look round with you and then put a written quote in the post, with no obligation.
Call the office on 01273 950800 or Grant on 07885 325954.
Our office is at Stanford Gate on South Road, Brighton BN1 6SB. We take on refurbishments across the city, including Hove, Preston Park, Seven Dials, Kemptown, Hanover, Fiveways, Patcham and Withdean. We also work further out in Rottingdean, Saltdean, Portslade, Shoreham and Lewes.
Kitchen & Bathroom Renovation · Design & Build · New Builds & Flat Conversions · Structural Repairs · Soundproofing
Call Grant on 07885 325954 or the office on 01273 950800. We will come out, look at the job and give you a free, no-obligation quote.
I can confirm that Grant has worked for me on two projects. The first project was to build two semi-detached houses in Hove. The second project was to convert an 1850s listed building in Brighton into four top-end apartments.
Grant is a very practical builder and gets on well with people, particularly neighbours, helping projects run smoothly. He works to a high standard and, should you decide to have him work for you, will leave you with a feeling that you would willingly use him again.
Grant and his team carried out our flat conversion (converting the top two floors of our Victorian house to two self contained flats) last year.
For our works they started on the agreed date and finished within days of the predicted finish date. For us the work was all to a very good standard and we have been very pleased with the finished job.
The team were friendly and approachable, happy to change or add little things as the conversion evolved. Grant and John were always at the end of the phone if needed. I would not hesitate to recommend them and if I need further construction works carried out would look to them first.
Tell us a little about your project and we will call you back. If you have drawings or photos, mention it and we can arrange a site visit.
County Structures Ltd
Stanford Gate
2nd Floor, South Road
Brighton
BN1 6SB
