RSK Renovation — Premium Renovation & Fit-Out, Dubai

Overview

The Real Question: Is the Quote I Have Been Given Reasonable?

Most people asking what a renovation costs in Dubai are really asking a different question: is the quote I have been given reasonable?

That question is answerable. The first one is not, at least not usefully, because the range across projects is too wide for an average to mean anything.

This page covers how renovation pricing is built up in Dubai, what separates quotations, and what to check before signing. For specifics, see the villa renovation cost and bathroom renovation cost guides.

What Drives Renovation Cost at a Glance

Property type: villas allow structural change and external works. Apartments are constrained by the building, which brings its own costs

Scope depth: cosmetic refresh, full interior renovation, or structural work

Number of wet rooms: kitchens and bathrooms carry more trades per square metre than anything else

MEP condition: rewiring and AC replacement against a finishes-only project

Layout changes: drainage and structure cost more than surfaces

Joinery volume: priced per linear metre across kitchens, wardrobes and storage

Finish level: the widest range of any category and the most within your control

Building requirements: deposits, protection, restricted hours and lift bookings in apartments

Approvals: drawings, consultants and permit costs

Programme: a longer project carries more preliminaries

Get a Written BOQ

The Quote

What Sits Inside a Renovation Quote

There are only two kinds of quotation: a bill of quantities, and a number.

A bill of quantities breaks the work into items, with quantities, specified materials and rates. You can read it, question it, and set it against another contractor's. A single lump sum cannot be compared against anything, and it gives you no way to see what has been left out.

A BOQ worth having shows scope room by room, materials named by specification, quantities and rates, exclusions stated explicitly, provisional sums identified, approval responsibility, payment milestones tied to completed stages, and preliminaries: site setup, protection, supervision and waste removal.

Preliminaries are the line most people have never heard of and every contractor carries. It covers the cost of running the site rather than building anything. It is legitimate, and a quote with no preliminaries has either buried them elsewhere or forgotten them.

Project Types

Villa Against Apartment

Villas

Structural change is possible, which opens up layout options and extensions. External works — facade, roof, landscaping and pool — sit inside the scope. Approvals are heavier where structure is involved. Access is generally easier, and waste leaves by skip.

Apartments

No structural change, no external works. But the building adds cost a villa does not: refundable deposits, protection of common areas, restricted working hours, booked service lifts, and bagged waste removal. A simpler project can still be slower and not proportionally cheaper.

The wet rooms

Kitchens and bathrooms cost broadly the same in both property types. It is everything around them that differs. The number of wet rooms tells you more about a renovation budget than the total area does.

Where to go next

This page is the general guide. For property-specific detail, see the villa renovation cost guide and the bathroom renovation cost guide, which cover the decisions that move those budgets most.

Comparing

Where Two Quotes Differ

A large gap is almost always scope, not margin

The items most commonly inside one quote and outside another:

• Approvals, drawings and consultant fees
• MEP upgrades against like-for-like replacement
• Making good after chasing walls and slabs
• Waterproofing, and whether a flood test is included
• Screed preparation under new flooring
• Protection of retained finishes and common areas
• Waste removal and disposal
• Skirting, thresholds and trims
• Snagging after handover and how long it runs
• Anything described only as "subject to site condition"

Put both quotations against that list before comparing totals. The cheaper one frequently becomes the more expensive one once the gaps are priced in.

The variation process

A contractor who gives a firm price over the phone, from an area figure, has made assumptions. Those assumptions surface later as variations, and by then the work has started and your negotiating position is worse.

The variation process itself is worth agreeing before signing. Every renovation changes to some degree. What separates a well-run project from a difficult one is whether each change is priced in writing, with its time impact stated, before the work proceeds.

A project where changes are made verbally and priced afterwards is a project heading for a dispute.

Approvals

Do Approvals Add to the Cost?

Yes, and they are the cost most often missing from a budget.

In an apartment, building management approval, contractor registration and a refundable deposit all apply before work starts, and a modification permit may be required depending on the tower. In a villa, structural work and extensions involve engineer's drawings, consultant fees and permit costs.

None of these is large against the build cost. The problem is discovering them after the budget is fixed. Ask which apply, who submits them and what they cost, at quotation stage.

