Roof repairs, plumbing and re-wiring, insulating, rendering, plastering and painting, repairing or replacing doors and windows, fitting a small kitchen, creating an indoor bathroom, and a septic tank at the bottom of the garden, are in most cases standard tasks undertaken by builders renovating foreign owned properties in rural Bulgaria.

During the planning stages we can arrange for an independent structural engineer to visit the site and asses the property, answer questions regarding its renovation, as well as point out any potentially troublesome areas, and how best they can be dealt with. Subsequently a written report, translated by a certified interpreter, will be presented to the client. The cost of this service is 200&euro, and is separate from any quote for building or renovation work, giving the client the freedom and peace of mind to shop around for estimates independently, in the knowledge that they have an accurate picture of what needs to be done.

If the decision to proceed with ExpatBulgaria is made, we will facilitate contact between our clients and a number of different building contractors offering renovation services in the Yambol or Ternovo regions, in order to ascertain the costs involved in the building/renovation work been considered.

Though quotes in some cases charged for, and those provided by Bulgarian builders inevitably need to be translated by a certified interpreter, we believe it always preferable to obtain more than one offer, before a final decision is made.

Thus, our policy is to provide our clients with a number of choices, ranging from: contracting the services a specific construction company to take on all the work, employing individual tradesmen to independently carry out the varied tasks involved in a renovation project (roofers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc), as well as the option of hiring foreign builders (mainly British), that work in Bulgaria.

If and when an offer is accepted by the client, we will on his or her behalf, apply for the relevant building permits, and arrange for a contract to be prepared (outlining the renovation work to be done, agreed price, penalty clauses, etc); and once the building work is in progress, we can execute and keep an accurate record of payments, as well as organize and coordinate the process, aiding communication between home owners and those contracted by them to carry out the job.

The site will be regularly visited during the different stages of the renovation, and e-mail reports, pictures and video footage will be sent to clients who cannot be in Bulgaria to oversee the refurbishment of their holiday homes.

For these services, ExpatBulgaria charges 5% of the cost of the project.

Traditional building materials, apart from their undeniable aesthetic qualities, and the fact that houses constructed with them seem to fit well with the feeling of a place, also have a number of advantages over modern alternatives.

Firstly, in most cases, they are cheaper and more environmentally friendly, since their manufacture does not involve complicated industrial processes that require high energy consumption, and their transportation costs from source to end user are lower.

Secondly their inherent attributes are hard to beat. For example, many synthetic materials especially those that are bi-products of the petrochemical industry (modern paints, plastics, PVC, polystyrene, tar, etc) are very effective at sealing and insulating a house, but lack the porous/permeable qualities of their traditional counterparts, that will allow a structure built with them to in effect “breath”, permitting a degree of air and moisture exchange between the interior and the outside. This might seem like a somewhat irrelevant piece of information, but the need for houses (especially those used as holiday homes) to naturally release/rid-themselves of unwanted humidity, as we will see further down, is an important consideration.

The use of modern building materials is by no means being discouraged here, as most builders carrying out renovation work in Bulgaria do make extensive use of them, however they should be intelligently combined with the original materials, in a way that they work together, rather than compromising or canceling-out the “self regulating” nature of traditionally constructed dwellings.

Concerns that the building materials in Bulgaria are very basic, and that there is not a wide-range of products offered, as might be the case in other parts of Europe, should be laid to rest. On the one hand, local builders merchants in provincial cities like Yambol and Veliko Ternovo generally stock an acceptable selection of reasonably priced, foreign and Bulgarian produced building materials, that are more than adequate for the purposes of renovating rural properties; and on the other, the recent construction boom in Bulgaria, and the expansion of foreign suppliers to the eastern markets, means that an array modern construction materials are available in BG, especially in the larger cities. German and French owned, DIY outlets such as www.practiker.bg and www.mr-bricolage.bg also provide for the needs of those who chose to do their own renovating and/or decorating.

The walls of rural houses can be completely stripped, removing all the existing render until the stone and brick are exposed, allowing them to be insulated, re-rendered, plastered/skimmed and painted with new materials.

Alternatively, in order to preserve a more “rustic” look and/or reduce costs, this process can be limited to scrapping away the whitewash and top layers of the original lime render, and subsequently working on this surface.

Concealing the inner walls behind plaster board is option often used in the renovation of rural properties, as it easily and cheaply installed, and gives the rooms a clean geometrical feel. Wood strips have a similar effect, and will result in the interior of the house taking on a traditional Balkan appearance.

Timber and other wooden parts of the structure need to be checked (replaced where necessary), and cleaned in preparation for subsequent treatment with wood protectors. The beams that support the ceiling of the ground floor can be left exposed to preserve the traditional look, or hidden behind plasterboard or T&G strips.

Wooden floors, especially those on the second level, in many cases will look quite acceptable after they have been sanded down, and a couple of coats of varnished or paint have been applied. New wooden floorboards and synthetic alternatives can be laid on the original floor if desired.

The ceilings of the second floor, traditionally made from cane and lime-plaster, may be showing signs of weakness, and in some cases need to be pulled down. Again, wood strips or gypsum-board are standard replacements.

Rural houses that have remained unoccupied for considerable periods of time, might exhibit problems resulting from damaged roofs, or rain water that has found its way down openings such as the chimneys.

The walls of the ground floors of houses built into gradients, and basement areas that have been neglected or not correctly ventilated, may have fallen victim to the effects of humidity. In these cases, there are a number of low tech and relatively inexpensive ways of dealing with this issue, that will in the vast majority of scenarios, eradicate the problem. A further discussion on this topic follows in the section dedicated to insulating and water-proofing the walls of a rural house.

The existing doors and windows, and their frames, depending on their condition, can be cleaned and fixed, in preparation for painting, or removed if the intention is to install new ones in wood, PVC or aluminium.

The reinforced concrete components of the structure (stairs, terrace floors, terrace ceilings, etc) need to be identified and correctly insulated, as they constitute what are know as thermal-bridges, and if left exposed can lead to problems associated with condensation appearing in the interior of the house.

The benefits of establishing what needs to be, and what can or cannot be, done in the early stages of a renovation process cannot be underestimated, as problems and corrections at later date can be time-consuming and frustrating. The presence of a qualified structural engineer at this point is always recommended, unless the new owner is a builder, or has a background in the building/construction industry. Advise on, how to make major alterations without compromising the structural integrity of the dwelling, how to improve on the existing construction, and how to best avoid unforeseen problems and costs in the future, will be given from a totally independent perspective. As this person is specifically contracted to carry out this service, and plays no part in the actual building/renovation work.