Building costs

Suzi, are you there? I hope things are okay and not too much worse than you expected!

I can tell you what the work I had done so far on my place cost, but I had my neighbour's help so the price may be better than most expats can get, and it does seem to vary a lot anyway. All prices are last year, 2023 and including labour and materials.

• Complete roof replacement and guttering for a 2 bedroom house with a very complicated hip roof - 17,000 leva
• Complete electrical rewiring of the back part of the house, adding five extra outlets, wiring for HWS, and install new fuse box - 600 leva
• Complete bathroom renovation including adding a window (it didn't have one before) concreting the old dirt floor, installing a ceiling, plastering and tiling walls and floor, new toilet, shower, sink, and HWS - 4000 leva. The same guy also replastered the kitchen walls, added a new ceiling, and tiled the kitchen floor, which was  included in the same quote for labour, but I'll owe some extra for materials there, not sure how much. Part of the reason his labour quote was lower than expected is that he's spent the past four months working on it in between other jobs, so it's been veeeery slow!

@janemulberry

we are looking for a gap where theres no forecast snow on the journey over. im clear to move from the 26th feb. scary close.

i managed to buy a little longer with my landlord thankfully. i was looking at the 20th. we are then in at the deep end as its due to snow heavily the following week. if i wasnt bringing my 3 year old and my dogs id be happy to just do it as we will have 4 gas heaters and 8 full bottles of gas with us.

i do plan to get the wood burner up and running asap. that with the electric and water is priority. and the damn wifi. my older kids are having a mental breakdown evidently at the thought of no wifi (not dramatic at all haha).

im just trying to guage what the going rates are as i dont want to pay british prices. thats not helpful to anyone other than the builder (who doesnt speak english. so its not oh well communication would be easier).

ive allowed 4000lev to do the electrics in the whole house. its a small 3 bed. i do want more sockets than usual. i have a 20 year old a 13 year old and a 3 year old as well as i work remotely .

@janemulberry Hi Jane , would your builders be on the vicinity of VT ?

@Suzi Masterson

Danislava at Bg Direct will be able to arrange the water and electric connections if they've been disconnected. If not, its  simple matter to turn them on at the house. Flick a switch at the power box outside and turn on the stopcock in the garden.. If you're not sure if they're still connected, ask her ASAP! My "new" place had been empty over a year and everything was still connected, but my older place is officially unoccupied and so there everything is disconnected and I'd need to pay to get it reconnected.

Based on what I paid for the electrics to the kitchen and bathroom, I'd think 4000 leva should be plenty to do the electrics for a whole house, unless it's very big and complicated. Mine previously had seriously dangerous wiring to the back section. He did a lot of work for 500 leva!

@sammut115

No, sorry, my place is in the far north-east, up near the Romanian border.

    @Suzi Masterson
Danislava at Bg Direct will be able to arrange the water and electric connections if they've been disconnected. If not, its  simple matter to turn them on at the house. Flick a switch at the power box outside and turn on the stopcock in the garden.. If you're not sure if they're still connected, ask her ASAP! My "new" place had been empty over a year and everything was still connected, but my older place is officially unoccupied and so there everything is disconnected and I'd need to pay to get it reconnected.
Based on what I paid for the electrics to the kitchen and bathroom, I'd think 4000 leva should be plenty to do the electrics for a whole house, unless it's very big and complicated. Mine previously had seriously dangerous wiring to the back section. He did a lot of work for 500 leva!
   

    -@janemulberry

danislava is arranging for the water to be connected. its only connected into the cottage. so needs a route ito the main house.

there is electric in the house. 1 light upstairs and 1 plug socket downstairs. the wiringing is ancient so needs changing asap.

the list is endless as im sure you know all to well

where are you? im near belene pleven. i didnt realise you were my neck of the woods

    @Suzi Masterson
Danislava at Bg Direct will be able to arrange the water and electric connections if they've been disconnected. If not, its  simple matter to turn them on at the house. Flick a switch at the power box outside and turn on the stopcock in the garden.. If you're not sure if they're still connected, ask her ASAP! My "new" place had been empty over a year and everything was still connected, but my older place is officially unoccupied and so there everything is disconnected and I'd need to pay to get it reconnected.
Based on what I paid for the electrics to the kitchen and bathroom, I'd think 4000 leva should be plenty to do the electrics for a whole house, unless it's very big and complicated. Mine previously had seriously dangerous wiring to the back section. He did a lot of work for 500 leva!
   

    -@janemulberry

the calender on the wall said 2016. it looks like an older couple has died. the relatives have cleared near enough everythinig (thankfully) and left a sad shell of a house

Oh, it's so sad, isn't it? Good thing if they cleared out all the previous owner's stuff though. Mine was almost exactly as it was left over a year previously when Stoyinka was taken into the hospital. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot left there that's useful! I've had a huge amount of stuff to throw out or give away and I'm still nowhere near done with that.

