Start with how you live
A low-maintenance material is one that survives your ordinary day without special care. For a family with children and a dog that means certain surfaces; for a couple who use the flat at weekends, others. So before choosing, describe your habits: how much you cook, what you clean floors with, whether there are pets, who cleans and how much time they are willing to spend on it.
Words like "practical", "hard-wearing" or "maintenance-free" on a product sheet are not enough. You need specific answers: what to clean it with, what damages it and how damage gets repaired.
The kitchen worktop
Natural marble is beautiful, but acids leave dull etch marks: lemon, wine, vinegar, tomato. Sealing slows it down but does not prevent it. If you cook a lot and do not want to chase every drop, marble on the prep area will annoy you; keep it for the island, where nobody cuts or cooks.
Quartz composite and sintered ceramic (large-format porcelain) barely stain. Ceramic's weak point is the edge: a knock from a heavy pan can chip it. A rounded or bevelled edge reduces the risk. Timber is warm to the touch but needs oiling and dislikes water around the sink.
Parquet: oil or lacquer
Lacquered parquet is easier to mop and slower to absorb stains. But a scratch in the lacquer shows, and fixing it means sanding a whole area; otherwise the repair stands out.
Oiled parquet looks more natural and can be repaired locally: sand the scratch, apply oil, and a week later you cannot see it. In return it needs re-oiling, especially in walkways and at the entrance, and care with water.
In a flat with a dog and plenty of traffic, an oiled floor is often easier to live with: there will be scratches either way, and the question is how easily you can remove them.
Microcement and seamless surfaces
Microcement appeals because it has no joints, but it is a coating a few millimetres thick over a substrate. If the substrate moves or cracks, the crack comes straight through the microcement. That is why on the old timber floors of Eixample it only goes down after the base has been assessed, and with reinforcing mesh.
The protective sealer on microcement wears over time, especially by the sink and in the shower, and has to be renewed. Aggressive limescale removers destroy it, so bathrooms need gentle cleaning products.
The bathroom: grout, format and hard water
Barcelona's water is hard, and that shapes bathroom maintenance. Cement grout in the shower darkens over time and soaks up limescale; epoxy grout costs more and is harder to lay but barely absorbs dirt. Large-format tiles mean fewer joints and so fewer places for scale to build up.
Matt black or very dark taps and glass shower screens show every drop: you will be wiping them after each shower. Chrome, brushed steel and glass with an anti-limescale coating are far more forgiving. A water softener where the supply enters the flat tackles the problem at the root, but it needs space and servicing.
Walls, entrances and houses by the sea
For entrance, corridor and children's room walls, choose washable paint with a high scrub-resistance class: hand and bag marks wipe off without leaving patches. A low-class matt paint looks lovely, but after the first clean it shows shiny marks.
In a house in Castelldefels or the Garraf, beach sand acts like sandpaper at the entrance, so the area by the door needs a hard-wearing floor and a mat or grille recessed into it. Salt air quickly ruins exterior metalwork and outdoor hardware, which are chosen in stainless materials.
A finishes record and spare stock
When the renovation is finished, keep product references, batch numbers, paint colour names and care instructions for every material. When a cracked tile needs replacing or a wall needs touching up three years later, you will not find it from a photo.
Keep spare stock: a few tiles from each batch, a couple of parquet boards, a tin of each paint colour. How much depends on the area and the risk of damage. On our projects materials are approved before finishing starts, and one person runs the job, in Russian or Spanish. The quote is prepared after a site visit and measurements, and we reply to enquiries within an hour.