Black frame in Georgia: what the label means and what it leaves out

Black frame: the barest stage a new flat is sold in

Black frame (შავი კარკასი) is a Georgian market label, not a legal term, for a new-build flat handed over at its most basic stage: the building's structure and outer walls are finished, the flat inside has little or no work done, and only the developer's contract says exactly what is included.

No Georgian law, Government resolution or technical regulation that uses the term could be found in searches made on 28 October 2026. The property guide Housebook notes that there is "no single regulation in Georgia" for the frames, and that the content of every frame is left to the developer who sells it. The label therefore has no fixed legal content. Two flats advertised as black frame in neighbouring buildings can differ by whole walls, a front door and a set of windows.

The word კარკასი is the Georgian form of the Russian каркас, a structural frame or skeleton; the colour placed before it is market shorthand for how far the inside of the flat has gone. Buyers from abroad may know similar ideas under other names. "Shell and core" is a British and American term from commercial property, and Israelis say שלד, which in Israel means the bare structure of a building still under construction. Neither maps exactly onto the Georgian label, which describes the condition in which one flat is delivered, not the progress of the whole building. Our guide to black, white and green frame compares all three stages side by side.

Two published definitions that do not agree

Because no rule fixes the content, the only way to describe black frame is to quote who says what. The listing portal Korter.ge writes: "A black frame is the most basic level of apartment readiness, where only the main construction works are completed." It counts "load-bearing walls, interior partitions, windows, and an entrance door" as included, and adds: "Inside, there is no electrical wiring, plumbing, sewage, heating system, or finishing of floors, walls, and ceilings."

Housebook, in its August 2025 guide, draws the line lower. In its description a black frame has only the external load-bearing walls, with no partitions, no plaster, no screed and no electrics, and the utilities are only brought up to the flat.

The disagreement sits on the most visible items. Under one source a black-frame flat already has its rooms, its windows and a lockable door; under the other it is an open space inside the outer walls. For a buyer, this is the whole meaning of the term. The label tells you that the flat is at the bottom of the scale, and nothing more precise than that.

A label chosen by the advertiser: Geostat and the portals

The only official use of the term we found is in statistics, and even there it is not defined. Geostat's quarterly Residential Property Price Index shows Tbilisi new-build prices "according to their condition (frame)", and names its source as the listing sites myhome.ge and ss.ge. A note under the figures explains that they are "so called 'offer prices'" and that "the data is obtained using web scraping and calculating median prices". In other words, Geostat counts a flat as black frame because the seller ticked that option on the listing. The label is self-declared, and the national statistics inherit it.

In the second quarter of 2026, the median offer price of black-frame new flats in Tbilisi was GEL 3,340 per m², GEL 363 below white frame. Our frame comparison for investors sets out the full quarterly series.

On that portal, black frame is the rarest of the three labels among Tbilisi projects. The counts are of developments, not flats, and one project may carry more than one label; we could not confirm whether any are counted twice. On the first of two pages of black-frame results, asking prices ran from USD 838 per m² at Okrokana Woods to USD 4,400 at Central Park Towers, so the label says little about where a project sits in the market.

The work a black-frame owner takes on, and the rules around it

Everything Korter lists as missing becomes the buyer's job: wiring, plumbing, sewage, heating and every surface. One developer, XO Development, says finishing from black frame takes about 3 to 5 months, against 1 to 1.5 months from its own green frame; that is a seller's estimate for its own product. Two sets of rules shape the work.

• Building permits. Under Government Resolution No 255, ordinary finishing, including non-load-bearing partitions, needs no building permit. Cutting openings in load-bearing walls or changing engineering networks counts as reconstruction. A lawyer should confirm where a particular plan falls.
• The building's other owners. Article 10-1 of the Law on Homeowners' Associations leaves interior works free unless they add area or create a new unit; enlarging, creating a unit or demolition needs a two-thirds vote. Because a black-frame owner chooses the routes for wiring and pipes, any change that touches the building's common networks may also need the association's or the developer's agreement.

Defect claims against a contractor run for 1 year, or 5 years for structures, from acceptance of the work under Civil Code Article 655. Our page on renovation and furniture describes how a flat is taken from a bare stage to keys.

