Spec by area, not by house
- Carpet tiles or tough loop pile carpet in hallways, landings and stairs
- Click LVT or sheet vinyl in shared kitchens where spills are frequent
- Standard-grade carpet in individual bedrooms where wear is lighter
- Stair nosing and door bars fitted properly given how often stairs get used
The summer void window
Most whole-property work happens in the gap between one academic year's tenants leaving and the next arriving, typically over summer. That's a wider window than a single-flat changeover, but landlords with several student properties often want them all done in the same few weeks, so early booking matters.
Where a cheap spec costs more over a lease cycle
Bargain carpet tiles in a hallway that six or more people use daily will look tired within a year, meaning a repeat job before the next intake even moves in. Specifying one grade up in the highest-traffic areas, while keeping bedrooms modest, usually balances the budget better across the whole tenancy.
Fife's student and HMO stock
HMO licensing has pushed a fair amount of shared-house work in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy, where older terraced and tenement stock often needs subfloor attention before new flooring goes down, particularly in kitchens with historic pipework runs under the boards.
Working around communal living
- Access arranged through a managing agent rather than individual tenants
- Kitchens and bathrooms sometimes need to stay usable overnight if the job spans two days
- Stairwells and hallways fitted first if they're the priority area