Hi Everyone,
Yes Tom, the office was open as you said and is staffed by InSitu, the agents in charge of selling the remaining properties.
Lourdes (pronounced Lure-Des, I should have put an accent over the 'e') the InSitu employee working there told us we could not look around that day, but should come back Friday at 12 noon when we would be shown whatever we needed to see. I recommend making an appointment with 'InSitu (Lourdes) and getting it confirmed. At the moment, there is not much point in contacting SMD directly with questions about fittings, completion dates and such it is quicker to contact InSitu. I have put a 'photo of Lourdes in the ' Shared 'photos' section of this site and her (mobile) 'phone number for work is 666535920. I'm sorry but I do not know what country/area code numbers precede it. Lourdes said she is happy to answer any enquiries you have about the development and you can also email her directly at the InSitu address or 'phone her at their office in Seville.
As we left we looked around the outside of the site and counted 14 cars belonging to the work force, and they had two deliveries of building materials whilst we were there.
On Friday we were given access to our apartment and for the first time got to see the view from our terrace. At first Lourdes wanted to show us only the show apartment but we told her we preferred to view our apartment as we had waited two years. So we were issued with hard hats and accompanied through the site.
We had been told by the Majestic people that our apartment was finished. The kitchen has been fitted and also the bathrooms, although a huge hole has been made into the tiled front of the bath in order to access some pipe work. It still needs joinery work to the internal door frames and the wardrobe doors need hanging. Some of the marble which is used as skirting is missing where it meets the yet to be fitted door frames, but Lourdes said this would be applied after the joinery is complete, also all the marble floors will be polished to a high sheen. The electrical points and switches require covers, there are bits of rubbish lying everywhere and of course all is covered in dust from the site. There are probably quite a lot of snagging type jobs to do BEFORE SMD hand them over, and then we will all probably find further glitches when we do our snagging. It could be that SMD are spending time righting the wrongs of the previous two developers.
We have purchased in block 6 which is the third block in from the sales office. In the latest pictures on the SMD website, picture number 3 shows a deep ditch. This is similar to one that is being constructed along the rear of our block. I never noticed it before, so I think it is a modification to the plans. We had to walk across planks to get over it, rather like a drawbridge. I was told it is a security measure, but has anyone got more info.?
The kitchen appliances are: - Fridge/freezer, hob, extractor, oven and a washing machine which will be fitted in the 'solano' (utility room). A space will be left in the kitchen where the services for a dishwasher will be provided. We visited 'Boulangere' electrical store at La Canadas later that day and compared the Balay appliances (in our apartments) with Bosch appliances and they do appear to be the same quality. After seeing the kitchen it does not look too bad, although it is smaller than the 'photos of the show apartment make it appear, and the solano is also smaller than I had pictured it.
The sitting/dining room however is a spacious 21’6 x 12'9 and there are lots of electrical sockets. TV sockets in the sitting room are on the wall next to the bedroom, near the terrace window. The coving makes a very nice touch to the room as do the double doors from the hallway. The terrace is also spacious, even the area outside the bedroom is 4' deep, not small at all as it appeared in one SMD 'photo.
Both bedrooms are 9' wide, and one is 11'3 and the other is 9' long. There are no windows in our bathrooms so it was difficult to get the full picture without lighting, but I can tell you the border tiles are a quite vivid orange!
My husband took lots of window and floor measurements and the security guard was very obliging and assisted him, even holding the tape!
I intended taking lots of 'photos but a new memory stick for my camera would not work so I only took two, the other one being of the view from our apartment.
Lourdes told us the completion date for the construction given to her by Sr. Jose is September, although I think it will take longer. There is still a lot of work to do on the townhouses, and although they have started work on the pool and the landscaping, and the roads are well on the way to completion, it is usually the finishing off jobs that take up the most time.
Still, the crane (my crane) has finally gone, and on Friday there were about 18 cars vans and lorries on site, so work is definitely progressing.