Steps to Take for a Full Home Renovation in Altea, Explained

A full renovation isn’t one job, it’s several jobs chained together that only go well if they’re carried out in the right order. The most common mistake isn’t about budget or taste, it’s about sequence: asking for a quote before knowing which permit is needed, or picking tiles before knowing where the new electrical wiring is going to run.

This guide walks through the phases in the real order they’re carried out in a full renovation in Altea, with the specific permits the Town Hall requires depending on the type of work, and the points where most time or money tends to get lost.

Phase	Approximate duration	What it includes
Planning and budget	2-4 weeks	Goals, priorities, budget closed with the renovation company
Permits	1-8 weeks (depending on type)	Responsible declaration or building permit from Altea Town Hall
Demolition and layout	1-2 weeks	Tearing down partitions, opening new gaps
Installations and structure	3-6 weeks	Electricity, plumbing, drainage, structural reinforcement
Finishes	4-10 weeks	Tiling, flooring, painting, carpentry
Cleaning and decoration	1-2 weeks	Site cleaning, furniture, final details

Planning and budget: the step that decides everything else

Before asking for a single quote, it’s worth having clear what you want to achieve with the renovation: changing the layout, improving energy efficiency, updating installations that are decades old, or all three at once. Renovating to live in a home isn’t the same as renovating to rent it out or sell it, because it changes what’s worth improving and what isn’t.

The budget has to be closed with a margin. A full renovation almost always uncovers something unforeseen once walls or floors are opened — old installations in poor condition, hidden damp, beams that weren’t where the original plan said. Leaving a margin of 10-15% over the initial budget prevents that unexpected issue from forcing the work to stop halfway through.

This phase is also the moment to check whether there are grants that fit the type of work being done. In Altea there are municipal, regional and national aid lines covering everything from façades to energy rehabilitation, and some require applying before starting the work, not after. It’s worth checking them now, not once the contractor has already been hired.

A serious renovation company in Altea provides, at this stage, a budget broken down by item (demolition, installations, finishes, waste management) and an estimated schedule, not just a total figure. That allows comparing quotes from different companies item by item, not just by the final number.

Permits: what Altea Town Hall requires depending on the type of work

This is the step where most renovations get delayed unnecessarily. Not every full renovation requires the same paperwork: changing only finishes (flooring, paint, fixtures) is usually enough with a responsible declaration, while touching layout, structure or the façade requires a major building permit, with a longer approval time.

Type of renovation	Permit required in Altea
Changing finishes without touching the layout	Responsible declaration
Layout change (non-structural partitions)	Minor building permit
Renovation affecting structure or façade	Major building permit
Building over 50 years old, before any grant	IEEV.CV (Building Evaluation Report)

If the home is in a building over 50 years old and any kind of grant is going to be requested — municipal, regional or national — the IEEV.CV needs to be submitted as part of the application, even if the building itself shows no obvious signs of deterioration. Requesting it late is one of the most common reasons a renovation ends up missing the deadline for some subsidy.

The practical rule: start processing the permit as soon as the technical project is finalized, not once the work crew has already been hired. A major building permit can take several weeks to be approved, and starting to demolish without it risks fines and the work being halted midway through.

Demolition and layout change

With the permit in hand, the visible part of the work begins: tearing down partitions, removing old finishes (tiles, flooring, false ceilings) and opening the gaps needed for the new layout. This phase tends to be quick — one or two weeks in a medium-sized home — but it’s the one that reveals the most unforeseen issues: damp under old tiling, installations that don’t match the plans, or structural elements that were assumed to be in place in the original project.

This is also the time to manage the construction waste (rubble, demolition debris), which in Altea requires an authorized container or waste management company depending on the volume generated. A renovation company with local experience already has this sorted out in advance; if it’s contracted separately, it’s worth confirming before starting to demolish.

Before closing this phase and moving on to installations, it’s the moment to check on-site whether the planned layout change still makes sense once the actual condition of the home has been seen. Adjusting the plan now is much cheaper than doing it once new partitions are already up.

