What you are actually buying from a developer
When you buy off-plan you are not buying an apartment; you are buying a company's promise to build one and hand it over on a date, at a finishing level, for a price paid in stages. Three things decide whether that promise is kept: the developer's permits, its delivery record and its finances. This section shows how to check each one before the first payment, and what to inspect on the building itself from the first visit to the handover.
The off-plan model is the normal way to buy a new apartment in Georgia, and for good reasons: the price during construction is below the finished price, payments are spread over the building period, and the buyer can choose floor, view and layout while they are still available. The risks are equally real and they are not the risks of a resale. Nobody can show you a registry extract for an apartment that does not exist yet. The protection is the developer's paper, the contract and your own eyes on the site. The guides listed above go through each of these in detail; this page explains how they fit together.
The three checks before you pay
Permits and land
The developer must own or hold rights to the land, and the building must have a construction permit that matches what is being sold: the same plot, the same number of floors, the same use. A permit for a smaller building than the one in the brochure is one of the most common problems we find. Permits in Georgia are issued in classes by the scale of the building, and the class and status of the permit can be verified; the guide on construction permits explains where and how.
Delivery record
A developer's last three buildings tell you more about its next one than anything else. Which projects did it complete, when were they promised and when were they handed over, and what did buyers receive compared with what they were sold? A developer with a transparent record will show it; our developer profiles record promised and actual dates with sources, and the project reviews describe what we saw on site.
Finances and the contract
A building financed by buyers' instalments depends on sales continuing. The contract should say what happens if construction stops, how your payments are protected, what penalty applies to late delivery and how the apartment's final area and specification are fixed. The guide on the twelve protective clauses lists what to insist on; the guide on instalment plans explains the terms and the traps.
To be added by the team: the current construction permit classes and the official verification page, with source; statistics on delivery delays from a published study; our own developer profiles once the facts are collected and sourced. None of these appear on this hub page until they are verified.
Black, white and green frame: what each level includes
Georgian developers sell apartments at finishing levels that have no exact equivalent in most other markets, and the names cause expensive misunderstandings. The definitions below are the general practice; the exact content of each level is whatever your contract's specification says, which is why the specification matters more than the label.
| Black frame | The structure only: walls, floor slab and ceiling, windows and an entrance door, with utilities brought to the apartment but not distributed inside. Internal partitions, screeds, plaster, wiring, plumbing runs and everything visible are the buyer's job. The lowest price and the longest renovation. |
|---|---|
| White frame | The usual level sold to foreign buyers. Internal walls built and plastered, floor screed laid, electrical wiring and plumbing distributed to outlet points, heating prepared, often the balcony glazed. Still no floors, tiles, doors, sanitary ware, kitchen or paint. Ready for a finishing renovation. |
| Green frame | Not a fixed standard. Some developers use it for white frame plus certain items such as doors, flooring or a basic bathroom; others mean something else. Ask for the itemised list rather than the name. |
| Turnkey / with renovation | Finished and sometimes furnished, usually at a fixed per-square-metre supplement. Quality varies widely between developers and between packages from the same developer; inspect a completed example before you choose it. |
Two practical consequences follow. First, a white-frame price is not the price of a home: the cost of finishing has to be added before any yield or comparison makes sense, and the guide on renovation from white frame gives the ranges with their sources. Second, the specification that defines the frame should be an annex to the contract, with the brands or classes of windows, wiring, pipes and heating named. A specification that says "high quality materials" and nothing else protects the developer, not you.
Construction stages and what to look at
A building passes through recognisable stages, and each one tells a buyer something different. Before the foundation is poured, the only things to check are the paper and the site boundaries. During the frame, the pace of the work and the number of workers on site are the signals; a site that stands still for months is a site to ask questions about. Once the shell is closed and windows go in, you can inspect your own apartment: the actual area, the ceiling height, where the walls and the risers really are, whether the view is what the render showed. During the finishing of common areas, look at the entrance, the lifts, the fire systems and the parking, because those are the parts of the building nobody renovates later. The guide on construction stages has a checklist for each visit; our property adviser photographs the stages with dates so that progress can be compared between visits.
