Search "condo renovation cost Bangkok" and most of what comes back is written by real-estate portals and property-listing blogs — not by anyone who has actually run a renovation site. The numbers are often years old, rarely itemized, and almost never traceable to a company that will quote you against them. That is not a criticism of any one publisher; it is simply what happens when the highest-ranking content on a construction cost question is written by people who do not do construction.
This article is written by a design-build firm that publishes its own rates. It covers the general market range you will see cited elsewhere, a line-item breakdown of where a condo renovation budget actually goes, and then the concrete number: Something Bespoke's own published per-sqm rate, with the arithmetic worked out for three real unit sizes.
What Bangkok Condo Renovations Actually Cost
As general market context, a typical Bangkok condo renovation runs roughly ฿15,000–40,000 per sqm, depending on the scope of work and the finish level chosen. A light cosmetic refresh — paint, flooring, and fixture swaps without touching layout — sits toward the lower end of that band. A full gut renovation involving new electrical and plumbing runs, layout changes, custom joinery, and premium finishes sits toward the upper end.
That range is wide because "renovation" covers everything from a weekend repaint to a complete rebuild behind the same four walls. It is a useful starting point for budgeting, but it is not a quote — no two condos, and no two scopes, cost the same amount per sqm. What matters is where your specific project falls within that range, and what a firm is willing to put in writing.
A Line-Item Breakdown: Where the Budget Actually Goes
A useful way to think about a condo renovation budget is as a Bill of Quantities (BOQ) — a list of the major cost categories that make up the total, rather than a single lump sum. We do not publish precise percentage splits here, because those splits genuinely vary from unit to unit depending on condition and finish choices, and a false-precision number would be more misleading than useful. What we can say, directionally, from the categories that consistently show up on a condo renovation BOQ:
Kitchen and bathroom work typically account for the largest single share of a condo renovation budget. Both involve waterproofing, tiling, fixtures, and often the most labor-intensive trade coordination in the entire project.
Electrical and plumbing rework is a moderate-to-large line item, especially in older buildings where wiring and pipework need to be brought up to current standards before anything else can proceed.
Flooring and wall/ceiling finishes represent a moderate share, scaling directly with the total floor area and the finish grade selected.
Built-in joinery and wardrobes — a category that varies widely depending on how much custom storage a unit needs — is typically a moderate line item, and one where material choice (laminate versus veneer versus solid wood) moves the number more than almost any other single decision.
Demolition and site preparation, painting, and project management/design fees are typically smaller individual line items relative to the categories above, though they are still necessary parts of the total and should appear as distinct lines in any quote you review, rather than being folded silently into a markup.
Something Bespoke's Published Rate
General market ranges are useful for orientation. They are not a number you can act on. Here is the number we actually quote against:
Interior design: ฿2,000/sqm, minimum ฿100,000 per project.
Turnkey construction: from ฿20,000/sqm, minimum ฿1,000,000 per project.
Against the general market range of roughly ฿15,000–40,000/sqm cited above, our published construction starting rate sits in the low-to-mid range of that band. We are not framing this as the cheapest rate available in Bangkok — we have no visibility into every firm's pricing, and "cheapest" is rarely the right way to choose a construction partner. What we can say is that the rate is fixed, published, and quoted the same way to every client, rather than assembled case by case after a sales visit. You can see the full rate card at our turnkey pricing page.
Three Worked Examples: 60, 90, and 150 Sqm
The formula is straightforward: design cost is the greater of (floor area × ฿2,000) or ฿100,000. Construction cost starts at the greater of (floor area × ฿20,000) or ฿1,000,000. Here is how that resolves for three common Bangkok condo sizes:
60 sqm condo
Design: 60 × ฿2,000 = ฿120,000 (above the ฿100,000 minimum, so ฿120,000 applies)
Construction: 60 × ฿20,000 = ฿1,200,000 (above the ฿1,000,000 minimum, so ฿1,200,000 applies)
Combined starting total: ฿1,320,000
90 sqm condo
Design: 90 × ฿2,000 = ฿180,000
Construction: 90 × ฿20,000 = ฿1,800,000
Combined starting total: ฿1,980,000
150 sqm condo
Design: 150 × ฿2,000 = ฿300,000
Construction: 150 × ฿20,000 = ฿3,000,000
Combined starting total: ฿3,300,000
Note that at all three of these sizes, the per-sqm calculation already exceeds both minimums on its own — the ฿100,000 design floor and the ฿1,000,000 construction floor only come into play below roughly 50 sqm, where they act as a floor rather than the per-sqm rate. These figures are starting points based on our published from-rate; the finish level and scope you choose will move the construction number from there, which is why every project is confirmed with a fixed written quote rather than an estimate. Full detail is on the pricing page.
What Makes the Final Number Move
Three things move a condo renovation budget more than anything else. The first is finish level — the gap between standard-grade tile, laminate, and fixtures and premium-grade equivalents is real and compounds across every room. The second is whether the scope involves structural or layout changes: moving a wall, relocating a bathroom, or reconfiguring plumbing runs adds engineering, approval, and labor complexity that a cosmetic refresh does not carry. The third is condo juristic office approval timelines — every Thai condominium requires renovation approval from the building's juristic person before work can begin, and how quickly that approval comes through affects scheduling, which in turn can affect site costs. None of these are hidden costs; they are simply variables that get scoped and priced before a contract is signed, not discovered afterward.
Three Guarantees, Stated in Writing
A published rate is only useful if it is backed by commitments you can hold a contractor to. Ours are stated in plain terms, not marketing language:
Schedule guarantee. If a project runs late, we owe 0.1% of the contract value per day late, capped at 5% of the contract value.
Materials guarantee. Any substitution of a specified material or brand requires written pre-approval from you. An unauthorized substitution is corrected at no cost.
Communication guarantee. You receive weekly progress reports — photos and status — plus a 24-hour response commitment on any question you raise during the project.
These terms, along with the full construction process from first site visit to handover, are laid out at our turnkey process page.
Getting a Number for Your Unit
General ranges and worked examples are useful for planning, but the number that matters is the one specific to your unit, your building, and your scope. That requires an actual site visit and a fixed quote — not another estimate based on a national average.