Had enough of builders giving over inflated prices?.
Charging you for things that just do not need doing?
Then contact us for any of the following services.
Select from below the section you would like to know about.
Electricity. Painting and decorating. Plumbing. Kitchen fitting. Bathrooms. Windows and external doors. Internal doors and carpentry. General repairs. Complete property reform.
Complete property reform.
Bought a property in bad condition, or really dated and the property really could do with a complete reform throughout?.
Our team only take on a maximum of 5 complete reforms a year, to ensure we give time to do the highest quality of work and finish, with video conferences with the client each step of the way, photo and video updates every few days so the client has peace of mind that the work is being carried out correctly and exactly as they want it.
So on a full property reform, how is the cost worked out?
A budget will be done for a fixed price of labour for electrcs and plumbing including materials, and another fixed quote for the labour for the rest of the job, if no changes are made to the original work quoted, at the same time our project manager will calculate what the materials will cost. Should the client agree to the budget, a written contract is drawn up with all the work that will be carried out and the approx costs of the materials. The client will pay for the materials as bought, should the price of the materials rise, then obviously the price of the total job will also, but if we manage to find the materials at a lower price, then the total price will be less than budgeted.
Plumbing and electrics quotes will be fixed with materials included.
Do I need permissions for the work?
In 99% of the cases, yes, and you will have to pay the Townhall taxes for the building license, but in the case of rustic villas, which are urban villas situated on rustic land, the Townhall cannot and will not give permissions, so in this case you will have to do the work without a license, but if reported for noise by a neighbour to the police, then you may get a fine for working without a license.
We are currently doing a total reform of a very large apartment in Gandia, and as we are changing the interal layout, it was decided by the owners that all internal walls would be removed, and new ones rebuilt.
Firstly a floor plan was drawn up of the original layout by our company, and a new floor plan of how the apartment would be when finished.
As you will see, many of the external walls will be built with a cavity, with Rock wool insulation installed, also virtually all of the doors will be sliding, inside the walls using the system called pocket doors.
Stage 1. Demolition.
Once the permissions from the town had been applied for, demolition could start, this involved virtually knocking all the internal walls of the apartment down, and removing all the kitchen, bathrooms, doors, windows, old electrics and plumbing.
Stage 2. Services.
This property had very little KW´s of electricity, very low water pressure, and a small leak affecting the neighbours property, so our team took on the task of resolving all the issues that this property had, a new feed of electricity was connected to with 10mm cables, the walls of the balcony were broken to find the leak and pipes replaced, a new general tap was installed in the basement to sort out the water pressure, and a new fusebox and tap installed to give water and electricity so the work could continue.
Stage 3. Materials and deliveries.
It is our project managers job to make sure that all materials needed and delivered on time to make sure the reform is carried out in the required time frame, in this particular reform, due to it being a 5th floor apartment, it was decided to rent the services of a lift company, two seperate dates where set for using the lift, the first to lift up all the plasterboard, metal profiles etc, and the second time to lift up specialized made to measure windows with Guardian Sun glass.
Stage 4. Windows and balcony doors.
The windows in this apartment were not energy efficient, they were aluminium frames with no double glazing, our project manager sourced from a local window company, very high quality PVC windows, rated as “Certified Passive House”, at an excellent price.
As the windows were to be installed in external walls, the frames for the new cavity walls were built prior to installing the windows, tubes installed for the electrics, Rock wool insulation installed for noise, and also hot and cold, and then plasterboard installed. This property is located on a busy road, so the largest window wall was covered in two layers of 15mm plasterboard, and now there is no external noise heard from inside the apartment when the windows are closed.
Stage 5. Hallway.
This apartment is being reformed from the entrance hall, to the area which will be the new lounge, kitchen and bathroom first, although now the rear part of the house has has the windows and balcony doors installed.
For this reason, the pre installation of electric tubes have been put in the walls, from the main fusebox to the front part of the apartment, balcony doors installed in the hallway balcony, new false wall built between the hall and the neighbour, this new wall has been insulated with Rock wool, and plaster boarded, the ceilings will be installed at a later point in the build process.
Progress.
