Renovating a House or Apartment in Greece: A Guide for Buyers Abroad

Who this is for

This article is for you if you have bought, or are about to buy, an apartment or house in Greece and you live far away: in Israel or anywhere else.

After the deal you find out that getting the keys is only the beginning. An old apartment in Greece almost always needs a serious renovation: plumbing, electrics, flooring, kitchen, windows.

I wrote down how a renovation like this really works: how much money to set aside, how long it takes, how to supervise when you are not there, and which mistakes I see again and again with buyers from abroad.

I am Jeny Shir, a real estate consultant in Thessaloniki. I guide clients through renovations, and I also buy and renovate properties myself, so I write from experience, not from books.

How much money to set aside

The budget depends first of all on the type of renovation. Let us start with the fullest case: a renovation with a change of layout, meaning almost everything is demolished and rebuilt. New walls go up, all the plumbing is replaced and the electrics are done completely new, including wiring and the panel. It is worth running the new pipes from the water meter, and worth insisting on it, otherwise you get problems later.

In central Athens, as of October 2026, a renovation like this starts at about 700 € per m² and goes up from there. It is a turnkey renovation, but without furniture and without appliances. The kitchen and sanitary ware are usually included, but not always. 700 € is the floor.

In Thessaloniki it is about the same, 600 to 650 € per m², depending on what you choose. Again without furniture and appliances. A washing machine, fridge, hob, oven, extractor hood and air conditioners all count as appliances and are bought separately. A truly high-quality renovation of a 50 m² apartment can reach 800 € per m².

A small apartment comes out more expensive per m². The electrician and the plumber price by the meter, but most of the cost is windows, doors and the kitchen, and those cost the same standard price in a small apartment. That is why 700 € per m² fits an apartment of 50 m² and up.

Pay attention to VAT as well. Work invoiced with VAT carries 24%, and companies add their own costs and taxes to the price. That is why quotes can differ a lot, and you should always ask whether VAT is included.

One more item for the budget: whoever designs. An architect or interior designer who plans and draws everything for you, and that costs money too. You can say "I want it like this here and like that there", but you need an engineer in any case, and the engineer costs money too.

The engineer, the permit and closing the project

If the layout changes, or anything is demolished or new walls are built, you need an engineer before work starts. The engineer files an application for a permit for small-scale construction works (in Greek "adeia", άδεια) through the e-Άδειες system, and work begins only once the permit is in hand.

Starting without a permit is a real risk. It is enough for one neighbor to complain and the work is stopped, and then come fines, legal problems and difficulties when you want to sell.

At the end of the renovation the project has to be closed. The workers must be insured with the Greek social insurance (e-ΕΦΚΑ), and the insurance declarations are filed in your name as the owner, even if you hired a company. The closing is usually done by the engineer and the accountant together, so you need both.

Three types of renovation

Cosmetic renovation. Painting the walls and small repairs. The cost is much lower.

Full renovation. Demolish and rebuild, including electrics and plumbing. It requires an engineer and a permit, as I wrote above.

Splitting an apartment into two. In Greece you can split one apartment, if it is large enough, into two separate units with two cadastral numbers. Here the renovation costs more, and not because the contractor decided to charge more. There are reasons:

• everything is doubled: two kitchens, two bathrooms
• two electricity meters and two water meters
• the engineer has to prepare a new plan for the split, and that costs money
• after the engineer files, the documents go to a notary and a second deal takes place. You pay for that again, plus a state fee, and only then do you have two apartments
• only after that can you apply to separate the electricity and water meters

A split like this can add about 10,000 € to the budget because of the bureaucracy.

Someone has to run between all the offices. Sometimes that is the engineer, sometimes the project manager.

What my role is

I manage renovations of any type. I have a team that I work with and trust, at fair prices, in both Athens and Thessaloniki. I work only with my own team: I do not bring contractors I do not know onto a site, and I do not supervise someone else's renovation.

You can get several quotes from me to fit your budget, and I follow the work through to the end and check that everything is done properly.

How to supervise when you are not in Greece

You do not have to be on site to know what is happening there. But you need someone who is there and who understands what they are looking at.

Photos and videos alone are not enough. You can film a nice angle while the reality is different. So you need a person who goes to the site, understands construction and checks what was really done, not only how it looks on video. They are your eyes on the ground.

A few rules that work:

• a written quote before you start, listing the work and the materials
• payment by stage of completion, not everything upfront
• timely notice of every change, and approval of any extra cost before it is carried out
• ask for photos of the electrics and the pipes before the walls are closed. That way you will not accidentally drill into a wire or a pipe later when you want to hang a picture

How long it takes

Greece is a very slow country. If you are told the renovation will take two months, you can usually multiply by two.

And it does not depend only on the tradespeople, even good ones. There are holidays, weekends, funerals and all sorts of other things. In December and January almost nobody works. In August nobody works. At Easter neither. On top of that, good quality windows and doors take at least a month to order, and so does the kitchen.

My advice is to plan the rental or the sale only after the renovation has really finished, not before.

The mistakes I see most often

Buying without an engineer checking the property. Before the purchase, your engineer should come and check what is possible: which walls are load-bearing, and whether anything can be demolished at all. In Greece there are buildings without beams and columns, where the walls themselves are the structure, so they must not be broken. There have been cases where people bought an apartment and then found out that a wall could not be removed, because the ceiling or the floor above could collapse. You can reinforce with a steel structure, but that is extra money. The engineer should also check where the main pipe risers run and where the wet areas are, because sometimes they have to be moved or the floor raised.

Choosing a contractor by the lowest price. Without a written quote and without references, the cheap offer usually turns into an expensive one.

Renovating without thinking about what it is for. You need to know what you will do with the apartment after the renovation and who it is for, because that affects even the layout. In a small apartment, an open-plan studio is less popular in Greece. Even if the apartment is small, it is better to have a closed bedroom. And if you are buying, it helps to choose an apartment with a balcony. In Greece a balcony is almost a must.

Nobody on site. If nobody is watching on your behalf, the contractor is the only one who knows what was really done, and that is not a situation where you can feel calm.