Short version. We design and supervise one-off detached houses across the Comunidad de Madrid, from the first sketch on the plot to the signed completion certificate. The complete professional team starts at 26,000 € plus VAT, billed per square metre of house and never as a percentage of what the works end up costing.
We take on few commissions a year and keep no catalogue: every house is designed for its own plot, orientation and set of municipal by-laws.
And the town hall is not a detail. On the same house, the gap between the cheapest and the dearest council in the Madrid table is 9,750 € in tax alone. That is why this page talks about municipalities.
The town hall you build in changes the bill by 9,750 €
Most of what governs a house in Spain is national, including the Spanish Building Code (Código Técnico de la Edificación, the CTE). What the council takes off you before a lorry arrives is not.
The ICIO (the municipal tax on building work) is charged on the presupuesto de ejecución material — the construction budget of materials and labour, before the builder’s overheads and profit and before VAT. Each council sets its own rate within a legal band, and each then charges a permit fee on top, a separate line with its own percentage.
Names to it: Valdemorillo sits at 3 %, while Majadahonda charges 4 % ICIO with a 3.00 % fee on top. Same house, same builder, a different invoice from the council. The full table, with the by-law and article behind each figure, is in the ICIO and building permit guide, and the cost calculator applies your own council’s numbers to your own square metres across thirty Madrid municipalities.
Two administrations, easily confused. The Comunidad de Madrid is the region; the Ayuntamiento de Madrid is the city council of Madrid itself, one of the councils inside that region. Different bodies, different powers, and they do not always agree. When somebody says “Madrid requires it”, the question worth asking is which Madrid.
Three roles the law requires on one house
This surprises almost every foreign client, and it is worth knowing before you compare quotes. Spanish law does not let one professional cover a dwelling alone: Law 38/1999 on Building Regulation (Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación, the LOE) names three roles and reserves each to a qualification.
The designer
The proyectista signs the design: the outline the permit is granted on, and the detailed design the house is built from.
On a dwelling, reserved to an arquitecto.
The site supervisor
The dirección de obra answers for the works matching the design, and for the decisions taken when site and drawings disagree.
Also reserved to an arquitecto.
The execution supervisor
The dirección de ejecución checks materials, workmanship and quantities, and signs off what the builder is owed each month.
Reserved to an arquitecto técnico, usually called a quantity surveyor.
So a house needs both, and both sign the certificado final de obra (the completion certificate). Usually that means two firms, two contracts, and a gap between them where responsibility hides.
Here it does not. Fran Cortés holds both qualifications — arquitecto, COAM member no. 21503, and arquitecto técnico, COAATM member no. 105287 — so all three roles sit under one contract: what the second one does with your money.
A colegio and a visado. A colegio profesional is the statutory body architects must belong to; the visado colegial is the stamp it puts on a set of drawings, certifying that whoever signed them is registered, insured and entitled to sign. Town halls ask for it, and so do banks on a self-build mortgage. Its cost is included in our fee, which is not the norm.
Where we have built, municipality by municipality
Where a house is linked with a floor area, that is the built area published on its own page. Where it is linked without one, we have not published its area and will not invent it. Where there is no house, we work there and have nothing completed to show.
| Area | Municipality or district | Completed house |
|---|---|---|
| North-west | Las Rozas | Villa V25 |
| Pozuelo de Alarcón | Villa T01 | |
| Majadahonda | Villa E82 · 396.23 m² | |
| Boadilla del Monte | Villa CG9 · 137.94 m² | |
| Torrelodones | Villa L01 · 290.80 m² | |
| Collado Villalba | Villa G04 · 292.50 m² | |
| La Moraleja | Villa L26 · 302.58 m² | |
| Villaviciosa de Odón | We work here | |
| Henares corridor | Alcalá de Henares | Villa R59 |
| North | Alcobendas | Villa RC8 |
| South | Getafe | Villa IL1 |
| Leganés | Villas A42 · 139.31 m² | |
| City of Madrid | Madrid (city) | Villa IL3 · 380.29 m² |
| Moncloa-Aravaca | Villas CHB · 245.17 m² | |
| Chamartín | Villa CH61 | |
| Chamberí | We work here | |
| Arganzuela | We work here | |
| Retiro | We work here | |
| Salamanca | We work here |
One thing the table hides. Chamartín, Chamberí, Arganzuela, Retiro, Salamanca and Moncloa-Aravaca are districts of the city of Madrid, not separate councils: one town hall, one set of by-laws, one ICIO rate. What separates them is planning and plot, not tax. It is the municipalities around the city where the council you fall under moves the number at the bottom of the page. Floor plans of these houses are published in full on the house plans page.
