A Jaunty Video for the Time Poor: How much does it cost to build a house in Spain?
Author: Eco Vida Homes is a team of Architects, Technical Architects, Builders, an Engineer, and a Chartered Surveyor. We help people design and build beautiful energy efficient homes designed for Mediterranean living in Marbella and Southern Spain. There are two things that make us stand out: a sharp focus on our clients’ needs and everyContinue reading
Architects Fees Marbella and Costa del Sol
What does an architect charge in Marbella and the Costa del Sol? Conventionally they charge a percentage of the build cost. While there are no mandatory rates almost all architects quote the standard rates of their colegio. The percentages vary according to the scale of the project. The Architects Colleges that supervise the architects inContinue reading
Design for Healthy Temperature and Humidity
A healthy room temperature is between 19 and 20 degrees about 68 degrees Fahrenheit (YAWN!). The bedroom should be about 2 degrees lower for a good night’s sleep because your body temperature naturally lowers during sleep (DOUBLE YAWN (irony intentional)). Much more interesting is what is will be the temperature on the Starship Enterprise usingContinue reading
Passive House in Cross Laminated Timber: Sotogrande
This villa has a 321 sq m built area on a plot of 1124 sq m in near Sotogrande, San Roque, Cadiz. We are currently waiting for the Building Licence Approval. The building will be to passive House standards. The German Institute of Passive Houses is the leading authority on energy efficient houses. The keyContinue reading
Design Your Villa for Clean Air
We tend to think of ourselves as safe inside our modern homes. We walk through our front door and we shut out all the nasty things outside: the weather, air pollutants ………. office politics and we feel we can relax and be safe. #healthyhousedesign Unfortunately maybe there are some nasty things inside our home thatContinue reading
Natural Light Design Features for Health and Well Being
We all know that light affects our moods. If you wake up and it’s a sunny day you can feel full of joy and the whole day rolls out well. Wake up and it’s cold and grey and the opposite happens. Sunshine! It’s one of the reasons we Northern Europeans are living in Spain: #healthyhousedesignContinue reading
Initial Designs for Beautiful Mediterranean Villa in Benahavis Marbella
These are the initial designs for a beautiful energy efficient villa designed for Mediterranean living. The location is La Quinta, Benahavis. At the moment we are looking at 5 en-suite bedrooms and a study, with an open plan living sitting dining room overlooking the shaded terrace and swimming pool facing the views South East acrossContinue reading
Villa Extension in La Carolina Marbella: Waiting For Building Licence
This is a two story extension to a 50 year old villa in La Carolina Marbella. The extension, around the tower, provides a bigger kitchen and bedrooms and a roof terrace. The application for the building licence was submitted in December 2019.
Continue readingContemporary Energy Efficient Villa in Elviria Marbella
This is a project in Elviria for a modern energy efficient villa. It is 262.45 sq m + basement. The ground floor has an open plan living kitchen dining room facing the shaded terrace and the pool and the views. There is an office, laundry room and store. On the first floor are 4 bedroomsContinue reading
Can You Have Separate Suppliers Independent of the Main Contractor?
We recently had a client suggest that an element of the build was provided by a separate supplier independent of the main contractor. He was quite reasonably trying to save money. He had a price from the separate supplier to do one thing. He knew that if the supplier became a subcontractor, then the mainContinue reading