Five weeks in and the demolition job is over and done with. The whole house has been gutted, the espigueiro taken away (we have a boa vista!) and by the end of April the first of the trenches for the foundations had been dug: It looks enormous but it’s deceptive. In fact the two bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms on this ground floor are going to be rather small, but what we will have is a much greater “living outside” area….
They say a week is a long time in politics. Well, the same could be said for the house: 2 weeks in and it’s completely gone! Okay, not gone but really only three and a half walls remain. Builders? Demolishers! The two men and their crane have slowly but surely taken away the roof, chimney, floor, inner walls and one outer wall, the extension and the huge pile of enormous stones that had supported the wood burning oven. They have…
We were down in Casa Azul sorting things out there when the builder (alive and well, thank goodness) messaged us to say work would begin on Tuesday. So that morning Richard walked up to the house with Betty to see what was happening: nothing. It seems that they would start after lunch… Not long after 1.30 pm a couple of blokes in a lorry turned up as did the builder in his van. We spent some time with them all…
So, aside from all the council people and estate agents, there are three main people we have had to deal with: a lawyer, an architect and a builder. The first two we found locally (near Casa Azul that is) but for the builder we needed someone up where the new house was. So how on earth could we find a suitable person? How could we find someone who could turn an old granite house into a home we liked? Someone…
When we got the builder’s licence it was such good news. We were then able to pick up from the Council a special log book he has to use, and a poster which he needs to put up outside the work with the official info on it (needless to say neither of these things were done with Casa Azul). We handed these over, and the builder replied: Great, we just need to get the water and electricity installed. Now neither…
Three years. Three long years from buying the house and getting first planning permission, and then the builder’s licence. One day the memory of the endless meetings and phone calls (and sometimes confrontations) with lawyers, architects, various council officials and builder will dim and we’ll feel it’s all been worth it. Not to mention of course the endless documents and forms to fill in and sign. Now we have the updated quote (another 25%, please) and the builder’s agreement to…