RenoCore

HMO DEVELOPMENTS/REFURBS

5 things that threw me off:

1️⃣ VARIATIONS BETWEEN COUNCILS

It scares me how they get away with it but they do. Each individual council has individual specifications they want their HMO’s built to. Every HMO officer is different. I’ve fitted 16+ doors before and all had to be replaced because they didn’t like the style of thumb turn on the internal side of the door - signed off by the last council on the last project. Still functional - still safe, still couldn’t lock themselves in, but sometimes you have to just smile and nod.

2️⃣ VARIATIONS IN CIC SPECS

A lot of HMO’s we completed went to CIC’s and not PRS. Some will take heat seals in the doors, some will only take brush seals, some want CCTV, some don’t, some will only accept specific flooring colours and types, others it’s what ever you like, some require door numbers, some require call panels, some even require a fire panel in a 4 bed HMO? 💰😅

And A L W A Y S request the most recent specifications requirement from the chosen end user CIC!!

3️⃣ EXPECTATIONS

The main thing people don’t prepare for prior to a HMO refurb is the costings. They presume it’s a house and the refurb is the same - incorrect. Fire casings, fire doors, ironmongery, emergency lighting, interlinked smokes, fire panels, FRA’s, building control and a lot of knock throughs & remodels - meaning a lot of steels, and a lot of calculations. It tots up quicker than you think.

4️⃣ SAFETY SIGNAGE

I understand fire safety, no smoking - paramount. But it makes you scratch your head when you’re made to put “mind the step” signs at the bottom of the stairs - to go up the stairs? “Not drinking water” in the bathrooms, it’s the same water as the kitchen tap. I’ve genuinely had sign offs held back because of this.

5️⃣ SQFT COMPLIANCE

Councils just need to decide - is the area where the door opens into the room, included or excluded from the finish room sqft? When room sizes are tight this is literally a make or break.