Renovating from abroad: your Costa del Sol renovation brief
Planning work on your Costa del Sol home while living abroad starts with explaining what you need, not choosing every finish.
What should your renovation brief include?
A renovation brief is a practical document explaining how you use your home, what you want to change and which limits matter. Include a room list, labelled photographs, existing plans, priorities, access arrangements and a named decision-maker. When renovating from abroad, also agree how questions, proposed changes and approvals will be recorded.
Start with how you use your home
A clear renovation brief brings your property’s purpose, room-by-room priorities and practical constraints into one document. It helps you distinguish essential changes from ideas that still need discussion. Whether you own an apartment in Mijas or a villa elsewhere on the coast, the aim is the same: give everyone a shared starting point before decisions multiply.
Begin with a short description of the property and the people who use it. State whether it is your main home, an occasional retreat or a holiday home shared with family and guests. Explain the routines the renovation should support: cooking together, hosting visitors, working remotely or closing the property between stays.
Describe the problems before proposing solutions. “There is nowhere to store cleaning equipment” gives a clearer starting point than “add more cupboards”. Similarly, explain whether a bathroom feels awkward because of its layout, storage or the way several people use it.
Add a simple definition of success. You might want easier upkeep, more useful storage or a consistent appearance across several rooms. These goals help you assess later choices without treating every attractive idea as essential.
Set your priorities, room by room
List each room or outside area separately, including spaces you intend to leave untouched. For each one, record what should stay, what causes difficulty and what you would like to change. Distinguish replacing a finish from changing a layout; they are different requests even when they concern the same room.
Give every proposed change a priority: essential, desirable or optional. If spending needs to be controlled, identify which optional elements could be deferred. Include your intended spending range if you have one, and clarify whether furniture, appliances and decoration sit within it. This is a planning limit, not a quotation.
For a kitchen, describe cooking habits, storage needs and appliances you hope to retain. For a bathroom, explain everyday use and cleaning preferences. Across a villa, flag rooms that need to feel connected and areas that could be considered separately. Avoid assuming that an existing fitting can be reused until its suitability has been discussed.
Essential
changes needed for the way you use the home, such as resolving a difficult layout or missing storage.
Desirable
improvements you would like to include if the scope and spending range allow.
Optional
finishes or additions that could be deferred without losing your main priorities.
| Room or area | What to record | Question to clarify |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | Cooking habits, storage and appliances to retain | Does the current layout support your daily use? |
| Bathroom | Everyday use, cleaning and retained fittings | Which changes concern finishes and which affect the layout? |
| Living spaces | Furniture, circulation and how rooms connect | What needs to stay in place? |
| Bedrooms | Use, storage and existing furniture | Which priorities are essential? |
| Outside areas | The areas included and left untouched | What access and maintenance questions remain? |
Prepare photographs and plans
Take wide photographs showing each room from several positions, then add close-ups of specific concerns. Label files by room and subject so someone unfamiliar with the property can follow them. Include relevant adjoining spaces: a kitchen photograph alone may not explain how you move between the kitchen and dining area.
Share any existing plans you hold, identifying their origin and whether you know them to reflect the current layout. Mark your own measurements as approximate. Photographs and older drawings can support an initial discussion, but they should not be treated as confirmation of concealed conditions or exact dimensions.
Keep inspiration images separate from photographs of your home. Add a sentence explaining what appeals to you, such as colour, storage or a particular finish. Otherwise, an image intended to suggest a mood can be mistaken for a request to reproduce an entire room.
What to include
- Room overview photographs with clear filenames.
- Close-ups linked to specific questions or concerns.
- Existing plans, with any known differences noted.
- A short list of retained furniture and appliances.
- Reference images labelled with the feature you like.
Plan access and owner visits
Your brief should explain the practical conditions around the work. Record planned owner visits, periods when the property is occupied and any spaces that must remain usable. Distinguish a preferred completion window from an immovable personal commitment; neither should be treated as an agreed project deadline.
Explain who currently holds keys and how access would be authorised. Include the property address, a reliable local contact if you have one, and any known arrangements affecting entry, deliveries or communal areas. Share sensitive entry information through an agreed channel rather than placing it in a widely circulated brief.
Flag unresolved practical questions instead of guessing. These might concern delivery access, protection of retained furniture or storage of belongings. Ask who will clarify each point and whether it affects the proposed scope. For technical questions, establish what further assessment is needed rather than expecting photographs to provide the answer.
Agree how decisions will be made
Name one person who can approve decisions, even if several family members contribute ideas. If different people control design choices and spending, explain that distinction. Conflicting approvals are harder to resolve when instructions arrive through separate conversations.
Agree a main communication channel and ask how updates could be organised. A useful update identifies the room, the question, the available options and the decision needed. Record your time zone and normal response pattern, without assuming anyone is permanently available.
Before work is agreed, discuss how proposed changes will be documented. A change record should explain what differs from the agreed scope and any implications for cost, sequencing or other selections before approval. Keep dated versions of the brief so an old preference is not mistaken for your current instruction.
For a hypothetical example, you might initially request replacement bathroom fittings while retaining the layout. If you later want a different arrangement, record that as a proposed scope change rather than an informal addition to the original request.
Define your coordination with LookHome
LookHome presents renovation coordination, property maintenance and homewatch services on the Costa del Sol. It describes work with international homeowners, a base in Mijas and renovation projects involving villas, kitchens and bathrooms. Your brief gives the initial conversation a practical focus before responsibilities are agreed.
Ask which coordination tasks could form part of your project. Topics worth discussing include organising communication, following up outstanding choices, arranging agreed access and keeping a record of questions and approvals. These are points to confirm, not an assumed package or a substitute for specialist technical assessment.
Finish by requesting a clear account of the proposed scope, responsibilities and exclusions. Establish who provides specialist input where needed and which decisions remain yours. You do not need a finished design to begin the discussion, but you do need a shared understanding of what happens next.
- Send the property summary and room-by-room priorities.
- Attach labelled photographs and available plans.
- Highlight access constraints and unanswered questions.
- Identify the decision-maker and preferred communication method.
- Ask what coordination would cover for your specific project.
Your questions answered
Do I need architectural drawings before making an enquiry?
No. You can start with a property summary, photographs and a room list. Share existing drawings if you have them, but ask what further information or specialist input is needed before detailed decisions.
How detailed should my first renovation brief be?
Make it detailed enough to explain your aims, priorities and constraints. You do not need to select every product. Clearly mark choices that remain open rather than filling gaps with assumptions.
Can I prepare the brief without visiting the property?
Yes, using photographs, records and plans you already hold. Identify information that may be outdated or incomplete, and ask how property-specific questions could be clarified before relying on it.
Should I include a budget?
Yes, if you have an intended spending range. Explain what it needs to include and which elements are optional. Sharing a range helps frame the discussion; it does not establish an agreed price.
What if my priorities change after the first discussion?
Update the brief and highlight the changes. Ask about their implications before approving them, then keep the revised version with the written decision record so everyone works from the same instructions.