Building in Northern Cyprus (part one)

The construction stage is one of the most exciting parts of building your new home as you finally see your plans come to life.

And just like in the UK, there are basic steps that every builder follows when building a home in Northern Cyprus.

You may choose to be involved every step of the way, or you may decide to sit back and relax and leave it to your professional building team. Either way, here is an outline of the first stages of your building process, in the usual order that the build occurs.

Decide on a project manager

Whether you have the experience and time to manage your build yourself, or you decide to use your builder or an independent third party to manage your build for you, deciding on how your project will be managed is the first step of the construction process.

At North Cover Estates we can help advise you on how to best manage your build and put you in contact with the most trustworthy, experienced and reliable North Cyprus builders. Click here for more information on what a project manager does.

Site clearing and preparation

In many cases, this may already have been done before you purchased your block of land. If not, it will usually only take a matter of days and will ensure that your site is ready for the foundations of your new home.

Formation of the slab

Once your plumber has laid any plumbing that is required under your house, your slab piering will then completed as per the engineer’s specifications.

Once your slab is poured it takes about 28 days to reach full cure, but because the weight of a timber frame is quite light, framing will often commence within a couple of days of the slab being poured.

Most carpenters like to frame straight away as the concrete is still ‘green’, so it is easy to drill into and attach the framing.

Framing

This often goes up very quickly, especially if your frames are prepared before being delivered to site. This is a great time to visit your site if you want to get a feel for the size of each room or make any changed to location of doors and windows.

The length of time the framing stage will take can vary hugely and it will depend on:

  • the materials being used
  • whether the frame arrives partly preassembled
  • the size of your house
  • the complexity of the frame
  • how many people are working on your construction site
  • how experienced your team is, and
  • the weather

Windows

Windows can go in as soon as the framing is completed. However, many builders will not order the windows until after framing as they need an exact fit, so sometimes it can take a while for the windows to be delivered and they may be installed at a later stage.

Unlike the UK, you do not need to install double or triple glazed windows in North Cyprus because the climate is so much warmer, which is another reason why building in North Cyprus is so much more affordable than in the UK.

Roofing and exteriors

Your builder may prefer to complete the roof before starting the exterior walls or vice versa. The advantage of getting the roof on first is that it can protect the frames.

The type of roofing and exterior material you use will depend on the style of home you are building and will have an impact on the final cost of your project.

However, regardless of the style of home you chose to build, you may want to consider installing solar panels on your roof to take advantage of the abundant free source of energy that is available in a country that enjoys 300 days of sunshine per year!

It is just another example of how building in the North Cyprus climate will save you money both in the short term and in long term savings.

Contact us now, to see how affordable, easy and fast building your dream home in the sun can really be!