Mañana mañana. You don’t have to speak Spanish very well to understand what it means. To Spaniards, this literally means this: we’ll get to it tomorrow. You can usually count on it taking even longer. So, is doing business in Spain a drag? Certainly, not! We enjoy it. Because once you know the tricks of the trade, doing business with the Spaniards can be quite a charming experience.
Everything takes time
With our property purchase support on the Costa Blanca, we also assist with the small details, such as opening a bank account. In the Nothern Europe, this takes twenty minutes at most. In Spain, you just might spend an hour and a half to two hours at the bank. You have to submit and sign a plethora of documents. Applying for a NIE (a Spanish citizen service number) can sometimes take months. And without this number you can’t take even get a phone line installed; let alone purchase a house. It isn’t until our clients experience how much time all of this takes, that they realize how very different things are in Spain compared to Nothern Europe. We take a lot of worry off your plate so that everything progresses much faster.
Requesting a quote is also more complicated than what you’d be used to. And it usually takes a long time before you receive an answer to the simplest of questions such as: what will it cost us to expand the kitchen? That’s because in Spain, they often don’t plan very far ahead and they arrange the most urgent matters in a very short matter of time. By bombarding them with messages and phone calls we get an answer faster than anyone else.
Written agreements
Sometimes Spanish suppliers or contractors give us a strange look when we ask for a detailed description of the construction work and prices. They don’t like that. They would rather just start and adapt to the wishes of the customer while working. This is difficult because most Northern Europeans prefer to make plans based on drawings and quotations that state exactly what is being done and for what price. In Spain, it also isn’t unheard of that the contractor will get called away to another job. He’ll drop whatever work he is doing on your house and leave, coming back the next day to cheerfully pick up where he left off. And don’t be surprised if the work comes to a screeching halt for a few hours during the hottest hours of the day. The need to get everything done quickly is less pressing here. We prevent misunderstandings and problems by coming to good agreements and then getting them on paper.
By the same token, Spain offers more room for flexibility. We once had a customer who, after a complete renovation, as an afterthought, decided to have a heating system installed. We requested a quote which we received the very same evening. Everything was installed within three weeks, including radiators, a water boiler, and a gas tank. There are also situations where people discover a leak, for example during the weekend. And then often someone will swiftly and suddenly arrive on your front doorstep to help. And more than once we’ve experienced that they didn’t even charge for this.
Satisfied clients
It remains of the utmost importance to come to clear agreements. We arrange as much as possible, ensuring that everything is written down and we carry out daily checks to keep an eye on the work. If the client is watching from a distance, we update them, if desired by sending photos. That way decisions can be made faster. With our Costa Blanca property purchase support and construction management, we take away virtually any concerns that you may have when purchasing and renovating a house. The aim is to ensure that our clients are always satisfied and can enjoy their new place on the Costa Blanca.
