What holiday rental refurbishment costs in Nicosia and across Cyprus

Recorded refurbishment of a holiday let in the Nicosia district runs €6,500 to €26,000 per property, with a mid-point of €13,000. That band covers everything from a bathroom, a repaint and new furniture at the bottom to a full refit with renewed services at the top, and where a specific property lands inside it is decided by the age of the block rather than by the size of the apartment. Nicosia sits close to the island mid-point: Limassol runs above it and the Famagusta district below.

The short answer

Those figures are read from the records when the page loads rather than typed into the article, so they do not go stale. Three things about them matter before anything else.

The band is per property rather than per square metre, because that is how the work is bought — an owner refurbishing a two-bedroom short-let is buying a finished apartment on a date, not a rate. It is a building-work band, so furniture, mattresses, televisions and outdoor pieces sit outside it. And a quote near €6,500 and a quote near €26,000 are rarely the same job priced differently; they are two scopes, and the difference is nearly always whether the services behind the walls are being renewed.

What drives the range

The age of the block, above everything. The apartment stock across Strovolos and the surrounding Nicosia suburbs is largely 1970s to 1990s, and on that stock rewiring and replumbing dominate renovation work. A full rewire of an occupied property, including making good, is published at €35–90 per square metre with a mid-point of €55; replacing galvanised or early plastic pipework runs €40–100 per square metre, mid-point €62. On an 85 square metre apartment those two lines alone move a refurbishment from the lower half of the band into the upper half. They are also the two items an owner cannot see and a guest never notices, which is why they are the first things cut and the most expensive things to revisit.

The wet rooms. A bathroom taken from strip-out to finished with a standard three-piece suite is published at €3,500–9,500 per room, mid-point €5,800. A kitchen — units, worktop, appliances and fitting — runs €5,000–18,000, mid-point €9,200. Two bathrooms and a kitchen at mid-point figures account for a large share of a mid-range refurbishment before a single wall is painted.

Cooling. Nicosia has the widest temperature range on the island, which drives both insulation and shading specifications. A split unit up to 12,000 BTU installed is published at €550–1,200, mid-point €780, and the decision worth thinking about is capacity and placement rather than count: an undersized unit in a west-facing bedroom is a common comfort complaint in an inland apartment, and adding a second unit later costs more than sizing the first one properly.

Finishes, which are cheaper than owners expect. Porcelain tile supplied and laid is €22–70 per square metre, mid-point €38. Two coats on prepared interior walls is €6–15 per square metre, mid-point €9. Finishes are where a refurbishment looks like it is being controlled and are rarely where the budget goes.

The calendar. This is the point where Nicosia genuinely diverges from the coast. Ayia Napa is predominantly seasonal accommodation, so refurbishment there concentrates into November to March, and Protaras lets leave only short windows between bookings. A Nicosia short-let is not governed by a beach season in the same way, which means the closure window is a commercial choice rather than a fixed four months — and it also means Nicosia owners are not competing for the same crowded winter contractor capacity that coastal owners are.

Cost by district

The spread between the highest and lowest district mid-points is a little over €2,500 on the same nominal scope — real, but smaller than the spread created by one decision about whether to renew the pipework.

Behind the district differences sit demand and access rather than labour rates, and they do not travel evenly across the island. Coastal exposure at Kato Paphos means salt-laden air, so galvanised and marine-grade fixings are standard there rather than an upgrade, and external ironwork on a seafront let is on a shorter renewal cycle than the same items in Aglantzia. Distance from the contractor base in Paphos adds travel time to most day rates quoted for Polis Chrysochous, whether or not it appears as a line. In the Famagusta resort towns the recorded band sits lowest but availability is tightest, because the whole market is buying the same winter weeks.

The coverage pages record which contractors work which districts, and the holiday rental upgrade sector pages set out what the work involves before any of this becomes a quote.

