We carry out full and partial renovations across Málaga province with one contractor in charge: we coordinate every trade, can buy the materials for you, work with authorised partner installers for electrics and gas, and hand the property back clean. Quotes are itemised and free; photos and the approximate floor area are enough for a first assessment.
Why use one contractor rather than hiring the trades yourself?
On a renovation in Spain you will usually need a strip-out crew, a plumber, an electrician, a tiler, a plasterboard fitter, a painter and someone to fit the bathroom and kitchen. Hire them individually and you become the site manager: you decide who goes first, chase deliveries, and settle the argument when the tiler blames the plumber for a wall that is out of true.
With one contractor there is one schedule, one quote and one phone number. We plan the sequence, book each trade for the right moment, have the materials on site when they are needed and deal with surprises within the job. The practical difference for you is simple: you are not the one running the site.
What does a turnkey renovation include?
“Llave en mano” — turnkey — means the property is handed back finished, clean and ready to use. Depending on what you need, that covers:
- Strip-out and debris removal, as the first stage of the job.
- Plumbing, drainage and electrics, carried out by authorised partner installers.
- Masonry and plasterboard: partitions, plastering, suspended ceilings, built-in niches and wardrobes.
- Floors and wall finishes: porcelain, ceramic tile, timber or seamless finishes.
- Painting, including smoothing the textured “gotelé” walls common in Spanish flats.
- Fitting sanitaryware, taps, sockets, switches and light fittings.
- Materials purchasing and a final clean.
Renovating a resale apartment: where do you start?
Many buyers on the Costa del Sol purchase a resale apartment from the 1970s, 80s or 90s. The view is great; the bathroom, the kitchen and the wiring are original. The first step is to separate what is cosmetic from what is not. Paint, floors and kitchen fronts are visible; the condition of the pipework, the electrical installation and any damp is what really decides the scope and the budget.
Send us photos of every room, the fuse board and the bathroom, plus the approximate floor area. We will tell you whether a partial job makes sense or whether it is better to plan a full renovation and open the walls only once. Our sister site on apartment renovation goes into this in detail.
In what order is a renovation carried out?
The usual sequence is strip-out, services (plumbing and electrics), masonry and plasterboard, plastering and skimming, floors and wall tiling, painting and, finally, fitting sanitaryware, taps and switches. It sounds obvious, but getting it wrong is the most expensive mistake in renovation.
Pipes and cables are buried in walls and floors. If they are renewed after the tiling, the new tiles come off again. Suspended ceilings are closed once lighting and, where relevant, air-conditioning ducts are in place, and floors are protected before painting starts. If all you need is an interior strip-out without a renovation afterwards, see our interior demolition site.
What should an itemised quote show?
An itemised quote (“presupuesto por partidas”) breaks the job into specific tasks, each with a description, a unit — square metres, linear metres or units — and a quantity. It lets you compare contractors properly and see exactly what is and is not included.
- Strip-out and debris removal, and how the debris leaves the building.
- Each service on its own line: plumbing, drainage, electrics.
- Masonry, plasterboard and plastering measured by area.
- Flooring and tiling, stating whether the material is included.
- Painting, fitting, final clean — and what is excluded, such as furniture or appliances.
A two-line quote with a round total is the one most likely to grow halfway through the job.
What drives the cost of a renovation in Spain?
We do not publish fixed prices, because two apartments of the same size can need very different work. The main factors are the scope, the condition of the services, the materials you choose, the amount of strip-out and debris, access (floor level, lift, room for a skip), whether the property is occupied during the works and the timeframe you need.
Photos and an approximate floor area give us enough for a first assessment. Each factor is explained in more depth on presupuestoreforma.eu.
Do I need a permit to renovate in Andalusia?
It depends on the scope of the work and on the town hall. Andalusia’s planning law (Ley 7/2021, known as LISTA) separates works that only need a declaración responsable — a sworn notification filed with the town hall, which Article 138 applies to, among others, minor works that need no architect — from works that need a full planning licence. Each ayuntamiento publishes its own forms and requirements.
As a rule, anything affecting the structure, the façade or the building’s shared elements needs more paperwork than an interior refresh. Before work starts we go through what is typically required for your scope in your town (exact municipal requirements: to be verified case by case).
Source: Ley 7/2021 of 1 December (LISTA), arts. 137–138, as cited in municipal notification forms, e.g. DR-EO minor works form.
What about the owners’ community?
In an apartment block the work affects your neighbours: noise, lift use, getting debris out and working hours. Many communities have their own rules on hours and ask to be told in advance. Shared elements — the main soil stack, the façade and, depending on the community statutes, the windows — cannot be changed without the community’s agreement.
Before we start we point out any part of the job that may touch shared elements, so you can raise it with the administrator, and we plan debris removal to keep disruption to a minimum.
What a renovation will not fix without a professional
Some problems cannot be solved with new finishes. Structural cracks, rising damp, roof leaks or damaged beams need a proper diagnosis first; covering them with plasterboard or paint only postpones the problem and makes it dearer.
If we see signs of this during the visit we tell you plainly and recommend you consult an architect or building surveyor (arquitecto or aparejador) before going further. If asbestos-cement sheets or pipes turn up, removal must be carried out by a registered specialist — see retiradauralitamalaga.eu.
Which areas do you cover?
We work throughout Málaga province from our office in Marbella: Málaga city, the western and eastern Costa del Sol, the Axarquía and inland towns such as Ronda, Antequera and Coín. Typical jobs differ by area — 1970s and 80s apartment blocks in town and along the coast, villas and townhouses on the urbanisations, traditional houses in the white villages.
For terraces, driveways and outdoor paving we run separate sites such as adoquinadomalaga.eu; this site focuses on the inside and the envelope of the home.
Wherever the property is, the first step is the same: photos of each room, the approximate floor area and a short note on what you want to change, sent through the form or on WhatsApp.
