A €25,000 quote can be perfectly justified, while an €18,000 one could be far too expensive. Here's how to judge a price beyond the total amount, with benchmarks for 2026.
You've just received a quote for building work and your first reaction is: 'Is this a normal price?'
It's probably one of the most common questions before renovating a house, re-roofing, replacing windows or refurbishing a bathroom.
And the answer isn't as simple as comparing the total amount with your neighbour's.
A quote for €25,000 can be perfectly justified, while a quote for €18,000 might be far too expensive for the work actually being offered.
To know if a quote for building work is too expensive, you need to analyse several elements: the quantities, unit prices, labour, materials, the difficulty of the project, and also the company's reliability.
Here's how to do it.
What is the normal price for building work in 2026?
The first difficulty is that there's no single 'European price' for building work.
Labour costs, social security contributions, taxes, technical standards, materials and competition vary considerably between Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
Even within the same country, two identical projects can have significant price differences between a capital city, a large town and a rural area.
This caution is all the more important as construction prices have risen sharply in recent years. According to Eurostat, the construction price for new residential buildings in the European Union increased by 48.2% between 2015 and 2025. However, the rise has slowed down significantly: +2.3% in 2024 and +1.3% in 2025.
In 2026, however, a few rules of thumb can help you spot an anomaly.
As a guide, in Belgium, a light renovation often costs around €300 to €800/m², an intermediate renovation around €800 to €1,500/m², while a major renovation can reach €1,500 to €2,500/m², depending on the building's condition and the work included.
In France, available 2026 estimates generally place a light renovation at around €200 to €500/m², an intermediate renovation between €500 and €1,200/m², and a major renovation at around €1,200 to €2,000/m², with potential overruns for complex or high-end projects.
These figures are rough estimates, not official rates. Therefore, they alone are not enough to determine if your quote is correct.
Example: how much does a roof cost in 2026?
Let's take a particularly popular search term on the internet: 'roof renovation price 2026'.
In France, a complete roof renovation in 2026 costs around €130 to €260/m², including installation. With thermal insulation, the range can reach €160 to €300/m².
The material strongly influences the price: a tiled roof can cost around €90 to €160/m², compared to about €140 to €270/m² for slate and €145 to €305/m² for zinc.
So, imagine two quotes for a 150 m² roof:
Company A: €24,000
Company B: €34,000
Is Company B too expensive? Not necessarily.
It might include higher-performance insulation, full scaffolding, replacement of zinc work, more structural timber work, waste removal and a more expensive roof covering.
This is precisely why you need to compare the line items in the quote, not just the total.
7 signs that a quote for building work might be too expensive
1. The unit prices are unusually high
A good quote should make it clear how the amount was calculated.
Look specifically at: the price per m², the hourly rate, the price per unit, the quantities, the cost of materials and the cost of installation.
A line item that simply says 'Roofing work: €28,500' is much less transparent than a quote that specifies the areas, materials, insulation, accessories, labour and related works.
The larger the amount, the higher the level of detail should be.
2. The quantities seem higher than reality
This is a point that is often overlooked when checking a quote for building work.
Is your facade actually 170 m² but the quote bills for 215? Is your roof 140 m² but 175 m² are accounted for?
A reasonable surplus may be necessary for cuts, losses and material offcuts. But a significant difference should be explainable.
A quantity error multiplied by several tens or hundreds of euros can quickly add up to several thousand euros.
3. The materials are not precisely identified
Be wary of descriptions like: 'Supply and fit high-performance insulation'.
What brand? What product? What thickness? What thermal resistance? What certification?
The same problem applies to windows, waterproofing membranes, boilers, heat pumps, photovoltaic panels or ventilation systems.
Without a sufficiently precise reference, it becomes very difficult to know if the price on the quote is justified.
4. Some works seem to be charged for twice
On large quotes, some services may appear under different descriptions: site preparation, protection of work areas, site setup, general site costs.
This doesn't automatically mean you're being overcharged. But these amounts must correspond to distinct and understandable services.
5. The prices are much higher than those generally observed
A difference of 10% or 15% between two companies is not unusual.
A reputable, properly insured company that employs qualified staff and uses good materials can legitimately be more expensive.
On the other hand, when an item appears to be 40%, 60% or 100% above comparable benchmarks, it's reasonable to ask for an explanation.
But beware of the opposite mistake: an unusually low quote can be even more dangerous than one that is too expensive.
Why the cheapest quote isn't necessarily the best
You receive three offers: Quote A: €19,800 — Quote B: €24,600 — Quote C: €31,900.
Many people immediately dismiss the third quote and choose the first. This reasoning can be costly.
The first contractor may have forgotten certain tasks, underestimated quantities, used lower-quality materials or planned for extras that will appear later.
Conversely, the company at €31,900 may simply be too expensive.
