Bathroom renovation in Barcelona: timings, permits, costs

As a guide, a complete bathroom renovation in Barcelona takes two to four weeks on site, provided the materials are in the flat on day one; if there are made-to-measure items, add their manufacturing time. As for paperwork, if you don’t touch the structure, the façade or the building’s shared soil stacks, the norm is to submit a prior notification to the Ajuntament (city council) before you start. On price, a turnkey bathroom begins at €3,500*; what usually inflates the bill isn’t the tiles but planning mistakes.

How much a bathroom renovation costs

These are our starting prices for renovations in Barcelona and the metropolitan area:

*Guide prices. The final cost depends on the size of the bathroom, the condition of the plumbing and wiring and the materials you choose, and we confirm it in writing, item by item, before we start. If you renovate the bathroom and kitchen at the same time, travel, protection and paperwork are shared.

The phases of the job and how long each one takes

A typically sized bathroom in a Barcelona flat usually follows this sequence. Timings are a guide and depend on what turns up once the walls are opened:

• Demolition and removal of the sanitaryware, wall tiles and, if it’s being replaced, the floor: one to three days.
• Plumbing, waste pipes and electrical points: two to four days, longer if the pipes have to be replaced all the way back to the meter.
• Waterproofing and levelling the walls and floor: one or two days, plus the drying time specified by the membrane manufacturer.
• Wall and floor tiling: three to six days, depending on the tile format and the area.
• Fitting the shower tray or bath, toilet, vanity unit, taps, shower screen and lights: one to three days.
• Painting the ceiling, cleaning and a final walk-round with your snagging list.

What drags a job out is rarely the work itself. It’s the waiting: a made-to-measure shower screen ordered once the tiles are already up, a vanity unit that arrives in the wrong size, or a grout colour decided on the day. That’s why it pays to finalise the materials list before demolition starts.

Permits: what the Ajuntament and the owners’ association need

In Barcelona, a bathroom renovation confined to the inside of the home, without touching the structure or the façade, is usually handled with a prior notification of works to the Ajuntament, normally submitted online. If the work affects structural elements, the façade or communal services, the procedure may change and require a technician and a licence. There may also be a municipal fee and the construction tax, which is calculated on the cost of the works. Requirements are updated from time to time, so confirm the exact procedure with the Ajuntament or ask us during the visit.

You need to talk to the owners’ association if you touch the main soil stack, which is a communal element, or if the building’s water has to be shut off to replace a stopcock. Even where it isn’t compulsory, telling the building administrator about the dates, use of the lift and noisy hours heads off most disputes.

Seven costly mistakes

• Starting without the materials on site. Every day of waiting is another day without a bathroom.
• Closing up walls over old pipes. In older buildings in Ciutat Vella, Gràcia or Poble-sec, lengths of lead or galvanised iron pipe still turn up; replacing them while the wall is open costs far less than doing it later.
• Waterproofing only the shower floor. In tiled walk-in showers and flush-to-floor trays, the membrane has to run up the walls and cover the corners; a slow leak ends up in the ceiling of the neighbour below.
• Moving the toilet without checking the soil stack. The waste pipe needs a proper fall and a generous diameter; moving it too far from the stack can mean lifting the floor, or make the move unworkable.
• Counting on a flush-to-floor tray without checking the floor. In older buildings the available depth is limited and the floor structure can’t be touched without a technician; sometimes the answer is an ultra-slim tray with a small step.
• Forgetting ventilation. An internal bathroom with no window needs a properly ducted extractor fan; otherwise the grout and the ceiling end up covered in mould.
• Accepting a quote without line items. If the price doesn’t separate demolition, plumbing, electrics, tiling and fitting, it’s hard to tell what’s an extra and what was already included.

Asbestos and other surprises in older buildings

When a bathroom is opened up in a building from before 2002, asbestos-cement soil stacks or ducts may appear. If that happens, they must not be cut or broken: work stops in that area and removal is carried out by a company listed on the official register of firms authorised for asbestos work (RERA), following its own work plan. Other common surprises are joists damaged by old damp and circuits with no earth, and the wiring regulations also limit where sockets and appliances can go near the shower and bath. That’s why it’s wise to keep part of the budget in reserve for whatever can’t be seen until the walls are open.

Planning a bathroom renovation? Send us a few photos, rough measurements and a note of what you’d like to change. We’ll reply within 24 hours on working days, come and see it and send you a written quote with every item and the work schedule. One person in charge coordinates the team from start to finish, and labour comes with a 2-year guarantee.