The Turnkey Journal
What a Malta fit-out actually involves
Costs, permits, sequence and specification — written from what the law and the market actually say, with the sources listed and the date we last checked them.
Costs & budgets
What things actually cost in Malta, and what moves the number.
- If the budget is tight, spend it in this orderA shell needs finishing in a fixed order, and money spent out of that order is money spent twice. This is a sequencing guide: what has to be right before it is covered up, what stays reachable, and what can be left out entirely.
- The one line you should not cheapen, and the ones you safely canOur own rate card shows the buried trades barely move between tiers while the visible ones move enormously. That is the whole argument for where to economise on a shell finish — and it is about reversibility, not performance.
- The things we will not give you a price per square metre forOur calculator publishes a rate for ten trades and refuses to publish one for eight other items. This page goes through the eight and explains, item by item, what each is actually priced from — heat load, a perit's drawings, the site, the condition of the stone — and why floor area is the wrong unit.
- What 'Ultimate Designer' actually buys at €1,212 per square metreThe top tier of the budget calculator is 3.6 times the bottom one, and two trades alone account for half of it. Here is what sits behind the figure — and why, at this level, the rate card is the weakest guide it will ever be.
- What a bathroom costs in Malta, tier by tierFour published rates, one assumed size, and a 7.5x gap between the cheapest bathroom and the dearest — a steeper climb than any other part of a Maltese fit-out.
- What a kitchen costs in Malta, and why we price it by the linear metreOur kitchen line is two numbers, not one: a fixed appliance allowance and a rate per linear metre of cabinet run. This explains where the run comes from, what changes when your kitchen is bigger or smaller than the model assumes, and why the top tiers are an open question.
- What a shell form fit-out costs in MaltaShell form is the normal way property is sold in Malta. This is what finishing one costs, broken down by trade, using the same rates the calculator on this site uses.
- What each finish tier actually buys, trade by tradeBasic to Ultimate on turnkey.mt's calculator runs 336 to 1212 €/m². The gap is not spread evenly across the trades — tiling, second fix electrics and doors multiply four or five times, while screed, insulation and gypsum roughly double. That pattern is where a finishing budget is really decided.
- What the calculator's number includes, and what it leaves outThe calculator produces a budget, not an offer. This sets out the trades inside the number, the items the rate card leaves unpriced, and the known gaps — including the absence of any Gozo uplift.
- Why a renovation has no price per square metreThe homepage calculator publishes a rate per square metre for finishing a shell. It refuses to publish one for renovating an existing property, and instead applies a multiplier to the fit-out subtotal. This article explains what those multipliers are, what they cannot possibly know, and why selecting renovation triggers a warning rather than a number you should rely on.
- Why a terrace pool costs more than a garden oneMost buyers assume the big garden pool is the expensive one. At every tier of our published rate card, the same square metre of pool costs roughly half as much again on an apartment terrace as it does in a garden. Here is what that gap is actually about — and what the card does not tell you.
- Why the same finish costs more per square metre in a villaA villa and an apartment finished to the same tier do not come out at the same rate per square metre in our budget calculator. There are two reasons for that, they work differently, and only one of them is a real measurement of your building.
Process & sequence
What happens when, and the order that keeps a fit-out on programme.
- Getting electricity and water connected to a Malta propertyA finished shell is not a home until ARMS has opened an account and the meters are in. The application needs a Planning Authority compliance certificate, geo-coded points from a perit and a signed electrician's inspection certificate that is only valid for two months — which is why connection belongs in the programme, not after it.
- Solar and heat pump water heaters: the grant that has to come before the purchaseMalta's water heater grant is approved before purchase, not claimed afterwards — and the application needs an ARMS bill in your own name. Order the heater with the rest of the plumbing and the grant is gone.
- The order a Malta fit-out has to happen inA shell form fit-out is ten trades in a fixed order. This is that order, why it cannot be shuffled, and the specific points where a swap costs you money.
- The ten trades in a Malta fit-out, and what each one actually doesThe calculator lists ten trades in the order they are executed on a shell. Here is what each one actually involves, and why the sequence is not negotiable.
- What 'finished' means: handover and snaggingMost arguments at the end of a finishing project are arguments about a definition nobody wrote down at the start. This is what handover involves, what a snagging list is for, and how to tell a snag from an unfinished job.
- What a turnkey contract actually covers'Turnkey' is used loosely in Malta. Here is what it means in our contracts — one prime contract, one invoice, one point of contact, and 22 services that would otherwise be 22 separate conversations.
- What happens at a survey, and why a fixed price needs oneThe budget calculator gives you an average. The survey is the step that replaces that average with your actual property — its measurements, its services, its access and its constraints.
Permits & regulations
What the Planning Authority, the BCA and your condominium require.
Buying & owning in Malta
Shell form, resale, and what a purchase leaves you to finish.
- Buying a Malta property from abroad: who needs an AIP permitMalta law treats most buyers living abroad — including EU and Maltese citizens who have not been here five continuous years — as 'non-resident persons' who may need a permit before the deed. Here is who needs one, where nobody does, and the conditions that follow the property afterwards.
- Shell form: what you actually get, and what you do notShell form means a property sold without internal finishes, fixtures or services. There is no published standard for what is present at handover, so the only reliable answer is the one written into your own contract.
- Stamp duty on a Malta property: the rates, the reliefs, and when it is paidDuty on documents is charged on the higher of price or value, and a fifth of it falls due when the promise of sale is notified — months before you hold the keys. Here is what the Act and the 2025 Legal Notice actually say.
- The promise of sale: what a Malta buyer signs before the deedIn Malta the deal is fixed months before the deed, by the promise of sale. This is what the law says it does, how long it lasts, and which documents must already exist when you sign it.