jack78

I am a retired UK person having recently built a new house in Sicily, where I now live.
On the whole the experience has been good, the house is spectacular and comfortable. I don't have any complaint about the main builder except for certain
details mentioned below. But for the benefit of anyone else thinking of embarking on such a project,
here are some points to bear in mind:

• Costings did not include all the earth-moving required, (site is on a steep hill side),"scavatore" operator needs to be paid in cash,
• We should have insisted that the project include the access road, forecourt, gate, parking pergola etc.in costed scheme, they haven't been done yet,
• Some extras were added to the project during the build, (e.g magazzino, garden wall) adding to the cost significantly,
• I underestimated water storage needed. More rainwater and reserve tanks should be installed for irrigation, 5000 liter tank for rainwater collection totally inadequate. None of these included in cost estimates,
• There is a problem with potable water supply (currently unavailable for some local political reason although the aquedotto is nearby), which the architect glossed over,
• It was probably a mistake to hire the architect to manage his own project - independent geometra or other professional would have been better, finishing was poorly supervised,
• The architect we hired is young. Although he is well trained and competent, he does not have the detailed historical knowledge of the zone and its advantages/disadvantages,
• Tradesmen left a lot of junk lying around (empty cement bags, bits of wire, pipe, guttering etc etc) which I had to clear up myself, they say the comune does not provide any place for trade waste, or if there is they don't want to pay,
• Electrician and plumber left numerous holes in the interior walls with pipes and wires sticking out (access points) - I was told it was up to me to cover them up or hire a carpenter to make the "tapp".
• Failure on my part to appreciate winter conditions and consider this factor when approving design - extremely strong wind, driving rain, bloated streams,
• Water evaporation factor very high in summer and needs to be considered if you have a pool,
• Hazard of wild animals on site - boar and deer who eat your plants,
• After main build phase, extremely slow to get the "artigiani" to come back and finish...I am still waiting on certain details, such as stair rails, exterior light fittings,

No doubt more which I will think about later...it has been 5 years since we bought the land and i have learned a lot, mostly positive but also some mistakes and naive ignorance on my part, I must admit.

Geordieborn

Thanks for a superb detailed post...

jack78

Thanks mate, yesterday I was stuck indoors with Niagara type rain and howling gale outside and was in a reflective mood. At least there is no risk of being flooded here, we are on a mountain side.
I have learned a great deal during this project, and my italian has come on a lot. There is no substitute for experience: however as I am aged 70 now, it is not likely that I will build anything else in the
future.
"Col senna di poi" how might I have approached the adventure differently? I think by taking a lot more time over selecting a site and choosing professionals to work with. Maybe we could have found
a nice old building in the countryside to restore. We did look, but probably not enough.

Jake.White

That's a bit of an eye opener Jack although not really surprising for Italy.

On a considerably smaller scale the same thing happened to me when I got my new windows and doors installed. The installers refused point blank to fill in all the large holes and gaps they had left in the walls around the windows and I had to do it myself. The reason cited being that it hadn't been discussed or quoted for, just being taken for granted by me that it would be done as part of the job. Typical daft Brit that I am to expect some customer service huh...... They also tipped all of their rubbish onto the dry stone wall at my boundary and left it there for me to discover and clear away...

In another anecdote, the builders who were renovating the trullo across the lane from my house, in a flash of inspiration and innovation, filled in all the lane potholes - some of which were getting quite deep and wide - with broken wall tiles..! : lots of lovely broken bits of ceramica with sharp edges and jagged points just waiting for you to drive over in your little car. Had to fix that one meself too with cement and sharp sand drymix and my trusty wheelbarrow, all the way from my garden gates down to where the lane joins the road - about a quarter of a mile. It took me several hours and a bucket load of sweat and effort digging all the crap out and filling the holes in again. No one else would have bothered.

Some of the things I've seen and experienced in Italy : you just couldn't make it up.

jack78

Yes the hard core on the parking space here is mostly old tiles, I recovered one or two. Also builders left a lot of bits of wire on the ground which gets stuck in car tread resulting in a flat tyre...
today the Fabro has arrived to fit stair rails.

philat98

You should add a link to your blog that you published here a while ago. An impressive project and spectacular location.

pommybird

Just jumping on this thread as we are visiting Sicily early June this year for 4 nights staying in Palermo, what would be the top 5 things we should see and do on the island? We are quite happy to use public transport and can walk for miles.

