This Is How Much It Costs to Renovate a 2-Bedroom Apartment in Romania

(I am updating this article with accurate numbers – but I am also keeping the ones in my original draft from 2014 to see how much costs of renovating an apartment in Romania have changed over the years).

In today’s article, we’ll talk about costs and expectations based on our full renovation and remodeling of the apartment we bought in Romania, which hadn’t been worked on since 1977.

A lot of work had to be done and the expenses were high – but now, thanks to huge inflation and growing prices in general, costs are higher than ever.

Our initial renovation costs

Just for context – to see how quickly the prices in Romania go up, especially when it comes to buying a house or apartment – the 2-bedroom apartment we purchased in Drobeta Turnu Severin only cost us 25,000 Euros (around $27,755).

The full renovation of the apartment cost us 6,715 Euros, with additional furniture bought over the next year costing another ~2,200 Euros, taking the total costs of renovating our apartment to around 9,000 Euros.

Nowadays, though, these would be the costs for renovating a studio, not a 2-bedroom apartment. Here are the costs expected for renovating an apartment.

Cost to renovate a 2 bedroom apartment

Note: We’re talking here about a full renovation, which includes replacing everything from electrical wiring to pipes, doors and windows and all the furniture. You might not have to change all these things, which would end up costing a lot less.

Also, have in mind that the costs for materials can vary a lot when talking about finishing touches: the higher-end ones can cost double (or even more). I will estimate the renovation costs below based on average prices.

Here is a table detailing the expected expenses, also comparing them with our original costs in 2014:

Important things to note about these costs

It goes without saying that these are just estimates and they DON’T include the following:

• Any furniture for the rooms, apart from the kitchen furniture (these would be at least a couple thousand Euros extra).
• Appliances for the kitchen (a gas oven, stovetop a friddge/freezer combo and cooker hood would add at least €750 to the total costs, usually more if you don’t want to go for no-name brands).
• Air conditioning units (around €300 per unit), new heaters, TVs, and any other items.

Also, as I mentioned, these are usually the costs you should expect to pay on average items/products. If you want the latest models and high-end stuff, expect to pay double.

In conclusion, the costs of renovating a 2-bedroom apartment in Romania will vary between €11,000 Euros on the lower end to around €25,000 Euros on the higher end, including a complete furniture change and new appliances.

Compared to our renovating costs 10 years ago, the total costs are some 63% higher. Add to that the fact that purchasing an apartment is also a lot more expenses (with prices double or more compared to 10 years ago) and you realize that Romania is not longer the cheap country it used to be.

Another important thing: Even though we used lower-priced materials, everything is still standing today, after our initial renovations 10 years ago. This proves that these lower-priced materials are not necessarily worse than more expensive ones.

It’s true that we needed to replace the doors’ knobs and some of the kitchen furniture doors fell down and had to have minor repairs, but overall everything is still in a decent-enough condition not to require replacements.

Update: my friend’s apartment renovation costs

One of my friends living in Timisoara also had his 2-bedroom apartment renovated in early 2024. He was kind enough to share his costs:

– Team cost: 3,000 Euros
– Materials: 4,200 Euros
– Kitchen furniture & Equipment: 2,350 Euros
– Furniture for living room: 1,700 Euros (still not complete)
– Furniture for bedrooms: 1,250 Euros (just the beds)
___________
TOTAL: 12,500 Euros (around $13,900)

Keep in mind that his costs don’t include new windows, any electric work (apart from changing the lighting fixtures), nor materials for the bathroom.

Apartment renovation photos

I didn’t take any high quality photos of the apartment after it was finished, but my wife did some nice before/after shots on her mobile phone and even though the quality of the images is pretty poor (and the place is still pretty dusty), it shows the huge improvement our apartment has seen.

Remember: these are our original photos from 10 years ago, hence the slightly outdated look of the materials. Here are the before and after shots of the apartment renovation here in Romania:

Wrapping up

Prices have exploded here in Romania and are at an all-time high right now (but still growing). Some people keep claiming that we’re in a bubble, but they say that since 2018, and prices kept going up, steadily since then.

So renovating an apartment now is pretty expensive, although definitely not as costly as it would be to do the same thing in other, more expensive countries in Western Europe or the US/Canada and so on.

My advice? Buy and start your renovation project if you have the money now, as waiting for the prices to drop might be a bad idea.

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Calin

Having lived in Romania for almost 4 decades, I am here to tell you everything about this beautiful country. I hold a bachelor's degree in Journalism, I love traveling and I've been writing about Romania since 2013. Currently living in Constanta.

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