The relationship between a client and an architect runs, on a typical residential renovation project, for somewhere between eight months and two years from first contact to final handover. That is a significant relationship. Understanding what happens at each stage, what you are responsible for, and what your architect is responsible for makes the whole thing go better.
This is a transparent account of how the process actually works. No marketing language. Just the real sequence.
First Contact: What Happens in the Initial Consultation
The first meeting is partly information gathering and partly mutual assessment. A good architect is evaluating whether they can genuinely help you as much as you are evaluating whether they are the right fit.
What you should expect to be asked about: the property (type, location, condition if you know it), what you want to achieve (the functional and aesthetic goals), your timeline, and your budget. All four of these things together define what is actually possible and how the project should be approached. An architect who jumps to design ideas without asking these questions is not paying enough attention.
What you should expect to receive from a first meeting: a realistic conversation about what your project involves, honest input on whether your budget and vision are aligned (and what the options are if they are not), clarity on what the permit process will look like for your project type, and an explanation of how the studio works and what working together would look like. For context on typical renovation costs in Madrid, see our Madrid renovation guide.
Come prepared with: photographs of the property if it already exists, any drawings you have of the current layout, a clear description of how you want to use the space, any reference images that illustrate the aesthetic direction you are drawn to, and a clear sense of your budget. Being vague about budget consistently leads to misaligned proposals and wasted time for everyone.
The Proposal: What It Should Cover
After the initial consultation, a serious architecture studio will provide a written fee proposal. Read this carefully.
It should specify: the exact phases of service included, what deliverables are produced in each phase, what professional fees are charged for each phase, how engineering consultants are handled (included or extra), the process for handling scope changes, the payment schedule, and any assumptions the proposal is based on.
If any of these elements are absent, ask for them specifically. Vague proposals lead to misunderstood expectations, and misunderstood expectations lead to conflict.
Phase 1: Survey and Initial Assessment
Once a contract is signed, work begins with a thorough site survey. For existing properties, this means measured drawings of the current layout, photographic documentation of existing conditions, and an assessment of any issues that will affect the design – structural constraints, MEP system conditions, humidity or deterioration problems, heritage elements.
For clients working remotely, this phase often includes a written assessment report that explains what the architect found and what implications it has for the design scope. This is the foundation everything else builds on.
In Madrid, this phase also typically involves checking the planning regulations applicable to your property, the building’s heritage protection status, and any specific comunidad or neighborhood restrictions that might affect the project.
Phase 2: Concept Design
This is where the creative work begins. Your architect develops initial design options – typically two or three spatial configurations – and presents them for your review and input. The goal at this stage is to establish the overall direction: how the spaces will be organized, where the main interventions are, what the relationship between different areas will be.
At a good studio, this phase involves 3D visualization so that you can understand the proposals spatially rather than just reading floor plans. Most people are not trained to read plans intuitively, and important decisions should not depend on your ability to mentally reconstruct a space from two-dimensional drawings. Our approach to using BIM in the design process is explained in our article on what BIM means for residential projects.
Your role in this phase: engage seriously with the options. Look at how each configuration serves the way you actually live or the way tenants will actually use the space. Push back on things that do not work. Ask questions about why certain decisions were made. This is the time to make spatial decisions, not when the contractor has already built the walls.
The concept design phase ends with a single agreed design direction that the project will develop from. Changing fundamental spatial decisions after this point is possible but increasingly expensive as the project progresses.
Phase 3: Permit Documentation
The agreed design is now developed into the technical documentation required for building permits. This is the less visible but critically important part of the architecture process.
For an obra mayor project, this involves preparing the full technical project: detailed plans, sections, and elevations; structural calculations (typically by a structural engineer coordinated by the architect); MEP documentation; energy compliance calculations; and the heritage justification if applicable.
For an obra menor project, the documentation is simpler but still requires precision. The quality of the permit documentation directly affects how smoothly the review process goes. The different permit types and what each requires are explained in our guide to Madrid building permits.
Your involvement in this phase is lighter than in concept design – you are mainly available to answer questions if additional information about the property is needed. The main output for you is knowing that the application has been submitted and having a clear expectation of when approval is likely.
Phase 4: Execution Design
In parallel with or following the permit process, the execution project is developed – the detailed technical documentation that contractors actually build from. This includes full construction details, material specifications, fixture and finish schedules, and detailed MEP drawings.
The quality of the execution project is the single biggest factor in construction cost accuracy and in whether the finished building matches the design. Well-documented projects get accurate contractor quotes and produce fewer change orders during construction. Poorly documented projects produce wildly varying quotes (because contractors are pricing their uncertainty as well as the work) and generate constant decisions during construction that should have been made earlier.
This is also the phase where final material and finish selections are made. Your architect should guide you through this process with clear options and recommendations, not leave you facing a blank specification sheet.
Phase 5: Contractor Selection
Once the execution project is complete, it goes out for tender to contractors. Your architect should help you through this process – ideally recommending contractors they have worked with successfully before and whose quality they can vouch for, reviewing the proposals received, and helping you evaluate them on a like-for-like basis. How to assess and manage contractors is covered in our guide to finding and managing a contractor in Spain.
Do not select a contractor solely on the lowest price. In Madrid’s construction market, a quote significantly below others almost always reflects something: lower assumed quality of materials, less experienced workforce, unrealistic timeline assumptions, or a plan to recover margin through change orders during construction. Evaluate proposals on completeness and realism as much as price.
Phase 6: Construction
This is the phase most clients have the most anxiety about, and for understandable reasons. Construction involves your property being disrupted, significant amounts of money being spent, and a great deal depending on people you may not know well delivering work to the standard you expect.
Your architect’s role during construction is to visit regularly, review the work against the project documentation, authorize payment milestones when the corresponding work has been satisfactorily completed, answer technical questions from the contractor, and escalate to you any decisions that require your input.
For clients who are not in Madrid during construction, the regular written update and site photography rhythm is essential. You should know, at each visit, exactly what the state of the work is, what has been completed, what is coming next, and whether anything requires your decision.
Construction on a typical Madrid apartment renovation of 60 to 100 square meters takes roughly 12 to 20 weeks from demolition to handover, depending on scope. Projects with significant structural work or complex MEP installations run toward the longer end.
Phase 7: Handover
Before handover, your architect conducts a detailed inspection – typically a punch list process where any items of incomplete or substandard work are identified and resolved. Do not accept handover until this process is complete.
At handover, you should receive: the keys, all relevant technical documentation (certificates, warranties, as-built drawings), the energy certificate for the renovated property, and any documentation needed to update the building registry or cédula de habitabilidad if the layout has changed.
The relationship with your architect does not end at handover. Minor issues sometimes emerge in the first weeks of occupancy – a door that sticks, a detail that was not quite right. A good studio will handle these promptly as part of the project completion.
For Clients Abroad: Making Remote Project Management Work
If you are managing this process from outside Spain, the same phases apply but the communication needs are more defined. Agree with your architect from the start on: a weekly written update during active construction phases, a documented log of decisions made and approvals given, a clear escalation path for any issue that requires your authorization, and your availability during key decision points (material selection, contractor selection, concept design review).
Time zone differences are manageable with planning. What is not manageable is a communication structure that leaves a remote client uninformed for weeks at a time. Establish expectations on this clearly before signing any contract. For buyers who are still in the acquisition phase, our guide to buying property in Madrid as a foreigner covers what to look for before committing to a purchase.
Ready to start a project in Madrid and want to understand what the process would look like for your specific situation? Tell us about your project using the form below – we will respond within 48 hours.