How to choose the right renovation company in Dubai

Check the licence before you compare the prices. Renovation companies in Dubai are licensed for one of three jobs. One draws your home. One builds it. A few may do both. So three quotes for the same renovation can cover three different amounts of work.

Five things to settle before you sign anything.

• Three licences, three different jobs. Design consultant, contractor, or design and build.
• Ask for the Dubai Municipality registration. It states the building work a company may legally do.
• Get the drawings made first. A contractor can only price what is drawn.
• Send every company the same drawings. Different drawings give prices you cannot compare.
• Ask your five questions by email. Written answers can be set side by side.

What kinds of renovation company are there in Dubai?

Three. A design consultant draws your home and does not build it. Contractors work the other way round. They price drawings they are handed, and draw nothing themselves. A design and build firm does both, under one contract. Dubai Municipality, the government department that controls building work, decides which of the three a company may do.

• A design consultant draws the renovation. Only a licensed consultant may put its official mark, called a stamp, on a drawing. Without that stamp, Dubai Municipality will not accept the drawing. The firm has to meet published standards.
• A contractor builds. It prices the drawings you hand it. Missing detail comes back later as extra charges. An interior fit out contractor in Dubai is the same thing, working on the inside of the home.
• A design and build firm draws and builds, under one contract. That is a separate licence, granted under Circular 224 from January 2018. The firm must put an engineer through a Dubai Municipality exam.

A home renovation company in Dubai can be any of the three. They advertise renovation services in Dubai in the same words, and a website rarely says which.

So two villa renovation companies in Dubai can do different halves of the job. Most homeowners end up using two of them.

How do you check a renovation company is licensed?

Ask for two documents by email. The trade licence only proves the company may trade in Dubai. The Dubai Municipality registration is the one that matters, because it sets out the building work the company may do. Read it, then ask the company in writing to confirm it covers your job.

1. Ask for two PDF files. The trade licence, and the Dubai Municipality registration.
2. Check the activity covers your job. Email one line: does this activity cover moving a wall in my villa? A written yes, naming your job, is the pass.
3. Ask who stamps your drawings. Get the licensed consultant's name. Ask if that person is on the staff, and if not, who pays the fee.
4. Ask who pays for mistakes. Put it in writing. Who pays to put the work right, if it does not match the approved drawings?

Dubai Municipality also publishes its consultants and contractors data. Search the company name there.

Question four separates the three kinds of company. A firm that designs and builds should answer that it pays.

Do you need Dubai Municipality approval to renovate?

Yes, for any work that changes the structure, the pipes or the wiring. Moving or removing a wall needs permission. So does moving a kitchen or a bathroom, because the pipes move with them. New wiring needs it too, and that approval comes from DEWA, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority. Paint and new furniture need no permission.

In an apartment the building comes first. Your developer or building management issues a no objection certificate, or NOC. The authority wants to see it first.

Approvals cost money and add weeks. Ask each company to put the approval fee and the extra weeks in the quote. Our approvals post covers which body asks for what.

What should a renovation quote include?

Five things go missing from renovation quotes most often. They are the drawings and the approvals. Then the patching between one trade and the next, the site visits, and the snagging at the end. A cheap quote usually covers less work, so ask what each price leaves out.

• The drawings. Look for a priced line saying who draws the renovation. If there is none, ask who pays for them.
• The approvals. In an apartment, ask who gets your building manager written approval, you or the company.
• The work between trades. A trade is one kind of worker, such as a plumber or tiler. Ask who closes the wall after the wiring goes in.
• The site visits. Ask how many visits a week the price buys. No number means none are priced.
• The snagging. The final walk through, where you list every fault. The quote should say how many days the company has to fix them.

Get the drawings made first, by a licensed design consultant. Then send the same set to every company.

What questions should you ask before you sign?

Five, and send them by email so the answers come back in writing. Ask which Dubai Municipality registration the company holds. Ask who stamps the drawings. Ask whether the price includes approvals. Ask how a change is priced once work has started. Ask who visits the site, and how often.

• Which registration do you hold? Ask for the PDF, and read which of the three it names.
• Who stamps the drawings? Get a name. If they are not on the staff, ask if the fee is inside your price.
• Does the price include approvals? Ask them to point at the line that covers it.
• How do you price a change? Get one line in the contract: nothing is built until you approve the cost by email.
• Who visits the site? This is called site supervision. Get a name and a number of visits a week into the contract.

How long does a renovation take, and what drives the cost?

A full set of drawings takes about four weeks at our studio, from the first visit to measure your home. That assumes you approve each step within a week. The building work after it takes months, and depends on your contractor. Cost moves with the size of the home, the materials, and whether walls move.

Two more things move it. Whether you live there during the work, and how much is built to fit your rooms.

Nobody can give you a villa renovation cost in Dubai over the phone. Some costs stay the same whatever the size, such as the drawings and the approvals.

Our post on what happens during a home renovation runs through the stages in order.

What does Conceptor do for a renovation?

Conceptor is a Dubai design studio. We do the first of those three jobs: we draw the renovation and we do not build it. You get every main room in 3D, and a full set of drawings a contractor can price. You take that set to the contractor you choose. We keep visiting the site until the work is finished.

• We design, we do not build. A company that designs and builds checks its own work. We check the contractor's work for you.
• Thirty six projects in the [portfolio](https://conceptor.ae/portfolio). Villas, apartments, residential towers, workplaces, and homes where we drew the garden too.
• Four weeks to a full drawing set. From the first visit to measure, to drawings a contractor can price.
• Every main room in 3D before anything is ordered. You see how each room will look, at the size and finish you are buying.
• Architecture, interiors and landscape in one studio. The house and the garden, or the layout, joinery and lighting, are drawn together.
• A reply within one business day to anything sent through our contact form. The first conversation is free.

Ask us the same five questions. We will answer in writing.

Send the same drawings to three renovation contractors in Dubai, and every price covers the same work. The best renovation company in Dubai depends on which of the three jobs you need done.

We draw villa and apartment renovations across Dubai, and stay on site while they are built.

What should you do next?

Shortlist three companies. Email each one for its trade licence and its Dubai Municipality registration. Read the activity on each, then ask in writing if it covers your job. Send all three the same five questions below, with a date you need the answers by. Cross off anyone who will not answer in writing.

1. Which Dubai Municipality registration do you hold?
2. Who stamps the drawings, and is their fee inside your price?
3. Does the price include the approval fees?
4. How do you price a change once work has started?
5. Who visits the site, and how many times a week?

Holding quotes you cannot compare? Send them through the contact form, and we will tell you what each left out.