Term
Black frame
A new-build apartment without finishing: concrete walls and slabs, windows, service inlets at the entrance, no partitions, screed or plaster.
Also known as: black frame apartment, shell apartment
This is what people in Batumi and across Georgia call the most basic condition in which a developer hands over an apartment. The law does not define the term, and the developer sets out the exact scope of work in an annex to the contract. So two “black frame” apartments in different buildings can differ noticeably.
What black frame usually includes
Load-bearing columns and slabs, outside walls, sometimes the walls between apartments. Windows and the balcony door are most often already fitted; the entrance door may be temporary. Electricity, water and sewerage reach the board on the floor or the apartment entrance, but there is nothing inside. There is no screed, plaster or partition walls either.
What to do with a black frame apartment
Before renovation the apartment is accepted by a handover certificate, and everything that finishing will later hide is checked: flatness of the slabs, cracks in the masonry, window joints, traces of water. Then comes rough work: partitions, building services, screed, plaster, and only then finishing. The order and timing are described on the page about black frame renovation, and the differences from white frame in the comparison “Black frame vs white frame”.
The advantage of black frame is freedom: the layout, lighting and sockets can be designed to suit you without demolishing anything. The drawback is time and the amount of work: several months pass before you can move in.