House renovation

Hi Swissfi, and welcome to the community. It will be very difficult to advise you without knowing how difficult it would be to connect both mains water and electricity to the mill. My advice would be to contact a local "geometra" and ask for an estimate before you do anything. Check the price you are been asked to pay against the cost of other properties with all services connected.A couple of years ago we purchased a watermill in Bagni di Lucca, but it was partly restored and it had all the services connected. We only had to do the mains gas connection as we did not want to have bottled gas. To have this connection done we paid about 700 euros with a gas metre installed; however, access was already available and our "geometra" took care of organising everything for us.I invite you to join our "Northern Tuscany" group as members are very helpful.Best wishes 

HiBased on personal experience I woudl stronglt recommend you get a preventivo for the connection costs - we bought a house to restore which had had electricity to it but which had been empty for 30/40 years.  We were totally shocked by the €15,000 connection for electricity - we had no idea and it was only when we were going through bills did we see it - our geometra had not warned us of it. Chris

Our old house/ruin had previously had electricity and there were old cables visible.  However we were told we needed an old bill to prove previous supply and visible cables were not enough.  We were charged €1,000 to reconnect as they insisted on changing the old poles that had brought the previous supply (and indeed still supplied the house further along!!)  Water was still connected and a tap outside still provided water so this was less expensive. 

Water can be really expensive- our local consorzio (which will be different to yours) charges €2000 per linear metre to bury a pipe to bring a contattore (meter) to your house- you will also need to check whether you need to request the rights for your water to cross the land of any neighbouring properties. This is another really grey area as there is no legal requirement for you to have to pay for this right but if a neighbour (or neighbours) chooses to ask you for this you may end up having to pay a fortune for it. We've just been through a nightmare 4 years sorting out getting our water pipe buried and personally in future I would stay well away from any property that didn't have water very nearby & didn't need it to cross anyone else's land

a lot of the comments above to me at least show the importance of who you go through your project with... ok its impossible to know unless you live here who's who and whats what...so no blame attached ...just that if you are intending a large project in a remote area.... think at least twice...i have often said in the past that i would always go for a tired looking on the face of it modern building... with falling plaster off the outside walls and often very square shaped... generally due to grants during the last twenty years or so with good roofs if a rural property... and surprisingly priced at pretty well the same sort of level as rustic looking ruins....for me these properties represent maybe the best value.. check that they have meter thick walls... forget about internal dividing walls... they will often have mains gas... for sure electric water and drainage...what it means is that you get a semi habitable property with very few planning change problems ...often work can be done via a DIA... services can be re connected easily... any compromesso based on the owners providing you with all the details to do the change over...insisting the agent does this if yout Italian cannot handle it... and the you update with no probs regarding the certification to get a connection... the meter thick walls once uncovered reveal good quality stone work... pulling out gold aluminium double glazed windows and replacing with better quality nicer looking modern alternatives... etc etc...have done this twice here now... revealed vaulted ceiling brick arches and cut stonework under tired plaster... never ever bought a house without a good roof.. and structure... never had to apply for full planning and apart from installing a brand new mains gas supply never paid for any new service connections...  and basically the houses underneath the sort of sixties obsession with stucco plaster or whatever look [pretty good once you remove and re-point as any rebuilt pile of stones... without much of the hassle and for sure without the extorionate costssaying that most of what i have read here apart from sebastiano's post shows that unless you have good local contacts and a good knowledge of Italian law it will seem to me at least to cost you loadsthink a lot more... when you start looking...  the ugly place below the modern surface can be better... look for clues on whats there below...odd shaped ceilings...wide walls and any history on the date of the property being built.. an extra 10-20k  can save you a lot more in the future and often if you are planning to work on a property yourself its so much easier removing rather than starting from scratch in all ways .. but even more with bureaucratic hold ups or service suppliers ...

Strongly agree with Sign Adiriatico.   I built my small house from scatch in less than 8 months but only becsause I bought the property from a cousin who lived next door and was able to keep things moving while I remained in the USA.   Most folks who are more satisfied have bought places that are habitable which allows you to have a place to stay while you slowing go through the renovation process. Senza Bidet