Spain House Build - Building Started

Went back over on Friday after work. Was good to see more continued progress and got there in the daylight and get some better photos

Crazy how high it feels, especially from the ground where there is a big step up to the actual base

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Got a meeting with the builder/PM tomorrow morning just to check a few things. Mainly locations of drains/piping. I get that there's been 2 separate teams working on this and i'm sure some things are fixable, but the toilet pipe isn't central to the window as per the designs and it feels a bit of a miss. Presumably the current builder will say the walls are as per the plan and it's the previous builder who didn't mount the pipe correctly, but it's going to look a bit odd

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Other things are mainly around external wall dimensions and how far out they'll come. I want assurances the covered terrace will be extended to keep the usable area the same rather than losing ~30cm because of the increase of wall thickness.
 
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Taking shape again. The internal walls are also now up and we met with the builder/project manager to discuss a few extra details for landscaping/fencing. Glad we did as prior conversations haven't been relayed to them. They seem pretty thorough which is reassuring and questioned some of the things we were asking for and gave explanations why they felt something different would work better which was good.


Now onto the problems. I asked them about the new external dimensions, and they've stated that the house is only to be built with single brick and insulation on the inside. This is 100% not what was agreed and i'm pretty ****** off about it because i've already accepted a change of plan from Ytong blocks to double skin clay brick. They explained that the house would still be energy rating A but that's not the issue for me.
The other concern is that the bricks being used in the house don't look to be as good quality as those in the garage. There's a lot of broken/chipped blocks. I was letting it slide because i figured overall the impact would be minimal since there were 2 layers of brick and i was just happy to see progress, but i'm now left with the feeling they're skimping on materials because of the delays and price increases which shouldn't be my problem. If i wanted to build with single skin red brick i'd have gone with a much cheaper builder in the area.

It feels a little like they're now rushing to get things done and hoping that i just accept everything because we're desperate for a house. I've called our estate agent who agrees it's a **** take and asked if i wanted him to ring on my behalf which i appreciated. I think emotions can easily make situations like this worse and especially with language barriers there can be a misunderstanding.

Lets see where things end up.
 
Martynt74 said:
It feels a little like they're now rushing to get things done and hoping that i just accept everything because we're desperate for a house. I've called our estate agent who agrees it's a **** take and asked if i wanted him to ring on my behalf which i appreciated. I think emotions can easily make situations like this worse and especially with language barriers there can be a misunderstanding.

Lets see where things end up.
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Hope it works out.

Know what you mean with the language too. I can read it pretty well but catching the spoken word in conversation is far more difficult
 
You are putting me off the idea of ever building my own house or doing serious renovations honestly. Its ridiculous in this day and age that something as simple as building a house is such a miserable, expensive and long process. That being said, one day it will all be complete, you will have a lovely house and you will remember how awful it was but you will also think "it wasn't thaaaaaaat bad" because humans are very good at downplaying events in the past.

Figners crossed your estate agent can get on top of this for you.
 
fez said:
You are putting me off the idea of ever building my own house or doing serious renovations honestly. Its ridiculous in this day and age that something as simple as building a house is such a miserable, expensive and long process. That being said, one day it will all be complete, you will have a lovely house and you will remember how awful it was but you will also think "it wasn't thaaaaaaat bad" because humans are very good at downplaying events in the past.

Figners crossed your estate agent can get on top of this for you.
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Yeah, it's been insanely frustrating, and i've overlooked a lot as the developer has clearly had issues with staff turnover etc (although i think a lot is his own making), but this now feels a step in the direction of us being screwed rather than just experiencing small delays but ultimately believing we would get the correct final outcome.

The plus side is that i now have a contact for 2 separate project managers within the developers firm, along with a direct contact to the 3rd party builder overseeing the work.
 
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Also dug out a message where it clearly states the revisions are not cheaper because of the cost of laying 2 levels of bricks and fitting insulation inside the cavity vs what i was told this morning around there being a single brick wall with insulation and then plasterboard.
 
