Renovation schedule template: apartment stages and timelines

A renovation schedule template is a list of stages in building order, each with a duration, a dependency and the purchases that stage needs. The part that keeps a renovation on time is the order deadline for every item, calculated backwards from the day its stage starts. Below is a working template for a full apartment renovation, a method for adapting it to your project, and a way to keep it up to date once delays begin.

The stages in order, with example durations

The table shows a full renovation of a 60 m² apartment with a new kitchen and one wet room. All durations are an example for illustration. Replace them with figures from your contractors. The point is the sequence and the dependencies, which stay similar from project to project.

Stage	Example start (week)	Example duration (weeks)	Starts after	Decide or order before start
Demolition and clearing	1	1	Contract signed, site access	Waste removal booked
Partitions and screed	2	2, plus curing	Demolition	Final layout, floor levels
Windows and entrance door	3	1	Openings are ready	Windows ordered after site measurement
Rough-in: electrical, plumbing, heating	5	2	Partitions	Socket and lighting plan, concealed bathroom parts
Plastering and waterproofing	7	3, including drying	Rough-in checked	Wall finish decisions
Tiling	9	2	Waterproofing is dry	Tiles, adhesive, trims delivered
Ceilings and first paint coats	11	2	Plaster is dry	Paint colours, ceiling details
Flooring	13	2	Wet work finished	Material delivered and acclimatised
Doors, joinery, kitchen	16	2	Flooring protected	Kitchen measured, produced, delivered
Fittings, final paint, fixtures	18	2	Joinery installed	Lighting, switches, sanitary ware on site
Furniture, styling, snagging	20	2	Fittings done	Furniture delivery slots confirmed

In this example the project runs about 21 weeks. Some stages overlap: windows go in while partitions are being finished, and joinery starts while the last flooring areas are protected. Anything that depends on drying or curing is better shown as a separate waiting bar than hidden inside a work stage.

How to adapt the template to your apartment

1. Delete what you do not need. No wet room works? Remove tiling and waterproofing. No layout changes? Remove partitions and screed.
2. Add stages the template does not include. Examples: air conditioning, underfloor heating, stone worktop fabrication, wall panels, custom wardrobes.
3. Replace the example durations. Ask each trade for working days, not calendar days, and ask separately how long materials need to dry or cure.
4. Link stages by dependency. Use finish-to-start links: tiling cannot start before waterproofing is dry. Where a gap is needed, add an offset in days instead of padding the duration.
5. Attach purchases to stages. Each item belongs to the stage that installs it. Lighting belongs to rough-in for its cable positions and to fittings for the fixtures themselves.
6. Add buffers at the end of long chains. One buffer before furniture delivery is more useful than a few days added to every stage.

Dependencies that are easy to miss

• Kitchen and built-in furniture are measured on site, so the order cannot be placed before the walls and floors that define the measurements are ready.
• Windows, built-in joinery and custom doors have the longest lead times and often have to be ordered before demolition starts.
• Concealed plumbing parts and electrical boxes must be on site at rough-in, even though the visible fixtures arrive much later.
• Flooring material usually needs time in the apartment before installation. Check the manufacturer's instruction.
• Furniture delivery needs a finished, cleaned and accessible apartment, including lift booking in a multi-storey building.

Planning purchases backwards from the stage start

A schedule without purchases is only a plan for the builders. For each item, use one formula:

Latest order week = week needed on site − supplier lead time − buffer.

The table applies it to the example project above. Negative weeks mean the order must be placed before the project starts.

Item	Needed on site (week)	Lead time (weeks)	Buffer (weeks)	Latest order week
Windows	3	6	1	−4
Concealed bathroom frames and rough-in parts	5	2	1	2
Wall and floor tiles	9	3	1	5
Engineered wood flooring	13	4	1	8
Custom kitchen	16	8	2	6
Interior doors	16	5	1	10
Light fixtures	17	4	1	12

Two things follow from this table. First, the windows must be ordered before the project begins, which means the design decision is needed even earlier. Second, the kitchen order in week 6 requires a site measurement before then, so the measurement becomes its own milestone in the schedule.

