Renovation Cost Calculator for a New-Build Apartment in Armenia

Black frame and white frame: what you are actually buying

Most new-build apartments in Armenia are sold unfinished, generally as either a black frame or a white frame. A black frame («սև գործ», «черновая отделка») is a bare shell: the structure, an entrance door and utility risers reach the flat, while exterior windows may or may not be fitted. A white frame («սպիտակ գործ», «белая отделка») adds plastered walls and ceilings, a levelled floor screed, and first-fix electrical and plumbing work, leaving the surfaces ready for finishes. Neither condition is move-in ready or includes the final finishes and fixtures. For the representative 80 m² three-room flat used by this calculator, the difference is worth about a third of the bill at the same finish level. That is a large saving, although the final finishing work that dominates the total is the same in either case.

• Starting from a black frame means paying for all fifteen work lines in this model: partitions, plaster, screed, first-fix electrics and plumbing, heating, and all the final finishes.
• A white frame removes six of those lines: site preparation and partitions, plaster, screed, first-fix electrics and plumbing, and glazing. On 80 m² at Comfort level, the cost falls from ֏10,164,000 to ֏6,364,699, a saving of about 37%.
• Heating is rarely included. A gas boiler, radiators and pipework cost ֏880,000 on 80 m² and remain the buyer's responsibility in almost every Yerevan pre-finish handover, so check that line carefully.
• A «սև գործ» with the windows already fitted is the most common handover. The glazing is worth about ֏650,000 on a three-room flat, but check the balcony because it is usually priced separately from the room windows.

What the developer hands over — and what you still need to budget for

Read the finish specification annexed to your purchase contract, not the sales brochure. Developers commonly provide plastered walls, screed, glazing, an entrance door, and first-fix services to the points shown on the plan. You still need to budget for floor and wall finishes, tiling, interior doors, the kitchen, bathroom fittings, sockets, switches, light fittings, radiators or underfloor heating, and air conditioning. Specifications differ between developers and even between buildings in the same complex, so confirm in writing whether balcony glazing, meter connections and the heating boiler are included before relying on any per-square-metre estimate.

• Ask for the annex, not the brochure, and check four items by name: balcony glazing, the gas boiler, the electricity and water meter connections, and the entrance door.
• «Rough-in to the points shown on the plan» means cable and pipe concealed in the walls, but no fittings you can use. Sockets, switches and light fittings are a separate line: ֏4,500 per m², or ֏360,000 on an 80 m² flat.
• Interior doors are rarely included in Armenian new-build handovers. At ֏120,000 per leaf, four doors in a three-room, one-bathroom flat add ֏480,000 that is easily missed in an initial budget.
• Waste removal and the final deep clean are yours as well: roughly 0.15 m³ of debris per m² of floor, about 2% of the whole bill, and the single most common omission from a verbal quote.

What actually drives the cost per square metre

Four factors have the greatest effect on the estimate. First is the starting condition: a black frame still needs plaster, screed and complete first-fix services that a white frame already includes. Second are the wet rooms. Kitchens and bathrooms cost several times more per square metre than a bedroom, so a compact two-bathroom flat can cost more than a larger one-bathroom flat. Third is the material tier: the same layout can be finished to rental grade or, with imported tiles, bespoke joinery and engineered flooring, at nearly three times the cost. Fourth is whether you move walls, relocate risers, or add air conditioning and underfloor heating. Changes to building services are where budgets can quietly double.

• Wet rooms dominate. One comfort-level bathroom is ֏1,250,000 — 12% of an 80 m² black-frame bill for about 5% of the floor — so adding a second bathroom costs ֏1,370,000 and can put a smaller flat above a larger one.
• Walls are another major cost. Plaster, filler, primer and paint cost ֏29,000 per square metre of floor because a room with a 2.8 m ceiling has roughly three square metres of wall for every square metre of floor.
• The finish level is the biggest single lever: the same 80 m² black-frame layout costs about 84,000 AMD/m² at Basic level and about 241,000 AMD/m² at Premium level — 2.9× as much for the same area.
• Ceiling height matters less than many people expect. Increasing it from 2.8 m to 3.2 m adds about 4%, because only plaster, paint, partitions and the ceiling perimeter vary with height.

How to budget before you sign

Include the renovation in your purchase decision rather than budgeting for it afterwards. Use the floor area from the purchase contract, choose a realistic finish level, and add furniture and appliances as a separate line. They fall outside most contractor quotes and add roughly 40% here. Then add a contingency of 10–15%, or closer to 20% if you are moving walls or wet rooms, and keep it visible as its own line so it remains a buffer rather than becoming part of the spending target. Finally, plan cash flow across three to six months of work, remembering that many buyers pay rent and a mortgage throughout that period. A written, room-by-room scope with quantities is the single best protection against overruns.

• Furnishings are not included in a builder's quote. The appliance and furniture packages here cost ֏4,150,000 on top of a ֏10,164,000 Comfort-level renovation — about 40% more — and a fitted kitchen with a worktop adds another ֏1,600,000.
• Keep the contingency as its own line: 10% of that same job is ֏1,016,400. Raise it towards 20% the moment walls, wet rooms or risers are on the table.
• Poor sequencing costs money as well as time. Choose tiles and sanitary ware before the plumber sets out the fittings; measure a custom kitchen after plastering, then order it weeks before installation; and allow for screed drying time that is rarely shown on a quote.
• Budget for the schedule too: about 15 weeks from a black frame at Comfort level and about 11 from a white frame, plus a 15–20% allowance for lead times and weekday-only noise rules. During that whole period, you may also be paying rent.

Once you have the keys, the spending does not stop. Estimate the annual running cost too with the Property Tax Calculator.

Will you recover the renovation cost when you sell or rent?

Partly, depending on what you build. A neutral, well-executed mid-range finish tends to retain the most value on resale because it lets a buyer move in immediately and broadens the market for the flat. Personalised or premium finishes recover the smallest share because the next owner rarely pays for someone else's taste. For a rental, finish quality has much less effect on achievable rent than location, layout and floor, so durable and simple usually offers better value than expensive. Compare your finished cost per square metre with sale prices in the same district before choosing a tier. If the total exceeds the local market level, you are spending for your own quality of life rather than for an investment return.

• Compare the finishing cost with the purchase price per m² in the same district. A Comfort finish costs about 127,000 AMD/m² from a black frame, while Premium costs about twice as much for exactly the same flat.
• The work most likely to retain value on resale is what a buyer cannot easily redo: bathroom waterproofing and tiling, the screed, wiring and heating. These are also the most costly items to correct later.
• Bespoke joinery, feature lighting and statement finishes tend to recover the least because buyers often see them as somebody else's taste.
• For a flat you intend to rent out, basic-tier finishing is about two thirds the cost of comfort on the same layout, and Yerevan rents respond far more to district, floor and layout than to the grade of the laminate.