Menorca, although very much protected and governed by the new rules of the biosphere, still offers potential developers fantastic opportunities to create house, villas and apartments in Menorca for either personal use or resale. However, due to the increasing restrictions by the planning departments of each municipality, this process can be somewhat laborious and complicated. For this reason, Menorcasa has decided to provide a project management team in order to support and control each stage of each development and offer the promoter peace of mind and security throughout. The first stage of any property development requires the services of an architect and technical surveyor and for this reason we have combined forces with a well known and respected company in Mahon who can provide the necessary skills and qualifications to meet the client's needs. After having overseen in the last three years a huge amount of property development, we feel that it is very important that before even considering building, clients are aware of what the actual process involves and the costs that maybe implicated. It has become increasingly apparent to us that many promoters have not previously realised what acquiring planning permissions involves or the way that the prices for the services of the professionals are structured. Therefore the following should offer a greater understanding of this and give some insight to the time required in order to actually start the building of a property. The first stage of any development is obviously contacting a qualified architect. All architects in Spain must be registered with the Official School of Architects as it is this organisation that approve and stamp all plans before they may be picked up and handed to the Town Hall for planning permission. On producing a plan, an architect must provide a summary of the basic quantities needed for the project and provide a price on which all future invoices for each organisation will be applied. This price is calculated using an official pricing book that is produced by the Official School of Architects on a yearly basis. This price bears no reflection on a real build cost but is necessary so that all calculations have a base figure. The architect, surveyor and Town Hall will all use this number to calculate fees and the final licence price. An example of this could be that the figure calculated by the architect is 160.000 Euros. The fees would therefore be: Architect -% of the 160.000 Euros; Technical surveyor -% of the 160.000 Euros; Licence - % of the 160.000 Euros (variable depending on which Town Hall).
ARCHITECT - The fee for the architect is an amount that is divided into different parts and is not all payable at once. The first set of plans produced are just for basic planning and are invoiced on collection from the School of Architects at 40% of the total fees. These plans can be handed into the Town Hall planning department in order to gain some time whilst the execution plans are being finalised and materials chosen etc by the developer. On collection of the execution plans from the School of Architects a further 30% of the fee is invoiced and the final 30% is then not billed until completion and finalisation of the property. (Please note that this is an example and individual architects may vary in their payment breakdown.) SURVEYOR - In order to present the execution project to the Town Hall it is necessary for the technical architect (surveyor) to have produced a Health and Safety project for the promotion. It is therefore often the case that the surveyor will produce an invoice for some of his work at the beginning of the project and the rest is payable on completion of the building of the property. Different stages for payments can be discussed but this is the general method that is adopted. L.O.E. - If a property is being designed and built for resale then it is necessary for the developer to take out an insurance that guarantees the various elements of the property for a period of ten years. Different areas of the build are covered for different amounts of time but the actual structure is for the full ten years. There are various insurance companies who deal with this type of insurance and on presentation of the execution project they will send a detailed quotation. This is usually payable at the end of the building process and is only available once all the other papers stating that the property is complete have been issued. Without his insurance certificate the Notary is unable to sign off and legalize the property. CONTROL COMPANY - In order to validate the insurance it is necessary for various inspections to be carried out by independent control companies throughout the building process. Again there are several choices and it is usual to ask for three quotations before making the decision. These companies have different price structures but usually request 70% at the beginning of their work and the remaining 30% on completion and finalisation of the development. Please note that this again may vary depending on each company.
Once the Architect, Technical Surveyor and constructor consider the property to be complete it is necessary to prepare the final papers in order that the deeds may be drawn up and signed by the Notary. Both the Architect and the Surveyor sign a certificate declaring the property finished and these are then handed into the Town Hall. The Town Hall visit the property and issue their certificate known as 'primer ocupación' and then all of these documents are presented to the Town Council in order for them to issue a 'cedular de habitibalidad' (habitation certificate). Once this has all been collected, the Notary is able to declare the property finished and it is then registered in the Land Registry office. The electrician and plumber produce their own legalised documents certifying that the installations are legal and correct and with this the mains water and electric can be connected. All of these processes are somewhat time-consuming not to mention complicated and it is for this reason therefore we have decided to offer a project management service to all developers, be the property for resale or for personal use. Different packages are available depending on the amount of work required by the developer. These are discussed at length with each promoter and a contract up is drawn up accordingly.