The building around your apartment
Buyers compare apartments; owners live in buildings. The questions that matter after handover are rarely about the apartment itself. How is the building heated: a central system, individual gas boilers, or electric heating, and what does each mean for monthly bills and for the risk of a cold winter? How many lifts serve how many apartments, and who maintains them? Is there a fire system, and does the stairwell actually lead outside? Which seismic design norms were applied, given that Georgia is an earthquake region? Who manages the building after the developer leaves, what will the monthly fee be, and does a homeowners association exist? These questions have their own guides in the list above because the answers are checked differently from the apartment's own specification.
Handover: the last chance to say no
Handover is a formal act: you sign that you have received the apartment in the agreed condition, and from that point defects become your problem. The handover inspection is therefore the most valuable hour of the whole purchase. Measure the area and compare it with the contract and the tolerance clause. Check every window, the balcony door and the entrance door. Test the water pressure and the drains, every socket and switch, the heating connection and the meters. Look for cracks, damp and uneven screed. Write down every defect in the handover act, with photographs, and sign only with the list attached and a date by which the developer will fix each item. The defects checklist in this section is written to be printed and taken to the apartment.
Instalments, discounts and the real price
Developer instalment plans are a selling tool and a financing tool at once. They let a buyer spread payments over the construction period, usually with a higher total price than a single payment, and they tie the buyer to the project for years. Before comparing plans, ask for the full-payment price and the instalment price side by side, the schedule of payments against the construction stages, what happens to money already paid if you cannot continue, and whether the apartment is registered to you in some form before the final payment. A discount "for payment today" should be compared with the real market, not with the developer's own list price. The instalment guide in this section goes through typical structures and the clauses that protect the buyer; the price context for each city is on the Places pages.
How this section is organised
The first group, checking a developer and a project, is about paper and people: permits, record, finances, contract, instalments. The second group, frames, materials and the building, is about concrete and copper: what each finishing level includes, what the specification must say, heating, lifts, fire safety, seismic structure and the handover inspection. Developer profiles and project reviews are catalogues with their own rules and live in the Developers and Project reviews sections. The legal side of the purchase contract itself, and how a new-build deal differs from a resale, is covered once in Buying & law. The scale of construction in Tbilisi and what the volume of new supply means for prices and rents is discussed in Invest & money, so that each fact lives on one page.
Project reviews on this site are only published after our team has visited the site and written notes, and no developer pays for a profile, a review or a position in a list. How we handle commissions from developers, and how that affects what we publish, is explained on the independence page. If you are considering a specific project that has no page here yet, send the name and the cadastral code; checking a project before a client pays is part of our services.
Frequently asked questions
Is buying off-plan in Georgia safe?
It is as safe as the developer and the contract. The risk is not the law but the counterparty: an unfinished building, a late delivery or a specification that shrinks. Checking permits, delivery record and finances, and signing a contract with real protective clauses, removes most of the risk. Paying a deposit before those checks adds all of it back.
What does "white frame" mean exactly?
In general practice: internal walls built and plastered, screed laid, wiring and plumbing brought to the points, heating prepared, windows and entrance door installed, but no floors, tiles, doors, bathroom fittings, kitchen or paint. The exact content is whatever your contract's specification lists, so read the specification rather than relying on the label.
Can I visit the construction site?
Serious developers allow visits, with safety equipment, and show the actual apartment once the frame reaches your floor. A developer who refuses any site access during construction is telling you something. Our adviser visits and photographs projects for clients and for the project reviews on this site.
What if the developer delivers late?
The contract decides. It should state a delivery date, a grace period if any, and a penalty per day or month of delay payable to you. Without that clause a delay costs the developer nothing. Delays are common enough that the clause is worth negotiating hard before signing.
When is the apartment registered in my name?
Usually after the building is commissioned and the developer registers the individual units, followed by the transfer to you once the price is fully paid. Some contracts register the buyer's right earlier in another form. Ask exactly when and how your right appears in the Public Registry, and what protects you until then.
Do you recommend specific developers?
We publish verifiable facts about developers, with sources, and describe projects we have visited. We do not publish rankings or ratings, because any rating without a published method is an opinion dressed as data. For a specific purchase we tell clients in writing what we found about the developer and the project.
Sources
- Construction volume in Tbilisi: Colliers Georgia via CBW, cbw.ge, accessed 10 October 2026; figures are given on the Invest & money page.
- Construction permits and technical regulations: Legislative Herald of Georgia, matsne.gov.ge; the specific regulation and the municipal verification pages will be cited on the permit guide after lawyer review.