Cost

How Renovation Is Priced in Dubai

From a site visit and an agreed scope. Anything else is a guess dressed as a quotation. What to ask for:

A BOQ rather than a lump sum

The only format you can compare or question

Named materials

Specification, not category

Stated exclusions

What is deliberately outside the price

Provisional sums identified

Which allowances may move

Preliminaries shown

Site setup, supervision, protection, waste

Approval responsibility

Who submits what, and the cost

Payment milestones

Tied to completed stages, not dates

Variation process

Written pricing before work proceeds

Snagging period

Length and what it covers

Warranty

On workmanship and on specific systems

The number that matters

Not a per-square-foot estimate from a website — a written BOQ after a site visit, showing quantities, materials, exclusions and payment milestones.

Usually excluded from cheap quotes

Approvals and drawings, protection of retained finishes, MEP upgrades, waste removal, snagging after handover, and anything described as "subject to site condition".

Renovating a villa? Read the villa renovation cost guide →

Timeline

How Long Does a Renovation Take?

Programme affects cost, because time on site is a cost of its own.

Approvals come first and are the least predictable stage. After that, the sequence is broadly fixed: strip-out, civil, MEP first fix, waterproofing, screed, finishing, second fix, snagging, with joinery manufactured in parallel.

Curing periods, on plaster, screed, waterproofing and grout, cannot be compressed by adding labour. A programme that ignores them produces finishes that fail.

Avoid These

Mistakes That Cost Money

Budgeting from a per-square-foot figure. It averages projects unlike yours, and it will not match any real quotation.

Accepting a lump sum. You cannot compare it, question it, or see what is missing from it.

Comparing totals rather than scopes. The cheapest quote is usually the shortest one.

Leaving approvals and deposits out of the budget. In an apartment these apply before any work begins.

No contingency. Something is always found behind a wall. Hold an allowance separately from the contract sum.

Changing scope mid-project. The same decision is free at design stage and a variation at second fix.

Checklist

What to Check Before You Start

Whether the quotation followed a site visit

Whether it is a BOQ or a lump sum

Whether materials are named by specification

What is explicitly excluded

Which items are provisional sums

Whether preliminaries are shown

Which approvals apply and who pays for them

Whether making good after chasing is included

How variations are priced and agreed

Payment milestones tied to stages

Contingency held separately from the contract sum

A quotation with no preliminaries has either buried them in the rates or forgotten them.

FAQ

Renovation Cost FAQs

How much does renovation cost in Dubai?

There is no reliable single figure. Cost is driven by property type, scope depth, the number of kitchens and bathrooms, MEP condition, joinery volume and finish level. A written BOQ issued after a site visit is the only accurate answer for a specific property.

Why can I not find a straight answer on renovation cost?

Because the range is genuinely wide. Two properties of the same size can differ by a multiple depending on whether the layout changes, whether the services need replacing and what finishes are selected. Any published average is an average of projects unlike yours.

Is it cheaper to renovate an apartment than a villa?

Usually, because there is less area and no external works. But apartments carry costs villas do not: refundable deposits, protection of common areas, restricted working hours, booked service lifts and bagged waste removal. The saving is smaller than the difference in area suggests.

What are preliminaries in a renovation quote?

The cost of running the site rather than building anything: site setup, protection, supervision, access, waste removal and insurance. Every contractor carries them. A quotation with no preliminaries has either buried them in the rates or forgotten them.

How do I compare two renovation quotes?

Put them side by side against the items that commonly sit inside one and outside another: approvals, MEP upgrades, making good, waterproofing, screed preparation, waste removal, skirting and snagging. The gap between two totals is usually explained there.

Should I pay a deposit before work starts?

Payment structured against completed stages rather than calendar dates is the normal arrangement. What matters is that each milestone corresponds to work you can see has been finished.

What happens if the cost changes during the project?

Through a written variation, priced with its time impact stated, agreed before the work proceeds. A project where changes are made verbally and priced afterwards is a project heading for a dispute.

Get a Renovation BOQ

Tell us the property type, the area and what you want changed. We will visit, confirm which approvals apply, and issue a bill of quantities with materials, exclusions and provisional sums stated.

+971 8001 217 info@rskrenovation.ae

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Renovation Cost in Dubai