Whole-house renovation on the Cote d'Azur
A full renovation touches every trade at once, and the paperwork that comes with it is bigger than any single kitchen or bathroom job. This page sets out what it costs, what permits it needs, and how to run it when you're not on site every week.
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Budget
What does a full renovation cost per m² on the Riviera?
National trade figures place a full renovation at 950 to 1,250 EUR per m². A lighter, partial job (new finishes, no structural work) starts from 160 to 350 EUR per m², and a heavy renovation involving structural changes runs 1,000 to 2,000 EUR per m².
These are national figures. Nobody publishes a reliable Riviera premium or discount on renovation work, so treat the bands above as a starting point and confirm them against your own devis. What moves the price inside those bands: how much of the structure is being touched, whether plumbing and electrics are being re-run throughout, and how many trades are working at once instead of one after another.
A devis for a job at this scale should be broken down by lot, the same as any renovation devis on this site, with a subtotal and TVA rate per trade instead of one figure for the whole project. On a home over two years old, most of the labour and building work sits at 10% TVA; appliances and freestanding furniture stay at 20%. Two exceptions bite at this scale: an extension that adds more than 10% to the floor area is taxed at 20%, and a renovation so heavy that most of the structure is replaced can be treated as new build at 20%. Ask the contractor which lines that applies to before you sign.
Permits
Which permits does a whole-house renovation need?
Work that stays inside the house and doesn't touch the facade, the roofline or the floor area needs no planning paperwork at all, whatever the scope. A whole-house job usually stops being purely internal somewhere along the way: new windows, a roof terrace, or an extension to fit a second bathroom all bring the mairie into it.
Once an extension takes the total surface de plancher past 150 m², you need a full permis de construire, and as a private individual you must have the drawings signed by an architect. Renovating through a company structure such as an SCI removes that choice: an architect is required for any permis de construire, whatever the size. Our guide to what permits you need covers the DP and permis thresholds in more detail.
In an apartment, anything that touches the building's structure or the shared parts, a load-bearing wall, the soil stack, the facade, needs a vote at the building's annual general meeting (AG). The ordinary AG meets once a year. You can ask for your item to go on its agenda, or request an extraordinary meeting, but either way a whole-house renovation that needs a vote has to be planned around that date. Work confined to your own lot that leaves the common parts alone doesn't need a vote.
Tell us the scope of your renovation and we'll put you in touch with an English-speaking contractor or maître d'oeuvre who quotes in writing.
Get quotesSubsidies
Can MaPrimeRénov' rénovation d'ampleur fund a full renovation of a second home?
No. MaPrimeRénov', including the rénovation d'ampleur route aimed at whole-house energy upgrades, is principal-residence only. A second home cannot claim it under any route, whatever the scope of the work or the size of the grant on offer.
It helps two groups: an owner who lives in the house as their main home, and a landlord who lets it as a tenant's main home. A holiday home, or one let by the week in summer, is out under every route. Even then, the conditions are specific. The property must be rated E, F or G on the DPE, the works must gain at least two DPE classes, and a France Rénov' adviser (Mon Accompagnateur Rénov') is compulsory throughout the project. Full detail on the income bands, the application steps and what qualifies is in our MaPrimeRénov' guide.
The Éco-PTZ zero-interest loan runs on the same residence logic, and it only ever funds the energy side of a project (insulation, heating, ventilation), never the fit-out. Its 50,000 EUR ceiling is for a performance-based energy renovation, and the loan is principal-residence only. Keeping a place that carries this loan for seasonal letting during the repayment period isn't allowed: switch the property to holiday use and the bank can call in the outstanding balance. If a second home is what you're renovating, budget for the work at full cost.
Who runs the job
Do you need an architect or a maître d'oeuvre?
An architect is a legal requirement only above the 150 m² threshold described above, or for any permis de construire filed through a company. Most whole-house renovations don't legally require one, because the work stays inside the existing footprint. That's a different question from whether you want one.
