If any of you guys out there are prospective or new home buyers in Andalucia and are hoping to renovate your new home, I have a few words of advice you may want to consider before you make any steps towards contracting workmen.

I will begin by telling you a story of my experiences and the mistakes I have made during my efforts to renovate my new home and I hope it will help someone avoid making the mistakes that I did. If you really don’t want to read on, just take a look at the photos of the work done by ‘Granada Property Reforms’  Unfortunately I can't post the link or the website but you can find them on Flickr.com and add to this   photos/90310703@N08/

 

After a few years of working and saving enough to buy a property in Spain, I spent almost 2 years searching for the right house in the right place. My work takes me to different countries and I had decided that it was time I had a permanent base to call home. My search finally came to an end last May when I bought a small place in the Lecrin Valley, and even though the house was structurally sound, it was in need of quite a bit of updating and cosmetic work.

 

Whilst I was house hunting and searching the internet for agents and properties, I had also been looking for contractors that I could use to carry out any renovations I would need. I came across Granada Property Reforms and as I didn’t know anyone else in the area, I met up with the proprietor of this company on one of my visits to Spain and paid him to look at a couple of houses with me in order to judge cost of renovations, as it was a service he offered on his website.

 

A year later and a couple more visits to Spain, I had finally found the right house and the sale completed through my lawyer in Spain. As I was still abroad (in Asia) at the time, I thought it would be a good idea to have all the terrace redone, as it looked pretty tired and needed a face lift and if that was done whilst I was away, I could continue the interior work when my contract ended and I returned for a longer stay, and there was nothing much that could go wrong with having a terrace re-tiled .....surely!

 

To get things moving, I decided to contact Mr Chesters at Granada Property Reforms again as I had already met him and my lawyer knew him too. He collected the keys from my lawyer, sent me photos of terraces he said he had done in the same tiles  as examples of his work and gave me a quote and a time scale (to be finished 1 week before my next visit) All seemed fine and so I paid the 60% deposit he asked for.

The day I arrived in Spain on a flying 2 day visit to see the finished results, I got a phone call to say it wasn’t finished, and when I did actually see it, I was horrified at what he had attempted to do.

Although the complete story will take far too long to tell, the photos I have taken speak for themselves.Go to  Flick.com and then add to this   photos/90310703@N08/

 

I have been in Contact with Granada Property Reforms for the past 3 months and have been in Spain for the whole of that time. After pressure from the lawyer he agreed to pay a visit, only to waffle incessantly and deny responsibility, and although a surprise visit from a local building inspector told him different and gave him clear instructions on what he should do, he made other visits only to waste my time and mental energy even further.

 

During this time, he has given his word to correct this appalling work, and one very vague attempt at doing so, made several excuses, failed to show up countless times and inundated me with emails containing pages and pages of what I consider to be lame excuses and nothing but sheer self-aggrandisement, so much so, that I have now had to block him from my email account due to the anguish and mental stress it was causing.  I believe it was an effort to wear me down so as to tire me of it, in the hope that I’d forget the whole thing. Last week he offered me 500 euros to basically shut up and go away, which goes nowhere near paying for it all to be pulled up and redone properly, as no professional  will go anywhere near it otherwise. All I want to do now is to try and prevent him if possible, from inflicting the same on any other trusting person.

 

On his website he talks of ‘teams’ of British and Spanish skilled tradesmen, none of which I have ever clapped eyes on - only him (and his partner on one visit, who incidentally says he most definitely is NOT his partner, just an occasional helper) The very strong impression I have got and in my opinion, he really doesn’t know what he is doing or even how to sort out the mess he has made.

If you are new to Spain and looking for workmen to carry out renovations, you may want to think again about the fancy websites, they tell you nothing about the people in question - only that they can speak English and promote themselves.  They speak a language you can easily understand - It seems easier, but it could turn out to be far more difficult than you ever thought.

Although you’ll need a reasonable level of Spanish (and Andalucian Spanish at that) or someone willing to translate, you might want to search out the local builders.

 

For the rest of the work on my house I have used local builders who were recommended by my new neighbours and friends here. These people don’t have websites, they don’t need them. They work from personal recommendations and they’re always busy. If they make a mistake, they put things right with no fuss at all - they know it’s their job! They depend on their reputation NOT advertisements and a self- promoting website.

 

Don’t be in a hurry, it’s easy to get carried away with your new house and be too eager to get started on your dream home as I was - be patient. Wait a while and ask around, speak to neighbours and other people you meet over time and get personal recommendations. Go and see (in person if you can) the standard of work that has been done. Just ask yourself - If you saw my terrace, would you use these people?

 

Also, make sure the work on your property will be done by those whose work you have already seen. The work you see may have been subcontracted while the company take credit for it and those are the photos they may show you. - Exactly who are these ‘teams of skilled tradesmen’?

 

Be at the property to supervise what is happening. See that they are doing what you want and what they said they would do - when it’s done it’s often too late. It is easy for some people to manipulate and twist to their own advantage what has been written and said - this is often where their skills really lie.

 

Don’t part with your money easily! I haven’t paid any deposit to a Spanish workman, builder, or carpenter  as yet. In my experience, they do their work and when they’ve finished and you’re happy, you pay the bill. If it’s a bigger job with costly materials, you pay for materials or some deposit would be required, but certainly not 60%. And ALWAYS see and inspect IN PERSON any work before you pay up.

 

The photos that you see is what was done and what I paid Granada Property Reforms for - that is their standard of work and unfortunately it’s what I am still left with. Go to Flickr.com and then add    photos/90310703@N08/