Preventivo and computo metrico estimativo are not the same document
A preventivo is an offer. A computo metrico estimativo is a measured, itemized takeoff: every operation listed, with its quantity, its unit of measure, its unit price, and the resulting total. The first is a number. The second is an argument for a number, and it is the only version you can audit.
| Document | What it contains | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|
| Preventivo | A description of the works and a price, sometimes a handful of grouped lines | A rough go or no go signal; dangerous to sign as a contract |
| Computo metrico estimativo | Quantities times unit prices, line by line, usually organized by phase | Comparing bids, checking progress claims, controlling variations |
| Capitolato | The specification: materials, methods, standards, brands, tolerances | Deciding quality, not quantity; this is where a cheap quote hides |
| Contratto d'appalto | The binding agreement, with the computo and capitolato attached | Enforcement; without attachments it is nearly unenforceable |
If a contractor declines to produce a computo, you have two options that both work. Have your geometra or architetto prepare one and issue it to every bidder as the basis for pricing, so all quotes describe the same job. Or accept the contractor's number as a lump sum, but only with a detailed capitolato attached that defines the quality of everything, and with the understanding that you have no mechanism to challenge a quantity later.
Where the unit prices come from
Italian unit prices are not invented per project. Each region publishes a price list, a prezzario, updated periodically, covering thousands of construction operations with a price for each. Private quotes are commonly built from the regional list or from a commercial price book, sometimes with a stated discount or uplift applied across the board.
Two things follow. First, a price for the same operation should be broadly comparable between two local firms, and a very large gap is a signal to investigate rather than to celebrate. Second, you can ask for an analisi prezzi, the breakdown of a unit price into labor, materials, and plant, on any line that looks strange. A firm that builds its prices properly can produce this in an afternoon. A firm that cannot has not costed the job, it has guessed at it.
Look for the labor content specifically. In a renovation, labor is normally the dominant share of most operations, and a quote whose prices are far below the local price list is usually not more efficient. It is either planning to use undeclared labor, planning to substitute materials, or planning to make it back on variations. All three are your problem eventually.
IVA: the rate is part of the price
Value added tax is a substantial line and the rate depends on what is being done and by whom. The commonly applicable rates for residential renovation look like this, and you should have your geometra or accountant confirm the treatment of your specific job in writing rather than relying on a general description.
| Rate | Typically applies to | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | Maintenance and renovation works on residential property, supplied by the contractor under a works contract | Subject to the significant goods rule below |
| 4% | Narrow cases, including certain new construction contracts and works to remove architectural barriers | Rarely applies to an ordinary renovation; confirm before assuming it |
| 22% | Professional fees, materials you buy yourself, furniture, and works on non residential property | Buying your own finishes moves them from 10% to 22% |
The significant goods rule, in plain arithmetic
Certain expensive components are treated as beni significativi: boilers, lifts, window and door frames, air conditioning equipment, bathroom sanitaryware and taps, security systems, and video entry systems. When the contractor supplies and installs one of these under a renovation contract, the reduced rate applies to the labor and other components in full, but to the significant goods only up to the value of everything else in that supply. The excess is taxed at the standard rate.
So on a bathroom package where the fixtures and taps are worth 3,000 euros and the labor and other materials are worth 2,000 euros, the reduced rate covers the 2,000 of labor plus 2,000 of the fixtures. The remaining 1,000 euros of fixtures is charged at the standard rate. The invoice must state the value of the significant goods separately, which is also a useful check that the contractor is invoicing properly.
What is usually excluded
Read the exclusions before the total. Every honest Italian quote has a list, introduced by escluso or non compreso, and this is where budgets are actually decided. The usual suspects:
- IVA, stated as separate from the quoted amount.
- Spese tecniche: the geometra, architect, engineer, energy consultant, and safety coordinator.
- Comune fees, filing charges, and any contribution due on the permit.
- Ponteggio, scaffolding, and any road occupancy permit it needs.
- Waste disposal to a licensed facility, and the paperwork that tracks it.
- Utility connections, meter relocations, and any temporary site supply.
- Structural works and structural testing, if these were priced by a separate firm.
- Finishes described as a scelta del committente with an allowance figure attached.
- Sanitaryware, taps, light fittings, kitchen furniture, shutters, and interior doors, individually or as a group.
- Final cleaning, and the removal of protective coverings.
- Anything described as opere non prevedibili, which is the honest way of saying nobody knows what is behind that wall.
Allowances deserve their own paragraph. A line that reads supply of floor tile up to a stated price per square metre is not a price for your floor, it is a placeholder. Price your actual selections at the quotation stage, or accept that the total in front of you is provisional in a way the total does not admit.
