Hello, I'd be grateful for your thoughts about geometra's fees

normally the technicians provide a rough estimate of the total cost of the entire operation, including design costs, taxes etc., and a rough idea of the costs to be incurred for the restoration. these second costs normally include the costs of the materials and the company that carries out the work - Of course it is a rough estimate, not very detailed, i.e. with the possibility of an increase or decrease of 10/15% - To get an estimate precise, an in-depth analysis is needed, based on the measurements of the property - external and internal - this procedure is called <survey> and generally has a cost, which certainly does not include municipal taxes...-

his 20% extension refers to 20% of what total surface area of your house in Tuscany? -in which area of Tuscany is your house located? - Is it possible that the technician is a novice? that is, that <someone> has informed Him, that you are a <naive foreigner>, ready to put his hand into his wallet...-

Thanks for your reply Ugo. You're right, they need to do surveys etc to get a more precise idea of costs, but I am hoping they can provide an approximate estimate (your example of 10-15% difference is what I thought) before doing the surveys so we know whether we can even afford it...

If you have problems with this surveyor, you can find some here, which my clients and I can recommend

> https://www.lifeinitaly.it/Servizi_Immobiliari/professionisti.php

Hi Fran,

I am an architect working in north Italy ………unfortunately a bit too far from Tuscany to be of help to you. I went to Sheffield Uni. and qualified there – so your home town is special to me.

Anyway I have over the years taken over from other architects or geometras who turned out to be “bad uns”, and the clients looked me up and asked me to take over from their bad “tecnico”. The “bad” geometras or architects have ALWAYS been recommended to the client by the Estate Agent. I don’t mean that all Estate Agents always recommends bad professionals, but it does seem to happen often.

Anyway from what I can understand you need a ball park figure for the whole project before starting, which any local professional should be able to give you at the drop of a hat – but it will be a rough cost e.g. €2000/m2 and not be a super accurate cost estimate, but give you an pretty good idea of the cost range. To be honest I cannot tell from your description if the Geometra’s fee is too high, because if it includes applying for Building Permits that is a big chunk of work and responsibility which might be ok as a fee offer, especially if you are in protected zone. I would need to see the Geometra’s fee offer to understand best. If you want you could send it to me. Let me know – if you want me to have a look at the offer. But at any rate it is always good to get two or three offers from other professionals and ideally get recommnedations for professionals from other people in your area.

While you mentioned being too far away to assist directly, would you be open to providing consultations or advice via email or phone calls as the project progresses?