The first house I bought has been empty many years and is very basic, one water tap, one power outlet. I've been blessed with the newer house, actually. Though there was more wrong with it than I anticipated (a seriously leaky roof) it had cold water to the kitchen and bathroom (and a hot water system, except it didn't work!). The newer wiring that's all been replaced was dangerously badly done, the older original wiring to the front rooms is probably not safe just because of the age. But at least there's a light in every room, and a power outlet in all but one room.

I hope the builder you have coming to quote can do what's needed at a fair price!

My places are in Krasen, near General Toshevo, a lot further east than your house.

    Oh, it's so sad, isn't it? Good thing if they cleared out all the previous owner's stuff though. Mine was almost exactly as it was left over a year previously when Stoyinka was taken into the hospital. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot left there that's useful! I've had a huge amount of stuff to throw out or give away and I'm still nowhere near done with that.
The first house I bought has been empty many years and is very basic, one water tap, one power outlet. I've been blessed with the newer house, actually. Though there was more wrong with it than I anticipated (a seriously leaky roof) it had cold water to the kitchen and bathroom (and a hot water system, except it didn't work!). The newer wiring that's all been replaced was dangerously badly done, the older original wiring to the front rooms is probably not safe just because of the age. But at least there's a light in every room, and a power outlet in all but one room.

I hope the builder you have coming to quote can do what's needed at a fair price!

My places are in Krasen, near General Toshevo, a lot further east than your house.
   

    -@janemulberry

its terrifing isnt it how things are left. we have lights in every room (i think!) 1 i know works. i havent tried the rest yet.

1 plug socket. i dont recall seeing any others. there was 2 queen sized beds a woodburning cooker and a wardrobe. some beautiful embriodery and a couple of photos. no sink. no taps in the main house. in the cottage there is the "bathroom" its a bucket with a copper pip and an outide tap. no drainage. just that. there is a sink in the cottage thats collapsed.

i did wonder where you were when you said your near the romanina boards as im not a million miles away i know theres a german couple in the village, another chap i met when we went last time and another family at least. it seems to be an up and coming ex pat village. i dont think the locals appreciate it though. the germans dont look like theyve done anything. i havent for over 2 years. a lot of proving to them we arent all as theyve heard

the electrics did confuse me slightly. danislvas husband ivlan took out the fuses in the fuse board and we srtill have electric. did make me smile. its the same in france when we lived there. the old rural properties just dont quite make sense. im sure its the same in england. ive not renovated here before. my father has soooo many times

@sammut115

if you bought through bulgaria direct why not send a quick email and ask for a recomendation. they are in your area i think

Yes, the builders BgDirect use are based in VT, so that's a good suggestion for @sammut115

Wow, Suzi, you have a challenge there for sure. But it sounds like it will be beautiful when you've finished, and obviously you know what you're doing with the renovation work.

I hope the locals turn out to be welcoming. I'm so blessed with my neighbours. They want new people in the house, didn't want it to fall into disrepair. It's a lovely village, but so many houses are now derelict. Once the locals in your village see you're doing the place up and are serious about staying, they should warm up and be helpful.

Unfortunately I can see that Bulgarians have reason to be wary. Too many expats either buy places, never visit, and let them decay; or spend their time there taking advantage of the cheap booze by drinking too much.  Sadly, that's a perception of Brit expats I've encountered a couple of times. We do need to prove we're not like that.

There do tend to be clusters of expat owned houses. Bg Direct seem to buy a few in the same village and sell them on. There's also a different UK based estate agent that's sold or selling a couple of houses in my village.

A person by the name of RacRac has shown interest in doing some work for me and we have exchanged messages but when attempting to answer his last message it came up that he is banned . Any idea why ??

@sammut115

You probably need to direct message one of the moderators or admins to ask about that, as they may not see the question here and they'll be the only ones who can answer your question.

@sammut115

If he's banned, he's been a bad boy. So probably not a great idea to want to business with him. :-) And if you didn't get his personal email/phone already, then it's probably a dead-end, as you now have no way to get in contact him.

Hello,

We are trying to find an electrian to rewire & install a water heater at our house just outside of Vratsa.

We would also like to find a plumber to help with the pipework for the kitchen & bathroom/shower room.A good general builders contact details would be very useful too!

I plan to do most of the renovations/rebuild a barn etc myself having worked as a Bricklayer all my working life.

We plan to move to Bulgaria full-time once our son & daughter have finished at Uni.

Has anyone any experience or ideas of what we should expect to pay for the rewire of a smallish two storey, two bed house, any information would much appreciated!

Does anyone have any recommendations for these trades in this area please?

Many thanks,

KEDDLE

@gwynj

being a “bad boy” in this forum to get him banned is no reflection on his work ethic

just because an admin maybe had “a bee in his bonnet” should not count to any derogatory remarks about a person banned or not 

maybe just  “the user name is no longer on the site” is enough in future.