Building a home
A sense of adventure, a certain amount of courage, and a willingness to accept some risk to see dreams through to reality are all traits common to expatriates. Coincidentally, these are exactly the traits shared by people who build their own homes. Lifeline survey results indicate that more than one in twenty of us have built or are in the process of building our own homes; a far higher proportion than any sample of the general population.
Despite being willing to take a risk, optimists have to be firmly grounded when taking on a project such as building a home. The key is to ensure that your dreams are not made of hearsay and hope. Don’t listen to opinions, get facts. People may tell you what you want to hear, but don’t let optimism decide your actions. After years of building boom, there is a mass feeling of shock as the nation suddenly realises that the land has been raped by avid building. The hangover of the developer’s debauchery is a clamp down on illegal construction and even demolition. Where once a blind eye was turned as buildings magically grew in size and escrituras bore little relation to reality, such tolerance is becoming less politically acceptable.
The aftermath of the building boom has had further ramifications for the home builder. The building industry is working at partial capacity, and that means that the advantage is in the buyer’s hands. More competitive quotes may help to keep costs down, but some construction companies may be balancing on a financial knife edge. It has become more important than ever to thoroughly vet builders who are contracted to complete a project. Their problems will become yours if progress becomes slower, or even stops completely.
Andreas Betancourt is a well known architect based in the south of Tenerife, educated in the UK and Canada, with strong views on builders! “Builders can ruin a good design,” he says, with feeling. “You put in so much effort and think ahead to get things right, and then the builder changes everything.” He brings to light a common problem that plagues many projects, where builders are too set in their ways to use different techniques and materials from those that they are used to. Over his many years of designing all sorts of projects from housing to shopping centres, Andreas has had more experience than most with many of the firms on the island. “If you design a rectangle, then that is what it should be, with 90 degree angles at each corner! A straight wall should be… straight. Some builders cannot achieve even this.” Andreas clearly has some strong opinions.
But Andreas’ criticism is not universal. He has experienced a wide range of builders, from the very bad to the very good. “Terranova have constantly impressed me,” he confirms. “I have worked with them on a number of projects over the last eight years, and they build to a much higher level of quality than you would expect to find locally. There is good attention to detail, and construction quality is very high. They also have all the trades under one roof, which means no problems with contractors blaming each other if something is not right.” Andreas pauses, and speaks from the heart, “And very important for me is that they respect the work of the architect. If I put something on the plan: that is what they build.”
Terranova, a British run building company have roots that go back through over two decades of construction to Bristol. In Tenerife, they have successfully completed a wide range of projects from a theme park to commercial centres and individual villas, and have the resources to take a project from a plot, through planning, permissions, construction and completion.
Terranova, TenerifeTelephone: 619 024 835Address: Visit Terranova's offices beside Puerto Colon, in Playa de Las Americas at 15-17 in the Aguamarina Commercial Centre. Send an Email |
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