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Renovating my flat in lativa

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KirkBrownhill
  4/19/2013 11:10 EST

hi all,

I'm new to the Forum and was wondering if i could have a bit of advise.

I'm looking to move into a flat Ive seen in Latvia but it requires a lot of work and i am not to sure how to go about it in Latvia. i have found a British company called screwfix that will deliver this sort of thing to Europe.

i am unsure whether English products like taps will be suitable for use in Latvia. if anyone has ideas on the subject it would be great to discuss potential things that could go wrong.

Thanks,
Kirk

beerbear
  7/6/2013 02:32 EST

A little late with the advise but here goes. Materials & fixtures are not your problem as you can buy all that in country, no reason to import anything at all. Workers are the problem as it is near impossible to find qualified responsible tradesmen. Also the government infrastructure and databases have not been modernized so it can be difficult to get work permits, electrical work for instance. One department can barely communicate with another and there is a fair amount of corruption to go with the incompetence. With the return of easy credit local renovation companies are making a comeback since the collapse of 2008 but this just means that the same crooks are making it even more difficult to get quality work done. Stories of people just giving up half way through a remount are legion.

Be prepared to be onsite and available at all times to control your materials and the workers. And be prepared to fire and replace them at the first sign of trouble.

I know of what I speak.

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