Finishing a new-build apartment: what else is needed and what does it cost?

What still needs doing in a new-build apartment?

An apartment is usually handed over with the same basics as a family house: walls that are ready for wallpapering, ceilings that are sprayed or still bare, and a floor without a finish. What has been agreed for your apartment is set out in your handover documents.

Prices from our 2026/2027 price list, valid from 1 September 2026. Prices exclude VAT.

If the concrete ceiling has already been sprayed and you want to keep it white, the ceiling item falls away. If it is bare, we choose between rolling and spraying. In an empty apartment, having a ceiling spray painted is often convenient, because there is no furniture to cover yet.

What does finishing a new-build apartment cost?

The price follows the m² of wall and ceiling. If you don’t know those yet, use the rule of thumb from our wall and ceiling area calculator: roughly 2.5 times your floor area in wall at a ceiling height of 2.60 metres, and a ceiling the same size as the floor.

In the table, the walls get renovation fleece with one coat of paint and the bare ceilings get a primer and one coat of paint. These are worked examples using the rule of thumb, not averages.

Prices exclude VAT. The VAT rate is stated in the quote: for new builds it is 21%.

The sliding scale applies to the whole job. The 60 m² apartment, with 150 m² of wall, is still at the €15.99 rate; above 150 m² it becomes €14.99 per m². So count all the rooms, including the hall and the storage room if they need finishing.

If you want a colour instead of white, that adds €1.50 per m². If the doors and frames have not yet been given their top coat, they appear as a separate item in the quote.

If several buyers in the same development have their homes finished at the same time, the neighbour discount for new builds applies: €0.25 per m² for 2 homes, €0.50 for 3, €0.60 for 4, €0.80 for 5 and €1.00 for 6 or more. The homes don’t have to be next to each other, as long as we can schedule them one after the other.

What do you need to arrange with the owners’ association?

In an apartment you share the building with others, and you notice that most with the floor. The deed of division (basisakte) or the internal rules of the VME (the owners’ association, vereniging van mede-eigenaars) often set acoustic requirements. A hard floor, such as vinyl or laminate, parquet or a tiled floor, is then only allowed with sufficient sound insulation.

Read those requirements before you choose a floor. If you have our contractor teams lay the floor, pass the requirements on in the consultation so that we take them into account in the quote. For questions you can also contact the property manager (syndicus).

The rules also often set out the hours during which work is allowed. That applies to us just the same, so mention it if it is in there. For work inside your own apartment you usually don’t need the association’s permission, as long as you don’t change anything in the common areas.

Finishing walls and ceilings causes your neighbours little disturbance. Our painters cover and tape off before they start, and we follow the order of ceiling, walls, woodwork and the floor last.

Isn’t an apartment too small to have finished in one go?

Not really. Following the rule of thumb, a 60 m² apartment has 150 m² of wall. That is three times the 50 m² threshold below which we charge a small-job surcharge of €249.99.

In an apartment in particular it pays to do everything in one go. While there is no furniture yet, we work fastest. Hanging renovation fleece, filling and painting a complete home, and therefore an apartment too, takes us 3 days.

If you do one part now and the rest later, you pay the €99.99 call-out fee twice. If the later part is under 50 m², the small-job surcharge is added, and renovation fleece is charged at €18.99 per m² instead of €14.99.

A room with 35 m² of wall that you have done separately later then costs €1,014.63, including the surcharge and call-out fee. The same 35 m² costs €524.65 as part of the whole job.

How do you have your new-build apartment finished by us?

Request a quote with the m² or the floor plan, your handover date and what you want done on the floor and kitchen. Within 24 hours you receive a free quote for the finishing, based on a price indication. For the floor and the kitchen we arrange a free consultation.

If you agree, we schedule the site survey. For a new-build apartment we can come and measure up before handover. After that the final price and the schedule are fixed, and we start on the day we agree together.

You pay 50% on the first working day, once all materials are on site and we have started, and 50% on completion. The work is done by our own tradespeople: 40 wallpaperers, 32 plasterers and 25 painters, plus four in-house contractor teams of four people each.

We work throughout Belgium and finish more than 600 new-build homes every year. That way you can have your new-build home finished from bare wall to move-in ready, even if it is an apartment.