Businesses.cy
Search

Home renovation

How to choose a renovation company in Cyprus

What renovation work costs in Cyprus, which contractor registrations can be verified, and what belongs in a quote before anyone signs or pays a deposit.

8 min read

How to Choose Renovation Companies in Cyprus — illustrasjonsbilde

Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels

ByStavros Loizou· Editor, kitchens, bathrooms and finishes

Stavros covers the rooms that carry the most cost per square metre and the finishes that go into them. He tracks the order trades have to arrive in, which moves a Cypriot renovation bill further than any hourly rate does.

Published

The decision that matters is made before the first quote arrives: work out whether the job touches structure, the external envelope or the approved use of the property, because that answer determines which consents are needed, which registrations the contractor must hold, and therefore which companies can legitimately bid for it. A firm that is right for a kitchen and two bathrooms may have no standing to open a load-bearing wall, and the difference is a matter of registration rather than of ambition.

What can actually be verified

A renovation contractor in Cyprus produces two kinds of claim. One kind sits in a public register or a document; the other sits in a photograph.

In the first pile: whether the company exists and is active at the Registrar of Companies, under the same name that appears on the quote and on the bank account; whether it holds a VAT registration and can therefore issue a VAT invoice at all; whether it is registered with the Council for the Registration and Control of Contractors of Building and Civil Engineering Works, where the category and class of works requires it; whether the architect or civil engineer who signs the drawings is registered with the Scientific and Technical Chamber; whether public liability and employers' liability insurance are in force on the dates of the work; and what the property's own permit file at the municipality says has been approved.

In the second pile: portfolios, claimed years in business that predate the company's registration date, and "we did that block on the corner". None of it is checkable, and none of it is recorded here. This directory holds registration status, category and district coverage, each with the date it was last checked. The renovation category page groups companies by district, and the area pages show which towns each one covers.

Registrations that matter

Contractor registration. Building and civil engineering works are reserved to contractors registered with the Contractors Council, and registration is granted by category and by class, with the class limiting the value of works that may be undertaken. This is why an internal refit and a structural conversion are not interchangeable jobs for the same firm. Ask which category and class the company holds, and check that it covers the scope actually being quoted.

Professional registration. Architects, civil engineers and building services engineers must be registered with the Scientific and Technical Chamber to practise, and drawings submitted for permit must be signed by a registered professional. For a permit-triggering scope, the designer is not an optional extra; the submission cannot be made without one.

Permits. Planning permission and the building permit are separate consents, issued through the Department of Town Planning and Housing and the relevant municipality or community authority. Extensions, structural alteration, changes to the external appearance and changes of use fall inside the system; replacing finishes inside an existing layout generally does not. The consequence people underestimate sits at the end: work carried out outside what was approved can obstruct the certificate of final approval and, through it, the title held at the Department of Lands and Surveys. That is a problem discovered at sale, years later, by the person who paid for the work.

Tax registration. A contractor who is not registered for VAT cannot issue a VAT invoice, and cannot apply the reduced rate. Cyprus applies a reduced 5% VAT rate to renovation of qualifying private residences that have been in use for at least three years, against the standard 19% rate, subject to conditions including the share of the price accounted for by materials. The application route runs through the Tax Department, and eligibility should be settled before the quote is priced rather than after.

Insurance. Public liability covers damage to the property and to neighbours. Employers' liability covers the people on site. Where labour is uninsured, the risk does not disappear; it moves towards the owner of the building.

Questions to ask

  1. Does any part of this scope need a permit, and who is submitting it?

    The useful version of the answer names the parts, not the conclusion. "No permit needed" as a flat statement, with no reference to structure, envelope or use, is not an answer.

  2. What is the price basis?

    A fixed lump sum, a measured rate per square metre, and cost plus a margin behave completely differently when something changes. Ask which one applies, and ask which areas are included in any measured rate.

  3. What is excluded?

    Exclusions are where quotes diverge: skips and lawful disposal, scaffolding, temporary protection, making good, lift or stair access in an apartment block, and the cost of working around occupants who are still living there.

  4. What happens when the building is worse than assumed?

    In the 1970s–1990s apartment stock that dominates Strovolos and much of Nicosia, rewiring and replumbing are the norm rather than the exception once walls open. Ask how that is priced — a stated provisional sum, a measured rate, or a renegotiation — before it happens.

