individual building project in Paphos area

[Janne]

Hi all,
I'm new here and found out about this forum when googling info about building your own house (not via a developer) in Cyprus (especially Paphos area).
I will move permanently to Cyprus within two years together with my wife (Swedish citizens living in DE) and we are about to purchase a plot in the Paphos region. I have built several houses in several EU countries, hence plenty of experience, and at this stage I am looking for an architect. Does anyone here built his/her own individual house in the Paphos region and could perhaps share some experiences / recommendations in this respect?
Thanks in advance!

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Janne and welcome to the forum

We built our house in Erimi (Limassol). We bought the land in 1992, engaged an architect in 1996, finalised the design in 2002 and issued invitation to tender to six building contractors. We shortlisted three of those who tendered, inspected properties they'd built and then selected our preferred contractor. After some haggling we signed a contract and work started. We accepted delivery in 2004.

Our architect, who is a member of RICS, is based in Limassol.

As for Paphos, I suggest Yiannis Koutsolambros - you'll find his contact details on the internet.

If you give me a few days, I'll send you information on how we went about everything.

Regards,

[thedukewood]

I have always dreamed of having something built, preferably high energy effecient ( Passive Haus or similar ) - however I am not sure how viable it is / how to approach it without getting ripped off etc so any help that can be provided from others experience here would be very much appreciated thank you

[tom.want]

As for Paphos, I suggest Yiannis Koutsolambros - you'll find his contact details on the internet.

I looked at his portfolio. Very impressive, especially the project "House 27". Is your recommendation based on his general reputation or do you have first-hand personal experience with him?

What would you say construction cost per square meter amounts to these days for something higher end like House 27?

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi tom

I first met Yianni in 2011 when explained the Town Planning Amnesty to a group of expats in Paphos. At that time he was the head honcho for the Paphos chapter of ETEK - the Scientific and Technical Chamber of Cyprus. See Town Planning Amnesty explained.

I've met him a few times since then when he was helping friends in Limassol who could not get Title Deeds resolve their problems.

I guess something the size of House 27 would cost well in excess of €1 million to build. It's nine times larger than my place in Erimi !!

Construction costs - how long is a piece of string. Much depends on ground conditions, access and the quality of fixtures, fittings and finishes.

When we built our house we bought all the fixtures, fittings and finishes ourselves, which cost around 35% of the total cost. We also used a specialist mechanical engineering company for the aircon, underfloor heating, plumbing, etc.

I'm sure Yianni will be pleased to show you some of his work and you can judge the quality for yourself.

Regards,

[tom.want]

Pleased to (virtually) meet you Nigel. I have read through a good portion of this forum and am reading your Golden Commandmends too at the moment. Thank you for making all this effort to make your experience available to others. This really is a gold mine.

I first met Yianni in 2011 when explained the Town Planning Amnesty to a group of expats in Paphos. At that time he was the head honcho for the Paphos chapter of ETEK - the Scientific and Technical Chamber of Cyprus. See Town Planning Amnesty explained.

I've met him a few times since then when he was helping friends in Limassol who could not get Title Deeds resolve their problems.

Sounds like a very decent person. I added him to my list of potential architects. There are only two firms on there right now, the other one is UDS architects. I found them by simple googling firms which use the Autodesk Revit software for project planning, because that's the piece of software I want to use for the project.

Still adding to the list, I am in an early stages in my plans to move to Cyprus. I'll need a year to find a piece of land, another year to plan the house, two to build it, a year buffer for delays. So we are talking 5 years realistically. Maybe I'll rent in the meantime, maybe buy something cheap and flip it later.

I guess something the size of House 27 would cost well in excess of €1 million to build. It's nine times larger than my place in Erimi !!

Assuming the fixtures are higher-end, but not solid gold either, a million and change still feels like a steal for a place like that, when coming from certain parts of Europe where building cost are inching closer to 4.0000 €/m² every day.

Construction costs - how long is a piece of string. Much depends on ground conditions, access and the quality of fixtures, fittings and finishes.

Just trying to ballpark it at the moment. It sounds like I could reasonably expect to build an empty shell for 2k/m, possibly even cheaper and then add furniture, kitchen appliances, etc

When we built our house we bought all the fixtures, fittings and finishes ourselves, which cost around 35% of the total cost. We also used a specialist mechanical engineering company for the aircon, underfloor heating, plumbing, etc.

Sound like a good idea. So you had one constract for the shell of the building, and then hired unrelated specialists for mechanical, tiling, etc?

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi tom

I'll send you information by email on how we went about buying land and building our home when we moved to Cyprus back in 2002.

Cheers,

[tom.want]

Hi tom

I'll send you information by email on how we went about buying land and building our home when we moved to Cyprus back in 2002.

Cheers,

Thank you Nigel, much appreciated. Already received, will give it a thorough read.