Our project manager and materials buyer is onsite 6 days a week, to ensure all is going to plan, to sort out any queries, and also to get the days shopping list of any materials that our team may need, all is purchased when needed to make sure there is no excess when the project is finished. Everything purchased, each invoice and receipt is put in an excel spreadsheet to make sure the project comes in on budget, and what money is spent and where.
You will receive daily updates with videos and photos as the work progresses, including video calls when needed by you or our project manager.
All materials purchased will be in the client´s name, with their NIE number, should you decide to sell the property later, all the materials bought, the value is tax deductable.
Progress update.
As the owners of the property decided to have a gas hob for cooking, and air contioning installed, a specialist and registered gas and air conditioning plumber was contracted, to show our team where he needed the floors and walls cut ready for the pipes to be installed, also for ventilation tubes in the walls, by law if using natural gas, the vent hole must be at the top of the wall, and if bottled gas, at the bottom, to future proof this property, our team installed both, so in the event that natural gas is ever available in the street where this property is located, then the owners have the choice which to use.
Progress update.
The original floors of the apartment where not level, a laser level was used to find the high and low points, and where needed, a self leveling compound was used to make the floor perfectly level prior to laying the tiles. As most of the new tiles were put on top of exisiting, also a special flexible adhesive was used in the areas that we did not use self leveling compound.
Progress update.
The custom kitchen designed by our project manager and designer, was installed by him, and then all covered with cardboard waiting for the company who install the granite to come, measure, and finally install.
Kitchen update.
Within a very short amount of time, the company who supply and install the granite worktops etc, came and installed the worktops for the U shaped kitchen, including matching granite window sill, back splash with custom made holes for sockets and switches, and for the top and sides of the island. As this is a bespoke kitchen, a few modifications to the granite were done on site, to give a perfect flawless finish.
Innovative type granite worktop.
You will notice that this kitchen has been installed with a new and innovative type granite worktop, its textured to the touch, easy to clean and maintain, and comes supplied and installed at a fraction of the cost of ground and polished granite. This is one of the first kitchens in this area to have a island installed with this type of granite.
If you would like a quote for granite of this type, or larger photos showing the texture etc, please send us an email, with your telephone number, stating the design of the kitchen, measurements, location where your property is, and we will be happy to give you a quote.
If your property is located close to Gandia, please contact us to make a previous appointment to visit this apartment we are currently reforming and see the kitchen and granite.
Also now we can supply and install for kitchens and bathrooms, the latest technology “Clean sockets and light switches”, a perfect finish for both rooms, as you will see from the photo are very modern, the insert of the socket is flush on the outside hence easy to clean, and when the plug is inserted, the insert goes inside, these types of sockets and light switches have to be ordered well in advance, they are not cheap, but if you are looking for that special look for your kitchen or bathroom, its worth spending a few extra euros. As this is a new product, it is only currently available in either mat coloured black or white.
Progress update.
All the joints of the walls were taped including corners of the ceilings and walls, and plastered and sanded to a fine finish, next was to install the shower base, tile the bathroom, and install all the electrical cables and sockets for this side of the apartment. The new pocket doors were installed and aligned, pocket doors fit inside the walls, leaving a smooth clean design look, and not taking any space from any of the rooms.
Progress update – preparation and painting.
When it comes to painting, to get the perfect finish, if the property is empty like this one, we prefer to spray paint the walls and ceilings, using this technique, leaves a smooth and untextured finish. Using a roller and paint brush to paint, leaves one texture where the roller has been used, and another where the paint brush has been used in the corners, spray painting there is no textured finish. Although the actual painting with a spay gun is quicker, the preparation takes a lot longer.
All was covered with cardboard and plastics including the newly fitted skirting boards, and firstly the ceilings were painted and left to dry. After leaving a couple of days for the ceiling paint to dry, the walls were taped 3.6cm from the ceiling, a special sensitive type masking tape was put, using a laser level to get perfect level lines, and plastics put to stop any of the paint for the walls getting on the ceiling when being painted. The reason why we used this special tape, was to give a different visual effect to the rooms, and also to have smooth crisp lines between the white paint of the ceilings.
A couple of days later the walls were spray painted in a colour paint called Oxford River.