Where the words appear: listings, price lists and the contract

• Listing sites. On myhome.ge and ss.ge the label is chosen in the condition field (მდგომარეობა), and Geostat's series is built from that field. We could not retrieve the full list of options on myhome.ge, so the exact wording there is not confirmed.
• Developer price lists. A price per m² is quoted for a stated stage, so a black-frame figure and a white-frame figure for the same unit are two different products.
• The contract. The developer's contract should carry a specification annex that lists each element: walls, partitions, windows, entrance door and the points where water, sewage, power and gas reach the flat. An annex that says only "შავი კარკასი" fixes nothing that can be checked. Our guide to the contract with a developer covers the clauses around it.
• The handover protocol. The act of acceptance (მიღება-ჩაბარების აქტი) records the state of the flat on the day it is delivered. Bring the annex to that meeting and tick it off item by item; our handover checklist lists what to test.

Keep the annex, the protocol and any photos taken on the day together: if a dispute arises later about what was delivered, those papers, not the advert, show what the flat was.

Worked example: what the black-frame discount has to cover

Our own arithmetic on Geostat's medians for the second quarter of 2026, for a 60 m² flat in Tbilisi:

The GEL 21,780 gap has to pay for everything Korter lists as absent from a black frame, the wiring, plumbing, sewage, heating and wall and floor surfaces, merely to reach the stage the white-frame buyer starts from. If the developer follows Housebook's narrower description, partitions come on top. The medians describe different buildings in different districts, so the comparison shows a direction, not a quote: price the work for your own flat before you treat the black-frame price as a saving.

Black frame, white frame and the building's frame

The last row matters when reading progress reports: a building whose frame is complete has not by that fact reached the point where any flat, black frame or otherwise, can be handed over. For the whole range up to a finished flat, see turnkey renovation.

Black frame in five languages

Georgian listings and price lists use შავი კარკასი; a Hebrew reader should note that the plain word שלד is used here for black frame, although in Israel it also means a building's bare structure.

Warning signs in a black-frame offer

• The label with no annex. If the contract names the stage but lists no elements, you cannot hold the developer to partitions, windows or a door.
• Comparing per-m² prices across stages. A black-frame price set against a white-frame or finished price looks cheap until the missing work is added.
• Trusting the portal filter. The seller picks the label; it is not checked by anyone, including Geostat.
• Planning to move load-bearing walls. That is reconstruction under Resolution No 255, not ordinary finishing.
• Running new pipes through common parts. Changes that touch the building's networks may need the association's or the developer's consent.
• No written description of utility points. Ask where water, sewage, power and gas end, and in which room.

Checking what a black frame includes, step by step

1. Ask for the specification annex

   Before any deposit, in writing.

2. Tick off each element

   Partitions, windows, entrance door, utility points.

3. Price the missing work

   Get a contractor's quote for your own flat.

4. Check your layout plans

   Load-bearing walls and shared networks need extra consent.

5. Attach the annex to the contract

   The label alone binds nobody.

6. Compare at handover

   Record the state in the handover protocol.

Frequently asked questions

Is black frame a legal term in Georgia?

No. It is a market label; no regulation defines it, and each developer sets its own content.

What does a black-frame flat include?

It depends on the developer. Korter.ge lists load-bearing walls, partitions, windows and an entrance door; Housebook lists only the external load-bearing walls.

Does a black-frame flat have electricity inside?

Not in either published definition; at most, the utilities are brought up to the flat.

How much cheaper is black frame in Tbilisi?

Geostat's median offer price for 2Q26 was GEL 3,340 per m², GEL 363 below white frame.

How many Tbilisi projects are sold in black frame?

Korter.ge tagged 24 developments on 28 October 2026, against 191 in white frame and 248 in green frame.

Do I need a permit to finish a black-frame flat?

Not for ordinary finishing or non-load-bearing partitions; openings in load-bearing walls are reconstruction under Resolution No 255.

How long does finishing from black frame take?

One developer estimates 3 to 5 months; your own timetable depends on the work and the contractor.

What is black frame in Russian and Hebrew?

чёрный каркас in Russian and שלד in Hebrew.

Sources

1. Black, white and green frame, Housebook, 27 August 2025
2. New projects in Tbilisi, black frame, Korter.ge (accessed 28 October 2026)
3. New projects in Tbilisi, white frame and green frame, Korter.ge (accessed 28 October 2026)
4. Residential Property Price Index, II quarter of 2026, Geostat, 23 July 2026
5. What is green frame, XO Development, 11 March 2026
6. Government Resolution No 255 of 31 May 2019, Legislative Herald of Georgia
7. Law of Georgia on Homeowners' Associations, Legislative Herald of Georgia
8. Civil Code of Georgia, Article 655, Legislative Herald of Georgia

Change log

• 28 October 2026 - Glossary entry published from Housebook, Korter.ge, Geostat, XO Development, Government Resolution No 255, the Law of Georgia on Homeowners' Associations and the Civil Code of Georgia.