Payment schedules that protect both sides
Italian practice ties payments to a stato avanzamento lavori, a progress stage. A defensible structure for a private renovation looks like this, with the exact percentages negotiable and the principle not.
- A modest deposit on signature, sized to cover mobilization and initial material orders, not a third of the job.
- A payment when demolition and rough in are complete and photographed, before anything is covered.
- A payment when screeds, plaster, and substrates are complete.
- A payment when finishes and fixtures are installed.
- A retainage released only after the punch list is closed and the certificates are handed over.
Two additions worth insisting on. Each stage payment should be requested against a measured claim referencing the computo, so you can check the quantities rather than the vibe. And the final retainage should be explicitly linked in the contract to delivery of the conformity declarations, the cadastral update, and the energy certificate, because otherwise those documents arrive slowly or not at all.
Varianti: how a fixed price stops being fixed
A variante is a change to the agreed works. Some are your idea, some are genuinely unforeseeable, and in an old Italian building the unforeseeable ones are frequent: a floor structure weaker than assumed, damp behind plaster, a drain that goes somewhere nobody expected. The problem is never that variations happen. The problem is variations executed verbally and priced afterward.
- Every variation gets written down before work proceeds, with a price and a schedule impact, and your written approval. No exceptions, including for small ones.
- Price variations from the same unit price basis as the original contract, not at fresh negotiated rates.
- Check whether the change affects the permit. Some variations require a filing with the comune, and a few require it before rather than after execution. Ask your geometra every time.
- Keep a running total of approved variations against your contingency, and look at it monthly. Variations kill budgets by accumulation, not by any single line.
A shared checklist where each variation is an item with its cost, its approval, and its photographs attached is the cheapest project control you will ever implement. It is also the difference between a contingency you manage and a number you discover.
Comparing two quotes fairly
- Normalize the scope first. If the quotes describe different work, you are not comparing prices, you are comparing intentions.
- Compare quantities before prices. A lower total with 30% less plaster area is not cheaper, it is incomplete.
- Compare the specification. Same tile format, same plaster system, same boiler class, same window glazing and hardware. Vague specifications are a pricing strategy.
- Line up the exclusion lists side by side. This alone often reverses the ranking.
- Check the schedule and the penalty, if any, for overrun. A price with no date is not a commitment.
- Check the firm: current contribution compliance certificate, insurance, registry extract, and whether the trades will be its own employees or subcontractors.
- Ask both firms one hard technical question about your building and read the answers. The quality of the reasoning predicts the quality of the site work better than the total does.
Then do not take the lowest number automatically. In renovation, the lowest bid is often the one that understood the job least, and the gap comes back as variations, delays, or a firm that walks away. Take the bid whose reasoning you trust, and negotiate that one.
Questions people ask
- Should I ask for a fixed price or pay by measure?
- A lump sum for the parts of the job you can define precisely, and measured rates for the parts you cannot. Demolition and structural repairs in an old building are genuinely uncertain, and a contractor who fixes a price on them either loads the number heavily or will come back with variations. Agree unit prices for the uncertain work in advance, so the rate is settled even when the quantity is not.
- Can I claim Italian renovation tax deductions as an American owner?
- The renovation incentives are deductions against Italian income tax, taken in annual installments over several years, so they are only useful if you have Italian taxable income to deduct against. Many non resident owners have none and therefore cannot use them. There have also been repeated changes to the rates and to whether the credit can be transferred or taken as an invoice discount, including the wind down of the 110% Superbonus and the closure of most credit transfer routes. Do not build a budget around any of it without a written opinion from a cross border accountant for your specific situation and the current year's rules.
- What is a reasonable contingency?
- For an ordinary apartment renovation with a good survey and no structural work, a modest allowance is usually sufficient. For an old stone or masonry house, particularly one that has been empty, plan a substantial contingency and treat it as part of the budget rather than as a cushion you hope to keep. The variable is not the contractor's accuracy, it is how much of the building is still unknown when you sign.
- The contractor wants half up front. Is that normal?
- No, and it is not safe. A deposit should cover mobilization and the material orders that must be placed before work starts, nothing more. If a firm cannot fund the first stage of work without half the contract value, that is information about the firm. If it is genuinely about a large long lead order, pay the supplier directly for that order and keep it out of the contractor's cash flow.
- How do I verify a progress claim from six thousand miles away?
- By making photographs part of the claim rather than a courtesy. Each stage payment should reference the items in the computo it covers, and each of those items should carry dated photographs of the completed work. That is exactly the record a shared checklist produces as a side effect of daily use, and it is why owners who run their project as a checklist with photos attached to items argue about invoices far less than owners who run it out of a chat thread.
Start with a checklist
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Published September 8, 2026. This guide is general information, not legal, engineering, or tax advice. Rules change; confirm anything that matters with a licensed professional in the jurisdiction of the property.