Diagonal Mar · Sant Martí
Comprehensive renovations in Diagonal Mar
Here the buildings are new and the residents’ associations have rules in writing: permitted hours, a service lift, a loading area and, very often, a concierge. Renovating well in Diagonal Mar is as much a question of organisation as of building work. And because the services usually work, the quote is decided somewhere other than where you would imagine.
- We work to the rulebookof your residents’ association
- Site visit and measurementsbefore we quote
- Detailed quoteitemised, with no obligation
- Extras approved beforethey are carried out, never after
What the residents’ association asks for before anyone sets foot inside
In a recent building the job starts weeks before the job. The seafront was laid out and built mainly from the late 1990s onwards, and that means high-rise buildings with an organised residents’ association: many of them have a concierge, a service lift, loading areas with set hours and a written rulebook for building work.
This is what we prepare, and we do it before setting the schedule.
- The rulebook, read. Which hours noisy work is allowed in, which days it is not, whether a deposit has to be lodged, whether material comes in through a particular entrance and what insurance has to be evidenced. The first thing is to ask for that document and read it right through, because it shapes the schedule and sometimes the price. Working in breach of a building’s rulebook is the quickest way to have your job stopped midweek.
- The notice, given in advance. The residents’ association and the concierge are told beforehand: what is going to be done, how long each phase will last and when the big deliveries arrive. A concierge who has been kept informed is the best tool on a job; a concierge taken by surprise is the worst problem.
- The access, agreed. The service lift or the goods lift if there is one, and if not, the main lift with full protection. A time slot for the kitchen, flooring and sanitaryware deliveries, which are the ones that tie up the lift for a good while. And the waste removal route settled before the first bag of rubble.
- The protection, done properly. In a building with a recently finished lobby, lift and landings, protecting does not mean taping a sheet of cardboard to the door: it means covering the floor, the walls along the route, the door jambs and the lift car, keeping it there for the whole job and cleaning the route at the end of every working day. We describe it in a clean site: dust extraction, protection and order.
Renovating a flat that is not broken
Most of the renovations we do in Barcelona start with services at the end of their life. Not here. In a home handed over fifteen or twenty years ago the consumer unit is sound, the plumbing holds up and the drainage works. That changes the whole conversation.
What people ask for here is something else: opening the kitchen onto the living room, gaining a dressing room, turning a small bedroom into a study, rearranging a wet area, replacing finishes that are stuck in the taste of their decade and, almost always, sorting out the lighting. These are jobs about layout and finish, not about drainage.
And it brings an advantage worth making the most of: when the services do not have to be redone, the same money buys far more finish. The money that in another building disappears inside the wall is money you can see here. That is why on these jobs it makes sense to spend time on the design before starting — what opens up, what closes off, how the light falls — and why we work with interior design and with 3D design when the decision is about layout and not about repair.
What we do here
Comprehensive home renovations, with an itemised quote and the whole job contracted as one: comprehensive renovations in Barcelona. And the parts most often asked for in this kind of building, each with its own page: kitchen renovations, bathroom renovations, electrics and lighting, parquet and flooring, painting and heating and air conditioning.
If the home has a terrace or a large balcony, which is common here, the page is terrace renovation. A terrace sitting on top of a home is a waterproofing job before it is a decorating job, and it is best treated as such from day one.
The living room ceiling, explained
On one renovation in the neighbourhood the aim was a living room that looked more spacious and felt better at night: a flat ceiling, light spread evenly and none of the patchwork of fittings added over the years. It sounds like a minor brief until you sit on the sofa and notice glare, odd shadows on the walls and switches with no logic to them.
So it was handled as a lighting design and not as “putting in some downlights”. What decides the result is not the number of light points: it is where the living room is actually used (the way through to the terrace, the wall with the unit, the reading corner), how much light you want at any given moment and what comes on with each switch. And what you cannot see in the photograph is what makes it last: cabling properly routed, accessible connections and circuits planned around switching that makes sense.
It is set out in full in recessed lighting in a living room: how to design it well.
What it costs and how long it takes
Here it is worth looking at two of the published bands, because the spend is not distributed in the usual way.
The standard comprehensive renovation band runs from €750 to €1,050/m², and above it there is a band for higher-grade materials, special joinery and carefully designed lighting. The five bands, with what each one includes, are in comprehensive renovations in Barcelona. These are a guide only: the real figure comes out of the site visit.
In a building of this age the services section goes down and joinery, furniture, lighting and finishes go up. There is also a section that barely exists in other neighbourhoods and does exist here: protection of the communal areas, restricted hours and access logistics. We would rather it appeared in writing in the quote than turned up afterwards as an extra.
On timing. A comprehensive renovation takes between 6 and 12 weeks as a guide, and less if the services are left alone. It is not a scheduling commitment: it is set by milestones after the site visit, and in a building with restricted hours the milestones matter more than the final date.
What our clients say
5,0
55 reviews on Google
Contamos con Obrescat para la reforma y acondicionamiento de nuestra terraza (instalación de estructura metálica, arreglos de fachada, pintura y pequeños acabados) y el resultado ha sido justo lo que buscábamos.
Desde la fase de estudio del proyecto la comunicación fue excelente: contestaron rápido y con total disponibilidad para resolver todas nuestras dudas.
Durante la ejecución, el equipo fue muy puntual, atento y sobre todo flexible, adaptándose sin problema a los cambios de días y horarios que les pedimos.