  5. Who is on site every day, and what is subcontracted?

    Renovation is a coordination job. The name of the person responsible for sequencing the trades matters more than the size of the company.

  6. How is access handled?

    On the hillside plots around Peyia, steep approach roads limit crane and delivery vehicle size, which changes how material arrives and what it costs to get it there. Around Polis Chrysochous, distance from the contractor base in Paphos is priced into day rates whether or not it is itemised.

  7. What is the payment schedule, and is anything retained?

    Payments tied to completed stages, with a retention held until snagging is closed, keep the incentives pointing the right way.

What a good quote looks like

Read every quote against what the work costs generally before reading it against the other quotes.

Full interior renovation to mid-range finishes generally runs between about €450 and €1,100 per square metre, and a bathroom taken from strip-out to finished between about €3,500 and €9,500 per room. Room-scale jobs are priced per room rather than per square metre because the fixed content — sanitaryware, waterproofing, first and second fix — barely changes with floor area.

What moves a project through that range is fairly predictable: the finish specification, whether services are inside the scope, the floor level and whether there is a lift, whether structure is being altered, whether the property is occupied during the works, and where it is. A high-rise flat in Limassol brings balcony waterproofing and facade constraints. A block in Strovolos brings services. A hillside house near Peyia brings access.

A comparable quote states: the scope room by room; the specification, with named products or a stated allowance where selection is still open; quantities with the measured areas they came from; the rate applied to each; exclusions, listed; provisional sums, identified as such; VAT as a separate line with the rate being applied and whether the reduced rate has been claimed; stage payments against defined milestones; a programme with a start date and a duration; the named site contact; disposal to a licensed facility; and a defects period with a snagging process.

Warning signs

A single lump sum with no measured quantities and no specification cannot be compared with anything, which is often the point. A per-square-metre rate that does not say which areas are being counted has the same effect.

Cash only, with no VAT invoice, costs more than it saves: it removes any claim under the reduced rate, removes recourse if the work is defective, and leaves no document trail if the permit position is questioned later. A large payment demanded before materials are on site places the contractor's working capital risk on the client.

Then the structural ones. A company name on the quote that differs from the name on the bank account. No named person responsible for the site. A refusal to put the programme in writing. An assurance that permits are unnecessary, offered without reference to the scope. And a contractor who will not say which registration category and class the firm holds — a question with a documented answer, which makes reluctance informative.

Renovation companies in Cyprus

8 companies covering this area.

Common questions

Does a renovation need a building permit in Cyprus?

It depends on what the work touches. Structural alteration, extension, changes to the external appearance and changes of use go through planning permission and a building permit. Replacing kitchens, bathrooms and finishes within an existing layout generally does not. The property's approved drawings held by the municipality are the reference point, and where the answer is genuinely unclear it is settled with the Department of Town Planning and Housing rather than with a contractor's opinion.

What VAT rate applies to renovation work?

The reduced 5% rate applies to renovation and repair of qualifying private residences in use for at least three years, subject to conditions including how much of the price is materials. Everything outside those conditions is at the standard 19% rate. The claim is made through the Tax Department, and only a VAT-registered contractor can apply it.

How long does a renovation take?

The drivers are the permit route if one is needed, whether the property is occupied during the works, lead times on imported tiles, sanitaryware and joinery, and the season — in the holiday-let stock of the eastern coast, work is concentrated into the winter months because the buildings are earning for the rest of the year.

Should an architect or engineer be appointed separately from the contractor?

Where the work is permit-triggering or structural, drawings must be signed by a professional registered with the Scientific and Technical Chamber. Appointing that person directly, rather than through the contractor, separates design and cost control from the party being paid to build, which is usually worth the fee on a project of any size.

What does this directory record about each company?

Registration status, category, district coverage and contact details, each with the date it was last checked against its source.

Sources

  1. Department of Town Planning and Housing — retrieved 2026-07-28
  2. Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property — retrieved 2026-07-28
  3. Tax Department — VAT rates and applications — retrieved 2026-07-28
  4. Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK) — retrieved 2026-07-28
  5. Department of Lands and Surveys — retrieved 2026-07-28

01More on this topic

Same cluster.Different question.

Thinking of doing this?Get up to five quotes, free.

Tell us what you need and we will gather quotes from qualified companies where you live.

Get up to 5 quotes.Free, with no obligation.

Tell us briefly what you need. We gather quotes from qualified companies where you live, so you do not have to ring round yourself.

Free · No obligation · You decide whether to go ahead