Renovating an Apartment in Dublin

An apartment renovation in Dublin costs €330 to €530 per m² for a light refurbishment and €670 to €1,330 per m² for a full one, the same per square metre as a house, on a smaller floor. What's different is the rules. The management company controls working hours, the lift, deliveries, and anything that touches the structure, the outside walls or the shared services.

What you can change, what you can't, and how to keep the neighbours on side.

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€330 to €530per m², light
€670 to €1,330per m², full
The leaseread it first

What you can usually change

Kitchen and bathrooms, in the same positions.
Floors, with acoustic underlay to the standard in the lease.
Wiring inside the apartment.
Internal doors, wardrobes, decoration.
Non-structural partition walls.

What needs consent, or can't be done

A red brick building with a green door on a Dublin street

Windows and balcony doors: usually the management company's.
Moving a bathroom or kitchen: the waste pipes are shared.
Hard floors where the lease requires carpet.
Anything fixed to the outside wall.
Structural walls and the fire-stopping around pipes and cables.

Before work starts

Read the lease and the house rules.
Write to the management agent with the scope and the builder's insurance.
Agree working hours, lift protection and where the skip goes.
Tell the neighbours above, below and beside.

Where the apartments are

71.8%of households in flats in Dublin 2 and 4
70.7%of households in flats in Dublin 1 and 7
64.5%of households in flats in Dublin 8
45.7%of households in flats in Pembroke

Census 2022 by local electoral area. The inner city is mostly apartments, and the newer blocks in the suburbs are now twenty years old and due their first refurbishment.