The real goal, therefore, is not to find the cheapest quote for the work, but to find the quote whose price is consistent with the work actually being offered.
Always compare like-for-like quotes
This is one of the most important rules.
Two renovation quotes are almost never perfectly identical. One includes 12 cm of insulation, the other 18 cm. One includes scaffolding, the other adds it as a separate item. One provides for the complete removal of waste, the other simply states 'removal as required'.
Comparing only the totals can therefore lead to a bad decision.
You need to compare: quantities + materials + performance + labour + services + exclusions + guarantees + price.
Extras should grab your attention
Some offers seem attractive at first but contain numerous caveats: 'subject to discovery', 'additional work on a time and materials basis', 'quantities to be confirmed', 'removal not included', 'connections not included', 'scaffolding as a possible extra'.
Some caveats are perfectly normal in the building trade: a contractor can't always know what they will find behind a wall or under a roof.
But an accumulation of them can make the final price of the work impossible to predict.
A clearly defined quote for €30,000 may ultimately be better value than a €24,000 quote to which €10,000 of extras will be added.
How many quotes should you get before choosing a contractor?
Getting three quotes for building work is still good practice. But three quotes don't guarantee you'll know the 'right price'.
A better approach is to determine a consistent price range for each major item.
If three companies offer €9,800, €10,700 and €11,400 respectively, the trend is relatively clear. If the offers are €8,500, €16,000 and €27,000, you need to understand why the differences are so large before you sign.
Can you compare a quote just by using a price per m² found on Google?
No.
Searches like 'house renovation price per m² 2026', 'roofing price per m² 2026', 'house electrics price', 'bathroom renovation price', 'facade insulation price', 'tiling price per m²', 'building quote too expensive', 'how to check a tradesman's quote' or 'how to know if a contractor is too expensive' are useful for getting an initial estimate.
But they generally don't take into account the specific characteristics of your project.
A renovation on the fourth floor without a lift doesn't cost the same as an easily accessible one. A simple gable roof doesn't cost the same as a roof with several dormer windows, chimneys and complex junctions.
The technical context matters as much as the price per m².
Checking the price isn't enough: you also need to check the company
This is probably the most important point before you sign.
Imagine two contractors: the first asks for €22,000, the second for €24,500.
If the first one presents significant financial or administrative risks while the second is a solid, properly insured and experienced company, saving €2,500 may not be a good deal.
Before paying a deposit, it is therefore wise to check, based on the legally available information in the country concerned: the company's actual existence, its official identification, its administrative status, its financial health where data is accessible, its history, the necessary insurance, any required qualifications or authorisations, and the consistency between the company and the type of work proposed.
The risk of a quote, therefore, does not depend solely on its amount.
A large deposit requires special attention
A deposit can be perfectly normal: the contractor sometimes has to order materials specifically for your project.
But the larger the deposit requested, the more prudent it is to check the contractor before paying.
Once several thousand or tens of thousands of euros have been paid, your negotiating power is obviously no longer the same.
The check should therefore take place before signing and before paying the deposit, not when problems start.
How to quickly tell if your quote is consistent
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do the quantities really match the project?
- Are the materials clearly identified?
- Do the unit prices seem consistent?
- Is the labour understandable?
- Are some services charged for more than once?
- Is the important work detailed enough?
- Are the exclusions clearly stated?
- Are there many potential extras?
- Does the price correspond to the levels generally seen in your country and region?
- Is the company asking for the deposit sufficiently reliable?
If several answers are no, the quote deserves a more in-depth analysis.
ECV: analyse a quote before you sign
This is precisely the logic of Euro Construct Verify (ECV).
A quote should not be judged solely on its total amount.
The analysis must simultaneously cover the price, quantities, services, materials, technical consistency and the available information about the company.
This approach is particularly important on a European scale: a price considered normal in Belgium may be high in Spain and perfectly consistent in a large city in another country.
You must therefore compare like with like: same country, same region, same period, same materials and same services.
In summary: when can a quote be considered too expensive?
A quote isn't 'too expensive' just because another contractor offers a lower price.
It becomes suspect when the price asked no longer seems proportionate to the quantities, materials, complexity and services actually provided.
Conversely, an extremely low price should also trigger a check.
The right quote, therefore, isn't necessarily the cheapest. It's the one whose price is explainable, whose services are clearly defined, and whose company is reliable enough to carry out the work under the stated conditions.
In a European construction market where prices have changed significantly in recent years, spending a few minutes checking a quote before you sign can save you thousands of euros in nasty surprises.
Indicative sources
ECV — Euro Construct Verify: ecvcheck.com
Eurostat — European statistics on construction prices.
The 2026 price ranges mentioned in this article are indicative and vary depending on the country, region, materials, site access and the complexity of the work.
