Planning an apartment renovation: what to decide before work starts

Why planning is a stage of its own

In the app route, “Planning” comes right after the apartment handover and ends with the item “Approve the design”: rough work starts only after it. The stage has more than twenty items, and almost every one affects what will later be hidden in the walls and floor. A socket forgotten by the bed is added after plastering by chasing the wall and repainting it.

Goal and budget

1. Define the renovation goal. For yourself, to rent out or to sell. For renting, people usually choose practical, easy-to-repair materials; for themselves, what they like and find convenient. Everything else depends on the goal.
2. Set the budget. The total and a reserve for unexpected costs. The route recommends a 10-15% margin. How to split the budget into categories: How to draw up a renovation budget.
3. Gather references. Interiors you like help you agree with a designer and contractor without long explanations.

Measurements and the finished floor level

Accurate measurements of every room are the basis of the layout and the design. If you have a designer, they work from these dimensions.

Even before plumbing and wiring, the contractor marks the finished floor level on the walls - the height of the future finished floor - and measures the level differences. The heights of sockets, water outlets and other points are marked from this line, and the differences tell you how thick the screed and the whole floor build-up will be. Work out in advance how much the floor will rise, especially at the entrance and balcony doors: screed, underfloor heating, adhesive and the floor covering together add noticeable height.

Layout, furniture and appliances

• Create the layout - where the walls, doors and rooms are. Changing it once work has started is expensive.
• Place the furniture on the plan - it's the basis for the wiring and lighting: a socket behind a wardrobe is useless.
• Choose the appliances - models or at least sizes, especially for the kitchen.
• Design the kitchen with the appliances placed: the sockets above the worktop, the water outlets and the hood outlet depend on it.

Building systems and lighting

Decide in advance what the apartment will have:

• air conditioners - models, locations of the indoor and outdoor units, allowing for furniture and the facade; the line and the panel breaker depend on the model;
• ventilation - check the draught in the existing shafts; plastic windows block the natural air supply, so consider supply ventilators or a supply unit;
• underfloor heating, leak protection, smart home and other systems - they affect many later stages;
• lighting scenarios - main, decorative and night lighting: don't settle for one ceiling light per room. Two-way and master switches need their own lines, which is decided before chasing.

Layout changes: what to find out first

If you're moving walls, openings, wet areas or building services, find out whether approval is needed and get it before construction work starts. A few reference points from Master Kistya's norms base (checked on 22 September 2026), under Russian rules:

• re-equipment means installing, replacing or moving building services and equipment in a way that requires changes to the premises' technical passport (Housing Code, art. 25, part 1);
• re-equipment and layout changes made without approval or in breach of the approved design are considered unauthorised (Housing Code, art. 29, part 1);
• a toilet, bathroom or combined bathroom may not be placed above living rooms and kitchens (SP 54.13330.2022, cl. 7.20), so moving a bathroom almost always runs into the neighbours' apartment below; a kitchen may not be placed above living rooms (cl. 7.21);
• a washing machine and other equipment that needs a water supply or makes noise and vibration may not be placed above living rooms (cl. 7.20, note).

These are Russian norms; other countries have their own. What exactly needs approval in your building is decided by the design and the authorities that approve it; load-bearing walls and gas equipment only through a designer and the building management or gas service, never on your own.

Doors, tiles and plumbing: order in advance

The route flags long-lead items that are chosen and ordered during planning:

• doors - choose models and opening sizes; order concealed door frames and leaves right away: the frame goes in before skimming, and the opening is made to the manufacturer's dimensions;
• tile layout - approve the scheme, the joint direction and the starting point, then order the tiles from one batch with a 10-15% margin;
• built-in plumbing - installation frames, concealed mixer bodies, a floor drain or channel, a bath or shower tray: the plumber marks out the outlets for the fixtures you've bought.

Team, schedule and site rules

• Choose contractors and save their contacts.
• Draw up a schedule - the sequence and approximate timing of the work; it tells you when to order materials.
• If you work with a designer - hand the working drawings to the crew (measured plan, layout, wall elevations, wiring and plumbing diagrams, tile layout) and draw up a specification with lead times.
• Protect common areas - the lift and the entrance - and arrange construction waste removal: in many buildings this is mandatory.

Checklist before “Approve the design”

• The goal, budget and margin are written down.
• Measurements and the finished floor level are done.
• The layout and furniture placement are ready, appliances chosen.
• There's a kitchen design.
• Decisions made on air conditioning, ventilation, underfloor heating and leak protection.
• There's a lighting and switch plan.
• It's clear whether a layout change and its approval are needed.
• Concealed doors and frames, tiles and built-in plumbing are ordered.
• Contractors are chosen and a schedule is drawn up.

How to plan in the Doma app

Open the “Planning” stage on the “Stages” tab: the items go in the order above, and each shows who does it - the owner, the designer or the contractor. Save references to “Inspiration”, and what to buy and whom to call to “Tasks”. At the end of the stage, answer the survey block “What work will be done”: by then the apartment has been inspected, and unnecessary stages will drop out of the route. More: how to create a property and set up the route. If you've just got the keys, start with Where to start renovating a new-build apartment, and if you work with a designer, read Renovating with a designer.