A quote check, a renovation calculator, material prices and a project tracker. What each Atrij tool does, what is free, which languages it works in and when to use it.
Building or renovating in Istria comes with a familiar set of worries: is this quote fair, what should the job cost, and what do the materials really cost? Atrij is a journal, and most of what we publish answers those questions in writing. But some answers are easier to get from a simple tool than from an article.
So we built a few. All of them live on one page, Atrij tools. Three are free and need no account; the fourth, My project, is for keeping track of a project once the work begins. This is a plain guide to what each one does and, just as important, what it does not.
The four tools at a glance
- Builder's quote check. Upload a quote and get a rating and up to three items furthest above the market range. Free basic result, no account; every item, warnings and questions for the builder are in the paid detailed check.
- Renovation calculator. Answer a few questions about your flat or house and get an indicative renovation cost. Free, no account.
- Building material prices. Published prices at large retailers in Croatia, with the date each was checked. Free, no account.
- My project. Quotes, invoices, payments and deadlines for your build or renovation in one place. Needs an account; currently in Croatian.
Builder's quote check
This is the tool for the moment you have a quote and have not yet signed. The quote check takes four short steps: upload the quote as a PDF, a photo (JPG or PNG) or an Excel file up to 10 MB; choose the county where the property is, since prices differ between Croatian counties; choose the type of project; and, if you like, add the floor area and say whether materials and VAT are included.
The quote can be in Croatian even if you use the English or German version; the results come back in the language you chose. The free basic result shows the total, a rating, the details read from the quote, a short assessment, how much of it could be compared and up to three items furthest above the market range for the region; if more stand out, it says how many are left for the detailed check. That detailed check (every item compared, warnings and hidden costs, questions for the builder, sources and a PDF) is planned as a one-off paid option; at the time of writing, payment for it had not yet opened. For reading a quote yourself, see how to read a builder's quote, line by line.
Renovation calculator
Use the renovation calculator before you ask for quotes, or before you open one. It asks one question per screen and takes about three minutes: what you are renovating, the county, the floor area, the age of the property and how extensive the work is, followed by installations, bathrooms, floors, windows, walls, kitchen, heating and cooling, the level of finish and extras. Questions that do not apply drop out; a cosmetic job, for example, skips demolition and installations.
What you get is an indicative range rather than a single number. A range is honest: the final price depends on the state of the property, the materials you choose and the quotes you receive. Our guide to bathroom renovation, step by step shows how much a single room can vary.
Building material prices
Building material prices is a searchable list of published prices at large retailers in Croatia. Each result shows the product name as the retailer lists it, the pack size, a “from” price and the retailer. Open a product and you see the price, the date it was last checked and a link to the retailer's page. Product names are in Croatian, so search in Croatian: cement, ljepilo (adhesive), stiropor (EPS insulation), fugir (grout). The catalogue is still growing, so some materials are not listed yet.
Use it to judge the material part of a quote line, not the whole line. Labour, transport and the builder's overheads come on top, and prices and availability change, so check the retailer's current offer before you buy.
My project
My project is the one tool that needs an account; you sign in to open it. According to the tools page, it keeps the quotes, invoices, payments and deadlines of your build or renovation in one place, so you always know how much you have spent. It is currently available in Croatian only. It is meant for the long middle of a project, when the question changes from “is this price fair?” to “where are we against the budget?”. Our article on why renovations go over budget explains why keeping that overview matters.
The expensive mistakes usually happen before any work starts. That is where these tools are aimed.
Languages, accounts and what is free
- Languages. The tools work in Croatian, English and German. Readers of Atrij in Slovenian and Italian are sent to the English version. My project is in Croatian for now.
- Accounts. The quote check, calculator and material prices work without one.
- What is free. The basic results. A more detailed quote check is planned as a paid extra; the terms say any paid part is unlocked only after a successful payment.
- No sales pressure. None of the steps in the quote check or the calculator asks for your contact details.
What the tools are not
The terms of use are worth repeating here: the results are informative estimates based on available data and typical price ranges. They are not binding offers, not an expert report and not a substitute for advice from a licensed engineer or architect. Decisions remain yours. In practice, that means using the tools to prepare, to compare and to ask better questions, and relying on professionals who have seen the property for anything structural or legal.
Which tool, when?
- Planning, no quotes yet: the calculator, to set a realistic budget.
- A quote on the table: the quote check, before you sign anything.
- A line that looks odd: material prices, to see whether the material part is in proportion.
- Work under way: My project, if you read Croatian, to keep payments and deadlines in one place.
And when the build is finished and the rooms need furnishing, that is where our partner atelier comes in, with furniture made to measure in plywood and shown as a render before anything is made.
