Buying a house to renovate in Portugal: the costs that don’t make it into the budget

Most people buying a house to renovate in Portugal do the sum the same way: purchase price, plus floor area times a price per square metre, plus a bit for luck. The per-m² figures are real enough (I’ve set them out in renovation cost per m² in Portugal). The trouble is what sits around them. These are the costs we see left out of budgets most often.

Putting the building right before you improve it

There’s a difference between renovating a house and fixing one. On a stone farmhouse in the Porto district this year, the remediation alone (roof, damp, water management, the worst of the services) came to €39,000–59,000. The renovation the buyers actually wanted was another €103,000–165,000 on top. They had budgeted for the second number. Roofs, water getting into walls, timber decay and electrics are the usual suspects, and none of them shows in the listing photos.

The services you can’t see

In anything older than about thirty years, assume the wiring and plumbing are coming out. A full rewire on a house was €9,000–14,000 on recent jobs, an apartment €6,000–12,000. Full plumbing renewal on a house ran €5,500–7,500. Out in the country add the septic system: €7,000–10,000 for a new one. Not glamorous, all essential, and all of it has to happen before the finishes go in.

Looking at a property with this kind of problem? Our pre-purchase inspection finds it and prices it before you sign. From €490 + IVA.

Scaffold, skips and the street

On a three-storey townhouse in Porto, eight weeks of scaffold for the roof was €4,500 and waste was €1,200. On a large manor house in the Viseu district the scaffold for the roof alone was €10,000–16,000. If the scaffold or a skip sits on the street, the Câmara wants a licence for occupying public space, with its own fee and its own lead time. These are fixed costs that don’t shrink with the size of the job, which is why small renovations always look expensive per square metre.

Design, engineering and the licence

Anything beyond interior work that leaves the structure, facade and roof alone will usually need an architect and an engineer, and possibly a procedure at the Câmara. Fees depend on the project and the municipality, so get them quoted early. The bigger cost is time: a licence route can add months before anyone is allowed to start. I’ve set out the routes in do you need a licence to renovate in Portugal?.

IVA

Builders in Portugal often quote ex IVA, and on a renovation the difference between 23% and the reduced 6% is enormous. On a full renovation of a 1940s stone house in the Aveiro district we priced at €300,000–395,000 before tax, 23% took it to €369,900–486,100 and 6% to €318,700–418,900. Whether the reduced rate applies depends on where the property is, what the work is and how the contract is set up, so get your accountant to confirm it before you sign with a builder. Never assume it.

Energy upgrades you’ll want once you’ve lived through a winter

Portuguese houses are cold and damp in winter, and most renovation budgets treat insulation as optional until the first January. External insulation (capoto) ran €70–110/m² on recent rural jobs, a heat pump for a house €14,000–22,000, and windows for a farmhouse €8,400–14,400. It’s much cheaper to do while the house is open than to come back for it. Background in why Portuguese houses are cold and damp.

Contingency

We put 15–20% contingency on renovations of older houses, and a separate provisional sum wherever the fabric can’t be seen until it’s opened: roof timbers, the back of a wall, under a floor. On the 1883 manor in Viseu the provisional sum for roof timber alone was €6,000–15,000. If a builder’s quote has no contingency and no provisional sums, it’s not a cheaper quote. It just hasn’t been honest with you yet about what’s likely. What a builder’s quote leaves out covers the rest.

Time, and living somewhere else meanwhile

A good builder in Portugal is often booked months ahead (see how long it takes to get a builder), then there’s the licence, then the job itself. Rent, a second set of flights, storage, and a mortgage running on a house you can’t live in all belong in the budget.

Get the number before you buy

The time to find out what a house really needs is before you sign the CPCV, while the price can still move. Our pre-purchase inspection costs every defect we find and includes costs for the renovation you’re planning, so you go into the negotiation with the whole figure rather than the per-m² one.

Cost figures are from our own inspection reports and quotes in 2025 and 2026, ex IVA, with names and addresses left out. Every building is different, so treat them as a guide to scale, not a quote.