What is the difference between a luxury renovation and a standard one?
The scope of work changes: at the Signature tier more is invested in what stays hidden, meaning building services, sound insulation, custom joinery, lighting and quality control. BCN YARD's reference prices excluding VAT: Premium from 1,000, Luxury from 2,000, Signature from 3,000 €/m². The exact price comes in the estimate after the site visit.
It is not about "expensive tile". The same tile can be laid over an uneven base without waterproofing, or over a prepared one with checked falls and joints. On handover day both look alike; three years later everyone can see the difference. The tier describes how much attention each part of the home receives, rather than what shows up in photographs.
What changes line by line: Premium, Luxury, Signature?
The tiers differ across eight lines. Below are the typical differences in practice; the exact content of each tier is fixed in the estimate after measurements.
Building services. Premium: electrics and plumbing renewed to current regulations; Luxury: new circuits, separate groups for appliances, kitchen and bathroom ventilation; Signature: zoned climate control with heat recovery, spare capacity, low-voltage networks and automation.
Sound insulation. Premium: the regulatory minimum; Luxury: reinforced walls towards neighbours; Signature: double-stud walls with mineral wool, decoupled floors and service runs, checked junctions.
Partitions and ceilings. Premium: plasterboard with standard joints; Luxury: well-levelled planes and recessed lighting; Signature: shadow gaps, concealed hatches, ceilings with no visible joints.
Joinery. Premium: off-the-shelf doors and wardrobes; Luxury: some pieces made to order; Signature: floor-to-ceiling doors, concealed frames, veneer or lacquer matched to a sample, integrated storage.
Lighting. Premium: downlights; Luxury: several groups; Signature: calculated, with scenes and dimming. Floors and bathrooms: from standard-format porcelain to natural stone and herringbone solid-wood parquet. Control: at Signature, sign-off after every phase.
How much does a Signature renovation cost per square metre and for a whole home?
The reference for Signature starts at 3,000 €/m² excluding VAT. For 100 m² that is from 300,000 €, for 120 m² from 360,000 € and for 200 m² from 600,000 €. Luxury at the same sizes: from 200,000, 240,000 and 400,000 €; Premium: from 100,000, 120,000 and 200,000 €.
Read "from" literally: it is the floor of the tier. The figure climbs when the project includes natural stone over large areas, complex joinery, a lot of automation or structural changes. VAT is added on top, which in our estimates for renovating a resale home is usually 21%, along with separate lines such as furniture and the design project. 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). How an estimate breaks down by chapter is covered in our article on the luxury renovation budget.
Can you mix tiers: Signature in the kitchen and Luxury in the bedrooms?
You can, with one rule: choose everything invisible at a single tier for the whole home, and split what is visible by room. Redoing services, sound insulation, electrics and ventilation in a bedroom that has already been renovated costs far more than providing for it from the start.
Mixing works like this: kitchen and living room at Signature, guest bedrooms at Luxury. But cable routes, water supply, spaces for climate units and reinforced walls are provided for in every room. Watch the junctions: parquet meeting tile, door heights, the colour and texture of ironmongery. If the living room doors reach the ceiling and the bedroom ones are a standard two metres, the difference is obvious from the hallway. Better to agree early on a few common details that are visible from anywhere in the apartment.
Which tier do people choose for an apartment in the Eixample?
There is no single answer: the neighbourhood does not set the tier, the building and the way you will live in it do. The Eixample has plenty of apartments in early twentieth-century fincas regias with high ceilings and hydraulic tile. In them the decision often depends less on the finishes budget than on the condition of the floors, risers and wiring.
If the building is old and the services have not been touched for decades, moving up to Luxury or Signature for services makes sense in any case. The visual tier is chosen separately. An example: the Urgel apartment, 109.80 m², with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open kitchen, herringbone parquet, slatted wood panels and a marble wall. That set of solutions shows how layout and textures are handled in the Eixample; details are on the project page.
How do you pick a tier without overpaying?
Start with three questions: how many years you plan to live in the home, what condition the building's services are in, and which part of the apartment you spend most time in. The answers show where to invest first.
In practice the order is this. First: services and sound insulation at one high tier for the whole apartment. Second: joinery and the kitchen where you touch them every day. Third: decorative elements that can be refreshed without building work: light fittings, textiles, furniture. An estimate broken down by line lets you compare two tiers on each line and see which upgrade is worth its price and which is not.
Ask for the price of both options line by line: that shows the difference without guesswork. Overpaying happens when a tier is chosen by its name rather than by the scope of work.
How does BCN YARD help you decide on a tier?
We come to the property, measure, check the condition of the services and prepare the estimate by chapter. For the doubtful lines we show two prices, how it would look at Luxury and at Signature, so you decide with numbers. We run projects in Russian and Spanish, with one person responsible for the project and payment under contract, in stages. We answer every enquiry within an hour.
If you live outside Spain, the first conversation can be a video call, and you can send the floor plan, photos and a wish list. The Premium, Luxury and Signature tiers serve here as a reference for the conversation: you will only see the final scope in the estimate after the visit.
Frequently asked questions
How is a luxury renovation different from a standard one?
In the scope of work. At the Signature tier more goes into what is hidden: climate control with heat recovery, double-stud sound insulation, made-to-order joinery, a lighting calculation and sign-off after every phase. On handover day both look similar; the difference shows years later, in the quiet, the evenness of the joints and the durability of the services.
How much does a Signature renovation cost per square metre?
BCN YARD's reference is from 3,000 €/m² excluding VAT; Luxury from 2,000 and Premium from 1,000. For 120 m² at Signature that is from 360,000 € before tax. "From" marks the floor: the total depends on materials, joinery and the amount of automation. The exact price comes from the estimate after the site visit and measurements.
Can you mix renovation tiers in one apartment?
Yes. Services, sound insulation and ventilation are best set at one tier for the whole home, because redoing what is hidden later is expensive. Visible elements such as the kitchen and living room can be at Signature while the guest bedrooms stay at Luxury. Watch material junctions and door heights so the move between zones does not jar.
Which tier do people choose for an Eixample apartment?
The neighbourhood is not enough to answer: the tier is set by the condition of the building and the way you live. In older fincas regias with high ceilings it makes sense to renew the services at a high tier whatever the finishes budget, and to choose the visual side separately, room by room. The outcome depends on measurements and an inspection of the floors, risers and wiring.