Posts Tagged ‘engineer’

How to obtain a building permit in Italy?

August 23rd, 2010

Obtaining a building permit is different for each country. Therefore the first step in the renovation process is to obtain the necessary information.

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To get things more easier underneath follows a short manual

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In Italy there are several building permits

1. Denuncio Inizio Attività (DIA):

This is the simplest building permit and is valid for small to medium renovation such as

  • floor repairing,
  • roof repairing,
  • underpinning of walls,
  • foundation works,
  • new openings in interior walls,
  • replacing existing windows by thermal insulating glazing

Between submission of the permit and the construction start date, a period of minimum 20 days must pass. After this period the works can start. However the exact starting date must be announced at the appropriate authority. The works should start no later than one year after the submission of the dossier and may have a length of maximum 3 years.
Note: In Italy, such planning permission is also required for the fencing of the garden and placing a fence at the main entrance
  
2. Permesso di costruire or concessione edilizia:

This permit is required for new construction and extensive renovation works such as

  • new openings in exterior walls,
  • extending existing dwelling,
  • swimming pool construction,
  • partial demolition and replacement of the existing construction,
  • external works affecting the environment such as garden walls

3. At least there are the “notifiche”:

These aren’t building permits but actually a written communication to the authorities regarding maintenance works. These include

  • replacement of broken roof tiles,
  • repainting of windows, facades,
  • replacing gutters,
  • …

In a previous article I already talked about permits for structural interventions for which a structural engineer is needed. It is evident therefore that the permit “permesso di costruire or concessione edilizia ” belongs in this category.
As for the DIA: if the works are related to the structural part of the construction then an engineer is required in the other case (for example by replacing existing windows with thermal glass windows) no engineer is required

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Posted in Tuscan real estate, architect, buying a house in Italy, engineer, geometra, renovation, second home

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Making a new opening in an existing supporting wall according the Italian earthquake law

July 14th, 2010

In a renovation project it often occurs that you’d like to create a new opening in an existing supporting wall. In England, the USA and most countries it’s mostly sufficient to put an architrave above the opening. This architrave can be in wood, steel, reinforced concrete, bricks or a combination of bricks and reinforced concrete.

In Italy however a new opening is much more complicated and a simple architrave isn’t enough. Only for a small opening of about 90 cm, an architrave can be used. Because Italy is a country with serious risks for earthquakes they have a very rigid earthquake law, the so called “legge antisismica”. Therefore it’s necessary to place a rigid frame around the opening. This frame can be in metal or reinforced concrete.

It’s obvious that for this type of intervention next to an architect also an engineer is necessary in order to project the structural part and to calculate the reinforced concrete beam or to determine the type and dimensions of the steel profiles.

Therefore the price for realizing a new opening in Italy is higher than in countries such as England and the USA

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Posted in anti-seismic law, architect, buying a house in Italy, engineer, geometra, renovation

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A simple small investment of about 200 € can save you thousand of euro’s.

April 5th, 2010

Photo from fOTOGLIF

A question that future owners of a property to renovate, often ask is the following:

I’d like to buy a property to renovate but I have no idea what the renovating costs could be. What can I do to avoid a wrong purchase?

In fact: estimating the costs necessary to renovate a property isn’t easy at all if you don’t have any technical experience or background. You may have an impression about the needed works and costs but experience learns that mostly this impression doesn’t corrispond with the reality.

A building engineer, architect of geometra can answer your questions such as:

- what’s the cost for renovating the wooden floors?

- how much do I have to calculate for changing the windows?

- what’s the cost for realising another bathroom?

- Can I get rid of the humidity in the wals of the living room?

- etc.

I suggest future investors, buyers of a renovating property to ask advice to an expert before making an offer. This expert, mostly a building engineer, an architect or a geometra, can give you a more realistic image of the renovating works, costs and necessary time.

A simple, non detailed estimate of the costs of about 200 € can save you a lot of time and costs. Furthermore this small investment can be very important when you have to negotiate about the asking price.

For example: is the asking price 250.000 € but you can prove that the renovation costs mount up to 40.000 € indeed of 20.000 € (suggested by the agency) then you can make an offer of 210.000 €. Another advantage of the estimate, prepared and signed by an expert is that it has more value than your ownmade estimate.

A simple small investment of about 200 € before the purchase of a renovating property can save you thousand of euro’s. Money that you’d rather like to spend for renovating your property I guess!

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Posted in Tuscan real estate, architect, buying a house in Italy, country houses, engineer, geometra, investment properties, renovation, second home

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The difference between “geometra, architetto and ingegnere”

April 19th, 2009

With the start of a new renovation project my non Italian clients almost always ask me what is the exact role of the “geometra”? I must admit that there is a lot of misunderstanding about this term. The reason is that in most countries doesn’t exist such a profession as a “geometra”. Most clients think that a geometra can do almost everything, starting from the building permission, over the architectural project and finishing with the structural project. And in fact not so long ago this was almost true.
With the always more restricting “legge antisismica” (anti seismic law) the role of “geometra”, “architetto” and “ingegnere” has become more clear.
The role of the “geometra” mostly starts with the visit to the commune (local council) registry offices and the regional land registry offices (catasto) to obtain the necessary documents required prior to the sale or prior to the renovation works.
A “geometra” can also be asked to realise small renovation projects. In this case there’s no difference between “geometra” and “architetto”. The Italian law allows both to make the project.
However when for these small interventions a structural project is needed (for example realizing a new opening for an extra window) the signature of a civil engineer is necessary!
The fact is that in Italy with the “legge antisismica” (anti seismic law) the whole territory has become seismic and almost every renovation needs a structural project, the role of the civil engineer is very important.
In theory we could say that a “geometra” can take over the job of an architect in part but the “ingegnere” can take over the job of architect and “geometra”.
The reality is that for medium and big renovations and new building projects, the role of the “geometra” exists in the survey, the visit to the “commune” and the “catasto” and eventually the follow up of the work in progress.
The architect is responsible for the architectural project and the civil engineer is responsible for the structural project.
Other limits for the “geometra” is that he can’t be responsible for new building projects in reinforced concrete and that he can’t be responsible for the “collaudo” (approval of the structures when the building process is finished). This can only be approved by architect or engineer.
Also different to many other european countries but very important is that the “geometra”, “architetto” and “ingegnere” can only put their signature on the projects by them realised and thus take the responsibility for it after being registered in the “Albo o Ordine”. The registration can only after having passed the “esame di stato”, this is an examination after having finished the studies of geometra, architect or engineer.

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