When you collect quotes from contractors, you see a number like "from UAH 10,000 per m²" and you miss the main thing: what it is made of. Two crews can name prices that differ by a factor of two, and both will be "right," because they are counting different scopes of work. We took the real estimates from five of our 2025-2026 projects, from a one-room apartment of 37 m² in a new building to a townhouse over 80 m², anonymized them, and we are showing the cost structure the way a site manager sees it. All figures in this article refer to the cost of labor without materials, unless stated otherwise. Seasonal purchasing and logistics play their part too, but the basic mechanics of an estimate are the same for everyone: the price is scope multiplied by rates, and if you are not shown the scope, there is no way to check the price.
The four blocks of a renovation estimate
Any estimate for a full apartment renovation is made up of four blocks: demolition, engineering work (electrics and plumbing), general construction work (walls, ceiling, floor), and finishing. In our estimates these shares stay stable from project to project:
- General construction and finishing work: 75-80% of the labor budget. This is plastering, skim coating, screed, tiling, painting.
- Electrical work: 11-13%. Cable routing, points, the panel.
- Plumbing: 10-13%. Water and drainage routing, heating, in-wall units.
- Demolition: up to 17%, but only on the secondary market. In a new building with bare walls, this block does not exist at all.
If one of the shares in the estimate you were given is radically different, for example electrics costing 30% of the budget, that is a reason to ask questions, not a reason to celebrate "cheap walls."
How much labor costs per m² in 2026
The real totals of our estimates by segment look like this. This is the cost of labor, without rough or finishing materials:
- New building, 37-43 m²: UAH 400,000-460,000 per apartment, that is UAH 10,500-11,000 per m².
- Secondary market, around 55 m² with full demolition: around UAH 740,000, that is roughly UAH 13,500 per m².
- Large or complex projects, 60-80+ m²: UAH 0.9-1.2 million, that is UAH 14,500-15,000 per m².
Note this: the price per m² grows along with the area and the complexity. A large project means more bathrooms, more electrical points, higher ceilings, soundproofing. You can see what this looks like in finished apartments in our project portfolio with real prices.
Breaking down the estimate block by block
Demolition: the line item that does not exist in a new building
On the secondary market, demolition is a separate stage with its own completion certificate. Stripping an apartment of 50-60 m² down to the slab costs around UAH 125,000 in labor, and another UAH 30,000-45,000 goes to removing debris, loading, and hauling it away with hired transport. Together that is UAH 120,000-170,000, and this is before any construction even starts. That is why an apartment on the secondary market with the same area is always more expensive to renovate than a new building, even if "the walls are already there."
Walls: the main cost driver
The biggest line item in any of our estimates is the walls. The reason is simple: the wall area in an apartment is 3.5-4 times larger than the floor area. In a 37.5 m² apartment we finish around 150 m² of walls, in a house over 80 m² it is around 300 m². Each square meter of wall goes through a cycle: priming (UAH 30-40 per m² per pass, and there are several passes), plastering to beacons (UAH 380-390 per m²), two coats of multi-finish skim coat (UAH 190-210 per m²), sanding (around UAH 80 per m²). Add the reveals, the reinforcement of junctions, and it is already clear why plastering work together with painting eats up the larger part of the budget.
Electrics: count the points, not the meters
The cost of electrical work is determined not by area but by the number of points: sockets, switches, lighting outlets. In a one-room apartment there are 35-50 of them, in a large house there are over 100. The full cycle of one point, from the chase and cable to the back box and assembling the panel, costs roughly UAH 1,100-1,650. In total, the electrical block in our estimates costs from UAH 55,000 for a compact one-room apartment to UAH 130,000 for a large project with low-voltage wiring, a master switch, and a panel with 54 groups. You can read more about what the work includes on the page for electrical work.
