Finestrat

As stated in previous posting, visited site this weekend.

Sorry to be pessimistic, but construction hasn't really started.  They have moved some earth, but this is minimal.  There is a new portakabin (for the architects office, I was told) with a parking area.  There are lots of trees/shrubs awaiting planting.

Corvera rep said that they are still waiting for the final approval (the "plan partial") before major construction can commence.  This, I was told is imminent, but will need to wait and see.  My solicitor says that we will be informed as soon as this happens as this is what is used as the "date on which the building permit is obtained", as stated on my Contract.

Also, uploaded some new photos (dated 30th Sept 2006) to the "shared photos" section.

Note the ground clearing which is the route for the road through the development.

Thanks for the info and photos Kenny, any news is appreciated.

Just got back from holiday at the Mar Menor, visited Corvera twice whilst we were out there, since our first visit in September of 2005 there has been little or no progress whatsoever, a good week on a jcb machine would have easily carried out more work than has been achieved in 12 months

Also visited Roda and veiwed the show villa, very impresive, marble floors and walls in the bathrooms etc, Roda was started about 2 years ago and phase one is just about to be released, cleaners were cleaning all the apartments ready for the hand over in the next 3 weeks, also the golf course is now officially open, club house has not yet been started, but land has been cleared,

It has taken 2 years build time at Roda to get the golf course and phase 1 nearly complete, phase 2 is well under way, going by this build time i do not think any properties on Corvera will be competed untill at least the end of 2008.

I veiwed the show flat at Corvera along with another couple who had bought a villa, we were both very dissapointed with the poor standard of materials being used, ceramic tiles thoughout on the floors, white tiling on the walls in the bathroom and en suite, timber skirting boards, 12mm granite work surfaces to the kitchen, a shower to which you could not get access to.

It would appear that all the marble floors and walls and skirting boards used at Roda has proved to be to expensive also the thick granite worktops used have been reduced to 12mm at Corvera,  cuts in quality have been made at Corvera  at the clients expense, i have asked my agent to ask questions regarding this matter, my contract states Gres tiling which can mean a multiple of different tiles, there is also a problem with the shower in the show flat,when i asked the sales assistant how you get into the shower cubicle she said that they had made a mistake, one glass side panel hit the sink unit, the other hit the toilet, they both only opened about 300mm.she then went on to say that you could use a shower curtain, i was speechless, if they cant get the show flat right what about the rest ?

both myself and the other couple asked if we could upgrade the floor and wall tiling, we had different answers, i was told that all the materials were bought in bulk and could not upgrade and the other couple were told that they would have to get in touch with the aftersales people prior to the tiling stage, another reason i have asked clarification from my agent

I do not mean to sound all doom and gloom, i think the development when finished will be impressive, but i do think that the interior standard at Roda and Corvera is like chaulk and cheese, these propertes are not cheap and should therfore have quality finishings not £5.99 per sm focus type flooring and wall tiling.

They have been very clever in furnishing the flat with top quality fittings which of course is not included, would these items be removed  you are left with very little else of quality.

 

 

Thanks for all that info Dave.  It does surprise me as others on the forum who have visited the showhouse have said how impressed they were with the fixtures and fittings, e.g. bathroom suite, kitchen units.  Is this a different showhouse from the one initially errected.  I'm not disappointed about the flooring as I knew it would not be marble, except for the bathrooms I think.  Did they imply that the mistake with the shower was just in the showhouse or throughout - will they rectify it in the apartments or was she saying we would all need a shower curtain.  If so, not really good enough.  Lets just hope quality will be improve on completed!!  Look forward to the next visitors impressions.  I had thought that maybe completion of Phase I would not be until end 2008, confirmed by your thoughts.  We won't be visiting the development until works are well underway.  Much to depressing to visit and see nothing has happened.  Thanks again Dave.

Hi Anita

They did say the problem with the shower would be rectified, i think you are wise not to visit untill building work is well on the way, it is very dissapointing to  visit and see little or no progress.

I think what dissapointed me so much is that the quality of the apartment where we stayed at La Finca golf compex was so much better than that of the show flat at Corvera and was a lot cheaper.

Hi Dave, Did you buy at Corvera in the end?

I must say I didn't pick up the shower door thing when I visited in late June, maybe it has been altered. In fact I dont remember a door on the shower at all. Wasn't it just "open".

But you are right about the furniture etc. They even had a spa installed on my visit which is not a standard feature. A bit naughty of them!

I visited Roda and several other places (polaris) too just to see how a these places looks partway through the build process and had a look at the show villas at Roda, they were very nice although I did feel the Apts were too squashed together.

In the end I went for Corvera as it felt right for me as I thought the setting would add £££ rather than anywhere else.

Lets hope they don't cut back on quality any further.

Rick

 Thanks for the email Dave.

I must admit that we noticed the open shower in February/March this year and were told that this would be fixed.  We never  looked at the fixtures properly (probably distracted by the fact that the show apartment was finally built) but will be looking very carefully in future as to what quality is provided by Corvera.

I will be contacting MacAnthony to see what they say about the development. A years delay seems about right based on reports. Collectively if we make a fuss then things might get done properly otherwise individually we will all be taken for mugs.

Ash

When i asked the sales assistant about the problem with the opening of the two shower doors fitted, she replied that you only get the shower base and that you can fit a shower curtain to get over the problem of access.

To me this is totally unacceptable in an apapartment costing approx 250 euros.

