TL;DR: In 2026 the fitout Dubai owners actually pay runs from 1,500 AED/m² for cosmetic work, from 3,000 AED/m² for a full strip-out and rebuild, and 8,500–16,000 AED/m² turnkey with furniture, appliances and decor. A 150 m² flat takes two to six months, permits included.
What a price per square metre actually contains
A rate per square metre is a wrapper, not a price. Two contractors can both quote 3,000 AED/m² and mean completely different jobs — one includes demolition, waste disposal and a new electrical board, the other leaves all three for you to discover in week three.
On a capital job the money splits roughly like this (market orientation, not a fixed DOMECO breakdown): joinery and built-in wardrobes 25–35%, wet areas 15–20%, MEP — electrics, plumbing, AC ducting — around 15%, floor and wall finishes 15–20%, and the rest goes to labour, site management and disposal. Joinery is almost always the largest single line, and it is the line most quotes describe in one word.
Ask any contractor to show you those five buckets separately. If a quote for the fitout Dubai apartments actually need fits on one page with a single total, it is not a quote — it is a starting position for renegotiation once your walls are already down.
Three tiers, and what really changes between them
Cosmetic, from 1,500 AED/m². Paint, floor replacement, new doors and skirting, light fixtures, minor plaster repair. Layout stays, plumbing stays, the electrical board stays. This is the tier that works for a rental unit in JLT, Marina or Al Jaddaf, where tenants price the flat on how fresh it looks, not on whether the kitchen island is Corian.
Capital, from 3,000 AED/m². Strip-out to the shell, new wet-area waterproofing and screed, rerouted plumbing and electrics, new kitchen, new joinery. This is where permits enter the picture, because you are touching layout and services.
Turnkey with furnishing, 8,500–16,000 AED/m². Everything above, plus a design project, furniture, appliances, curtains, lighting and decor — you get keys and a finished home. The spread between 8,500 and 16,000 is almost entirely brand choice on furniture and joinery hardware. The construction underneath moves far less than owners expect.
A design project starts from 10,000 AED and takes 3–6 weeks. Skipping it on a capital job is the most expensive economy in this market: without drawings, every decision gets made on site, at site prices, under time pressure.
The line items that are not in anyone's quote
Permits and community approvals. Dubai Municipality, Trakhees for Palm Jumeirah and Jebel Ali, DDA for the TECOM and Media City zones, plus the developer or owners' association on top — Emaar, Nakheel, DMCC each run their own NOC process. Budget 2,000–10,000 AED in fees and 2–6 weeks of calendar time (market orientation). The management company will also ask for the contractor's trade licence, insurance, a method statement and a refundable deposit, commonly 5,000–20,000 AED.
Building rules that cost days, not dirhams. Most towers allow noisy work only 09:00–17:00 on weekdays, ban weekend deliveries, and give you one service lift booking slot at a time. In Marina and JLT that alone stretches a two-month job by two to three weeks.
Summer. Between June and September, screed and paint cure slower, tile adhesive sets faster than you want, and outdoor work on villas in The Meadows or Palm Jumeirah stops by midday. Roof membranes and terrace waterproofing on Palm villas fail from UV and salt air long before anything indoors does — if you are opening a villa roof, do that work between November and March.
DEWA. New load, a new distribution board or a moved kitchen means a fresh connection application and inspection. It is not costly, but it sits on the critical path, and no one can pour a final coat of paint while the inspector is still due.
Living somewhere else. Three to five months of alternative rent is often the biggest unquoted number in the whole project, and it is the one that makes a slow contractor genuinely expensive.
A 150 m² flat in Marina, priced honestly
Cosmetic: from 225,000 AED, 4–8 weeks, no permit, tenant-ready.
Capital: from 450,000 AED, 2–6 months including approvals.
Turnkey with furniture and decor: 1.28–2.4 million AED, and realistically 5–6 months if the joinery is bespoke.
Add 15,000–40,000 AED for permits, NOCs and refundable deposits, and a design project from 10,000 AED before anything starts.
Here is the part that costs us work and saves you money: for a unit you intend to rent out, the capital tier rarely pays back. Marina and JLT rents respond to condition, not to whether you moved a wall. Cosmetic work at 1,500 AED/m² and a decent kitchen refresh will lift the rent almost as much as a 3,000 AED/m² rebuild, at half the cost and a quarter of the downtime. Go capital when you are living there, when the layout is genuinely wrong, or when the plumbing in a 2008 tower has started telling you it is done.
The number that matters is not the rate — it is whether the rate holds. We fix the estimate in the contract with no post-start top-ups, carry a percentage penalty for every day of delay, and give one year of warranty on the works; how that works is set out in our services. If you want a range for your own square metrage before any site visit, the four-question calculator gets you there in about a minute.
FAQ
How much does a fitout cost per square metre in Dubai in 2026?
Cosmetic work starts at 1,500 AED/m², capital renovation at 3,000 AED/m², and turnkey delivery with furniture, appliances and decor runs 8,500–16,000 AED/m². The spread inside the turnkey tier comes mostly from furniture and joinery brand choice, not from the construction underneath.
Do I need a permit for an apartment fitout?
For cosmetic work — paint, flooring, doors — usually no permit, only a building NOC and a contractor registration with the management company. Any change to layout, plumbing, electrical load or AC needs a municipality or free-zone authority permit plus developer approval, which adds 2–6 weeks before work can start.
How long does a 150 m² apartment renovation take?
Two to six months depending on tier. Cosmetic finishes in 4–8 weeks; capital work takes 2–6 months with approvals and bespoke joinery lead times, which are typically 4–8 weeks on their own. Tower rules on working hours and service lift access commonly add two to three weeks.
Is a fixed-price contract realistic in the Dubai market?
Yes, if the scope is fully drawn before signing. Estimates blow out when work starts on sketches instead of drawings, so the design stage is what makes a fixed price possible. We fix the figure in the contract and carry a daily penalty for delay; a quote with no measured scope behind it cannot be fixed by anyone.