Plumbing: the wet zones decide it
The base item in a plumbing estimate is routing the water supply and drainage to plan: from UAH 35,000 in a compact apartment with one bathroom to UAH 75,000 where there are several wet zones. On top of that come chasing for the pipes, a stainless steel plumbing box, a filtration unit, relocating radiators (UAH 2,000-5,000 each), the in-wall unit for a wall-hung toilet (around UAH 3,000). Together the block costs UAH 45,000-125,000. If plumbing in your estimate is written as a single line "routing - 20,000," the scope of work there has not been counted. We have described exactly what should be in this section on the page for plumbing work.
The bathroom: the most expensive square meter of the apartment
The bathroom deserves a separate mention. In our estimates the labor for the bathroom alone costs from UAH 70,000 to UAH 220,000: waterproofing, leveling for tile, laying tile and mosaic, installing a rain shower, mitering tile at 45 degrees. One square meter of bathroom, in terms of labor cost, equals three or four square meters of a living room. When you compare two quotes, check whether the bathroom in particular is counted the same way: this is the favorite spot for "optimizing" an estimate.
Floor and ceiling: the predictable part of the estimate
The floor and ceiling together cost noticeably less than the walls, and this is the most predictable block. Floor work, from the final leveling to laying vinyl or laminate with skirting, cost in our estimates from UAH 21,000 in a compact one-room apartment to UAH 137,000 in a large house together with the kitchen tile backsplash. A ceiling for painting in a new building with even slabs comes to UAH 7,000-13,000, more complex options with filling the joints and several coats of skim coat run up to UAH 38,000. If the ceiling in an estimate suddenly costs as much as a third of the walls, most likely they are counting a multi-level plasterboard structure for you, and it is worth asking whether you actually need it.
Options that change the estimate: soundproofing and remodeling
A separate class of costs are works that may not exist at all, but if they do, they cost tens of thousands. Soundproofing walls with the Knauf system costs around UAH 1,650 per m² in labor: for a bedroom with a shared wall of 12-15 m² that is UAH 20,000-25,000, and for 40 m² of walls in a townhouse it came to over UAH 66,000. Remodeling is also counted separately: building new aerated concrete partitions with reinforcement cost around UAH 25,000 for a 42 m² apartment, demolishing a wall and making an arched passage was UAH 14,000, closing up a doorway is UAH 2,000-3,000. None of these items are included in the "average price per m²," so two estimates with the same area, one with remodeling and one without, will honestly differ by UAH 50,000-100,000.
Labor, materials, and "turnkey": where UAH 17,900 per m² comes from
All the figures above are labor only. To get the full cost of a renovation, add the rough materials: mixes, cable, pipes, plasterboard. A reference point from our price list: rough renovation costs UAH 6,000 per m² for labor or UAH 12,000 per m² with materials, meaning at the rough stage materials add roughly as much as the labor costs. Then come purchasing, logistics, technical supervision, and responsibility for the result. That is how labor at UAH 10,500-11,000 per m² turns into the standard tariff: UAH 17,900 per m² turnkey with rough-cycle materials and project management. We did a full breakdown of the per-m² tariffs in a separate article on turnkey renovation prices in 2026. If you only need the labor without project support, compare crew quotes honestly against the "labor" column from this article, not against turnkey tariffs: these are different products with different levels of responsibility.
Example: the estimate total for a one-room apartment in a new building
So that all the shares come together into one picture, here is what the total of a real estimate looks like for an apartment of around 40 m² in a new building with one bathroom, in 2026 prices, labor only:
- Demolition: UAH 0, a new building with no finishing.
- Electrical work, 35-50 points with a panel and low-voltage wiring: UAH 54,000-57,000.
- Plumbing, one wet zone with an in-wall unit: UAH 47,000-50,000.
- General construction and finishing work, including the bathroom and the floor: UAH 300,000-350,000.
- Labor total: UAH 400,000-460,000.
