As a foreigner it is almost impossible to build your own villa without a General Contractor. They sell the property, they build the villa, they design the garden and they complete the interior. This has a number of advantages: you really don’t need to negotiate with too many parties. Also the guarantee is with one party. This helps compared to dealing with local businesses.

The way the Pafilia contract is written, many topics are treated on a high level and lack details and specifications! Their argument: In the contract we budget a figure for heating, kitchen, and cabinets aso. The number acts as a place holder. The customer has the best flexibility to go and shop around. The final budget figure will be adjusted up or down accordingly.

The reality: The customer is left alone and somehow we have the feeling, we are taken to the shops wherever the highest commission is paid. This may be a misconception, but because of lack of advice / consulting on Pafilias side it lends itself to this conclusion.

For example: During the course of the construction phase, we tried to find someone in Pafilia that could answer our questions regarding technical issues. We found almost no expertise and even less advice. The first problem is to find someone responsible! If we didn’t insist, nothing would happen at all. In our case, any matters regarding heating, flooring, plumbing and windows have been a nightmare. They take you to a store and say for example: …ok, this is our window supplier. Choose a window…. This is not what we expect from a general contractor of the size of Pafilia!