Installations and structure: the skeleton of the renovation

Before closing any new wall, the electricity, plumbing and drainage have to be resolved, along with any structural reinforcement the project includes. This order isn’t optional: once something is tiled or painted, modifying an installation means breaking what’s already finished all over again.

The electrical installation is almost always updated completely in a full renovation, especially in homes over 20-25 years old, where the original installation wasn’t designed for the number of appliances and devices used today. The same goes for plumbing: replacing old pipes (lead, galvanized iron) with current materials prevents leaks and pressure problems down the line.

If the project includes structural reinforcement — beams, floor slabs, opening gaps in load-bearing walls — this is the phase where it’s carried out, with sign-off from the technician responsible for the work. Any structural change must be reflected in the project submitted for the permit; improvising structural changes on the fly, without the technician approving them, is one of the most serious risks in the entire renovation.

This phase tends to be the longest of the whole job, between three and six weeks depending on the scope, precisely because everything needs to be ready so the following phases (finishes) don’t require going back.

Finishes: flooring, tiling and carpentry

With installations and structure closed, the phase where the renovation becomes visible begins: flooring, tiling, painting, interior and exterior carpentry, and the installation of fixtures, taps and kitchen and bathroom furniture.

The order within this phase matters too: first the work that generates the most dirt or dust (tiling, flooring, ceiling and wall painting), and at the end the delicate or already-installed elements (taps, fixtures, doors, furniture), so they don’t get damaged during the rest of the work.

This is also the phase where the difference between budgets is most noticeable: the materials chosen (tile range, flooring type, carpentry quality) can move the final cost of the renovation far more than any other item. It’s worth closing these decisions before starting the work, not on the fly, because changing materials mid-phase tends to cause delays and cost overruns.

In a medium-sized home this phase can stretch between four and ten weeks, depending on the number of rooms and the level of finish chosen.

Final cleaning and decoration

Once the finishes are done, it’s time for the site clean: removing dust, protective covers and debris left after weeks of work. It’s a step that gets underestimated, but a badly done clean leaves marks or damages recently installed finishes, so it’s worth having it done by a team specialized in post-construction cleaning, not a regular domestic clean.

With the home clean, the decoration phase arrives: furniture, textiles, lighting and the final details that turn the finished job into a livable home. This phase isn’t technically part of the renovation, but it’s worth having it planned into the overall schedule so you don’t end up with the work finished and the home still unlivable for weeks.

How long it takes and how much a full renovation costs

Timelines and costs vary a lot depending on the scope of the work, but as a general reference: a full renovation of a home of around 200 m² usually takes between 4 and 8 months from start to finish, and the cost usually runs between €800 and €1,500 per square meter, depending on the materials and finishes chosen.

Approximate surface area	Estimated cost	Estimated duration
Small home (up to 80 m²)	€64,000 – €120,000	2-4 months
Medium home (80-150 m²)	€120,000 – €225,000	3-6 months
Large home (150-200 m²+)	€160,000 – €300,000	4-8 months

These figures are a starting point to get an idea, not a closed quote: the prior condition of the home, whether structure needs to be touched, and the quality of the materials chosen can move the final cost above or below this range. That’s why it’s always worth asking for a breakdown quote for the specific home before assuming anything, and checking which municipal, regional or tax grants can reduce the final cost depending on the type of work.

Most common mistakes when planning a full renovation

Starting to demolish without the permit sorted, trusting that “it’s just changing a few partitions”. The type of permit depends on whether the layout affects structural elements, not on how big the job looks at first glance.

Choosing finishes before closing installations and structure, which forces changing the plan on the fly or breaking work that’s already done.

Not leaving a budget margin for the unexpected, assuming that what’s behind walls and floors matches exactly what’s visible before starting.

Hiring different trades separately without clear coordination of the work order, which creates dead time between phases and blurred responsibilities if something goes wrong.

Forgetting the IEEV.CV in buildings over 50 years old and finding out afterwards that report was needed to access a grant whose deadline had already closed.