The bands and what determines them
| Type of intervention | Cost per m2 | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Light conservative recovery | EUR 1,000 - 1,500 | Services and finishes in a building in good condition |
| Restoration with strengthening | EUR 1,500 - 2,200 | Structure, timber floors, masonry |
| Restoration with decorative elements | EUR 2,200 - 3,000 | Frescoes, stucco, historic joinery, original floors |
| Monumental restoration | EUR 3,000 and above | Strict constraints, high specialisation |
Higher-than-usual professional fees must be added (15-20 per cent: alongside the design come accurate surveys, historical reports, stratigraphic and diagnostic investigations) and a contingency reserve that in restoration does not fall below 20 per cent. Those items precede the site work and cannot be compressed.
The trades current construction does not know
Masonry strengthening. Stitching, injections, repointing, tie rods: measured, slow trades executed by specialist crews, with unit costs far from those of new masonry.
Timber floors. Restoring existing beams (almost always required, not optional), splicing in timber prosthetics, strengthening with a lightweight composite slab: replacement with a concrete-and-brick floor, cheap and fast, is normally not permitted.
Historic plaster and finishes. Lime plasters, mineral-based paints, stucco: materials and application cycles that exclude current industrial products.
Decorative elements. Frescoes, cornices, panelling, portals: genuine restoration works, entrusted to qualified restorers, with estimates built element by element rather than per square metre.
Joinery. Restoring historic windows instead of replacing them, recovering the ironmongery and upgrading performance with secondary frames or slim glazing: it costs more than a new high-end window.
Constraints, approvals and timelines
A protected building requires authorisation from the Soprintendenza (heritage authority) before works, on a design describing materials and techniques. There are three economic implications, and they belong in the budget from the start.
Solutions are negotiated, not chosen. The designer proposes, the authority approves or prescribes: a rejected services solution can require a costly variation (surface-mounted installations, alternative routing, low-impact radiant systems).
Timelines are longer. To the municipal timeline is added the heritage review; a restoration programme is measured in quarters, and every month has an indirect cost for the client.
Some performance levels are limited by law. External insulation is generally inadmissible on protected facades, insulation must be resolved internally or at roof level, and achievable efficiency levels are lower than in an ordinary building. Derogations exist, but they are a design matter, not a given.
A caveat on financial references
In restoration the cost per square metre is the worst of indicators: two buildings on the same street, with the same area and the same protection, can differ twofold depending on state of conservation and the presence of decorative apparatus. The only reliable approach is the element-by-element bill of quantities, built after the survey and the diagnostic investigations: individual works are measured and priced, from repointing to portal restoration, and only at the end is the resulting cost per m2 calculated, as a statistical curiosity. Anyone starting from a cost per m2 to estimate a restoration is guessing; the correct method is that of the article on how to calculate cost per m2, applied in reverse.
Note: the figures shown are 2026 orders of magnitude for the Italian market, for guidance only and particularly indicative in this field. Every intervention on a protected building requires surveys, specialist design and authorisation from the competent authority.