Renovation in Palm Jumeirah — The Fronds

There's a huge difference between renovating a Garden Home (3,500 to 5,600 sq ft) and one of the Signature Villas (12,000 sq ft). With the Garden Homes, you're usually looking at a full kitchen strip-out and bathroom refresh because the original layouts from 2006 are dated – think tiny galley kitchens and cramped master baths. We did one on Frond A last year where the client wanted to open up the kitchen to the living room. That meant removing a load-bearing wall, which required a structural engineer's sign-off from Nakheel's management – that added AED 8,700 and 3 weeks to the timeline. For the Signature Villas, it's a different ballgame. Those have more square footage to play with, but the plumbing runs are longer and more complex. We've seen original pipework in Frond E villas that's corroded from 17 years of salt-water humidity. You can't just patch that. You're looking at a full re-pipe on a 12,000 sq ft villa, which runs AED 45,000 minimum.

Here's the honest truth: a full kitchen fit-out on a Garden Home starts around AED 40,000, but that's with standard materials. If you want marine-grade plywood and 316 stainless steel appliances – which I strongly recommend – add 25% to that. A bathroom renovation (full strip-out, new waterproofing, tiling, fixtures) runs AED 28,000 to AED 35,000 per bathroom on The Fronds. The waterproofing alone takes 5 days because the humidity here is 70%+ in summer, and the membrane needs to cure properly. You can't rush it. Timing-wise: a full villa renovation takes 12 to 14 weeks minimum. Here's the limitation – we can't work on site during the summer months (June to August) without cutting the AC, which is running full blast. That means we're limited to 2 phases if you want the job done well. And don't expect us to start tomorrow. We're booked out 4 to 6 weeks for Frond work because of the logistics and the material lead times. Plan ahead.