... going over to spain on thursday, buying a ready-made one at some point in the next 6 months .... no way I'd be brave enough to self-build!

Good on you @Martynt74 hope it goes well .... if you need an ear to bend on any technical/regs type issues let me know, up to a point at least. I'm an architect.
 
turbot1984 said:
... going over to spain on thursday, buying a ready-made one at some point in the next 6 months .... no way I'd be brave enough to self-build!

Good on you @Martynt74 hope it goes well .... if you need an ear to bend on any technical/regs type issues let me know, up to a point at least. I'm an architect.
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Awesome. Hopefully in your industry you'll be able to spot things. Where abouts are you looking?

There's definitely to picking up a new build that's 2-3yrs old. Generally it's a saving over being the original promotor and there's a decent chance some of the landscaping will have been developed.

turbot1984 said:
@Martynt74 ... so you have handed the plan right? bedroom 1 is other side to 3D image? ... probably missed all the intervening design development as just picked up this interesting thread.
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The 3D image should be right, but tricky to get the full layout. This is the final design


turbot1984 said:
you could box out to get it symetrical?
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Yeah, the guy this morning has already said it won't be an issue. We're only talking maybe 4" but it's enough to look weird. It'd be better if it was further out of alignment so it looked intentional, as opposed to now where it looks like it should be central but just ****** up!
 
turbot1984 said:
inland in the Murcia/Alicante/Valencia triangle .... staying in Torrevieja for 5 days, quite like the place to be fair. Love Murcia as well, went last month.
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Ah not far from me at all then (La Romana, just inland from Elche)

One thing i'd mention is proximity to decent roads. Our last rental was in Hondon de los Frailes and it just felt a bit of a hassle to get anywhere as you had a ~20 minute drive just to get to a dual carriage way to take you anywhere. Where we are in La Romana that's cut to closer to 10 minutes and when you're having to do it on every journey it makes a huge difference. Pinoso/Yecla are also really popular but again you've got a windy country road to get to the nearest main road.

There are a few towns which offer the same level of nature/quiet, but with much better access.


I'd also hugely consider Busot. I loved it, but we wanted a bit more land/openness than it afforded and that's generally centred around a housing development outside a small mountain village. Brilliant mix of country living whilst keeping really good access and only ~15 mins to the beach at El Campello.


Whilst you're there. If you like Pizza head to Umore. Not joking, it's the best pizza i've had in my life and the Pistachio lava cake is out of this world.

Umore – Autentica Pizza Italiana

umore.es umore.es
 
Martynt74 said:
It'd be better if it was further out of alignment so it looked intentional, as opposed to now where it looks like it should be central but just ****** up!
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unless you are standing over them with a drawing it goes t*ts up 9 times out of 10 .... i just don't want all that hassle after 30 odd years of all that hassle ;)
 
Single skin with insulation on the inside is inferior to a cavity wall. If that wasnt the plan then.. Cavity walls are normally built together with ties as you go as well so its not just a case of knocking up a another wall.
 
turbot1984 said:
Pizza? In Spain? :cry:
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Honestly, once you eat there you'll never want to go anywhere else!

200sols said:
Single skin with insulation on the inside is inferior to a cavity wall. If that wasnt the plan then.. Cavity walls are normally built together with ties as you go as well so its not just a case of knocking up a another wall.
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That's a good point and not something i'd thought about. Half expecting the developer to just go to ground at this point
 
Martynt74 said:
Awesome. Hopefully in your industry you'll be able to spot things. Where abouts are you looking?

There's definitely to picking up a new build that's 2-3yrs old. Generally it's a saving over being the original promotor and there's a decent chance some of the landscaping will have been developed.



The 3D image should be right, but tricky to get the full layout. This is the final design




Yeah, the guy this morning has already said it won't be an issue. We're only talking maybe 4" but it's enough to look weird. It'd be better if it was further out of alignment so it looked intentional, as opposed to now where it looks like it should be central but just ****** up!
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so what have they told you re completion date? On track?
 
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