Costs incurred to do up an apartment in shell form

At Zanzi Homes, we’re breaking down the costs incurred to renovate an apartment in shell form.

Allow yourself creative control of your new property in Malta

Property investment in Malta is always a good idea, and from Marsaxlokk up to Mgarr, hundreds of people are looking to grow their portfolio. Whether it's looking to start out as a young family, or you simply want to oversee the creation of your dream home, purchasing a property in shell form is often a wise choice and the experienced real estate agents at Zanzi Homes can guide you along the way.

The benefits are extensive. Initial purchase prices will generally be cheaper. You can take your time whilst building, sourcing the perfect suppliers and fitters.

Costs go down and the fun-o-metre rises, as you can now get creative. Rich wood panelling and hidden sockets? High end finishes for your loo with a view? You can make it happen. Everything from door handles to dimming switches, your only limit is your creativity. And of course…your budget.

Always overestimate your budget for doing up your property in shell form

Start at the beginning

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Your budget is the baseline from where all your future decisions will need to be made. Your overall cost can be broken down into various groupings, such as Kitchen and bathroom, bedrooms, common living spaces, as well as miscellaneous costs such as getting a designer and/or architect to help you.

Remember that there will be the operational costs for everything such as labour, transport and the like, coupled with the actual costs of the actual items for install.

Always look to overestimate your required budget. While doing up a home from shell generally works out more cost effective in the long run, there will always be some surprise costs that it helps to have a buffer for, such as service connections, or any planning permissions.

How much will it cost to do up each room for a property in shell form?

Method amidst the madness

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Now that the overall budget is established, you can start to investigate the allowance that you can put into each room. Apart from general costs such as plastering and painting which will be required throughout your property in Malta, it helps to think of the areas where you will spend the most time, as these are generally the spaces that will take up larger portions of your budget.

Areas such as the general living area or TV room, along with the kitchen, are places where you don't want to be too much of a penny pincher. Many Maltese stores such as The Atrium and Pitre offer competitive local prices for everything from kitchen units to tiling. But don't hesitate to look into suppliers from countries such as Italy who will have excellent arrangements for importing to Malta, and will also offer a wider range of items.

When doing up your property in shell form, the cost assessment is always a stab in the dark.

Crunching the numbers

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This is one of those, “How long is a piece of string” scenarios, as without knowing the standard that you are looking for in terms of materials and finishings, an assessment of costs will always be a stab in the dark.

However, we can give you an idea of baseline figures. For areas such as the kitchen, you can expect to lay out no less than a few thousand euros to make allowance for materials, labour, install etc. Bathrooms are cheaper given the smaller space and less complicated elements apart from plumbing, so set aside a budget of circa €2.0-2.5K per space.

Bedrooms are majorly dependent on size, so consider things like air conditioners and their placements, standard of doors, and then the final touches such as beds, cupboards, dressers etc.

As with all things worth doing, preparation is key. Know your costs and know what you want, and try to find a happy medium in between. The task can be incredibly daunting if trying to finish a house from shell for the first time. But it can also be incredibly rewarding.

You will learn things along the way and also be able to finally step back and appreciate the fruits of your labour when you get to move into a home that you know is exactly how you wanted it to be. Having built up an extensive database over the years, if you require any assistance, our agents at Zanzi Homes will be more than willing to put you in touch with everyone from contractors to designers.

Main Blog Photo by Andrew Neel from UnSplash