100s of thousands of Brits dream of owning a villa in Spain to enjoy with their family and friends. The usual process is to secure your funding, contact an agent and find a property that fits your requirements. But what if there are no properties that meet all your needs? Maybe the right property, wrong location or the location is perfect, but the property is too small and doesn’t have a pool or some other essential requisite. This is when it is time to investigate the advantages of building your own villa in Spain.
1 – Legality
You will need to hire professionals to guarantee your newly built villa is exactly what you want. You will need a minimum of a solicitor, an architect and a building company.
Your solicitor will ensure your plot is legal. With your architect, they will acquire all the permissions needed for your villa to be legal and approved by the authorities. This way, you be sure your new villa will have all the correct licenses and permits and avoid the issues with properties built illegally.
2 – Location
One of the best things about building your own villa is that you can choose the plot’s location and size. Working closely with professional property agents and your solicitor, you can select a plot that is in the perfect location to meet your needs. Whether you want seclusion or beachfront, you will be in control of the location of your new villa.
3 – Design
The fun begins when you have purchased your land, and your solicitor has checked the legalities of building your villa. You can now work with your architect on the layout of the villa. How many bedrooms, bathrooms, terraces, pools, landscaping and access?
Do not be afraid to tell your architect precisely what you want. His role is to interpret your dreams and desires and turn them into a workable design and plan for the building company.
4 – Fixtures and Fittings
A key aspect of building your own villa in Spain is putting your personality into the building rather than buying someone else’s vision. You will have the opportunity to choose all the materials used. Whether it’s the colour of the exterior render, the tiles for the villa, the pool design, or the bathrooms in ceramic or marble, all of the choices are yours.
This input does mean you have to be more actively involved in the process, but the final result will be a piece of you.
5 – Build Quality
If you choose your building company wisely, they will have previously created buildings of similar standing to yours. They will be fully prepared for every eventuality. Your builder will work closely with the architect, so ideally, they should have worked together previously. Often architects will be able to recommend building companies with the experience to achieve your vision.
Building costs are significantly lower in Spain than in the UK, allowing room for some extras in your villa. Maybe you have always wanted a sweeping entrance staircase or a large pool house to relax in. You should be able to find room in the budget for all the extras to make your villa truly special.
6 – Budget Control
You will be in total control of the budget. All professional fees will be fixed, and taxes and government fees will be easily calculated. Your building company will provide a contract based on the architect’s plans, including a price to build the property to the specified specifications.
If you do not change anything regarding the build, you will know beforehand exactly how much the build will cost.
7 – Flexibility
Although your architect and builder won’t love you for it, you can make changes during the construction.
Maybe your personal circumstances have changed, and you need to re-purpose spaces or make fundamental changes to accommodate a lifestyle change. By working closely with your professionals, the builders can make any changes to the initial plans. Still, a word of caution, this will likely cause delays and will undoubtedly increase the costs.
8 – Engagement
The fact you are involved and invested in the project also makes you more engaged with the area you will be staying or living in. Visiting tile shops, builders merchants, kitchen shops, bathroom suppliers and the like will make you more aware and better known in your new area. You may make new Spanish friends from the suppliers and specialist trade people you find and employ.
9 – Value for Money
Developers often make 20-30% profits on developments. That money can either be saved by making your build cheaper or reinvested in the building of your villa. On a €350,000 build, that equates to nearly €100,000, saved or for higher quality finishes and special touches. It is also true that self-build villas sell for higher prices than developer-led builds. For the same reason, the quality of the final villa is much higher.
10 – Short build Time
So you now will have a bunch of paperwork in your hands from local councils and government bodies confirming your new villa is legal. To accompany them, you will have council tax and utility bills, again proving your property’s legality. Your villa is now completed and ready for you to enjoy. The process will take between 1 and 2 years in total, but the pride and joy of having your own villa built to your specification and design are worth the wait. Your builder will provide a guarantee of their workmanship for your peace of mind.
Conclusion
The process is relatively straightforward to build your own villa in Spain. Many estate agents offer that service but its very important to find one with a solid track record and have been operating as an estate agency legally for several years. Recent legislation has tightened up the legalities of building new properties to the levels of the UK. The old fears of building illegally have all but been laid to rest. If you can wait for the relatively short build time, you will have a unique new villa built to your design and tastes, and there will only be one of those in the whole of Spain.
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