Most homeowners want a single number. The honest answer is two numbers: time on site, and time from first call to finished reinstatement. They are rarely close to each other, and confusing one for the other is the source of most timeline disappointment in the industry.
First call to survey
Allow five to ten working days. A reputable contractor will want to do a paid or unpaid initial inspection, take measurements, look at the cracks, walk the perimeter, and check obvious causes (trees, drains, recent works) before quoting anything beyond a ballpark. Our full sequence is on the process page.
Survey to design
Once a structural engineer is engaged, design typically takes two to four weeks. This includes any soil investigation (trial pits or boreholes), CCTV drain survey, level monitoring if the movement is suspected to be ongoing, and the engineer's calculations and drawings.
Approvals
Building control submission and approval is usually two to six weeks. A party wall award, where required, adds four to eight weeks on top and cannot be hurried, the neighbour has statutory rights to consider and respond.
Time on site by method
- Resin injection: often a single day for the injection, with monitoring afterwards.
- Mass concrete underpinning, single elevation: two to four weeks.
- Beam and base: two to four weeks for a typical run.
- Mini piles: under two weeks on site once mobilised, but design and approval take longer.
- Screw piles: three to seven days for a typical extension.
Reinstatement
Putting the property back together, repointing, plastering, painting, paving, planting, is often one to two weeks of finishing trades after the structural work signs off.
Realistic total
First call to keys-back is eight to sixteen weeks for most domestic jobs without complications. Add four to eight weeks for party wall procedures. Genuine emergencies (active collapse, evacuation) are prioritised, but they are rare. See our full process for what happens at each stage.