Short answer: how much and what for
A reasonable renovation deposit is the amount that covers the contractor’s specific start-up commitments: ordering windows, the kitchen and bespoke furniture, long-lead materials, and setting up the site. On the market, deposits of 10–30% of the quote are the most common. That is practice, not law, and the right figure depends on what has to be ordered in the first weeks.
For a 100 m² flat at Basic level, where a renovation starts at €100,000 excluding VAT, that means roughly €10,000–30,000. If you are asked for half or everything at once with no breakdown, ask questions before you sign.
What a justified deposit pays for
Made-to-measure windows and doors: the factory starts production once paid on account, and lead times run to weeks. Kitchen and fitted wardrobes: the same. Sanitaryware and tiles that must be reserved, especially imported items. A skip, protection for common areas, scaffolding or a hoist if needed.
All of that can be shown on paper: the factory invoice, an order confirmation, a supplier reservation. Ask for the deposit to be broken down by those items. A serious contractor will provide it without taking offence, because they receive those invoices themselves.
When a larger deposit is legitimate
On a Luxury-level renovation, more of the cost is ordered at the start. Natural stone slabs are reserved piece by piece, designer taps and lighting come from Italy or Germany, joinery is made to bespoke drawings. A deposit of around 40% can be fair then, but only if every major item is backed by a supplier invoice.
A sensible structure here is to pay order by order, as each is placed, rather than one lump sum. And agree in advance who owns the materials if the contract ends: a slab you paid for should be yours, with paperwork, not sitting “somewhere in the company warehouse”.
Warning signs
100% upfront. You give up all leverage: if something goes wrong, the only route left is court. A contractor with normal working capital does not need the full sum before starting.
A round figure with no breakdown: “half now, half at the end”. Nobody knows what the money covers or what happens if the job stalls halfway.
A deposit before the contract is signed, or “to hold the date”. Contract first, money second.
A deposit in cash, into a personal account, or with pressure like “the price goes up tomorrow”. We cover those tactics in separate guides.
A deposit for work that cannot start until the permit is granted. The money sits with the contractor for months while you wait for the ajuntament.
How to protect a deposit you have paid
The contract states what the deposit is for, the date by which work starts and what happens if it does not: a refund, within what period, net of what. The deposit goes by transfer to the account of the company named in the contract, against an invoice.
After that, the deposit is offset: each later payment deducts its share, so by completion it is fully absorbed. If the contract does not say so, the deposit can end up “hanging” outside the payment schedule.
On large projects a bank guarantee for the deposit amount is sometimes requested. It is rare for a flat, but there is no harm in asking. Stage payments as a system are covered in a separate guide; this one is only about the opening sum.
Example: a flat in the Eixample
Take a 110 m² flat in the Eixample at Standard level: a renovation from €220,000 excluding VAT. In the first weeks the windows (if they are being replaced), the kitchen and the fitted wardrobes need ordering, while strip-out and first-fix work run in parallel. A justified deposit is made up of payments on account to the factories plus site start-up costs, each backed by a document.
The rest is paid in stages: strip-out, services, screeds and tiling, finishes, handover. If someone asked for €110,000 “to get started” on that same flat, no factory order and no invoice could explain the figure.
How we handle it
We work under a written contract, with stage payments tied to real progress on site. The size of the opening payment is set in the contract after the quote, once it is clear what must be ordered in the first weeks. One person runs the project, in Spanish and Russian. Tell us about your renovation and we will reply within an hour.