A partial renovation (reforma parcial) targets specific rooms or elements — typically a bathroom, the kitchen, the floors or the walls — while the rest of the property stays as it is. It suits homes whose wiring and pipework are in reasonable condition. We check that at the visit, define the boundary of the job clearly, protect the areas we are not touching and quote each task line by line.
What counts as a partial renovation?
Any job that deliberately leaves part of the property untouched. In practice the most common scopes we see from overseas owners are:
- A bathroom or en-suite: often swapping a bath for a level shower and replacing tired tiling.
- The kitchen: new units, worktop and splashback, sometimes with the wall to the living room opened up.
- Floors throughout: lifting old terrazo-style or ceramic tiles, or laying a new floor over them where levels allow.
- Walls and ceilings: removing gotelé texture, skimming, painting, adding a plasterboard ceiling with indirect lighting.
- Interior doors and built-in wardrobes.
Bathrooms and kitchens have their own specialist site, reformabanosmalaga.eu, and wall smoothing and painting are covered in depth on quitargotelemalaga.eu. This page is about combining a few of those into one coherent job.
How do you decide where a partial job should stop?
The boundary is the most important decision in a partial renovation, and it should be made on evidence rather than on budget alone. Three questions settle most cases:
- Will the new finish cover services that may soon fail? If a new bathroom is tiled over the original supply pipes, any leak later means breaking new tiles.
- Does the new work meet old work cleanly? A new floor in one room needs a sensible threshold where it meets the old floor next door.
- Will the next job undo this one? If the kitchen wall is likely to come down in a couple of years, painting it now is wasted effort.
When the answers start pointing towards opening most walls, the honest advice is to consider a full renovation instead. Our article on partial or full renovation walks through that decision with examples.
Can I stay in the property during a partial renovation?
Quite often, yes, and that is one of the main reasons owners choose a partial scope. The work area is sealed with dust sheets and protection on the floors, and the order of tasks is arranged so that the property stays usable. If there is only one bathroom and it is the one being renovated, that needs a frank conversation before work starts, because there will be days without it.
If you plan to let the property or use it for holidays between stages, tell us at the outset. The plan we put in the quote can then reflect the dates the property must be usable. Our guide on living through a renovation covers dust, noise, water and power interruptions in more detail.
How is the rest of the home protected?
Protection is not an extra; it is part of the job. Before any strip-out we cover floors along the route from the front door to the work area, seal doorways with sheeting, and agree with you where materials and tools will be kept. Where an apartment block has a lift, it is usually protected too, and many owners’ communities ask for it.
Dust travels further than people expect, especially when tiles are being cut or walls chased. We cut outside the living space where possible and clean at the end of each working day in occupied homes. At the end of the job, the final clean covers the whole property, not just the rooms we renovated.
Does a partial renovation need a permit?
Even small works can require a formal step with the town hall. Under Andalusia’s LISTA law, minor works without an architect’s project are generally covered by a declaración responsable, a notification filed by the owner, rather than a licence (exact requirements vary by municipality and are to be verified with your ayuntamiento). Replacing a bathroom or kitchen with no structural change is a typical example of work on that side of the line.
In an apartment block, the owners’ community also needs to be informed before work on your own flat begins, under the horizontal property law. Our guides on permits in Andalusia and on the owners’ community explain both steps.
Which partial jobs combine well together?
Some pairings save effort because they share the same disruption. Bathroom and kitchen together mean the water supply is shut off and reconnected once rather than twice. New floors and wall smoothing together mean skirting comes off once and the painters work on a finished floor that is already protected. A new plasterboard ceiling pairs naturally with any electrical work in the same room, since the cables are rerouted before the boards close.
Other pairings work against each other. Painting before the floor is replaced, or fitting a new kitchen before deciding whether the adjoining wall stays, usually leads to repeat work. When you send your list, we suggest an order that avoids those clashes.
What makes a partial renovation quote reliable?
A partial job is where vague quotes cause the most trouble, because the edges of the work are easy to leave undefined. Ours lists each task separately and states what the job stops at: which walls, which floor areas, whether skirting, door frames or sockets in adjoining rooms are included.
- Strip-out of the specific elements being replaced, and debris removal.
- Any service work inside the scope, line by line.
- Surface preparation, finishes and fitting.
- Protection of untouched areas and the final clean.
- What is excluded, written down.
We start from photos and an approximate floor area, then visit before the final figures. The factors that move a renovation budget are explained on presupuestoreforma.eu; we keep prices off this site.
Official sources
- Ley 7/2021 (LISTA), consolidated text – BOE
- Ley 49/1960 de Propiedad Horizontal, consolidated text – BOE
Bauman Raymond Attila · Reformas Integrales Málaga · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