Estamos muy contentos con la calidad final del trabajo. Los recomiendo sin duda.
Lo mejor de trabajar con Obrescat ha sido sentir que había seguimiento real durante todo el proyecto. Nerea hizo un gran trabajo en la fase inicial, tanto a nivel comercial como a la hora de preparar el presupuesto, siempre con transparencia. Después, Manuel coordinó la obra con profesionalidad y supo resolver bien los pequeños ajustes que fueron apareciendo. Como empresa de reformas en barcelona, nos han parecido muy recomendables por su implicación.
Después de comparar varias opciones, elegí esta empresa de reformas porque me transmitió confianza y profesionalidad. El resultado ha superado mis expectativas, la cocina ha quedado increíble. Muy recomendados en reformas Barcelona
Contratamos a Obrescat para la reforma integral de nuestro local comercial en Barcelona y la experiencia ha sido excelente. Necesitábamos adaptar completamente el espacio para abrir nuestro negocio y nos ayudaron tanto con la distribución como con los acabados y la iluminación.Muy recomendable esta empresa de reformas para proyectos de reformas Barcelona y reforma de locales.
Después de una mala experiencia previa con otra empresa, llegar a Obrescat fue un alivio. Buscábamos una empresa de reformas en Barcelona seria y profesional, y con ellos sentimos confianza desde el primer día. Nos ayudaron a definir el proyecto, nos orientaron con materiales y acabados y siempre fueron claros con los tiempos y el presupuesto.
Durante la obra estuvieron muy organizados, el piso se mantuvo bastante limpio dentro de lo posible y cualquier duda se resolvía rápido. No tuvimos sorpresas desagradables ni sobrecostes inesperados, algo que hoy en día se agradece mucho en el sector de las reformas Barcelona.
El resultado ha sido exactamente lo que queríamos. Un equipo muy recomendable.
Obrescat nos hizo una reforma de baño y reforma de cocina en Barcelona y el resultado ha sido excelente. Aprovecharon mejor el espacio, nos aconsejaron bien con los materiales y dejaron todo muy bien terminado. Además, al ver cómo trabajan, nos quedó claro que son una empresa de reformas muy seria y con experiencia. Se nota que tienen oficio y cuidan mucho este tipo de obras
Después de comparar varias empresas de reformas en Barcelona, nos decidimos por Obrescat y fue la mejor decisión. Reformaron nuestro piso de 90 m² en el Eixample y todo salió genial: cumplieron los plazos, no hubo sorpresas con el presupuesto y la comunicación fue constante. Nos ayudaron a elegir materiales, optimizar espacios y hasta nos dieron ideas de diseño que no habíamos pensado. Se nota que tienen experiencia y que les gusta su trabajo. La relación calidad-precio es muy buena, sobre todo para el nivel de acabado que ofrecen.
Gran experiencia con Obrescat en la reforma completa de nuestro baño. Queríamos algo moderno y elegante pero también práctico, y supieron encontrar el equilibrio perfecto.Muy recomendable esta empresa de reformas en Barcelona.
Reformamos todo el piso con Obrescat: baño, cocina y pintura general. Desde el primer momento se nota que son una empresa de reformas en Barcelona muy seria. Cumplieron plazos, ajustaron el presupuesto y el resultado fue excelente.
Trabajo muy profesional con mi cocina en un par de semanas realizada. Destacaría sobretodo la organización y profesionalidad de Nerea y todo el personal en general
Before you hire
What we are asked most in buildings with an organised residents’ association. For anything else, there is 933 53 54 09 or a message on WhatsApp.
My residents’ association has a rulebook for building work. Do you deal with it?
Yes. We ask for the document before fixing the schedule, read it right through and adjust the works plan to what it says: noise slots, excluded days, access, insurance and a deposit if there is one. And we notify the managing agent and the concierge before we start, not on day one.
The building dates from 2005 and everything works. Is a comprehensive renovation worth it?
It depends on what you want to change. If the problem is the layout or the finish, a full comprehensive renovation is not needed: you can do an ambitious job without touching the services and the difference is very noticeable. If you also want to move the kitchen and the wet areas, then the big job does come into it. We assess that on the site visit and give it to you with both options priced.
Can the main lift be avoided?
If the building has a service lift or a goods lift, that is the one we use and the time slot is agreed. If there is not one, the main lift is used with the car and the floor protected and the big deliveries concentrated into as few trips as possible. Material never goes up while rubble comes down on the same route.
I want to change the living room lighting without cutting chases all over the flat.
A good deal can be done without breaking out more than necessary, especially if there is a suspended ceiling or one can be built around the perimeter. What decides the scope is where the existing circuits come from and what switching you want. There is guidance in updating the lighting without cutting chases, as well as the full case described above.
Do you work with my interior designer, or do you do the design yourselves?
Both. We build other people’s designs and we also put forward our own, with interior design and 3D design when it helps you decide before starting. What we do not do is change someone’s design on our own initiative halfway through the job.
I need to know which week I can move back in.
We give you milestones, not a calendar promise. After the site visit the dates for each phase are set — end of demolition, end of services, end of tiling, handover — and reviewed against real progress. A lead time given over the phone, before seeing the home and without knowing your building’s time restrictions, is worth nothing.
Tell us which building you are in
Tell us what year the building dates from, whether it has a rulebook for building work and what you want to change. We come and see it, we measure up and we send you a detailed itemised quote, with no obligation.
And if you would rather talk it through, call us on 933 53 54 09