Private houses
What it costs to build a villa in Bali in 2026
A 200 m² villa with a pool in Bali costs 250,000–350,000 USD to build, land excluded. A 25-year lease on a plot in Canggu adds another 80,000–120,000; in Ubud it can be a third of that. Design, permits and legal due diligence come to roughly 8–12 % on top. The honest range for a finished villa: from 300,000 USD in Ubud to 500,000 near the coast.
Below is where those numbers come from, where they quietly grow, and what works fundamentally differently in Bali than in Russia.
Land: a lease, not a purchase
A foreigner cannot own land in Bali outright. Two structures work in practice:
- Leasehold. Usually 25–30 years with an extension option. This is the main route for a private villa: the deal is simple, the risks are legible, the price is a fraction of freehold.
- Hak Pakai or a PT PMA company — a right of use, or ownership through an Indonesian company. More expensive to set up and maintain; it makes sense when the villa is a rental business.
Lease prices are quoted per *are* (100 m²) per year:
| Area | IDR per are per year | 5 ares for 25 years |
|---|---|---|
| Canggu, Pererenan, Berawa | 40–50 m | 300,000–360,000 $ |
| Seminyak | 35–50 m | 270,000–360,000 $ |
| Ubud and surroundings | 3–30 m | 25,000–230,000 $ |
| North and east of the island | from 2 m | from 20,000 $ |
The spread in Ubud is wide because "Ubud" covers both the centre and rice terraces twenty minutes away. A plot with a gorge view costs like Canggu; the same size without a view costs ten times less.
What to check before signing: zoning (residential or agricultural — you cannot build on the latter), legal access to the plot, groundwater level and the electrical connection. Due diligence costs 1,000–3,000 USD and saves an order of magnitude more.
Construction: cost per square metre
The 2026 market splits into three tiers:
| Tier | $/m² | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | 600–800 | Local materials, simple finishes. Damp, rust and repairs within 3–5 years |
| Standard | 1,000–1,200 | Proper waterproofing, decent sanitaryware, aluminium joinery |
| Premium | 1,200–1,500 | Natural stone, bespoke joinery, complex roofs |
| Luxury | from 1,500 | Custom solutions, imported equipment, designer furniture |
The difference between 700 and 1,100 dollars per metre is not "prettier". It is 80 % humidity year-round, salt in the air near the coast, and half a metre of rain a month in the wet season. On budget builds the metal goes first: hinges, fixings, air conditioners. Then mould on the north-facing walls.
A pool is priced separately: 15,000–25,000 USD for a standard 30–40 m² with filtration and lighting.
Design and permits
Since 2021 the old IMB permit has been replaced by PBG (Persetujuan Bangunan Gedung), an approval obtained before work starts. Once built, the villa receives an SLF, a certificate of functionality, which cannot be issued without a PBG.
The sequence:
- KKPR — confirmation that your land use matches the spatial plan. Required before the PBG.
- Environmental approval, where the project falls under the threshold.
- PBG — filed through the SIMBG portal, around 2 months.
- SLF — applied for at about 70 % completion, issued when the building is finished. Valid 20 years for residential.
Legal and permit costs run at roughly 2.5 % of the construction budget. Design fees on the local market are 5–10 % of the build cost.
We design villas to Russian documentation standards while a local practice handles the approvals: the client ends up with a full drawing set to hold the contractor to, rather than a folder of sketches. See a three-bedroom villa in Canggu and a villa complex in Ubud.
Full budget: a 200 m² villa with a pool
| Item | Ubud | Canggu |
|---|---|---|
| Land lease, 5 ares for 25 years | 60,000 $ | 330,000 $ |
| Due diligence and legal work | 3,000 $ | 5,000 $ |
| Design (architecture and structure) | 15,000 $ | 20,000 $ |
| Construction, standard tier | 220,000 $ | 240,000 $ |
| Pool, 35 m² | 20,000 $ | 22,000 $ |
| PBG, SLF, approvals | 7,000 $ | 8,000 $ |
| Furniture and fit-out | 25,000 $ | 35,000 $ |
| Total | 350,000 $ | 660,000 $ |
These are indicative figures. Terrain, access and water move a budget far more than the choice of tile.
What quietly inflates the budget
- Slope. A plot with a view means retaining walls. A 3 m wall, 20 m long, is 15,000–25,000 USD nobody counted at the start.
- Access. If a mixer truck cannot reach the site, concrete arrives in buckets. Add 10–15 % to the substructure works.
- Water. A well where there is no mains supply: 3,000–7,000 USD, and the water is not always usable untreated.
- The wet season. November to March slows earthworks and roofing, adding one to two months.
- Currency and imports. Everything imported tracks the rupiah: pool equipment, air conditioning, appliances.
Timeline
| Stage | Duration |
|---|---|
| Design | 3 months |
| PBG approval | 2 months |
| Building a three-bedroom villa | 10–14 months |
| Total to move-in | 15–19 months |
The schedule compresses if design starts before the plot is finally chosen: layouts and concept run in parallel with the search, and the siting is fixed later.
Why a tropical house is designed differently
A house designed for the Moscow region cannot simply be moved to Bali — and the reason is not style:
- Ventilation instead of heating. The house works on cross-breeze: openings face each other, ceilings are high, the roof is ventilated. Air conditioning supplements this, it does not replace it.
- Deep roof overhangs. Overhangs of 1.2–1.5 m keep driving rain off the walls. A short overhang in Bali guarantees staining.
- Open plan. A living room with no external wall towards the pool is normal here — but it demands a considered drainage line around the perimeter.
- Materials for humidity. Stainless fixings, local teak or treated timber, ventilated facades. Ordinary galvanised steel lasts two or three years.
Our Bali work: a four-bedroom villa, the Aura apartments in Ubud, a wellness hotel in Uluwatu.
Frequently asked
Can it be built for under 600 $ per metre?
Technically yes; local crews build for 400. In practice that means no waterproofing, thin walls and fixings that will rot within two seasons. The repairs three years later cost more than the saving.
What happens to the villa when the lease ends?
The extension right is written into the lease from the start — it is the clause lawyers check first. Without it, the building passes to the landowner at the end of the term. Extension is usually cheaper than a new lease, but the price belongs in the contract, not in a future conversation.
Do I have to come to Bali to build?
For choosing the plot, ideally yes. After that the work runs remotely: design, approvals, weekly contractor reports with photographs. We run projects this way, with local site supervision acting for the client.
What does a villa earn on rental?
On the 2026 market, typically 8–12 % a year on nightly rental with professional management. Count management at 20–25 % of revenue, plus pool and garden maintenance, tax and low-season vacancy.
Can I order the design only and build with a local contractor?
Yes — that is the usual arrangement. We hand over the full set with drawings and schedules, and you choose the contractor. Having documentation changes the conversation immediately: the quote is priced against schedules, not against a description.
Let us price your project
Describe the plot and the area you have in mind and we will come back with the scope, the schedule and the design fee. If you have not bought land yet, we start with layouts and concept — that work carries over whatever you end up buying. All our houses and villas are in the private houses section.