Add the rough materials and project management, and it comes to around UAH 716,000 on the standard turnkey tariff. If a contractor quotes you UAH 350,000 "all in" for an apartment like this, go back to the section on red flags: somewhere in that number either the scope or the materials are missing.
New building or secondary: the difference in the estimate
At the estimate level the difference is concrete and measurable. First: on the secondary market, demolition appears, at UAH 120,000-170,000. Second: after demolition, part of the scope cannot be counted in advance, and in our secondary-market estimates the line next to plastering honestly says "scope will be clear after demolition." Third: an old building means replacing the risers, reworking the drainage, a new incoming cable, and that is another UAH 20,000-40,000 of engineering work. All told, a 55 m² apartment on the secondary market cost roughly the same in labor as a new building of 60+ m². If you are choosing between buying a new build and a secondary, build this difference into your budget right away. The one upside of the secondary in an estimate: it usually already has heating and meters, so you do not pay for running heating lines to the radiators, which in a new building costs around UAH 5,000 per radiator.
How to read a contractor's estimate: five red flags
An estimate is not just an invoice, it is the technical brief for the renovation, and it is worth reading more carefully than the contract. In five minutes you can check the main things:
- One number with no breakdown. "Renovation of your apartment - UAH 600,000" with no blocks and no scope means it was counted by guesswork. In a proper estimate every stage is visible.
- No scope in m², linear meters, and points. The line "plastering - 80,000" cannot be checked. The line "plastering to beacons, 148 m² at UAH 380 per m²" can.
- "We will count the materials later." Rough materials roughly double the cost of the rough work. If they are not in the estimate, the real budget has not been named to you yet.
- Demolition "for free" on the secondary market. UAH 120,000-170,000 of work is never free: it is either hidden in other lines, or it will surface during the renovation.
- The price is not tied to a project. Without an electrical plan the number of points is unknown, without a layout the wall footage is unknown. An estimate made before the project is just a forecast.
We have put together a broader checklist for vetting a contractor, from the contract to the guarantees, in the article on how to choose a renovation company in Kyiv.
Frequently asked questions
Are materials included in the price per square meter?
It depends on who is naming the number, so always check. In this article all the estimate totals are the cost of labor without materials. In our turnkey tariffs (UAH 17,900, 26,200, and 37,200 per m²) the rough materials are already included, while the finishing materials are chosen and paid for by the client separately.
Why do estimates from different companies differ by a factor of two?
Most often because a different scope of work was counted: one crew plans two coats of skim coat and sanding, another plans one; one counts the demolition, another "gives it away." What you should compare is not the bottom-line number but the scope by block: walls in m², electrics in points, plumbing in wet zones.
How much does renovating a 40 m² apartment cost in 2026?
By our estimates, labor in a new building of 37-43 m² costs UAH 400,000-460,000 (UAH 10,500-11,000 per m²). With rough materials and project management on the standard tariff this is UAH 17,900 per m², that is around UAH 716,000 for 40 m². A real example of such a project is in the portfolio.
What is more expensive to renovate: a new building or a secondary?
A secondary. Demolition adds UAH 120,000-170,000, the old risers and electrics add another UAH 20,000-40,000, and part of the scope only becomes known after demolition. In labor, a 55 m² apartment on the secondary costs roughly the same as a new building of 60+ m².
Can you save money by buying the rough materials yourself?
In theory yes, in practice the saving rarely exceeds a few percent, and the risks are significant: the wrong class of cable, a mix that does not suit the substrate, short-delivered quantities that leave the crew idle. The contractor buys rough materials at wholesale prices and takes responsibility for their compatibility with the technology. The real point of saving is different: the finishing materials, the tile, the paint, and the plumbing fixtures you choose yourself, and you control that part of the budget completely.
Want to see what the estimate for your specific apartment would look like? Leave a request on the contacts page or call +380 (97) 607-15-15: we will do a free measurement and a detailed block-by-block estimate, with scope in square meters and points, that you can check.
