Which finishing jobs need a building notice and which do not

What is clearly cosmetic and needs nothing at all

Repainting, wallpapering, changing light fittings on an existing circuit, replacing a worktop, swapping doors within the same openings, and laying new flooring over the existing structure are cosmetic work. None of it changes the building's layout as recorded, so none of it needs a notice to anyone outside the flat.

The test is whether the plan on file for the building — the layout, the load-bearing structure, the wet-room boundaries — still matches reality afterwards. If it does, you are almost always in cosmetic territory, and can get on with it on your own schedule, mindful only of your building's quiet hours.

• Repainting or wallpapering any room
• New flooring on top of the existing subfloor
• Replacing kitchen units or a worktop in the same footprint
• Swapping a door or window for one of the same size and opening
• Changing light fixtures or sockets on an existing circuit

When a building notice comes into play

A notice to the building register usually becomes relevant once you change something the register has on file: moving a non-load-bearing wall, altering the layout of a bathroom or WC, changing floor structure in a way that affects loading or fire separation between flats, or adding plumbing or drainage runs that were not there before.

The threshold is not about how much work it is, but whether the change alters what is officially recorded. A new stud wall in a different place, a wet room moved to where a bedroom used to be, or a floor build-up that raises or changes the structure between you and the flat below are the kinds of changes that typically need a notice, sometimes with a simple sketch or plan attached.

We do plasterboard work from 28 € per job and flooring from 15 € per job for jobs that stay within the existing layout. Once a plan moves walls or wet-room boundaries, check with the city or the building register first — we can carry out the finishing work once you know where you stand.

Load-bearing walls stay outside what we do

We do not touch load-bearing walls, and a plan that involves opening, moving or removing one needs a structural engineer regardless of the size of the opening. This applies as much in a 1930s wooden house in Kalamaja or Nõmme as it does in a Soviet-era panel block, where the wall between a kitchen and living room is very often load-bearing even though it looks the same as a stud wall.

If your plan touches a wall you are not sure about, the safe assumption is that it is load-bearing until someone with the right qualifications tells you otherwise. We will say so plainly if we are asked to look at a job like this, and point you towards a structural engineer rather than start work.

The apartment association and the rules of your building

In a block managed by a korteriühistu, the association's rules sit alongside any building notice. Even cosmetic work such as flooring can be affected by house rules on noise hours, lift use during moving, or which hours are set aside for building work — usually daytime on weekdays with narrower hours at weekends.

Anything that reaches shared systems — risers, ventilation ducts, the building's electrics or heating loops under the floor — is the association's business even if the register itself would not require a notice for your specific flat. A quick message to the board before you start plumbing or floor-heating changes saves an awkward conversation afterwards.

For a flat renovation from 180 € per job, we plan the work with your building's rules in mind, but it is worth checking with your association directly for anything beyond redecorating one room.

How to be certain what your plan needs

The most reliable way to find out is to describe your plan to the building register or the city district office and ask directly, ideally with a rough sketch of before and after. This costs nothing and settles the question faster than guessing from general rules.

If your plan only involves finishes — paint, flooring, fixtures, units — within the existing layout, you very rarely need to ask anyone. If it moves a wall, changes a wet room's footprint, or alters floor structure, ask before booking any trade, including us, so the finishing work fits a plan that is already on solid ground.