A maître d'oeuvre is the person or firm who sequences the trades, so the plumber's first fix happens before the tiler arrives and the electrician gets the walls open at the right moment, and checks invoices against the signed devis as the job progresses. Nothing in French law requires you to hire one; you can contract each trade directly and run the schedule yourself. The trade-off is time and attention: someone has to be reachable when a delivery is late or a trade needs a decision, and on a multi-trade job that's most weeks.
An entreprise générale is the other route: one firm takes the whole job and subcontracts the lots it doesn't do in-house, answering to you for the result. Either a maître d'oeuvre or an entreprise générale usually costs a percentage of the total works. Whichever you choose, get their scope, fee and responsibilities written into a signed contract before the first trade arrives on site, the same as any devis.
Managing at a distance
How do you run a renovation from abroad?
A whole-house job is where absentee ownership costs the most, because someone needs to be on site or reachable most weeks to keep several trades moving in the right order. If you're in the UK or further afield for most of the project, plan for that from the start instead of discovering it mid-way.
The practical options are a maître d'oeuvre or an entreprise générale, either of whom takes on the day-to-day coordination and reports back to you, or a trusted local contact with power to make small decisions and sign off deliveries. Whichever you choose, put the payment schedule, the stages that trigger each payment, and how you'll be shown progress (photos, a video call, a site visit at defined points) into the contract itself, in writing. A devis and contract with clear stages gives you something to hold a coordinator to even when you're not there to see the work directly.
The paperwork
What should a whole-house devis and contract include?
On a job touching six trades, insist on a devis broken down lot by lot: demolition, structure, plumbing, electrics, plastering, finishes, each with its own line and TVA rate. A signed devis is the contract on this scale too: the price is fixed, the scope is fixed, and any change needs a written avenant. A one-line figure for a whole-house job gives you nothing to check when a trade's invoice comes in higher than expected.
Because this scale of work almost always reaches the gros oeuvre (the structure), dommage-ouvrage insurance is worth quoting seriously, even where it's routinely skipped on a single bathroom. It's your obligation as the owner, taken out before the chantier opens, and its absence becomes a bargaining point for a buyer's lawyer if you sell within ten years. Ask for a quote alongside the renovation devis itself, and decide with a real figure in front of you.
Beyond the devis, check that any maître d'oeuvre or entreprise générale contract states their fee, what they're responsible for if a trade runs late, and how disputes between trades get resolved. And confirm each contractor's garantie décennale insurer and policy number are printed on their own devis, since that cover sits with the trade that did the work.
French terms
Key French terms for a whole-house renovation
Key French terms for this service
Questions
Frequently asked questions about whole-house renovation on the Cote d'Azur
If your question isn't here, send it with your request and we'll answer it directly.
Work confined to your own lot, that doesn't touch the structure or the shared parts, can carry on without waiting for a vote. Anything that touches the structure, the soil stack, the facade or another common part has to wait for a vote at the building's AG before it starts, whatever stage the rest of the job has reached.
Not if the work stays inside the house and doesn't touch the outside or add floor area. A déclaration préalable covers facade changes and small extensions; a permis de construire is needed once an extension pushes the total surface de plancher past 150 m², or for a bigger addition. Above 150 m², a private owner must have the drawings signed by an architect. If you're renovating through an SCI or another company, an architect is required for any permis de construire, whatever the size.
No. MaPrimeRénov', including the rénovation d'ampleur route, is principal-residence only. A second home cannot claim it under any route. It helps two groups: an owner who lives in the house as their main home, and a landlord who lets it as a tenant's main home. A holiday home, or one let by the week in summer, is out under every route. Even then, the property must be rated E, F or G on the DPE and the works must gain at least two DPE classes, with a France Rénov' adviser (Mon Accompagnateur Rénov') compulsory throughout.
No. As with any French renovation, only a signed devis or contract commits either side. A maître d'oeuvre's fee, scope and the trades they're coordinating should all be written down before work starts, the same as any other contractor.
Yes, you should get a quote for it. Dommage-ouvrage is the owner's obligation on structural work, taken out before the chantier opens, and a whole-house job almost always touches the gros oeuvre (structure). Few owners buy it for a single bathroom, but skipping it on a full renovation gives a future buyer's lawyer a reason to push the price down when you sell, since the notary records whether it was taken out.