Hi everyone Well after 41 years of

DavidLlewellyn Image
10/29/2017 - 08:57

Hi everyone Well after 41 years of marriage we have finally done the second thing we promised we’d do on our wedding night, the first was a trip on the Nile for our 25th anniversary, and bought a house to retire to in Italy. The house is in a hamlet called Pili which is in the commune di Atessa in Abruzzo with fabulous views all round the house. However there’s a lot of work to do to bring the house up to date and suitable to use as a bed and breakfast, which is what we want to have in the next 18 months, but we’re having problems finding tradesmen to help us with the building work. We need a plumber to install a new boiler to heat the house and to do the first fix for the 2 new bathrooms and sort out the water for  the existing 2 bathrooms and kitchen. Then we need an electrician to look at rewiring the house hence this post. Does anyone know and can recommend someone for either of these trades? We will also need a builder in the future as we have some windows that need replacing and some new doors to be created. Planning permissions are in hand via our architect so all legal and above board. English speakers are not especially  required as I do speak Italian fairly fluently! I’m also a plumber and electrician in the uk So I know  what we want but I’m not keen to do the work myself as I’m not registered in Italy to do this sort of work. David 

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Hi David and welcome. You picked a lovely region, but not quite the right province :)
I would think again about doing the work yourself if you are planning on staying, I'm sure you can (at a cost) get it certified if need be. If you have not already done so I'd look up costs of heating here (yes, I'm sure you will have). Failing all that, have a look for a more local forum, as well as this one of course!

Bunterboy you may be right as we’ve had quotes for the Plumbing, Electrical and building work and they add up to nearly what we paid for the house! The problem is that to drive my truck to Atessa and back will cost upwards of £1000, I would loose two -three weeks worth of work every time I come out to do the work which is another £5k lost in turnover. All of which is worrying. But I have to say that 27,000€ to change 4 windows, 3 doors and to turn 2 windows into doors strikes me as a bit much! And this is work that I don’t do as I’m a plumber and electrician not a builder. On our next trip, the 15th Nov, we plan to meet some more tradesmen let’s hope their prices are a little more affordable. Or does the Italian building trade think we English are minted. I certainly am not. All I want to do is leave England before Brixit really cocks the country up! 

David I doubt it would go down well here if I posted a link to the local Abruzzo forum. If you have not found i, have a search, there are a number of people on this local that live in or around your area. Even getting down to a regional level would help as I think you do need more quotes!

Your problem s that many Italians think the Brits are all money and luittle sense - some are of course, and prices reflect this when given.Talk to locals, and use local [recomended ] tradesmen.Last job on my house [couple of years ago] - done by friend of neighbour.  Neighbour thought that quote from his own uncle was too high and got a verbal from his friend as well.Job entailed remove 3 internal unsafe glass panel doors to bedroom and replace with solid, plus making good., replace 3 external double glazed windows, replace double glazed patio doors and side panels, kitchen exterior double glazed door and make one external doorway into window [double glazed] with a new wall below.  all widow frames etc in woodLeft him the keys - came back 6 weeks later - perfext job [neighbours wife had popped in and given it a proper clean after the men had finished their clean up!] - cost about 11,500.00Euros [cash of course].  never acyually met the builder at all - all done on trust.  Thats how its done in Italy