Grazie!

modicasa

4 nights isnt enough to even try to do the island. You are near Palermo so concentrate on there - Depending if you hvae transport you could see Segesta, even Erice. A day out in Cefalu, even a day down to Agrigento to see teh temples. Otherwise in palermo itself there is lots to see - Monreale, centro storico, Bagheria, it all depends what you find interesting. Check out the Palermo forum on tripadvisor

AstridK

Hi All!
Just back from Abruzzo land search.
We have fallen for a olive grove and have put forward the heap of questions to the agent (i will double check truth myself via the majors office after) re:
*do we need to have a farmers permit to build a cabin?
*how large a cabin is allowed?
*how much are we allowed to do ourselves..just interiors?
*does an italian engineer have to check every step?
*can we use Romanian team fro example / (cheaper)?
*we are down a 20 metre road.who is responsable fpr that?
*where is post delivered down our track?
*refuse collection is where?
*cost of council tax
*we want to go solar
*how to hire a Geometra?
*who checks well on the site and hooks it up? Cost?
*Septic tank..price and who?

Any answers generally to the above and tips greatly appreciated

modicasa

.*Who says you can build anything? Depends how much land there is, destination of the land, local law, national law, tax status, residential status etc etc.
* If you can build it depends on how much land you have
* Cant do anything structural yourselves
* Yes. basically.
* Depends who is the owner of the road and if you have right of way.
* If post is delivered.. dont assume it will be
* Dont assume there is collection
* Depends on value and class and location of land/buildings
* You can go solar
* WHere areyou
* Slightly bigger job that you are expecting
* depends and at least 3 offices

I think you need to do some research - what are you thinking of doing is not like buying a pound of spuds.

Geordieborn

Ah now I see, totally agree with Modi. Believe me I know the dream and we too thought we are different and can make it work! Fortunately we realised well before spending any hard earned cash that we needed to modify our dream. Even doing so and realising many of our ideas were just not real, we still made many a mistake. Our main driving force was knowing we could afford to lose everything we put into Italy. So if you can’t, then think long and hard about it. You are doing absolutely the right thing looking for advice on here. I would look for more like this and in particular look for people’s first posts, and then look where they ended up and what they did. Best of luck whatever you do, Abruzzo is a lovely place

modicasa

Just to clalrify a bit of what Iwrote above:
If you're putting a septic tank, then it isnt a cabin. Its a house to all effects and purposes and you will need a building concession etc etc. That will depend on how big the plot of land is, the ratio you can build from that comune, as well as if the land has rules and regs about building. Anything permanent - ie with sewage needs permissions and all that goes with that. Usually the minimum lot to build is 1 hectare, but it can be 2 or even 5. Each comune decides. Some comunes will not allow new build at all. So, you really need to know a bit about the area before you jump in with both feet or you could end up with a lovely olive grove and nothing more.

Accetturese

We had new doors and windows put in just over a year ago. Lovely job, high quality and very reasonable price. Odd that they leave the inside unfinished - he just said we needed to get our builder to make it good.
Fortunately we needed the house rewired as well, and the builder/electrician did it as part of his quote.

Jake.White

That happened to me with my new doors and windows too : my doors and windows were nice too and they've lasted 13 years so far without a hitch, but the installers left both the inside and outside walls around where they had been fitted unfinished with great big holes which I had to fix myself. When I asked them if they were going to finish off the job properly to a bit more of a professional standard before they were paid, the answer I received was a simple "non facciamo cemento". The lesson I learned from that was that if work is not specifically stipulated in a contract it simply wont be done.

modicasa

Each does his own job. A builder does cement, and a wndow fitter does that.
Thats why to fit a new sink in the kitchen will take a builder to do the scassi, a plumber to fitthe sink, an electrician to fit the scaldabagno and then the builder back to make good - and then for good measure a tiler. Its rare to find someone who does it all.