Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

The view from the top of my land.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...f46e0ec144.jpg
Looking in the opposite direction to Slovakia about 2 kms distance

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...06508e1b47.jpg

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

I assume that the woods are yours. Be careful as there are regulations about when you can work in forests and wooded areas. Forests and woodland have different classifications and regulations but both need plans and permissions and cutting is only allowed between October and March unless there are certain types of protected plants present e.g. liver wort. when the work period ends at February. Also forest and woodland excursions need extra caution at dusk and dawn during the hunting season and during the stag rutting.

When you have your permission to cut from the authorities you have to carry this with you when transporting wood on the road so that in the event that the police do a check they can assure themselves that the wood is legitimate. (This was introduced because of the industrial scale theft of wood from forests where it is estimated that 1/3 of the firewood in Hungary was stolen)

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Hi Peter, no, the woods are not mine, they belong to a big land owner but he is happy for my neighbour and myself to go in and cut up trees that are already dead and have fallen onto the ground and he has no problem with my neighbours goats being in there as well ! I wasn't aware of regulations pertaining to getting wood and obtaining permissions and paperwork from the authorities though so will keep that in mind ! I can understand that being the case for the cutting down of living trees but seems a bit odd if it applies to dead fallen trees !

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Getting a bit OT:
Do you know that dead trees are a nourishing and breeding ground for many animal species, insects eg?
We try to leave them as long as possible or make a pile of dead wood somewhere for hedgehogs etc.
In Germany it's called a "Bannwald" i e banned forest where any human activity is forbidden!
Of course many stupid and/or egocentric people don't follow these rules - they don't care for nature ...

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

There are so many fallen trees laying on the ground in the woods ( woods may be a bit of an overstatement ... smallish copse would be more accurate ! ) that have been left for so long that they are too rotten to be of any use for anything other than breeding and nourishing grounds for animals and insects !

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Everything is finally moving forward but some workmanship is very questionable! I'm not very happy. Past two weeks everything was going smoothly then someone we not seen for two weeks came back .... bit downhill since! He made mistakes because he didn't check the plans!!!

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Hi.

Its nice to see other foreigners successfully launch and go through with building projects. Alas, I cannot help but to wonder how you achieve this? I have had a small residence in Transdanubia (Igal) for the past 10 years, and I seriously struggle with finding people/builders/contractors to do some renovations. Can someone give me advice? Currently I have one company that wants to do some landscaping and work inside the cabin, but they want me to pay 50% of the work up front, in addition to the materials up front as well. Is this really the custom? They want to do a contract, scan, sign and send back. But what good is a piece of paper in a country like Hungary?

Id be most grateful for some advice. Hopefully I can return the favor some other way.

Sakarias

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

It's a problem that many of us face, especially those of us out in the sticks and not in the bigger cities. Skilled tradesmen are hard to find, the younger ones have gone to the lucrative West and the older ones capitalise on the shortage of tradesmen. I have also found in my own experience that when it comes to manual unskilled work, it can also be difficult to find people willing to do it despite offering a fair pay rate. There are plenty of jack of all trades around but not the best to employ in my own opinion ! I try and do as much as I can myself and what I can't do, I ask my neighbour who he knows that can as he knows many people ... but even he comes unstuck sometimes, people not turning up or not doing the job exactly as he instructed. As is often the case though, it's who you know ... and I know that the agent that I bought my house through has his own renovation team but naturally he takes his cut from any work they do ... he became wealthy for a reason !
It is normal to pay part of the cost upfront although I'm not sure what the normal percentage would be but no doubt someone here will be able to advise on that ...

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Thanks for your quick reply! Thank you for normalizing the up-front thing as well. I recognize much of what you write with regards to your own experience, a learning experience, for sure!

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Be Very wary giving ANY Builder more than 10 percent up front and insist upon purchasing the materials yourself and do not allow the builder to collect any thing from the builders merchanys because some of them will use your materials on other jobs. . I got burned doing that and I did have a contract. My solicitor told me that having a contract while legal was not worth the paper it was printed on. To enforce it I would have had to pay a large sum up front to take the builder to court and even if I was successful the likelyhood of actually collecting anything was small. Lesson learned.

