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Buying property in Italy is a sound investment and a great place to live, whether it is your main residence or a holiday home. We can assist you in the purchase of your home in Italy, negotiate the price and conditions, organise the contract of sale and all other aspects of setting up your home. Refer to our property page for further information.
Our main building services come after you have bought your property. Whether it's a plot of land for a new build, a complete or partial restoration project, an alteration to an existing property or a swimming pool. If you want to carry out some of the work yourself provided you have the skills to do so we can still be of service. We largely cover property in Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Liguria and Le Marche.

Buyer Beware is more of an issue when buying a property abroad and Italy is no exception especially if you don't speak the language. Over the past years we have been aware that some of the British adopt a trustful nature toward the Estate Agents and Geometra's but fail to find out the hidden costs involved in upgrading or renovating the property. Infact we have more than enough examples of issues between the professions and their Clients.

It is for this reason we would prefer to make our services available before the possibility of a problem rather than afterwards. It has never been our intention to get involved in assisting with the purchasing process but it is purely on an historic basis of having to deal with too many 'problems' rather than the process and management of the project, to deliver a quality job on time and on budget.

Project Management is the cornerstone of any building project, someone needs to take complete day to day control, not just the construction but also more importantly effective procurement and budget restraint. All this comes at a cost whether it is yourselves, an Architect, the Builder, Surveyor or specifically a Building Project Manager. Kevin McCloud has his firm view on Project Management which you can read here.
If you have seen Channel 4's Grand Designs you may have noticed that most of the projects are self managed with an over reliance on the builder, the reason for this is because it makes good TV viewing as they would hardly make a programme where everything goes smoothly.
In Italy the difficulties of running a project remotely are made even more problematic. The dependancy on the "Geometra" to run the project is a possibility but they will also require an incalcuable and substantial fee at the end of the build. There are also cultural differences involved as well as language and construction methods.

Our modest fixed fee is offset by the savings we make, we operate an 'open book' policy which means you know exactly what has been spent and where the costs are going. We explain in plain English the planning process that operates via the Local Council (Commune) so there are no hidden surprises.
Your job will come when choosing the fittings and fixtures for your home in Italy and that you also stay within the budget. i.e. chrome taps or gold taps it is easy to get carried away.

Contact Paul for a no obligation informal talk.

• New Building Design and Construction.
• Extensions and Sympathetic Refurbishment of Existing Buildings.
• Assist in Property Purchase and searches.
• Ecological Proposals.
• Organise Condition Surveys and Analysis.
• Services Procurement.
• Defect analysis and remedy.
• Self-build projects.
• Integrated Ecological Heating Design & Installation.
• Free Quotes on our Fees and Costs.
• Free Translation***

The above home in emilia Romagna, northern Italy has been built by us to a very high ecological standard. The portico roof houses solar panels which heats the pool in summer and the house in winter, including the domestic hot water year round. The underfloor heating is supplimented with two highly efficient wood burning fires with back boilers and cooking is by gas hob. The walls, floors and roof have been insulated to a maximum to ensure minimum heat loss.

The Project Manager is an independent key individual that you employ on a fixed fee basis to control your building project in Italy from inception to completion. ***Generally there are no translation costs unless specific documents are required in English or Italian and we will regularly communicate with you by phone and email to keep you informed.
We operating an 'open book' policy and work out a comprehensive estimate allowing for contingencies for your project so you know how much it will cost. When the building process begins we organise the professional services, procurement of materials as required, organise the contractors, tradesmen and labour to carry out the work. During construction we keep you informed of the progress, we pass on all the bills directly to you for payment at trade prices.
Relying on a builder to carry out the project you will lose the advantages of an independent manager who works directly for you to ensure costs, deadlines and quality of build are met. We make savings for you in materials and builders profits.