Renovation in Sencelles
Out here a plot almost always has something on it already, and it has often had something on it for a very long time. The first question is not what to build. It is what to do with what is standing.
Keep it, adapt it, or replace it
Three different projects with three different prices, and the choice is usually made by accident rather than deliberately. Keeping means repairing what is there and living with its proportions. Adapting means keeping the walls and rearranging everything inside them. Replacing means starting again, which sounds cleanest and is the one with the most to establish first.
The thing that decides it is rarely the condition of the building. What is standing has a position, a footprint and a height that were established when it was built, and what could be built new on the same plot is not always the same. Somebody has to establish that before the comparison means anything, and it is a question for a technical team rather than a builder.
Where the existing structure is sound, adapting is very often the best value on the island. A shell that has stood for a century has already proved itself, the walls are usually generous, and rearranging inside them avoids almost everything that makes new building expensive. The trap is deciding this from a photograph rather than from a survey.
What decides the choice
- The condition of the walls, roof and any timber, established by survey
- What could be built new on the same plot, established before comparing
- The footprint and height of what already stands, which may not be repeatable
- How much of the existing plan suits how you want to live
- Whether services exist at all, and where they come from
- Outbuildings, which are often better candidates than the main house
- Earlier alterations, and whether they were done well
- Access for the machinery each option would need
- What demolition itself costs, which is rarely nothing
- The value of a building that has already proved it stands up
The three routes
Complete refurbishment
Nearby areas
How your request reaches a company
Mallorca Renovation is a comparison service. A request for a decision between repair and rebuild goes to the renovation and building companies on our list; they quote the work and carry it out, and any agreement is between you and the company you pick.
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01
Describe the job
Tell us the property, roughly what you want and where it is. Photographs and a rough plan help, though neither is required.
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02
We match it
The request goes to companies that work in your area and take on this kind of job at this size.
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03
They quote you
Each company contacts you directly with its own price, timing and approach. We do not set any of it.
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04
You compare and choose
Put the quotes side by side and take the one you want, or none of them. Using the site costs you nothing.
Is it cheaper to knock down and start again?
Sometimes, and the honest answer needs two things established first: what the existing structure is actually like, and what could be built new on the plot. Without both, the comparison is between a real price and a hopeful one.
Can I keep the walls and change everything else?
Very often, and on sound old buildings it is frequently the best value available. The walls are usually generous, they have proved themselves, and rearranging inside them avoids most of what makes new construction expensive.
Which should I look at first, the house or the outbuildings?
Both, and people forget the second. Outbuildings tend to have simpler structure and no layout to preserve, so they often convert more easily and more cheaply than the house they stand next to.
Get both options priced
Describe what is standing and what you want, and ask several companies to price more than one route.