For a first renovation assessment, send the approximate floor area, a simple list of rooms with their size and ceiling height, and photos of each room plus the fuse board, bathroom and kitchen pipes, floors, windows and access to the building. The built area recorded in the Catastro is a useful reference but usually includes walls and is larger than the usable floor area. A builder will measure precisely on the visit; your measurements set the scope and the questions.
Why do your measurements matter if the builder measures anyway?
The builder will take exact measurements on the visit before preparing a firm quote. What you send beforehand serves a different purpose: it tells us how large the job is, which rooms are involved and what to look for when we visit. With that, we can give you a first assessment of the likely chapters and the open questions, and plan a visit that answers them.
Good preliminary information also saves time on both sides. If you are abroad, it lets you decide whether to proceed before travelling. And it forces a useful exercise: walking through the property room by room and deciding what you want to change in each one. That list is, in effect, the first draft of your scope.
Which areas should you measure?
For each room, measure length and width at floor level, and multiply to get the floor area. Note the ceiling height, especially where it differs (sloping ceilings, double heights, lowered corridors). For bathrooms and kitchens, also measure the walls that will be tiled: width of each wall and the height you want the tiles to reach.
Write it down simply:
- Living room: length × width, ceiling height.
- Bedroom 1, bedroom 2…: same.
- Bathroom: floor, each wall width, tile height.
- Kitchen: floor, length of worktop run, walls to be tiled.
- Corridors and hall.
- Terraces, if they are in scope.
Approximate is fine. Rounded figures are more useful than no figures, and a quick sketch of the layout with the room names helps us read them. For which of these numbers will drive the quote, see cost factors.
What is the difference between built area and usable area?
Spanish property documents usually show more than one area. The built area (superficie construida) generally includes the thickness of walls and sometimes a share of common areas; the usable area (superficie útil) is the floor you can actually walk on. The built area is therefore larger than the usable one, and the difference can be noticeable in older properties with thick walls.
The Spanish Cadastre’s online portal (Sede Electrónica del Catastro) offers free-access consultation of cartography and cadastral data, where the recorded area of a property can often be checked. It is a useful reference, but for a renovation quote the areas that matter are those of the surfaces being worked on: floors, walls and ceilings. That is why we ask for room measurements rather than relying on the figure in the deeds.
Which photos are most useful?
- Each room from the doorway, then from the opposite corner, in daylight.
- Floors close up, including any cracked or loose tiles and the thresholds to terraces and bathrooms.
- Walls close up if they have gotelé or cracks, with a hand or coin for scale.
- The fuse board, with the cover open if it is safe to do so.
- Pipes under the kitchen sink and bathroom basin, and the water heater.
- Bathroom: bath or shower, toilet, basin, the floor at the door.
- Windows and their frames.
- Damp, stains or cracks anywhere.
- Access: the building entrance, stairs, lift door, the street outside.
Our form accepts a few photos; if you have more, send them by WhatsApp.
What else should you tell the builder?
- Town and type of property: flat, townhouse, villa, commercial unit.
- Approximate age of the building and of any previous renovation.
- What you want to change in each room, and how deep.
- Whether the property will be occupied during the works, or let between phases.
- Your timing: flexible, or a fixed date such as a rental season.
- Finishes you have in mind, even as reference photos.
- Anything you already know: past leaks, community rules, works the community is planning.
- How you use the property — private use or letting — which matters for VAT; see VAT and grants.
What can a first assessment from photos tell you — and what can it not?
From measurements and photos we can tell you which chapters your project is likely to need, what level of work each room seems to require, which questions will decide the cost and whether anything should be checked by a technician first. That is enough for many owners to decide whether to proceed and how to plan their budget.
What a first assessment cannot do is replace the visit. Hidden services, the condition of floors, access details and the real quantities are confirmed on site, and only then can the quote be firm. Our blog post on who a photo assessment is for explains when it is enough and when it is not.
How do you send everything to us?
Use the form on this site with up to five photos and your measurements, or send everything by WhatsApp or email if you have more photos. Write in English if you prefer. We reply with a first assessment and, if you want to go ahead, arrange a visit.
After the visit you receive an itemised quote, line by line, with VAT shown separately. If you are comparing builders, give each of them the same measurements and photos so the quotes start from the same basis — our guide on comparing quotes explains why that matters. For an overview of what a quote for a whole property includes, see full renovation cost.
Official sources
- Sede Electrónica del Catastro – free-access consultation of cartography and cadastral data (checked 5 November 2026)
- AEAT – What rate applies to works on dwellings? Renovation or repair (page updated 13 October 2026, checked 5 November 2026)
Bauman Raymond Attila · Presupuesto Reforma · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
