2205 information request

We were recently exposed to "A Place in the Sun" etc. on Sky TV and became addicted, infected, inspired, and seduced. Drove down to Tuscany, visited a real estate office......
and the transaction closes in a couple of weeks. We ended up with a 700 year old place needing renovation, of course, in the area NE of Aulla.
Will be asking for recommendations/referrals for architects, builders, plumbers, electicians roofers,etc. from this general area; Licciana Nardi, Fivizzano, Villafranca, Aulla, etc. Also DIY stores in the region. In other words............any info available on the process of permitting, remodeling/renovation, experiences, etc. from some who have survived.
Thanking you all in advance and Happy Holidays.
Le due castagne

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due castagne

Category
Building/Renovation

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 12/25/2005 - 08:59

Welcome!

If you're in Varano, then you're about 5 minutes (as the crow flies!) from us............. feel free to PM for any queries!

The Luni 'crew' are growing :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 12/26/2005 - 05:09

We bought a place just outside Villafranca and completed in June 2004. To all intents and purposes in was 'habitable' but we have ended up doing just about everything to it - a whole internal wall removed; new electrics; new plumbing; external gas cylinder installed; new kitchen; new bathroom; roof renovation...... We started the renovation process going with a well known, English speaking company locally, and they project managed things. The long and short of it is that it costed a lot of money and we weren't happy - for various reasons. The 'renovation contract' is a bit of a red herring from our point of view at least. Far from giving us security it actually afforded no obvious benefits at all - perhaps this might have been different if we were prepared to go to the Italian legal process for recompense (our 60-day completion took 8 months which should have yielded 50k Euros per day penalty!!!). We are now using a company of ex-pats (Irish/Cornish!!) who are based in Licciana Nardi and although their service doesn't 'sound' as thorough we are actually finding it much better in practice. They are in touch every few days by email and are very conscientious. Have a look at their website [url]www.italysimply.com[/url] and have a chat to them.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/03/2006 - 12:04

I am a building conservator, let me know if you have any questions about historic repair, post it on the site, or send me a PM,
good luck!
David