“Key Steps to Take Before Renovating Your Home”

Renovating Your Home in Italy: Evaluating the Convenience of Energy Efficiency Bonuses

In Italy, there is a frenzy of renovating homes to improve their energy performance, often without much consideration for the expenses involved.
Before facing the cost of an energy requalification intervention with associated renovation, it is essential to carefully crunch the numbers.

While it is true that in the long run a renovation improves the energy consumption of the property and that there are significant bonuses that give back part of the amount spent, it should be noted that recouping the cost, although substantial, requires a very long time.

Renovating with Bonuses

The current Italian regulations offer a range of building bonuses that allow tackling any intervention on the house with deductions starting from at least 50%.
The bonuses currently in force for home interventions include:

• The renovation bonus, offering a 50% deduction on a maximum expenditure of 96,000 euros (this bonus also includes the furniture bonus).
• The eco-bonus with deductions ranging from 50% to 65% to improve the energy efficiency of the property.
• The superbonus, requiring the improvement of two energy classes of the property and offering, for 2024, a 70% deduction (which decreases to 65% in 2025).
• The seismic bonus, allowing for a deduction from 70% to 85% if the seismic risk class of the property is improved.

Moreover, there are bonuses aimed at other interventions, such as the green bonus or the one for eliminating architectural barriers in the property.

Assessing the Benefits of Bonuses

Building bonuses are surely a significant help where renovations are necessary.
However, when a renovation must be done “at all costs” just to take advantage of the deduction benefits, the convenience might not be as great.

In recent years, there has been a frenzied rush towards renovations, not always driven by actual necessity but rather by the thought of “the State pays half anyway.” Instead of being seen as assistance where renovation is necessary, the building bonus is sometimes considered an opportunity to carry out work at half price.

Let’s consider the renovation bonus that allows for a 50% deduction of the expenses incurred for interventions up to a maximum of 96,000 euros per year.
What must be taken into account before proceeding with the renovation is a cost-benefit analysis.

The bonus kicks in only after the expense has been incurred out-of-pocket.
It should be considered that in most cases, these are substantial expenses.
If a renovation is necessary and cannot be avoided, then the bonus is indeed a significant help.

Calculations must be made before embarking on home renovations because the recovery time of 50% of the amount spent is quite long.