How a commission runs
The plot, before anything else
We look at what the by-laws let you build there: setback, buildable floor area, how much of the plot you may cover, height. Two identical-looking plots can carry very different houses, and this is the cheapest moment to find that out.
Concept design, then the outline design for the permit
The concept settles the house. The outline design is what the council grants the permit on, and it goes in with the professional body’s stamp.
We prepare the file so that no delay is our doing, and promise no date we do not control.
The detailed technical design
The document the house is actually built from, and the one that decides how many arguments there are on site. Cutting back here is expensive later.
Construction, with both supervision roles in one office
The works are checked against the design, and every monthly progress certificate against what has actually been built and the contracted prices.
At the end both signatures go on the certificado final de obra, and from there you go on to the first occupancy licence and the declaración de obra nueva, the notarial deed that makes the house exist on paper.
That usually runs to about two years between commission and keys: roughly six to nine months of design and permit, twelve to sixteen of construction, with the caveat above about the part the council controls.
Check us before you write
- Cost calculator — your square metres and your council, with the ICIO, the fee and these professional fees built in. Thirty Madrid municipalities, no registration.
- Fees — the 26,000 € figure, what it covers and why we do not bill a percentage.
- House plans — twenty completed houses, with areas.
- The guides — eleven of them, on the paperwork nobody explains: ICIO, first occupancy licence, self-build mortgage and the rest.
Frequently asked questions
Does the town hall really change what I pay?
Yes, by more than most people expect. The ICIO, the municipal tax on the works, runs from 3 % to 4 % of the presupuesto de ejecución material, and each council charges a separate permit fee on top. Between the cheapest and the dearest town hall in our table, the same house with a 300,000 € construction budget carries 9,750 € more or less tax. Every figure, with its by-law, is in the ICIO guide.
Why does one house need two different professionals?
Because Law 38/1999 on Building Regulation (Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación, the LOE) splits the job. Design and site supervision are reserved to an arquitecto (articles 10 and 12); supervision of the execution belongs to an arquitecto técnico, closer to a quantity surveyor (article 13). Both sign the completion certificate. It is not an upsell, it is the law. Fran Cortés holds both qualifications, so the studio covers both roles: how they divide up.
What do you charge?
From 26,000 € plus VAT for the complete professional team on a detached house, billed per square metre built and never as a percentage of the construction budget. The professional body’s stamp is included; interior design is a separate commission, from 40 €/m². The breakdown is on the fees page.
Is there an official fee scale in Spain?
No. Fees have been deregulated since 1997, when Law 7/1997 removed the professional bodies’ power to set tariffs. Any percentage presented as “the standard” is a habit of the trade, not a rule.
How long does it take?
Between the commission and the keys it usually runs to about two years: roughly six to nine months of design and permit, twelve to sixteen months of construction. Those are not dates we offer. The permit timescale is the town hall’s, not ours, and it is not guaranteed.
Do you work outside the Comunidad de Madrid?
Yes. Alongside the Madrid work we have built Villa R25 in Altea, Villa C58 in Ibiza, Villa RS61 in Marbella and Casa FP9 in Málaga. The tax arithmetic here is specific to the Madrid table; the professional roles and the way we bill are the same anywhere in Spain.
What can I actually build on the plot I am looking at?
The municipal by-laws decide that, not national law: setback, buildable floor area and the share of the plot you may cover change from one council to the next, on plots that look identical. Read what you can build on your plot before you commit to buying one.
Tell us where the plot is
Send the address or the Catastro reference — the land registry for tax purposes, a different body from the Registro de la Propiedad — and what house you have in mind, and we will come back with the scope and a fixed fee in writing.
If the numbers on this page do not fit your budget, better you know now than after two meetings.