Ask three people in Doha what a villa costs to build and you will get three numbers a million riyals apart. All three may be right, because they are describing different villas. A 400 square metre house with a plain façade, ceramic floors and standard joinery is one project; the same footprint with a stone façade, a basement, a pool, marble floors and a home automation system is another. The way to get a real number is to fix the specification first and then price it, not the reverse.

Cost per square metre, 2026

For a two-storey private villa on a serviced plot in Doha, built by a licensed contractor with a consultant supervising, the built-up area costs roughly:

  • Economy (block and concrete frame, plastered façade, ceramic tiles, standard aluminium windows, basic kitchen and wardrobes): QAR 2,000 to 2,600 per sqm
  • Standard (GRC or partial stone façade, porcelain floors, good aluminium or uPVC glazing, fitted kitchen, decent joinery, ducted or VRF air conditioning): QAR 2,600 to 3,600 per sqm
  • Premium (stone façade, marble and engineered wood, high-end glazing, imported kitchen, smart systems, landscaped garden and pool): QAR 3,600 to 5,500 per sqm and beyond

So a 450 sqm standard villa lands at roughly QAR 1.2 to 1.6 million for construction. Add the consultant's fee (4 to 8 per cent), authority and utility connection fees, a boundary wall and external works if not included, and a contingency of 10 per cent. A basement adds substantially because of excavation, waterproofing and dewatering in Qatar's shallow water table.

The timeline

  1. Design and permit: 3 to 5 months, including consultant design, owner approvals, and building permit with Civil Defence and Kahramaa clearances.
  2. Tender and award: 4 to 6 weeks.
  3. Construction: 10 to 14 months for a standard villa. Structure is fast; finishes, joinery and MEP commissioning are where months disappear.
  4. Completion certificate and utilities: 4 to 8 weeks for inspections and permanent power and water.

Total: 14 to 20 months. Anyone promising a finished villa in eight months is either building from a repeated design with everything pre-ordered, or is not going to finish in eight months.

Choosing the contractor

  • Licence and grade: contractors are also classified; ask for the licence and confirm the grade covers your project.
  • Three completed villas you can visit, with owners you can call. Ask the owners about variations, delays and how snagging was handled.
  • Their own workforce versus subcontracting everything. Some subcontracting is normal; a contractor who subcontracts the structure has little control.
  • A priced bill of quantities, not a lump sum on a page. It is the only way to compare bids and to price changes later.
  • Financial stability: ask for a bank reference. A contractor funding your villa with the next client's deposit is the most common cause of a stalled site in Qatar.

The contract terms that protect you

  1. Fixed price for a fixed scope, with a clear procedure for variations priced from the bill of quantities rates.
  2. Payments against certified progress, not calendar dates: the consultant certifies each stage before you pay. A mobilisation advance of 10 to 15 per cent is normal; more is a warning.
  3. Retention: 5 to 10 per cent held from each payment, half released at completion and half after the defects period.
  4. Programme with milestones and liquidated damages for delay, modest but real.
  5. Defects liability period of at least 12 months, and clarity that the contractor's long-term structural liability under Qatari law is not waived.
  6. Materials approvals before purchase, with brands and models named for tiles, sanitaryware, glazing, air conditioning and electrical fittings.
  7. Insurance: contractor's all-risks and workers' compensation in place before work starts.

Where owners lose money

Changing the design after the permit, choosing finishes after the contract is signed, paying ahead of progress because "the contractor needs cash flow", and skipping supervision to save the consultant's fee. Each of these has turned a QAR 1.5 million villa into a QAR 2 million villa more than once. Decide everything on paper first, pay for what has been built and certified, and let the consultant be the referee.

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