Renovation the Canary Way
The third and so far the most demanding step of our Lanzarote journey. We've completed the renovation. I would love to say it was successful, but the truth is it was more challenging than we had imagined. We are physically and mentally exhausted. It cost us a lot of extra money, but that's not an uncommon surprise with renovations. And our choice of construction company? On a scale from excellent cooperation (10) to complete disaster (0), we're at about a 2. The only thing worse would have been if the house had burned down. With a bit of time passing, the rough edges are starting to smooth out, and we are slowly beginning to focus on the next issue: rentals. So, the crazy stories from the renovation are starting to seem a bit less tragic.
The beginning of the collaboration looked promising. The construction started relatively quickly, and the demolition was smooth. Here and there, problems appeared that were not immediately obvious, but that's typical for any renovation. Communication worked excellently, so we were very pleased with our choice of contractor. Additionally, he was able to arrange other subcontractors for security and internet on-site. The initial enthusiasm for the choice of the construction company and the beginning of the collaboration began to fade after about three months when it became clear that they couldn't handle the workload within the agreed timeframe. The two workers on the house had no chance of managing it, and after Christmas, they disappeared. The owner of the construction company started looking for new people. We had anticipated some delays from the start and were prepared for the "mañana" style of work. With the first delays, the first rather tragic excuses began to appear, such as a car accident with the car on its roof, a heart attack of one of the two craftsmen, and more. At this point, it started to feel like being in kindergarten because the excuses were incredible. Additionally, the supposedly tragic health conditions and morning groaning disappeared by the afternoon, and they even forgot to limp. At that moment, I began to schedule my visits (inspection days) more frequently. It turned out that this was their only motivation. We kept rewriting the schedule, task lists, priorities, etc. We postponed the completion date by 1.5 months. From today's perspective, it was downright naive.
Biggest screw-ups:
Shower Enclosure Insulation
Unfortunately, the shower tray we received was 10 cm narrower. The builder offered to speed things up by pouring concrete instead. It was faster, but not cheaper, and the quality was tragic. For waterproofing, he used construction plastic sheeting. When I asked what it was, they were surprised themselves. A simple tug on the plastic caused the entire shower to crack. It ended with demolition, and I spent evenings searching for instructional videos in Spanish on how to apply Sika waterproofing in the bathroom.
Lava Wall on the Terrace
The craftsman nicely prepared the construction with slats to ensure everything was straight. Unfortunately, the slats shifted during the work. But he strictly followed them to the end. My frantic gestures indicating it wasn't level – "nivel por favor!" – irritated him. So, I had to go to the local hardware store to look for a plumb bob (and how do you say plumb bob?). The result is that we managed to remove the unevenness from the front view. However, the fact that the wall leans backward couldn't be fixed, so I walk down the alley looking at the ground; otherwise, the level in my eye would explode.
Concrete Floor
We wanted a very simple "Manrique" style. A white concrete floor poured over the original tiles. Then a white paint finish, which is very common everywhere in Lanzarote. Instead of the estimated 2.5 cm, we ended up with just a few millimeters in some places, with visible joints and the concrete often not adhering to the substrate. We had the worst areas demolished. We ended up redoing the entrance hall ourselves, where it was the worst. We discovered too late that they had leveled the visible joints of the original tiles with plaster. And plaster on the floor is a real nightmare.
Floor Paintings
The plaster on most of the floor and the lack of primer caused the paint to peel off like sunburned skin. Unfortunately, the painting was done when we were not on site. So, all we can do now is endlessly make local repairs. Hopefully, over time, we will find the right paint that will "seal" the surface and last.
Electrical Wiring
I designed the project simply to utilize most of the original positions. Despite this, they quoted me for completely new electrical work. In reality, they didn't do much new work and used most of the original wiring. Electrical wiring in the Canary Islands is done in flexible conduits, which seems like an advantage. It is an advantage if smooth conduits are used, not the corrugated ones we ended up with. Fortunately, there aren't many new ones. Surprisingly, the cables are color-coded individually, unlike in our country where they are in a single sheath. So, each color is run separately. Our builder probably didn't buy enough of each cable, so he ran and connected them without regard to color. The result was half-functional electricity – switches that control nothing or lights that don't have a switch. We spent several days fixing it. And those electrical boxes under the sink, which initially seemed like a complete disaster to me, don't really bother me at all anymore.
Plumbing Work
Another surprise was the waste system solution. They don't use traps; they make do with flexible hoses, which they then have to "brace" inside the walls to be able to concrete them straight. And they never managed to get them straight. Added to this is the complete disregard for drawings and outlet plans, so I end up carrying pipes and traps from the Czech Republic in my suitcase. Because in Lanzarote, they only have one "decorative trap" (not a type, but a single unit). The icing on the cake was a toilet waste pipe inserted into the floor without a seal or the shower waste pipe at a right angle, where a fairly large piece of debris accidentally got stuck.
