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@daithilee68 Hi I've seen them advertised on OLX in Romania, but not Bulgaria. Having said, it's only a hop, skip and a jump over the border, so they may deliver, depending on where you are.

Thanks, that's great, I'll check them out now.ðŸ·ß

@daithilee68

My neighbour (who seems to be a very practical fellow) insists that Bulgarian houses are not worth renovating. He prefers to knock them down, lay a new concrete base (to modern standards), and then weld a steel frame and attach SIPs. It is definitely a quick and easy method, and this is pretty much how a lot of modular houses are constructed. I did one in this manner for a small cabin (1 bed, 28 m2 approx). It was certainly quick, but it wasn't as cheap as I expected... and it was very condensation-prone in the winter (but partly the fault of using a gas heater, they produce a huge amount of water vapour).

There are plenty of modular homes around in Bulgaria and Turkey (and I'd guess Romania). Or you can buy them on AliBaba and bring them in from China. The China ones seem very cheap per m2, but I don't know how much extra cost there is for shipping and duties. But I've been considering trying one for some time, just haven't found the right moment.

I have a friend in Plovdiv, and he has a thriving business in modular construction (kisyovhomes dot com). He imports his from Turkey (pretty easy/quick, just drive it over), and has two ranges. The lower one is pretty good (with lots of size variations from single floor 30m2 up to 2 floor 4 bedrooms of close to 200m2), but looks a bit prefabricated. His other range is a bit fancier and while prefabricated looks like a proper modern house. His new house is one of the latter, it's a 2 bedroom 120 m2 bungalow in a village near Plovdiv. It's very nice. But I think it still came in at 100k euros when all materials and fittings (tiles/bathroom/kitchen etc.)

His customers have the plot, and they just pick a house from the catalogue. He does the plans and the building permits. He gives them a plan/specification of the concrete base, and they have to get this done (this is not a big job). When it's ready, the house gets delivered on a truck in pieces (frame/panels) and assembled directly on the base. It's definitely easier.

Whether it's cheaper is a different issue.

I did seriously consider this option for our village house, especially as I found some fancier-looking prefabs. But I didn't have the stomach to shell out 150k-200k for something nice. I've done a lot of work to our village house, but more like 20k-30k. I have (all) new windows, (some) new walls, external insulation, external rendering, re-wiring, new plumbing (and still a lot of internal work to do, it's at "Bulgarian Standard" level at the moment). It's not as good as a brand-new house, but it's quite charming. So I'd guess a lot depends on whether your place is falling down and you really need to rebuild it, or whether it just needs a bit of modernization. And how much of the work you think you fancy doing yourself.

In our German house, we did a lot of work ourselves, and it was exhausting, and we camped in the unrenovated bits. Nightmare! But we still needed proper professional help and new windows (wooden, conservation area). Tradesmen cost a fortune as did the windows. And our neighbours were miserable East Germans who wouldn't even say hello to us. We were SO happy to be shot of it! The Bulgarian experience has been very different, as the weather and neighbours are far better! And we've done very little work ourselves (very relaxing!). instead, I delegated to a gang of "gypsy" builders I managed to find. It's a bit bodgy (better than my work), but they were nice chaps and the price was very agreeable. So I think a lot depends on whether you can track down (through your neighbours perhaps) the local gang of cheap (but reliable) builders.

Thank you very much, I think your right, I might just knock it down and put a modular home on the base. I'll check out your friends site, thanks again to everyone for all your help and advice, I appreciate it.

Hi,

can you forward your details so I can look at the specs, designs and costs… plus do you do turnkey projects ???

kind regards

steve