About Spain
Restyling an old Spanish building
A lot of the houses that you are going to find in Spain are quite old which can make them a great option for renovating. However if you are going to do this you need to be careful and do your research first. Renovating a house in Spain is not the same as it is the US so you have to make sure that you know what you are getting into.
If you are considering restyling an old Spanish house there are a few things that you are going to have to keep in mind. The first is that the building codes in Spain are very lax. Strictly speaking the codes are not lax but most people just ignore them. The result is that a lot of Spanish houses are poorly constructed. This is something that you have to make sure that you check on before you buy one to fix up. There is a pretty good chance that once you start doing the work that there will be a lot more than you were expecting.
One other thing to keep in mind is that just because most other people in Spain ignore building codes and don't get the required permits does not mean that you should. This is especially true if you are going to be selling the house down the road. The permits can be hard to get but it is something that you really should do. It will save you all kinds of future headaches.
As for the actual restyling of your old Spanish home you can pretty much do it however you want. However most people prefer to keep the home in a similar style to the way that it was originally designed. Not only will this ensure that the house continues to fit in with its neighbours but also make it much easier to sell down the road. Spaniards have their own tastes in what houses should look like and it is generally a good idea to make sure that you build to suit those tastes. If not you are likely going to find that there is not a lot of interest in buying your house.
In order to get the work done on your house you have to make sure that you hire somebody who is capable of doing the job. This can be a problem in Spain where things are more laid back in general. Be prepared for this, the work will not get done as fast as it does in the US. Also make sure that you thoroughly check the background of the people that you hire. The Spaniards are not all that big on credentials and the term contractor gets thrown around pretty loosely. Just because somebody tells you they are a contractor does not mean they know anything about building. There is currently a construction boom going on in Spain so finding skilled workers can be a challenge.