What is usually excluded

Most disputes on a refurbishment are about what was never in the price. On Cypriot holiday-let work the recurring exclusions are:

• Furniture and soft furnishings. Beds, mattresses, sofas, dining, outdoor furniture, televisions and small appliances. A different budget, a different lifespan and, on imported items, a different lead time from the building work.
• VAT. The rate that applies to renovation work depends on the property, its use and its history, so it should be shown separately with the rate stated rather than folded into a total.
• Professional fees and permits. Where structure, envelope, layout or use changes, certified drawings from an ETEK-registered engineer or architect are required and the permit chain is engaged. The application is made in the owner's name, so a contractor offering to handle permits is handling someone else's application.
• Common areas and the block's envelope. In an apartment block, stairwells, lobby, lifts and facade are a committee decision and a separate budget.
• Preliminaries, when they are missing. Site set-up, temporary power and water, skips and waste removal, protection of retained finishes, supervision. Absent from a quote does not mean absent from the job.
• Insurance during the void. A property standing empty and stripped out frequently falls outside the terms of the owner's buildings policy. The insurer needs to be told before the strip-out.
• Making good after services work. Chasing walls for a rewire or a replumb leaves plaster, tiling and decoration to reinstate. The indicative rewiring range includes making good; a quote that separates them may not.
• Asbestos survey on older stock. Relevant on the older end of the Nicosia block stock and priced separately when it applies.

How to compare quotes

Three quotes are only comparable if all three price the same written scope. Three contractors pricing three different assumptions produce three different jobs, and comparing the totals is arithmetic without meaning.

1. Issue one written scope, room by room

   List each room, what is removed, what is installed and to what standard. State where the owner is supplying items. This document, not the quote, is what makes the comparison possible.

2. Require building work and FF&E to be separated

   A single figure covering both cannot be compared against anything, and it hides the item most likely to slip — furniture lead times.

3. Flag every provisional sum with the specification it assumes

   Tiles, sanitaryware, ironmongery and lighting. An allowance set low is the politest way to make a quote look competitive.

4. Ask what the services position is

   Specifically: is the existing wiring and pipework being retained, partly renewed or fully replaced, and on what evidence. On a 1970s or 1980s Nicosia block this single answer explains most of the gap between two prices.

5. Settle the block's consents before pricing

   Riser access, material routes through common areas, working hours and lift use are the management committee's to grant. A programme agreed with a contractor but not with the committee is not a programme.

6. Tie payment to verifiable stages, and write in retention

   Strip-out complete, first fix, tiling complete, handover — never to calendar dates. A defects period that runs through the first letting season is worth more than one that expires before it.

Common questions

Why does Nicosia cost differently from the coastal districts?

Demand, travel and access differ before the work does, and none of the published cost sources break down far enough to put a figure on that — so this guide does not invent one. The larger driver in Nicosia is the stock: 1970s to 1990s blocks where services are at or past the end of their life.

What does a light refresh cost against a full refit?

A refresh — decoration at €6–15 per square metre, flooring at €22–70, one bathroom at €3,500–9,500 and new furniture — sits in the lower half of the €6,500–26,000 band. A full refit adds the kitchen at €5,000–18,000 and the services at €35–90 and €40–100 per square metre, which is what takes a property to the top of it.

Does refurbishment need a permit?

Replacing bathrooms and kitchens, relaying finishes, renewing air conditioning and rewiring within existing routes are maintenance and finishes, and proceed on the contract alone. Removing a wall, enlarging an opening, enclosing a veranda or changing the use engages certified drawings and the permit chain, with planning permission, a building permit and a certificate of final approval on completion.

When should the work be booked?

Earlier than the closure window suggests, because long-lead items decide the programme more often than the trades do. Aluminium glazing, made-to-order joinery and imported sanitaryware should carry order dates in the quote. Coastal owners face a harder constraint still, since the seasonal stock in Ayia Napa and Protaras compresses almost all refurbishment into the same four months.

Is rewiring an older apartment worth it for a short let?

It has the weakest presentation case and the strongest ownership case. It changes nothing a guest sees, and it removes the failure that empties a property mid-booking. On a block of the age common across Strovolos, doing it during a planned refurbishment costs materially less than doing it afterwards, because the making good is already being paid for.

Main contractor, or trades engaged directly?

Trades directly can cost less on a single bathroom. On a full refit running to a fixed reopening date, the sequencing, the idle time between trades and the question of whose fault a defect is are what a main contractor is paid to absorb.

Refurbishment contractors covering Nicosia

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