½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

I can only talk about the UK, England to be more specific. There is no obligation in England to employ any sort of tecnico abilitato to present a proposal to the local Council, either for planning or building regulation purposes - the client is able to simply do it himself. (There will be extra information, structural, geological, environmental, archaeological etc etc which will need 'professional' reports - so it is usually not ecomomic to 'do it yourself' - but that's not relevant here - that's an extra obligation which any true Englishman will rail against). So, you use an 'estate agent' for planning, or you use an 'architectural draughtsman', or you use a 'building surveyor' (all at about the same educational level as a geometra) - and you get a dreadfully uninspired job: but most Brits don't want any fancy architectural stuff - they see it as costing more money on their Excel spreadsheet. It's a cultural thing - they don't give a fig about getting a building they could never have dreamed of for threepence more - they'll save the threepence and truthfully they are so ill educated they won't realise that they have lost €30,000 in having built something very uninspiring! Ooops - rant over - I don't mean to depress you! Keep flying the flag - but it isn't only about ½ûÂþÌìÌÃs regarding geometras as "all they need", it is a universal blindfold when the apparent 'bottom line' is about paying professional fees. Anyway, we get the last laugh, a geometra building is likely to cost the client more unexpected charges than an architect building...

Again, it's all about 'good' professionals, and lousy ones. Unfortunately (coming from the perspective of an rather ancient traditionally educated architect) I'm regularly appalled by any ½ûÂþÌìÌà who has been through university, and regularly impressed by (so termed) uneducated geometras. The same goes for the humble commercialista, and the dottore in economica. What is it with 'over educated' ½ûÂþÌìÌÃs? They get absurd arrogance and a total lack of CPD built in. At the same time, sometimes I look at a proposal from a so called 'heating engineer', and I have to advise the client that the scheme has completely ignored any brief provided by the architect! I'm not thinking about cutting edge heat pump or fancy solar here, just 'normal' installations which I completely understand: (I don't claim to half way comprehend all the control implications of solar and heat pump istallations, and I fiercely interrogate the technically competent engineer on behalf of the client, and usually defer to him - not because I'm always completely convinced, but if the client is fixated on a particular technology I can devolve responsibility!) I do recall your photos of an installation where the insulation was cut to "allow for expansion"! Very funny - but more a muratore issue than anything else?

Found this on the site. It doesn't look as if you can disable all outgoing calls, but the details are in the section accesso selettivo, where it details the sort of international calls you can outlaw. Rig 187 for more info.

An architect, or an engineer, or a geometra can all work as direttore di lavoro, independently and without reference to another profession. However, as you have understood, few small provincial practices will have all the qualifications 'in house' in order to submit an application, let alone build anything! Whether dealing with an architect or a geometra it is useful to get a detailed preventivo for all professional services. Many of these are at a rate fixed by the professional body however, so if the geometra needs to 'buy in' (eg) a site safety chap due to not being approporiately certificated himself, then it shoulldn't cost any extra. Most architects will work along with their pet geometra/engineer/geologist/heating chap etc etc, and they will sometimes give you an all encompassing preventivo, or maybe the architect will say 12% and the geometra 9% - or thereabouts, and you have to add them together. It's usually better to have one person for the client to talk to, to avoid confusion.

Quote from alanh: "Tell the Geometra what you want and he'll give it to you" True Quote from Gala: " ...(architects) ... down-to-earth professionals who can provide you with design solutions that many people will not imagine." (My underlining.) True It's a matter of whether you (as client) are sufficiently opinionated for it not to be worth using an architect, or if you want a first class job. You have to pay for a first class job.  

Am I getting the impression here that you are not going to be able to 'move in' within eighteen months from the date you purchased because the restoration has taken longer than you anticipated? And at the same time that you are not going to be 'genuinely' aka permanently resident even when the house is finished? In this case, I'd just bite the bullet and pay back the difference between the lower tax rate you paid on purchase as prima casa and the seconda casa rate. If you carefully peruse the fattura which the notaio probably provided you with after the atto you should be able to determine the amount which you paid, (ignore the onorario and most of the other charges), then slightly more than double that amount - if you can face paying that amount then you don't need to concern yourself any more with residency. But ask your geometra - there could be other implications which have not occurred to me. Remember, however, that the default '½ûÂþÌìÌÃ' advice will be to 'evade' tax at all costs, which is not always the most appropriate advice for a non ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ! Unless it is essential for you to have a resident ½ûÂþÌìÌà bank account (possibly if you have a mutuo/mortgage it is essential) it's not necessarily economical to have such an account. Most utiilities etc can be coped with on a UK credit card, and any cash transactions are cheaper just to buy Euro in Sainsbury or whatever than bear the charges of running even a resident ½ûÂþÌìÌà account.

I'm a bit confused as to how you are going to save any substantial amount of money on your 'house tax', since it sounds to me as if you have already bought the house. Perhaps you paid the 'prima casa' tax rate when you bought it, (rather than telling the notaio it was seconda casa), in which case you are obliged to become resident (within 18 months of purchase, in the comune where the house is located - not necessarily in your own house) or to pay the difference - which amounts to something like 7% of whatever basis the charge was calculated. That's not quite as daft or vague a comment as it first appears, there are frquently various options available to you at the time of the atto. If you do not intend to live in Italy on a more or less permanent basis then I wouldn't involve myself with residency. If you are going to move permanently then you will find it a convenience (though not greatly advantageous, financially, apart from the prima casa tax rate). As far as I am aware the IVA on almost all building works of reconstruction are the same for residents and non residents. It's a different issue of the house is regarded as 'new build'.

Just a thought - a 160cm mattress will overhang (or get slightly squeezed by) a 155cm bed base by less than an inch each side - think thickness of duvet or blankets, and would you notice?

I'm sorry you're finding the house unaffordable, but if your roof is 125 sq m and you have two floors, you (ball park figure) should have been looking at something like €1,500 X 250 = €375,000 as construction cost alone. If your avatar is a pic of the house you haven't stinted on balconies and terraces, which also have to be paid for, and then there are all the utilities costs to add on top, apart from the taxes and professional fees. I fear you may have fallen foul of the understandable temptation of 'a ruin', and than failed to ask the right questions all along the line when getting 'persuaded' into going for new build. It is the most expensive way of acquiring a house - considerably more costly than buying a new-build already finished.      

I'd say the cheapest installation has got to be an electric 'scaldabagno' - straightforward immersion heater. These things (½ûÂþÌìÌÃ) tend to be a bit slow to warm up - they generally run at 1.2 to 1.5kW - but they are heavily insulated (almost like a thermos flask) so once they are hot they stay hot. If you have more than one bathroom (the second one only in use if you have visitors) then it probably makes sense to have two scaldabagni: that way you can time them (just using a plug into the socket type timer) so they are not both demanding electricity simultaneously. This gets over the potential snag of a limited kWattage on the electricity supply.  Coupling a scaldabagno into an existing boiler fed system shouldn't be too onerous - but this depends on how your current plumbing has been designed. They work most efficiently if they are close to the taps where you want the hot water, but if you can't achieve this then you'll have to put it (them) near to the boiler. They are designed to work safely at mains pressure, (so don't worry about expansion tanks, or cold water storage to give you a head pf pressure). A 120 litre scaldabagno will just about cope with a bath, and will happily cope with two showers.