In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Pigro,
Thanks very much for this!!!!! Will send you an offline note with specifics.
Cheers
Antinello
Builder
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 10:31In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hi Antinello, I live in Cottanello, which is in Lazio i know but i can cycle to Calvi in an hour so it is really close to you, and i used a guy named Fabizio franzetti, and he lives, BY TRUCK about 20 mins from you but he also does not speak English, but has done quite a bit of work for English speaking people in this area, Hadrian.
Aldo who owns & runs Pandolfi (the local bar) is reputedly the best, but most expensive builder in the area. I've seen his work, which [B]is[/B] very good, and I've seen his preventivi (which [B]are[/B] very expensive) - but Aldo speaks no English.
We use Vincenzo Schiaretta as our Geometra, and we also get him to project manage loads of stuff (big & small) for us when we're not there ourselves. He uses a variety of builders, with a mixture of Italian foremen and italian/albanian workers. Vincenzo's studio is right in the town:
05032 Calvi Dell'Umbria (TR)
19, VIA NARNENSE
tel: 0744 710465
(his office is on the second floor)
He is an absolute gem in terms of his reliability, honesty and 'old style' attention to detail - and his charges are very fair too - but again he speaks no English. His wife Lorena does (speak good English) - which may be a way forward if your need is great enough, but she's just had a baby so I doubt she'll be in the mood for translation work. We communicate with Vincenzo exclusively in Italian (poorly in my case, but I'm bailed out by Mrs Pigro who is much more profficient).
There is another geometra who has a studio just out of the town near the pasatore (I don't know him - other than having had to tell him to take his big advertisment down from the fence around my property where he cheekily mounted it when I wasn't in residence!!) and I've forgotten his name, but I don't think he speaks English either.
Can't really help on the gardener front as we are only really 'keeping the weeds at bay' in our place pending proper landscaping further down the line, and we have got some very good neighbours who oblige on that front. We have just started using an old fellow called Gino to do odd jobs (like digging up roots of large brush etc.) I've read with horror the prices other people on this forum are paying for gardening work in Umbria - Gino is 7 Euro per hour, and while he is retired and was never a professional gardener, our neighbours supervise & direct him on our behalf which I think will work well. I'm going out for the last week in September so I can let you know how Gino pans out if you're interested.
Give me a bit more detail on where you're located, whether you're there full time or just have a holiday home, what size of garden you have, and what you're after in terms of building work (and your budget) - then I can maybe ask around and see if I can come up with any other contacts who can help.
All that said, I'm only a holiday home owner there myself and I haven't really got a lot of contacts, I rely on my neighbours, my Geometra and the local tradesmen, all of whom are fab.