How saving money on contractors can end with an expensive renovation, major disruption and thousands of euros in additional costs.
This story happened recently. And unfortunately, it is completely real.
A woman contacted me because she had been experiencing ongoing problems with the electrical installation in a house she had purchased some time earlier.
It was a renovated, two-storey property.
Everything should have been simple: buy a renovated home, move in, unpack your belongings and start enjoying life in Spain.
Instead, the electrical problems began.
Circuit breakers were tripping, faults kept appearing and it quickly became clear that something was wrong with the installation.
She asked me to come and inspect it.
The inspection was delayed
Unfortunately, we were unable to arrange the visit immediately.
I was extremely busy at the time, there were some scheduling difficulties and she also had travel plans. In the end, around a month and a half passed before anything moved forward.
Eventually, a contractor I had worked with before went to the property.
He began opening parts of the floor in order to investigate the problem.
Then he called me.
He knew the homeowner had already contacted me because he had originally given her my number.
He simply said:
“You need to come and see this.”
I knew immediately that something was wrong
When I arrived, parts of the electrical installation in the kitchen and several other areas on the ground floor had already been exposed.
I could finally see how the cables had been routed, how connections had been made and how parts of the installation had been protected beneath the floor.
The moment I saw it, I knew there was a serious problem.
It did not look like an electrical installation carried out to the standard I would expect from a professional electrician.
After speaking with the contractor who was there, I found out who had originally carried out the work.
And that made the situation even more surprising.
I knew the person.
Several years earlier, I had actually carried out electrical work for him myself.
At that time, I did not know him as a qualified electrician.
I cannot say exactly what happened afterwards — whether he tried to learn electrical work himself or whether someone else helped him with the project.
What I do know is that someone took responsibility for carrying out the electrical installation in an entire two-storey house.
The property was then renovated and sold.
The new owner bought what appeared to be a finished, renovated home.
Only later did she begin discovering what was hidden behind the walls and underneath the floors.
The most expensive problems are often the ones you cannot see
This is one of the biggest risks when buying a recently renovated property.
You see new tiles.
A new kitchen.
Freshly painted walls.
Modern lighting.
New sockets and switches.
Everything looks clean, fresh and attractive.
But the buyer usually cannot see what is hidden underneath.
They cannot see the cables.
They cannot see the connections.
They do not know how the installation has been routed.
They often do not know who carried out the electrical work.
And in many cases, they do not know whether proper documentation exists for the work that was completed.
In this particular case, the problem only became visible when the electrical installation started failing.
And this is where the real cost begins
At first, somebody might think:
“The electrical installation is wrong. Just fix it.”
Unfortunately, in a finished and renovated property, it is rarely that simple.
If an electrical installation has to be replaced, the cost does not end with the electrician.
You first have to reach the cables.
That may mean opening walls.
Removing parts of the floor.
Taking up tiles.
Removing furniture or fitted units.
Installing the new electrical system.
And once the electrician finishes, other contractors have to put the house back together again.
Plastering.
Painting.
Tiling.
Carpentry.
Reinstalling furniture and fittings.
Suddenly, the money that somebody thought they had saved during the original renovation can turn into a repair bill many times higher.
In this case, we are not talking about €500 or €1,000.
Depending on the final scope of the work, the cost of replacing the electrical installation and restoring the property afterwards could easily reach many thousands of euros.
The exact amount can only be determined once the full extent of the problem is known.
So who pays for it now?
This is where the story becomes even more difficult.
According to the information provided to us at the property, the person responsible for the previous electrical work did not leave behind the kind of documentation that would make the situation straightforward for the current owner.
There is no simple process of:
company → invoice → warranty → complaint.
Instead, the homeowner now has to collect evidence, determine responsibility and potentially pursue her rights through legal channels.
Meanwhile, somebody still has to pay to repair the house.
The worst part is that she did not buy a property to renovate
She bought a renovated home.
She expected to move in and live there normally.
Instead, the problems continued for months.
Work has now begun, and the family has had to move out and find somewhere else to stay while the property is being repaired.
Our company was asked to carry out the electrical work.
I personally inspected the situation on the ground floor.
Later, I was also informed that when additional parts of the installation upstairs were exposed, similar problems were discovered there.
A complete inspection is still necessary before the final scope of the electrical work can be confirmed.
But one thing is already clear:
this is not a small repair.
Cheaper does not always mean cheaper
I am not telling this story to say:
“Always choose the most expensive contractor.”
Price alone is not a guarantee of quality.
An expensive company can make mistakes too.
The real problem begins when price becomes the only criterion when choosing who will carry out the work.
If someone offers to complete an electrical installation significantly cheaper than other contractors, it is worth asking a few basic questions:
- Who is actually carrying out the electrical work?
- Do they have the appropriate qualifications?
- Is the business operating legally?
- Will I receive an invoice?
- Will I receive documentation for the work?
- Who will be responsible if something goes wrong six months later?
- Will the installation be inspected before the walls and floors are closed?
Because once everything has been covered with tiles, plaster, flooring and a new kitchen, the answers to those questions may be worth tens of thousands of euros.
He came. He did the job. He took the money. And disappeared.
As long as everything works, the cheapest quotation can seem like a great deal.
The real problem comes later.
When the contractor is gone.
When there is no documentation.
When there is nobody to call.
And when a newly renovated house has to be opened up again so that the same work can effectively be carried out for a second time.
Except this time, the homeowner also has to pay for repairing everything that needs to be opened or removed in order to fix the electrical installation.
That is why, when it comes to electrical work, the price is only one part of the decision.
You should also know:
who is doing the work, how it is being done, what documentation you will receive and who will take responsibility once the walls are closed.
Because sometimes, the most expensive electrical installation is the one that looked the cheapest at the beginning.
