Renovating a 60 m² two-room apartment: what the labour costs

Labour for a 60 m² two-room apartment – a one-bedroom flat with a separate living room – comes to €8,085.90 on our price list. That covers skim coat and paint on the walls and ceilings, new laminate floors, four interior doors and 20 electrical points, and works out at about €135 per m² for labour. The bathroom, the kitchen, new wiring and plumbing, and the materials are not included in this figure.

If the renovation also takes in the bathroom, the kitchen and the wiring and plumbing, a complete apartment renovation usually costs €180–330 per m² for labour – for 60 m², that is €10,800–19,800 for labour, excluding materials. For an apartment like this, the calculator on our website gives €12,936–17,346 for labour at the standard level.

The calculation below is the worked example from our apartment renovation page. We go through it line by line: what each line includes, what the calculation leaves out and how to do it for your own apartment. The prices are as of October 2026 and may change; the current ones are in the price list.

The calculation, line by line

The example is for a 60 m² two-room apartment, excluding the bathroom and the kitchen. The walls, ceilings and floors are redone, the doors are replaced and the electrical points are put in. The quantities are: 120 m² of walls, 60 m² of ceilings, 50 m² of floor, 70 linear metres of skirting board, 4 doors, 20 electrical points and 2 trips to take away the waste.

Over half of the total goes on the walls and ceilings: €3,350.40 + €1,353.00 = €4,703.40 for labour, or 58% of €8,085.90. The floors – removing the old flooring, the screed, the laminate and the skirting boards – come to €349.00 + €1,000.00 + €349.00 + €300.30 = €1,998.30 for labour. The doors and electrical points are €520.00 + €644.20 = €1,164.20 for labour, and the waste removal €220.00. Per square metre, the total is €8,085.90 ÷ 60 ≈ €135 for labour – but for the rooms only.

Walls and ceilings

The ‘full process’ for walls is primer, three coats of skim and paint – €27.92 per m² for labour. How many coats of skim are needed depends on the walls and is decided at the site visit. If the walls are flat and sound, two may be enough: the package with two coats of skim is €22.55 per m² for labour, €27.92 − €22.55 = €5.37 less. For 120 m² of walls, the difference is 120 m² × €5.37 = €644.40 for labour.

The ceilings in the example have the two-coat package, and their area is the same as the area of the apartment. If the walls are very crooked, skim coat is not enough: ‘Straightening walls – plaster + mesh’ is €26.59 per m² for labour. Stripping old wallpaper is €4.60 per m² for labour.

If you want walls in different colours, say so at the site visit. In the price list, ‘2 coats of paint – 1 colour’ is €6.44, ‘2 coats of paint – 2 colours’ €8.05 and ‘2 coats of paint – 3 colours’ €9.13 per m² for labour. You can see feature walls, for example, in the apartment in Buxton.

Floors

Removing the old flooring is €6.98 per m² for labour. The floor is then levelled with self-levelling screed up to 3 cm thick (€20.00 per m² for labour), and the laminate is laid on top (€6.98 per m² for labour). The most expensive line for the floors is the screed: €1,000.00 of the €1,998.30 for labour.

The thickness of the screed depends on how uneven the floor is, and it is measured at the site visit. ‘Self-levelling floor screed up to 2 cm’ is €15.18, and ‘Self-levelling floor screed up to 5 cm’ €30.00 per m² for labour.

Laminate is the cheapest floor covering to lay in the price list. ‘Laying three-layer parquet’ is €14.50 per m² for labour: for 50 m², that is 50 m² × €14.50 = €725.00 instead of €349.00. Tiling costs more: ‘Tiling and grouting, floor’ is €48.32 per m² for labour. A 6 m² hallway in tiles comes to 6 m² × €48.32 = €289.92 for labour, and in laminate to 6 m² × €6.98 = €41.88.

Skirting boards are priced per linear metre along the perimeter of the rooms, minus the doorways – €4.29 for labour.

Doors

Fitting an interior door is €130.00 per door for labour – €520.00 for four. Who supplies the doors is agreed in the quote. If you are replacing old doors, they first come out together with their frames: ‘Removing a door with its frame’ is €37.58 per door for labour, so for the four doors 4 × €37.58 = €150.32. If an opening needs adjusting for the new frame, ‘Adjusting a door opening’ is €85.00 for labour.

Electrical points and waste

The twenty electrical points – sockets, switches and lighting points – are €32.21 each for labour, €644.20 in total. This figure does not include the chases in the walls or a new consumer unit – they are covered in the next section.

The waste is taken out every day, and a tipper lorry trip to a disposal site is €110.00 for labour. The example has two trips; how many you will need is assessed at the site visit, based on the volume.

