BUILDING A HOUSE THE GREEK WAY - PART 2
STARTING THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
Finding a project
manager and builders
Once you have obtained planning permission, you can consider
starting construction. I always advise Paxos Property Agency clients
to appoint a project manager to ensure that the construction goes as
smoothly as possible, that delays are kept to a minimum and that
they get the best possible value for money. I can put you in touch
with a number of experienced project managers here on Paxos and I
shall be appointing a project manager to oversee the construction of
our house, although I shall of course also be working with him.
You should then discuss and agree with your project manager whether
to appoint a builder for the entire construction or organise
separate builders for each stage, which is what the Greeks usually
do and which usually works out cheaper. Your decision in this will
most likely be influenced by how quickly you wish your house to be
completed and whether you have all the necessary finance available
at the outset. You should however be aware that, even if you decide
to build your house in stages, you will need to arrange for a high
proportion of the total finance required to be available by the time
that you lay the foundations and build the concrete superstructure.
It may however mean that at the end of the day you may well own the
property outright and not have to be concerned about mortgage
repayments. We have chosen to build our house in stages, the Greek
way.
Clearing the land and creating an access
The first stage of the construction process involves clearing the
land and creating a suitable access, if this does not already exist.
We have already had our trees trimmed to open up the view and make
them healthier, so that by the time the house is completed in a
couple of years’ time, they will be a good shape and will not pose
any threat in strong winds! Fortunately, we do not have to worry
about creating or improving access, as our land as it is immediately
adjacent to one of the quieter roads above Loggos.
Excavations
The next stage is to arrange for the site to be excavated. It is not
always possible to start this immediately on account of the ‘noise
rules’ that prohibit heavy digging and pile-driving work between May
and October. However, once completed, much of the other building
work can continue throughout the year subject only to delays caused
by excessively wet or hot weather.
We are hoping that the excavation work for our house will start in a
couple of weeks time and expect this to take a week or so. This
should then enable us to get the pile-driving completed, the
foundations laid and the concrete superstructure in place before
May, so that the building work can continue over the summer.
However, if we are unable to complete the excavations and the
pile-driving before May, then we shall not be able to start work
again until October.
I will let you know how we get on in future editions of Paxos News
when, in addition to ‘Excavations’ and ‘Pile-driving and
foundations’, I shall also cover all the future stages of
construction.
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