We started this company because we thought homeowners deserved better

Every homeowner has a horror story about a builder

The quote that doubled halfway through. The builder who vanished for three weeks without explanation. The "just a few more days" that turned into months. The unfinished bathroom that stayed unfinished for four months because nobody would return a phone call.

We've heard these stories hundreds of times. From friends, from neighbours, from clients who came to us after someone else had walked away from their project. And for a long time, we just accepted that this was how the building industry worked.

Then we decided to stop accepting it.

The British construction industry has a systemic trust problem. A 2023 survey found that 63% of UK homeowners who had major work done experienced cost overruns, delays, or poor communication. Not because the work itself is impossible to deliver well — but because the incentives in most builder-client relationships are wrong from the start.

When a builder takes a large deposit upfront, there's less urgency to finish on time. When quotes are vague and specifications left open, surprises are inevitable. When the person who sells the job isn't the person who manages the build, accountability disappears.

Hampstead Renovations was founded to fix every one of those problems.

The four things we will never compromise on

1. You should never pay before we've earned it

We don't take deposits. We don't ask for materials upfront. You pay monthly, in arrears, for work that's been completed and signed off by you. If you're not happy with what's been done, you don't pay for it. It's that simple.

2. You should know the exact cost before work starts

Our quotes are fixed-price, line-by-line, with every material, finish and quantity specified. No provisional sums. No contingency clauses. If we find something unexpected behind a wall, we absorb the cost — that's our risk, not yours.

3. We should finish when we say we'll finish

If we don't complete on the agreed date, you get £5,000 cashback plus £500 for every additional week. This is written into the contract. We've never had to pay it — but the fact that we could is exactly why we plan so carefully.

4. You should always know what's happening

One point of contact. Weekly photo updates and progress reports every Friday. You're welcome on site any time. When you call, someone who can actually answer your question picks up. No gatekeepers, no voicemails that never get returned.

Still growing, still learning

We're not interested in becoming the biggest builder in London. We're interested in being the best builder in our part of London.

That means doing fewer projects, better. It means saying no to work that's outside our area or outside our expertise. It means investing in our team, not in marketing. It means asking every client at the end of a project: "Would you hire us again?" — and not resting until the answer is always yes.

We have a simple ambition: that when someone in Hampstead, Belsize Park, Camden or anywhere in NW London needs serious building work, Hampstead Renovations is the first name they think of — not because we spent the most on advertising, but because someone they trust recommended us.

"We don't build houses. We build relationships — and then we build houses for the people we've built relationships with."

— Ross Alinari