Staging aged care refurbishments

An aged care home or retirement village is someone's home and someone else's workplace before it's a job site. Staging is how you refurbish it without turning everyone's day upside down.

Pick the right unit of work

Depending on the site, we stage by room, wing, floor, building, common area or unit release. Here's what that looks like on real jobs:

• One room at a time. At Whiddon's Robert Young home in Narrabri we refurbished six resident rooms one by one. When the floor in Room 28 was done, the resident went back into her room that day.
• Two bathrooms at a time. At RFBI Hawkins we refurbish resident bathrooms in pairs and hand each pair back before the next starts. We'd handed back 14 by mid-October 2026.
• Unit by unit, across towns. For RFBI Retirement Living we refurbished five units in Goulburn, Berry, Basin View and Coffs Harbour on one program, staggering demolition so the trades could move from one site to the next.

Plan around the day, not just the program

Residents have routines. On a retirement village job we work around meal times, give residents 48 hours' notice before anything changes at their front door, and pack up properly every afternoon. At Aveo Minkara that also means no noisy work before 10am and none on weekends.

Line it up with residents moving in or out

In retirement living, the timing often follows occupancy: a unit being readied for a new resident, or handed back after someone leaves. Planning around those dates gets homes back into use sooner.

Keep everyone in the loop

The operator's property team gets a weekly report with photos. Residents hear about noisy days through the village team before they happen. At handover there's a completion checklist for every room or unit, then a defects walk.

Keep the program honest

A one-off bathroom, a capital works job and a rolling program across a portfolio all need different programs. Set one that fits what the site can handle, not just what looks good on paper.

If you're planning a refurbishment program, Dylan, Matt or Neil will walk the site with your team.