Mr & Mrs Hamilton,
We were introduced to Paul by chance when visiting the area to look at properties. We were having lunch with the property agent and Paul was at the next table. We quickly learned that Paul was in the process of building his own property which was situated near-bye and he invited us to have a look around. We found that Paul has many original and thought provoking ideas regarding emissions, insulation and economy of a functioning and economic house. His house is immensely impressive and immediately gave us some indicators to what we wanted to achieve. We had found a property and Paul offered to take a look at it for us. Consequently we discussed the way forward with regard to costs, planning and all related matters that come with this sort of project. Paul also offered to project manage the whole thing from beginning to end and that was the best decision we made.
We had a clear plan of times, dates and costs from the outset. This of coarse being Italy had moments of non delivery of materials and so forth but with Paul overseeing the day to day progress it made all the problems seem very small. Putting Paul’s skills into perspective seems easy on paper..the reality is hugely different. He liaised with the geometra to have all the permissions put in place. That in itself is a minefield of beaurocratic magnitude that would make the most determined person hold their hands up in surrender. He opened accounts with suppliers of materials most times securing generous discounts on our behalf and sourced bathroom furniture, doors, tiles, timber from many parts of Europe again at considerable discounts in most cases.
The two main features of any project like this are probably cost and completing the work on time. At any time there was an issue with costs Paul consulted us immediately and the progress of the work was always conveyed to us by photographs, e-mail and phone calls.
The house was delivered on time and on budget.
To sum up, I am absolutely sure that had we taken this project on by ourselves it would have been a total nightmare. It would certainly have cost much more financially and in terms of completing would still be in progress. Even if you are able to speak fluent Italian the benefit of Paul’s knowledge, contacts and negotiating skills are worth his fee many times over and he has, with his wife Margreta, become firm friends and he has turned our dream into a reality without the nightmare in between. Paul really does go the extra mile, and then some!!!
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