Steps for each item

1. Write down the week the item must be on site, which is the start of the stage that installs it.
2. Get the lead time from the supplier in writing, and separate stock items from made-to-order ones.
3. Subtract lead time and buffer to find the order week.
4. Subtract the time your client needs to approve the item, to find the decision week.
5. Sort all items by order week and work from the top of the list. The first few lines are your risk.

If you also need quantities with cutting reserve for tiles, flooring or wallpaper, the material calculator helps before you place an order.

Keeping the schedule accurate during the works

The schedule will change in the first month, so plan how you will update it. A date that moved without a recorded reason teaches you nothing, and a stage that moved without its dependents moving will break at the next trade handover.

Weekly review checklist

• Is every stage that should be running actually running, and has the previous trade signed off?
• Which items have a planned delivery date that has already passed without arrival?
• Which orders become due in the next two to three weeks, and are they approved and paid?
• Did any stage move? If so, have all dependent stages and their order deadlines moved too?
• Are the supplier's confirmed dates written down, with a reason for each change?
• Is measurement scheduled for every made-to-order item that needs it?
• Is the buffer before furniture delivery still intact?

When a delivery slips

1. Ask the supplier for a confirmed new date. Do not guess one.
2. Check which stage the item blocks and by how many days.
3. Look for work that can move forward without the item, for example painting a room while the doors are delayed.
4. If the delay blocks the critical chain, consider a stock alternative or a different supplier.
5. Tell the client what moved, why, and what it does to the handover date.

How to do it in ArchiBoard

The procurement timeline puts construction phases, order dates, delivery and payment on one chart, so the backward planning above is visible in one place. Follow these steps in an open project:

1. Open Project → "Timeline" and click "Add Phase" for each stage, such as "Electrical" or "Finishing".
2. Enter the phase dates from the keyboard or drag the bar by its edge. Duration is counted in working days.
3. Link phases with an arrow where one cannot start without the other, and set an offset in days for drying or curing gaps. When you move a phase, dependent phases shift automatically.
4. Check where the estimate items landed. They are placed into phases by category, for example lighting under electrical and tiles under finishing. To change this, drag the item to another phase or click "Move to phase…". Manual linking takes precedence over automatic.
5. Read each item's bar: order, waiting, delivery, acceptance, payment to supplier, measurement, installation. Logistics segments marked with a lock are calculated from the estimate, so change them in the item and not on the timeline.
6. Use the "Upcoming purchases" block to see what must be ordered first, sorted by order deadline. In Estimates, the "By order priority" view gives the same list per estimate.
7. When a supplier moves a date, open the item's "Vendor & payment", change the planned date in "Dates: delivery and installation" and choose a "Reason for rescheduling". If the planned date passes without arrival, the system creates a task "Request new delivery date".
8. Track the work itself with the "Mode" switch in "Timeline": "Board" for tasks by status or "Timeline" for the Gantt view. Add work with "Add task". See the tasks chapter of the help for deadlines, assignees and automatic tasks.

FAQ

How long does a full apartment renovation take?

It depends on the scope, the size and how many items are made to order. In the example above, a 60 m² apartment with a new kitchen and one wet room runs about 21 weeks. Treat that as an illustration only. Ask each trade for its own working days and add the longest supplier lead times.

Which stages can run at the same time?

Stages that work in different rooms or do not block each other can overlap, for example tiling in the bathroom while ceilings are prepared elsewhere. Dust-producing and wet work should finish before finishing coats and flooring. When in doubt, link the stages by dependency and let the schedule show the overlap.

How much buffer should I add?

Put a short buffer on each order, for example one to two weeks in the example, and one larger buffer before the final furniture delivery. Make it longer for made-to-order items and for suppliers who have rescheduled before. Do not pad every stage, because hidden padding is quickly used up and nobody can see it.

When should I order materials?

Order at the latest order week: the week the item is needed on site, minus the lead time and a buffer. Long-lead items such as windows, custom kitchens and made-to-order doors often have to be ordered before demolition. Sort all items by order week and start with the earliest.

Should the schedule include drying and curing time?

Yes. Screed, plaster and waterproofing need time before the next stage can start. Show them as separate waiting periods or as an offset between linked stages. Take the real figures from the material manufacturer's instructions and the contractor, not from a general rule.