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

I have done many building projects in the 26 years we have been here, all with small building firms, usually one (qualified) man and his labourers.

I have always bought and paid for the materials as needed and never paid anything up front for the labour and nor would I. If it was a biggish job then staged payments were agreed in advance. I have always had a quote with the work specified as to how much and to what standard e.g. xx M2 rendering put on 2cm thick = so much / M2. or B38 blocks laid at so much / M2 (for wall building).

I never let the labour payments get in advance of what is done.

The current builder will bring smaller quantities of materials on his van and then I go into the local builders merchant and pay for what he bought. Useful and doable because everyone knows everyone. Bigger quantities e.g. 1 or 2 M3 of sand etc. is ordered and paid for COD.

Any surplus sacks of materials usually the builder will buy them for his next job or if it within a week or 2 then the builders merchant will take them back for a credit against the next purchase. I have found that builders are notoriously bad at estimating material quantities.

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Hi!

Thanks a lot for all valuable responses. I suspected that the contract, in a country like Hungary, would be worth about as much as something written on toilet paper. I have decided to not pay anything up front and rather be patient and create another ad, and keep looking for contractors. I think a good compromise would be to pay some of the total sum in sequences, considering the job may take a little bit of time (as I read you pointed out as well).

Getting the material myself is a good idea, will definitely do that next time I go down, and have it all ready there for the job!

Thanks again!!

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Take care about what you get in advance, Basicly anything in a sack (cement, lime, plaster etc.) has a shelf life and will go off, sometimes quite quickly dependant upon the storage conditions

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

Whoever you use keep your outbuildings and garage locked. If the builder or labourer hasn't got something they need to use they will have a look in your outbuildings and garage. I've had a raised terrace built. Sometimes the labourers didn't have the tools or equipment because another labourer or builder from same company needed it for another job where they were working separately.
My builder is insured by Generali but who knows they may not have been. They have more or less completed their contract but some minor issues have arisen. To be fair they had been working in very hot temperatures and past few days put in 10-12 hour shifts!
​​We often popped outside to see how they were doing and made a mental note of materials used and unused. The other day one guy put two tins of wood stain in their truck. I paid for that so asked for it back.

If you don't like picking up cigarette butts give them an Ash tray. Might be difficult to get them to use it.

Looking back I wish we had zoned off a particular area where they could mix cement, dump waste, etc. so there's still an area of garden you can use. Beware cement mixer truck drivers. They clean out their cement trucks funnels on your property!!!

Re: Plans for our new part roofed terrace.
 

I was fortunate with the builders working on my house because they were recommend to me by a Slovakian friend who owns a similar house to mine in my village which he'd recently renovated. The builder had already renovated two houses owned by her mother in a neighbouring village so I was able to see the quality of work, as well as getting an idea of how much he charged etc, before I even asked for a quote.

They're just a very small team consisting of the builder, one other workman and a young fellow who's the goffer! And yes when there's rubble being created, dust from cement and from the concrete mixer, it's inevitable your garden is going to suffer, but nothing it won't recover from. I've had all my windows and frames stripped down and refurbished as well so the whole of the interior of my house is covered in dust despite everything being shrouded in plastic! It can stay that way until they've finished and then l'll give everywhere a good clean!

So far they've reroofed my garage and woodshed, They've got about as far as they can get with the windows, which can only be finished when the outside walls have been repaired and replastered, something they've nearly finished doing. After that there's underneath the porch roof to be replaced with new tongue and grooved. Plus there is more work I'd like doing but haven't asked for a quote yet.

I'm extremely happy with everything, The builder informs me of everything they're doing and I have all the invoices for all the materials that have been bought. Every evening before they leave they clear away all the mess and tidy up. They have borrowed things like watering cans and sweeping brushes but clean them up and put them back where they came from.

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https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...0e9efc73c2.jpg

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