Short answer: choose by how the company reads your property
Choosing a renovation company in Barcelona takes three steps: first rule out anyone without verifiable details and a written contract, then judge how they handled the first visit and the estimate, and only then compare prices. A headline figure without those two steps tells you very little.
A high-end renovation of a flat or a house runs for months and costs as much as a good car, often a lot more. During that time the contractor will make dozens of decisions without you in the room: where to route services, how to true up a wall, when to order the joinery. What you are really choosing is whose judgement you trust with those calls, not who produced a number fastest.
The first filter takes one evening
Before meeting anyone, check the basics: a NIF and a company that actually exists, an address they genuinely operate from, current civil-liability insurance and a willingness to sign a written contract covering scope, timing and payment terms. Each of these has its own article on the blog; here one rule is enough: if a company dodges any of them, stop there.
This filter usually removes part of the list. The three or four companies left are the ones worth inviting to see the property.
The first visit tells you more than the website
Watch what the person actually does on site. A serious contractor measures, opens the fuse board, asks about the risers, finds where the shared pipes run and wants to know the comunidad de propietarios rules, permitted working hours and whether the lift can be used. They ask how you live, not only which tiles you like.
An Eixample example: an early twentieth-century flat, ceilings over three metres, timber beams or Catalan vaults, and a shared soil stack in a corner of the kitchen. A company that quotes a turnkey price in twenty minutes without opening a single access panel has either padded the figure heavily or will reprice later. The one that says we need to open this up, then I will give you an exact line item, is being more honest, even if the answer takes longer.
If only a salesperson turned up and the site manager will appear after signing, ask who will actually run the job and meet them before the contract.
Who answers for the site every day
Most renovation problems happen at the hand-offs: the electrician has left, the tiler arrives early, the joiner measured before the plastering was done. Ask plainly whether the company has its own crew or subcontracts everything, who coordinates the specialists, and who is the single person accountable to you for the result.
At BCN YARD the main work is done by our own crew, narrow specialist trades go to subcontractors we have worked with and trust, and each project has one person in charge. We run projects in Russian and Spanish, so clients never have to translate for the site manager or guess what was agreed on site.
Also ask about the rhythm of communication: how often you get a progress report, who sends photos, and who you call if something looks wrong on a Saturday.
The estimate as a test of whether they understood your project
An estimate shows whether the contractor understood your property. Line items with units and quantities, separate lines for demolition, electrics, plumbing and joinery, written exclusions and open decisions flagged: all signs that someone thought about your flat instead of filling in a template. How to compare several estimates against each other is covered in a separate article; the point here is different.
On a high-end job, look at how the non-standard elements are described. Concealed doors, heat-recovery ventilation and air conditioning, bespoke joinery, herringbone parquet: if all of that sits in a single finishes line, the company either has not studied it or is keeping room to reprice. On a project like the children's psychology centre in the Eixample, with 24 concealed doors and heat-recovery climate control, each of those items drives both the programme and the price.
As a benchmark: Basic from 1,000 EUR/m², Standard from 2,000 EUR/m² and Luxury from 3,000 EUR/m², excluding VAT. The exact price only comes after the site visit and measurements.
Payment and contract: in stages, not half up front
Ask how the company proposes to be paid. The sensible model for a large renovation is payment under the contract, split into stages, with each payment tied to a visible result on site: demolition complete, first-fix electrics and plumbing in, screed poured, finishes done. That is how we work too.
A large deposit unrelated to progress shifts all the risk onto you. If a company insists on a big sum before starting, ask exactly what it pays for, for example ordering materials with long manufacturing lead times, and get that written into the contract.
The order of play: from shortlist to signature
Gather five or six companies, filter on the basics and invite three or four to the property. Give them all the same brief, ideally in writing, with a plan and a list of requirements. Compare what the estimates contain and the questions you were asked, not just the totals. Ask to see a real completed project and talk to the person who would run yours.
Apply this sequence to any company, ours included. We reply to enquiries within an hour, then arrange a site visit and measurements at your property, whether it is a flat in the Eixample or a house in Castelldefels.