Define what “complete” buys
A reforma integral is a description, not a specification. Start with a measured plan and a room-by-room schedule: what remains, what is removed, what is renewed and what is supplied by you. State whether 80 m² means usable internal floor area, built area or an estate-agent figure. A kitchen price divided by the apartment’s floor area cannot explain how much kitchen you are buying.
Record the condition of water, drainage, electrics, walls and floors before selecting finishes. Keep a separate list of things the quotation cannot establish without investigation. Under Spanish consumer law, article 60, the pre-contract information must explain the price and relevant conditions. For your comparison, ask each bidder to price the same drawing revision, quantities and material specifications.
Allocate interfaces once
Whole-apartment services and room fit-outs frequently overlap. The electrician may price every kitchen circuit while the kitchen company includes only connecting appliances. Write that boundary down. Likewise, a bathroom package can include sanitary fittings and their installation while new distribution pipework belongs to the apartment services package. Neither an empty gap nor two charges should remain between them.
- State the number of bathrooms, sanitary items, internal doors and electrical points.
- Identify removal, transport, floor protection, waste handling and final cleaning.
- List exact cabinet, worktop, flooring and fitting allowances, including delivery.
- Record whether testing, certificates, making good and decoration are included.
- Give owner purchases an installed cost, not just an online product price.
A complete teaching budget
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Protection, site arrangements and waste transport | 3 000 |
| Strip-out and demolition | 5 000 |
| Internal partitions and local making good | 4 000 |
| Apartment plumbing and drainage distribution | 6 000 |
| Apartment electrical installation | 7 000 |
| Floor finishes, tiling and substrate preparation | 10 000 |
| Kitchen furniture, worktop, appliances and fitting | 10 000 |
| Bathroom fittings and installation | 7 000 |
| Internal doors and specified joinery | 5 000 |
| Painting, completion and cleaning | 3 000 |
| Construction excluding IVA | 60 000 |
| IVA at 21% | 12 600 |
| Construction including IVA | 72 600 |
| Professional services, final gross allowance | 3 600 |
| ICIO: assumed assessed base 50 000 × 3.75% | 1 875 |
| Other municipal/occupation charges, provisional allowance | 500 |
| Household storage and moving arrangements | 1 900 |
| Chosen reserve: 10% of gross construction | 7 260 |
| Total funding for this example | 87 735 |
The €500 row is a planning allowance, not an official fee. The €50,000 ICIO base is a separate hypothetical assessment, not a rule that every €60,000 contract has that base. Ask the technician to identify the eligible material-execution cost. Do not add IVA again to final gross allowances.
Check IVA before accepting the total
Agencia Tributaria states a general 21% rate for renovation and repair. The conditional 10% rate requires, among other conditions, an individual recipient using the home privately, construction or rehabilitation completed at least two years earlier, and contractor-supplied materials costing no more than 40% of the operation’s taxable base. A rental or business use changes the analysis.
The AEAT FAQ explains the material test and warns against splitting one operation artificially to obtain a reduced rate for its labour. Ask the contractor to state the rate and basis in writing. Do not assume that an old apartment, a labour-only line or a friend’s invoice settles your own treatment. This example’s 21% is an explicit assumption, not a tax ruling for your project.
Keep public charges outside the builder’s headline
In Madrid, the fiscal ordinance, articles 23–25, gives a 3.75% ICIO rate and defines a base that excludes IVA, professional fees, contractor profit and other specified items. It is not 3.75% of the entire household budget. Establish the actual base and any applicable relief with the municipal tax service; do not subtract a hoped-for discount before approval.
The urban-planning ordinance distinguishes work requiring intervention from exempt activities. Waste and public-space requirements can remain even when the interior work needs no licence or declaración responsable. Ask who handles each application, payment, deposit and completion record. A refundable deposit affects cash required temporarily but should not be represented as an irreversible project cost.
Use the reserve for uncertainty, not missing scope
A 10% reserve is the household’s choice in this illustration. It is neither a Spanish legal requirement nor a guarantee against overruns. Price known omissions before contract: a missing worktop is not a contingency. Investigate uncertainty where possible, especially leaks, concealed deterioration and suspect materials before demolition. INSST’s guidance makes the scope of pre-work identification important; do not disturb suspect material to obtain a casual price.
If an included €1,200 gross flooring allowance is replaced by €1,650, the increase is €450. Using reserve leaves €6,810 unallocated and keeps funding at €87,735. Preserving the original reserve raises funding to €88,185. Buying the replacement for €1,650 without crediting the included €1,200 would count part of the floor twice.
Treat the square-metre figure as an output
This example produces €750/m² net construction, €907.50/m² gross construction and €1,096.69/m² total funding, rounded to cents. All three numbers describe the same invented project with different boundaries. None is a measured Madrid average. An occupied apartment, an extra bathroom or extensive window replacement would change the scope before any unit rate is useful.
A lower comparable total may still mean a better offer, but establish why. Ask about access, quantities, material substitutions, team availability, exclusions and price validity. Do not select a bidder because its initial document leaves the most expensive unknowns blank.
Leave this stage with a decision pack
- A measured plan and one agreed specification sent to every bidder.
- A checked comparison showing gross construction, owner purchases and exclusions.
- Written assumptions for IVA, the municipal route and outside professional costs.
- A risk list stating what has been investigated and what remains unresolved.
- A spending ceiling, selected reserve and payment programme that fit household cash flow.
Keep the accepted documents and revisions with your budget. Reno Pro can help organise stages, recorded costs, notes and payments; the contractor and relevant professionals still establish the quotation, technical solution and tax treatment. The useful result is a funded scope you can explain, rather than a reassuring headline that changes once the flat is opened up.
Sources, date and scope
- BOE — Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007: artículos 60 y 60 bis
- Agencia Tributaria — IVA: obras de renovación o reparación de viviendas
- Agencia Tributaria — Preguntas frecuentes sobre obras y reparaciones en inmuebles
- Ayuntamiento de Madrid — Ordenanza Fiscal 7/2023, redacción vigente para 2026: artículos 23–25
- Ayuntamiento de Madrid — OLDRUAM 6/2022: artículos 6, 7, 8 y anexos I–IV
- INSST — NTP 1225 (2025): amianto, gestión y diagnóstico en situaciones frecuentes
Sources checked on 19 October 2026. Local procedures and examples concern the city of Madrid unless stated otherwise. IVA explanations concern the territory where that tax applies, rather than the separate tax systems of the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla. Original worked calculations are teaching examples for the stated scope, not market averages or contractor offers.