Insights / Residences
Renovating an older condominium: costs, permissions and what to expect
Renovating a Bangkok condominium costs ฿15,000 – 30,000 per square metre for a full strip-out with new electrics, plumbing, wet areas and joinery, and takes six to twelve weeks on site after two to four weeks of juristic office permissions. In a unit older than twenty years expect to replace the electrical board and circuits, the water pipes and the bathroom waterproofing, whatever else is done; these three items cost ฿250,000 – 450,000 for an 80 m² unit and are the reason a cheap renovation is a short one.
Older condominiums in Sukhumvit, Sathorn and Ratchayothin are some of the best homes in Bangkok: bigger rooms, higher ceilings and better addresses than the new towers. The catch is what is behind the walls. This guide sets out what a renovation involves, using the studio's own units in DS Tower on Sukhumvit 33 as the example.
What fails at twenty years
Three things, reliably. The electrical board and circuits, sized for a decade with fewer appliances and no induction hob. The water pipes, galvanised steel that has corroded from the inside. And the bathroom waterproofing under the tiles, which leaks into the ceiling below before anyone notices. A renovation that does not replace these three is a repaint, however good the joinery looks. Budget ฿250,000 – 450,000 for the three in an 80 m² unit.
Permissions
The juristic office sets the rules and the calendar. Drawings, a method statement and a deposit go in first, and approval takes two to four weeks. Working hours are usually weekday office hours with nothing noisy on Sundays, so a programme that assumes seven-day weeks is a programme that will slip. The studio has renovated in dozens of buildings and builds the building's rules into the programme from the start.
Costs in 2026
| Scope | Price |
|---|---|
| Full renovation, condominium | ฿15,000 – 30,000 per m² |
| Cosmetic refresh, wet areas kept | ฿6,000 – 12,000 per m² |
| Electrical board and rewiring, 80 m² | ฿120,000 – 220,000 |
| Replumbing wet areas | ฿60,000 – 150,000 |
| Bathroom rebuilt with new waterproofing | ฿150,000 – 450,000 |
| Kitchen rebuilt | ฿250,000 – 800,000 |
A six-week example
DS Tower 10B4 was more than twenty years old. It was stripped to the structure, rewired and replumbed, and rebuilt in six weeks with Muji-warm oak joinery and a bar at the heart of the living room, so that the family gathers there rather than in separate rooms. The prayer image sits in the centre of an open oak display wall. Two other units in the same tower, 28A1 and 33A1, show how far the same building can be taken: a grey marble and oak bedroom suite in one, and a full residence in pale marble, oak and bronze glass with a prayer room in the other.
Living through it
Not comfortably. Demolition and wet works are dusty and the water is off for periods, so most owners move out for six to twelve weeks. A kitchen or bathroom alone can be done around you in two to three weeks with the rest of the unit sealed off.