What the calculation leaves out

The example covers the rooms. A complete renovation has several more parts, each with its own prices:

• The bathroom. Labour in the worked example for a 4 m² bathroom is €4,384.13. An old 4 m² bathroom usually comes to €4,500–5,500 – a figure including the labour and the construction materials, which also covers removing the old fittings and whatever comes to light after the strip-out. The breakdown is in our article bathroom renovation: labour costs task by task.
• The kitchen. The new splashback, the floor, the electrical points for the appliances and the connections for the sink and dishwasher are priced under their own items. Who supplies and installs the kitchen units is agreed in the quote.
• New wiring. If the old installation needs replacing, the chases in the walls are added to the points – €6.98 per linear metre in brick and €12.00 in concrete, for labour – along with a new consumer unit: ‘Replacing a consumer unit, up to 8 fuses’ is €143.16 for labour. We describe when it is time to rewire, and how the work is done, in our article on rewiring an old apartment.
• Plumbing and risers. The pipework to the bathroom and kitchen is priced in the quote, and each ‘plumbing alteration’ is €240.31 for labour. Before they are closed up in the wall, the new pipes are pressure-tested. The risers (the vertical pipes shared by the whole building) are a common part of the building; we explain how their replacement is organised in our article on replacing risers in an apartment block.
• Demolition and removals. Old tiles, walls, wood panelling, built-in cupboards – everything that comes out is a separate item. The prices are collected in our article on bathroom demolition.
• Construction materials. Primers, screeds, adhesives and mesh appear in our quote on a separate line. You choose and buy the tiles and sanitaryware for the bathroom yourself.

The whole renovation: €180–330 per m² for labour

A complete apartment renovation – with the bathroom, the kitchen and new wiring and plumbing – usually costs €180–330 per m² for labour. For 60 m², that is from 60 m² × €180 = €10,800 to 60 m² × €330 = €19,800 for labour, excluding materials. What moves the price within this range is covered in our article how much an apartment renovation costs in 2026.

The calculator prices a complete renovation – a turnkey apartment, every room – by floor area: €205 per m² at the basic level, €245 at the standard level and €280 at the premium level, for labour, in Sofia. Around the calculated figure, it shows a range from 0.88 to 1.18 times that amount. The level describes how complex the work is, not the grade of the materials.

Why does the calculator give more than the task-by-task calculation? Because the example covers only the rooms, while the calculator covers the whole apartment. At the standard level, the difference is €14,700 − €8,085.90 = €6,614.10 for labour. That has to cover the bathroom, the kitchen, the wiring and plumbing, and the removals – and in the worked example, the labour for a 4 m² bathroom alone is €4,384.13.

The calculator gives a guide for the whole renovation, while the task-by-task calculation gives the price of part of it from the price list. The exact figure for your apartment is in the written quote after the site visit.

How long it takes

A whole apartment usually takes 2–5 months. The timescale depends mostly on the scope – whether the wiring and plumbing are being replaced, whether the bathroom and kitchen are included – and on the drying time for the skim coat and screed, which should not be cut short.

Everything that raises dust or needs time to dry comes first: removals, wiring and plumbing, skim coating, screed. Then come the floor coverings, the doors and the second fix – switches, sockets and lights. We describe the stages in detail in our article major apartment renovation: stages and timescales.

How we plan the renovation of an apartment of around 60 m² – room by room and stage by stage, with the dates by which you need to choose the materials – is described on our page on 60 m² apartment renovation in Sofia. The stage-by-stage schedule is written into the quote. If, during the work, something outside the quote turns out to be needed, it is approved in writing, with a price, before it starts.

How to work out the cost for your apartment

The calculation above is easy to adapt for another apartment. You need seven quantities:

1. Walls – the perimeter of each room multiplied by the ceiling height, minus the windows and doors. A 4 × 3.5 m room with a 2.6 m ceiling has (4 + 3.5) × 2 × 2.6 = 39 m² of walls before the window and door are deducted.
2. Ceilings – the floor area of the rooms whose ceilings are skimmed and painted (in the example, the whole flat: 60 m²).
3. Floor – the area of the rooms where you are replacing the flooring.
4. Skirting boards – the perimeter of the same rooms, minus the doorways.
5. Doors – how many you are replacing.
6. Electrical points – the sockets, switches and lighting points.
7. Waste removal trips – assessed at the site visit, based on the volume.

Multiply the quantities by the prices in the table and add them up. If the renovation includes the bathroom, the kitchen and the wiring and plumbing, add those as well.

Frequently asked questions

Are materials included in the price?

No. The task prices, the worked example and the calculator figure for an apartment are for labour. Construction materials – primers, screeds, adhesives, mesh – appear in our quote on a separate line. Who supplies the laminate and the doors is agreed in the quote, and you buy the tiles and sanitaryware for the bathroom yourself.

How much does it cost to renovate a 60 m² apartment with a bathroom and kitchen?

As a guide, €180–330 per m² for labour – for 60 m², that is €10,800–19,800 for labour, excluding materials. At the standard level, the calculator gives €12,936–17,346 for labour. The exact figure is in the written quote after the free site visit.

Can the renovation be done in stages?

Yes – for example, the rooms first and the bathroom later. The wiring and plumbing, however, are best replaced all at once and before skim coating; otherwise the new walls have to be opened up again. The order of the stages is agreed in the quote.

What is the warranty?

The warranty is in writing: 24 months for the renovation and 72 months for the plumbing and electrical installations.

If you would like a calculation like this for your own apartment, book a site visit. The site visit is free, and the quote is in writing, with the work described and priced. We reply to enquiries within 24 hours.