Arches on Drywall
Originally, they wanted to make the library out of concrete blocks, which is incredibly labor-intensive. They don't use Ytong on Lanzarote, supposedly because it's "insanely" expensive. We ended up using drywall, which I absolutely hate, but it was the only available option. When I noticed during my second inspection visit that they were still avoiding finishing the arches, I found out it was because they couldn't get the rounded edge. It was a big surprise to them that we also cut the straight edge profile for corners.
Swimming Pool
This is the only item that still awaits repair. This part of the renovation was a complete failure. We discovered too late that the original water seepage in the corners was causing water to rise into the hollow blocks that line the pool. So any "hole" means a stream of water coming from the wall. Moreover, they also didn't apply a primer under the paint, and it started peeling in some places. However, this only became apparent after we filled the pool with 75m³ of water, which was very difficult to obtain on Lanzarote due to the island's water scarcity, with vineyards taking priority.
Let's go back to the process.
After four months, communication started to break down as well. This phase marked the transition from rough work to interior work, and here our views on the execution of details began to differ significantly. Unfortunately, the delays were compounded by the realization that they couldn't handle any specialized work. We reached a point where the paid advances significantly exceeded the delivered work. Unfortunately, this is a critical moment when it’s no longer possible to replace the contractor. We shifted into crisis mode with the goal of having them complete the major construction work items and later addressing any specialization with other contractors.
My penultimate inspection turned from bad and stalling progress into a disaster. I came for a four-day inspection and ended up staying six weeks. Presence on the construction site dwindled, and the excuses escalated. It turned out that the builder was the best client of the local hospital, where he spent most of the workweek. Fortunately, the other craftsmen were still showing up, none of whom understood English. We resorted to using a translator, my poor Spanish, and hand gestures. We bought materials ourselves, donned overalls, and started making repairs. Our advances were completely depleted. I probably don't need to describe how I, in my broken Spanish (no, I really don't speak Spanish), order 25 bags of cement (veinticinco cemento) and two one-ton bags of sand (dos arenas) at the local building supply store, only to have them deliver two tiny bags for flower pots the next day. At least everyone is friendly and laughs about it.
The moment we decided to definitively end our collaboration with the construction company was a crazy scene that ended with the demolition of our laptop. It started innocently enough with yet another “unnecessary” request to fix an issue. The lights in the dining room were wired differently than in the project plan. Unexpectedly, from the long list of unfinished tasks, they chose to address the lights. Then followed a series of events like a slapstick comedy. The ladder was placed beside the table in such a way that it couldn't reach the light, the ladder slipped, the craftsman fell, ripped the table leg out of the floor, broke the light, and ended up on the ground... on our laptop. The damage amounted to thousands of euros. At this point, we said enough. We started looking for craftsmen who would be willing to finish the work. After a few refusals, mainly from air conditioning companies, we even agreed to have the entire system redone just to get someone to come and complete the job. We managed to find a group of Brits who took care of the finishing touches. The conclusion was tough, but we managed to pull it off. When you come to visit us, please be lenient. We ourselves would like better details, but it's simply not possible to achieve that in the Canary Islands. One has to make do with what's available. This isn't Spain; this is Africa.
We evicted the original construction company from the house and started looking for craftsmen who would be willing to finish the work. After a few refusals, mainly from air conditioning companies, we even agreed to have the entire system redone just to get someone to come and complete the job. We managed to find a group of Brits who took care of the finishing touches. The conclusion was tough, but we managed to pull it off. When you come to visit us, please be lenient. We ourselves would like better details, but it's simply not possible to achieve that in the Canary Islands. One has to make do with what's available. This isn't Spain; this is Africa.
So that this doesn't turn into just a tragicomic story, we eventually managed to find people we will keep for future collaborations. We know that supervision must be significantly more thorough than at home, and personal inspections are absolutely necessary as often as possible. The experiences were not all negative; we came across a company whose professionalism took our breath away. We had never seen such an incredibly organized company, with a delivery van full of compartments with spare parts, even back home, and watching them work was like a symphony.
Additionally, we have an absolutely wonderful local architect who helped us with the authorities and all the administration. When things were at their worst, she sent us her own people. It's just a shame that we overcame our shyness about communicating in Spanish only at the end.
A šli bychom do toho znovu? Ale jo. Byla to výzva a člověk se naučí toleranci, trpělivosti a zjistí, že hodně požadavků je nepodstatných a důležitý je výsledek. A ten se v rámci možností, které jsme měli k dispozici, povedl. O tom, co a jak se na Lanzarote staví vám napíšeme zase příště.
And would we do it again? Yes, we would. It was a challenge, and one learns tolerance, patience, and realizes that many demands are insignificant and that the result is what matters. And considering the resources we had available, the result turned out well. We will write more about what and how things are built in Lanzarote next time.
by Radka - 17. 6. 2024