Apartment Renovation in Dubai

Apartment renovation cost depends on the unit size and bedroom count, the existing condition, how much demolition the scope involves, whether kitchens and bathrooms are included, the quantity of fitted joinery, the finish specification, the MEP changes the building permits, the access constraints in your tower and the programme you need. The ranges published on this page are indicative market figures to help you plan — a studio generally sits between AED 60,000 and AED 80,000, and a three-bedroom apartment from AED 180,000 upwards. They are not a quotation: after the site assessment you receive an itemised proposal against a defined scope, and that is the number that holds.

The programme covers survey, design, building and authority approvals, procurement, construction, snagging and handover. Design and approvals can often run in parallel, and the critical path is usually the building approval plus long-lead items such as joinery and stone. Building approval timelines vary by tower and are frequently the least predictable element, so we issue a dated programme once the unit and the building’s requirements are known rather than quoting one generic duration.

In most Dubai buildings, yes — an NOC from building management or the owners association is normally required before any work starts, along with an approved contractor, insurance documentation and often a refundable deposit. What that approval covers, which drawings are required and how long it takes are genuinely different from one tower to the next. Halo identifies the applicable route during the site assessment and manages the submission, but we cannot tell you in advance that every building works the same way, because they do not.

Non-structural changes are often possible — removing or repositioning a partition wall, opening a kitchen to a living space, or reworking storage and door positions — subject to the building’s approval. What is genuinely constrained is anything structural, and anything tied to the slab: structural walls and columns cannot be altered without engineering assessment and approval, and drainage positions and slab penetrations limit how far a bathroom, kitchen or new wet area can move. We confirm what your specific unit allows before a layout is drawn, rather than designing first and reconciling later.

Sometimes, and it depends on the scope. Where the work can be phased room by room, unaffected areas can be sealed and screened, noisy activity kept inside the building’s permitted hours, the unit cleaned down daily and a temporary kitchen or retained bathroom kept in use. Some scopes are not sensible to live through — a full wet-area rebuild, a whole-floor replacement or a complete strip-out among them. We will tell you honestly which of those yours is after the assessment.

Yes. Room-level scopes are common in apartments, particularly where the rest of the unit is sound. The same constraints still apply — drainage positions, slab penetrations, waterproofing and the building’s approval route — so a single-room scope is assessed the same way a whole-unit one is. The residential kitchens and bathrooms pages on this site show the finishes and joinery in more depth.

Yes, and the brief is different. For a letting or resale unit the work is scoped for return rather than for personal taste: durable finishes, a neutral specification, the rooms that actually move a valuation, and a programme with enough certainty to plan a tenancy or a listing around. We will also tell you where additional spend is unlikely to come back.

Yes. On a handover unit the first step is usually snagging — recording defects against the developer’s obligations while the liability period is live — and coordinating those defects with the developer before or alongside the fit-out. From there, upgrading a developer-standard finish to something considered is a straightforward scope, provided the building’s fit-out rules for a newly handed-over tower are followed. Halo’s property inspection service covers the snagging stage.

Yes. Halo’s own joinery factory produces fitted wardrobes and walk-in closets, TV units and media walls, storage and utility joinery, vanities and bathroom joinery, and feature panelling. In an apartment this is usually where the floor area is recovered, and producing it internally keeps the finish and the lead time under the same project control as the rest of the renovation.

The tower, community or district, the unit size and bedroom count, the existing condition and approximate age, whether kitchens and bathrooms are in scope, your target completion date, whether the apartment will remain occupied, and any floor plan or building fit-out guide you hold. With those, our residential team can define a scope and prepare an itemised proposal.

Systems are tested and commissioned, the snag list is worked through and re-inspected, the unit is deep-cleaned, and you receive the handover pack with as-built information where applicable, warranties, operating documentation and access details. Keys and access cards are returned, the building’s completion sign-off is closed out, and a walkthrough with your team ends the project — along with the aftercare terms agreed in your scope.

Almost every apartment renovation needs an NOC from building management or the owners association before work can start, and the building will normally require a licensed contractor, valid insurance documentation and often a refundable deposit alongside it. Where the scope touches electrical or plumbing installations, alters partitions or affects the AC system, Dubai Municipality submission may also apply, with DEWA involvement where supply or metering is affected. Free-zone and master-developer buildings add their own route on top. Only a licensed contractor can submit these in your name, which is one of the first things worth checking about anyone quoting for your unit.

Payments are staged against defined project milestones that have been inspected and signed off, rather than against calendar dates. The specific schedule is set out in your proposal before work starts, so you can see exactly what triggers each payment. We deliberately avoid heavily front-loaded schedules — they leave the client exposed if a contractor stalls partway through.

We work across the whole emirate. Apartment projects are most frequent in Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina, JBR, Business Bay, JLT, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Creek Harbour, City Walk, Dubai Hills Estate and Jumeirah Village Circle. Every tower brings its own fit-out guide, NOC process, permitted working hours, service-lift booking and waste-removal rules, so we confirm the route for your specific building rather than assuming it from the district.

In a compact unit the space is won back through layout and storage rather than square metres. That usually means opening a closed kitchen where the building allows it, replacing loose furniture with fitted joinery, using full-height storage and concealed doors, keeping flooring and wall finishes continuous so the eye is not interrupted, and planning lighting in layers rather than relying on a central fitting. Wet areas are where the constraints bite hardest, so we confirm what the slab and stack permit before drawing anything.

Six things: whether they are licensed and can submit your building NOC in your name; whether the scope is fixed in writing before work starts; who actually builds the joinery; whether MEP is handled in-house or passed to a subcontractor; whether payments are tied to inspected milestones rather than dates; and who takes responsibility for the building relationship — working hours, lift bookings, common-area protection and daily clean-down. Ask every company you shortlist, including this one.