How much does a full villa renovation cost per m² near Barcelona

How much does a turnkey villa renovation cost?

BCN YARD's reference prices on living area, excluding VAT: Luxury from 2,000 €/m², Signature from 3,000 €/m². A 300 m² villa at Signature comes to from 900,000 €, and at Luxury from 600,000 €. Roof, facade, garden and pool are priced as separate chapters. The total is set by a survey of the house.

This is a floor, not an average. For a coastal villa it climbs quickly if the roof, windows, facade insulation have to be replaced or service cores moved. That is why a serious calculation starts with a site visit rather than a floor area: the contractor looks at the structure, damp, roof condition and services, then presents an estimate by chapter.

What costs more: renovating an apartment or a villa of the same size?

Per unit of area a villa usually costs more, although not on every line. The building envelope, long service runs and exterior zones push it up. Access for machinery and freedom in organising the work pull it down.

What raises the price. Roof, facade and windows: an apartment inside a building has hardly any envelope of its own, a villa has all of it. Services: more floors, longer runs, often a plant room or heat pump and water treatment. Stairs, terraces, retaining walls, boundary walls and the driveway. More one-off details, which means more bespoke joinery.

What lowers it. No lift and no restrictions from a comunidad de propietarios: materials arrive at the door and a skip sits by the gate. Noise bothers neighbours less, so working hours are wider. A floor slab can be opened and rebuilt without touching anyone else's home. So the comparison does not say "more or less expensive", it says "what the figure is made of".

What price comes out for a 200, 300 and 400 m² villa?

Reference prices excluding VAT for interior finishes and services in a full renovation. 200 m² villa: Luxury from 400,000 €, Signature from 600,000 €. 300 m² villa: Luxury from 600,000 €, Signature from 900,000 €. 400 m² villa: Luxury from 800,000 €, Signature from 1,200,000 €.

These figures come from multiplying the living area by the tier references, so roof, facade, windows, garden, pool and boundary wall are not counted separately. With the 21% VAT that our estimates normally apply to renovating a resale home, a 300 m² Signature project comes to from 1,089,000 €. The 21% applies because in our renovations materials usually exceed 40% of the taxable base; when they do not, renovating a private individual's home is taxed at 10% (Law 37/1992, art. 91).

Read the numbers as an order of magnitude. If the house is large but simple in structure, the real figure will sit near the floor. If it is a villa with attic rooms, a basement and a complex roof, above it. The exact amount comes only from the estimate after the site visit and measurements.

Are the garden, pool and boundary wall included in the renovation estimate?

Usually not: they are priced as separate chapters, because they follow different rules and use different crews. Garden, pool and boundary wall are not in the per-m² price of living area unless the estimate lists them on a line of their own.

Priced separately: landscaping and site drainage, irrigation, exterior lighting, the pool (shell, filtration, lining), boundary wall and gates, retaining walls, driveway and paving, pergola and barbecue area. Building a pool from scratch deserves an estimate of its own, and we cover it in a separate article. If the villa comes with a neglected garden, have the contractor look at the plot together with the house: roots, slopes and drainage affect the foundations and the dampness of the walls.

A practical rule: require the estimate to contain an "external works" chapter with a figure or with the note "not included". A gap in the document usually turns into an extra charge later.

What percentage of the budget goes on the roof and facade?

There is no single share: it depends on whether the envelope is replaced entirely or only repaired. If the roof, facade insulation and windows are completely redone, in practice that is from a tenth to a quarter of the total budget. If the envelope is sound, the line is considerably smaller.

This is an industry rule of thumb, not a norm. In a villa from the 1970s or 80s the envelope is often outdated: a poorly insulated roof, single glazing, cracks in the render. Roofing is no place to economise, because water finds the weak point within a couple of seasons and damages finishes that are already done. So the roof and facade are done before interior finishing, not at the end.

Ask the contractor for a written conclusion on the envelope after the inspection: its condition, what to replace, what to keep, and the price of each element. Houses of that period often contain materials that need special disposal, for example fibre-cement sheets. The survey establishes that, and it also gives the exact figure.

Where does an accurate villa cost calculation begin?

With a visit and survey, not a phone call about square metres. On site they look at the structure, roof, facade, damp, the state of the electrics, water supply and heating, the layout and the plot.

Prepare plans of the house, photographs, plot details and a wish list for the meeting: what you want to keep and what to re-plan. For a 1970s villa it helps to know whether alterations were made without a project, because they come out during demolition and affect the licence. Which permits are needed and what they cost depends on the municipality (Castelldefels, Sitges and Sant Cugat do not work the same way) and is confirmed with the ayuntamiento or a gestor.

After the survey you should receive three documents: a description of the condition of the house, an estimate by chapter and a payment schedule by stage. If you are sent a single figure with no explanation, that is a reason to ask questions.

How does BCN YARD approach a villa renovation?

We start with a site visit: we look at the house and the plot, discuss what you want to keep and prepare the estimate by chapter. We run projects in Russian and Spanish, one person is responsible for the whole project, the work is done by our own crew and trusted subcontractors, and payment follows the contract in stages.

We have full-cycle experience on a private house with a pool: 2022–2024, with solar panels. For a villa in Castelldefels or Sitges we look at the actual plot and house, because there are no general figures for the coast. If you live abroad, the first conversation can be a video call. We answer every enquiry within an hour.