I can only assume that the difference in quality of the floor and wall tiles from that of Roda must be to cut down build costs and increase profit at our expense.

My proffesion is a building control officer and i spend each and every working day looking at plans, inspecting new buildings, extensions from foundations to completion.

I know the difference between quality materials and run of the mill materials which you may find on less expensive developments.

Did anyone else notice the small dishwasher fitted in the show flat, normal width is 600mm, i think the one in the flat is about 450mm but dont quote me.

The work surfaces at Roda are the same material as Corvera, granite, but they are app 30 to 40mm, at Corvera they are approx 12- 15mm.

Painted timber skirting boards have been used at Corvera as apposed to marble at Roda ( why ) it must be purley down to profit margins.

Finally has anyone noticed the cemetry to the right side of the development, there are a number of small buildings with crosses on them( veiwed from the car park adjacent to the show flat, I dont know how close it will be to the edge of the development, i veiwed it through a camcorder using the zoom facility, will obviously  now more when they start setting out, i can only assume that it is the burial ground for the town of Corvera.

I am sorry for being the one to keep writing in negative reports as i am, as you all are purchasing at Corvera, but the more we communicate the more information we can  share, being either good or bad.

I am sure if we just leave it to our agents little or nothing will be achieved, i feel we can find out far more regarding all aspects of the development by communicating to one another.

Regards Dave

Thanks Dave,

I agree we all have an interest to get the best deal we can and not to be fobbed off with excuses.

There is no excuse for shower doors that don't open and other penny pinching/none working bits. The apts are NOT cheap.

Re the burial ground, I have taken an ariel look/zoom in on google "Earth". If you are unaware it is a fantastic piece of software that enables you to have an "eye in the sky". You can fly to anywhere in the world and look in very close up.

The burial ground is a small square patch of ground to the north of the town. Between the town and the development. It does not appear to be significant and looks at least 1 mile away if not further.

Download the google Earth programme and have a play about its just like having your own satelitte.

Rick

Hello Rick

I will try to download eye in the sky, seems very interesting, will let you know how i get on.

Dave

Here is the google "earth" link for anybody wanting to try out this software. It is really amazing. You can zoom anywhere in the world, even your own street!

You can tilt the viewing angle and get down to a couple of hundred feet above the ground so that the houses appear quite large.

You can see the whole lemon grove of Corvera and several of the other nearby golf resorts. You can identify LA TORRE easily and the other P.W. resorts.

If for some reason the link does not work, just type in "google EARTH DOWNLOAD" into google.

http://earth.google.com/

I have put little flags on all the golf complexes in the area and have saved them for easy reference. The picyures seem to get updated yearly.

Rick

 

We have bought a 3 bed apartment on Corvera and we where given the basic outline plan of  the apartment and the basic specification as outlined on the website, has anyone managed to get a more detailed plan of the property that they are buying including individual room sizes and a more in depth specification list. None of this information appears on the contract.     

 

 

Hi Paulineh

I have bought a two bed penthouse apartment at corvera, we asked for a copy of the plans for both floors of our apartment,although no measurements are detailed on the plans the drawings are to a scale of 1-100 so if you buy or borrow a scale rule you can measure the plans and add the dimensions of the rooms onto the drawings for quick referal

this is what i have done and you can then measure the sizes of the rooms and patio areas and measure out the rooms and compare with the rooms at your uk home, this will give you some idea of the proposed room sizes etc, hope this helps

regards Dave

Hi there... I requested plans of my apartment which they sent through and although it does not give firm dimensions, it does show each room and the floor area in square meters... it give you an idea of the terrace, kitchen, living room and bedroom sizes.. I would think they should be able to supply this if you ask.

My main priority is to see when the work is actually starting as there seems to be a lot of talk but no ground has been broken as far as I can see. They do seem to be at least 6 months behind but lets hope once the heavy plant arrives, whether they can catch up on the timescales.

Thanks for the response great advise ,but who did you ask for these plans was it the developer, sales office or your solicitor

sorry forgot to ask but in the response regarding the plans did you also manage to get a list of specifications, we feel this would be invaluable for the snagging list or at least when we get round to the snagging list.

I got the plans from the my agent who was in contact with the sales office - turned up by email (JPG file) within a couple of days of asking. In respect of the spec, I notice the contract has some details of the spec included - check yours I would think they are similar. I bought out there in March/April for Phase 3 so I guess content of the contracts may have evolved a bit over time. Hope this helps.

 

 

After a frustrated e-mail I sent Calidonia about the delays in commencement of construction and the fact that the timescale keeps slipping, today I received a reply back:

Let me answer to your enquiries.  As you already know we started with the ground works in September.  It is true that you cannot see too much now but with the pass of the weeks major works will be made.  Last September we asked for the last permission before starting the construction of phase 1.  We expect to have all the licences granted at the beginning of the next year when we will start the construction of phase 1 and 2 at the same time.  Licences have to be granted by Murcia town hall which is reaching now a very high saturation point since we are not the only development asking for licences.  This situation may happen when you buy a property off plan in Spain.  We started delayed the construction in our sister project Roda Golf and now you can see that everything is happening.

I would say this is the clearest indication yet that things will start properly beginning of 2007.  Still don't think Phase 1, and it seems Phase 2 now, will be complete until end of 2008.

 

I phoned Corvera and was told verbally by one of the Sales Assistants that Phase 2 will not complete until Dec 08 at the earliest. She advised that they are not planning to write and advise everyone of this change as everyone will know when they check up on progress (!).

Ronnie