Finishing a 90–150 m² apartment: how to build a useful budget

Record the starting condition

Describe the apartment as it exists: unfinished, partly finished, recently completed or occupied and due for renovation. Identify what can remain and what needs professional assessment. Photograph rooms and collect available plans, while marking uncertain information. Ask the contractor to inspect before treating quantities as final. The budget should distinguish confirmed work from provisional allowances. Otherwise a quotation may look precise while relying on assumptions about surfaces, services or removal that nobody has verified.

Use a schedule of work, not one floor-area rate

Create rows for preparation and removal, building services, wet-area work, floors, walls, ceilings, doors, joinery and final fittings as applicable. Add quantity, unit, specification, quotation status and exclusions. A wall finish is not measured by the apartment’s floor area alone, and a kitchen is not explained by its room area. Ask the relevant professional to verify quantities. The owner’s worksheet organises the information; it does not replace a technical measurement or pricing document.

Define specifications before comparing totals

Replace labels such as standard or luxury with descriptions that can be quoted: product type, reference, finish, included accessories and installation scope. If a product remains undecided, use a clearly identified allowance and state how it will be reconciled later. Ask bidders to price the same assumptions. Two apartments with equal area may contain different numbers of bathrooms, doors or fitted units, which is why their totals cannot be compared meaningfully through area alone.

Include the apartment’s access and occupancy

Record the floor, lift availability, permitted working arrangements and the route for materials and waste. If you remain at home, discuss which rooms can be unavailable together and what temporary arrangements are needed. These conditions can affect sequencing and the services required, so include them in the brief sent to every bidder. Do not assume an external reference quotation applies to your address. Ask for a site-specific explanation of logistics rather than accepting a vague allowance.

Create base and optional scenarios

In a hypothetical budget, separate the work needed for a complete usable apartment from optional decorative upgrades. Keep both scenarios internally complete: deleting a cabinet may require a different finish behind it, for example. Ask the designer or contractor to identify dependencies before removing items. A reserve should reflect known uncertainties, not a borrowed universal percentage. For restoration work, the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing lists a restoration-licence service; ask the qualified project team which requirements apply to your scope.

Track committed cost through completion

Keep columns for quoted, approved, ordered, paid and remaining amounts. Update them when a selection changes, rather than waiting for the final invoice. Include furniture and appliances separately if they sit outside the finishing contract. Review delivery, protection, cleaning and handover items so completion is funded. The useful result is not a single reassuring number; it is a budget whose assumptions are visible and whose outstanding decisions can be addressed before they cause an unexpected commitment.

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