Owners who live elsewhere
Renovating in Abruzzo from abroad
If you own or are buying a property in Abruzzo and live somewhere else, the real question is not whether the builder is honest. It is how you check a site you cannot walk onto. The answer is not reassurance — it is what gets written down before, during and after the work.
The starting point
A renovation in Abruzzo can be run for an owner who is not in the country
EDIL NOZZI S.R.L., a building contractor based in Torrevecchia Teatina in the province of Chieti, sets a job up so that the owner can follow it from another region or another country. That does not rest on taking anyone's word for it. It rests on what is written down before anyone climbs a scaffold.
Four things have to be true for a remote job to work. A qualified technician appointed by you signs the design and holds the direzione dei lavori — the site supervision role, which answers to the client rather than to the builder. The quote is itemised, with measured quantities and unit rates, instead of arriving as one lump sum. A written contract fixes the works, the timescale, the payment terms and how variations are handled. And somebody in Abruzzo can physically open the building.
If any one of those four is missing, distance stops being an inconvenience and becomes the problem. An owner who is not on site cannot notice unaided that a detail was built differently from the drawing. Either the direzione dei lavori notices it, or nobody notices until it is expensive.
EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. carries out the works. The design, the direzione dei lavori and the permit filings are a separate professional appointment that you hold with a technician of your own choosing: giving us the building work puts you under no obligation to appoint any particular technician, and the reverse holds equally. We do not bend that, because the supervising technician exists to check the contractor on behalf of the person paying.
Six stages
How a remotely managed job actually runs
A job run for an absent owner passes through the same stages as any other EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. site — site visit, measured survey and computo metrico, itemised quote, contract, staged site work, handover — preceded by an initial video call. One thing changes: every stage has to leave a document behind, because nobody is there to check by looking.
The first video call
The first conversation happens on video and lasts as long as it takes to work out whether the job suits us. Have ready the address, the cadastral reference or a visura — the land registry extract — whatever photographs you hold, and a plain description of what you want. If you already have drawings or a computo metrico, the call takes half the time and is worth twice as much. If you have no technician yet we say so immediately, because that is step one, not step two.
The survey, photographed and filmed
We carry out the sopralluogo — the site survey — ourselves, with someone there to unlock the building. It produces a photographic record ordered room by room, one continuous unedited video walk-through, and a written note setting out what we saw and what could not be seen: under floors, inside walls, above suspended ceilings. The unknowns go in writing rather than being left out, because those are what move the price later.
The itemised quote
The quote comes back item by item: each operation with its unit of measure, the measured quantity and the unit rate. That lets you drop a line, postpone it, or compare it against another firm row by row. It also states what is excluded, because exclusions are where disputes start, and how long it stands. A single number with no quantities behind it is not a quote.
A contract signed at a distance
The contract can be signed without coming to Italy. It takes a qualified electronic signature recognised in Italy, or a wet signature on a scanned copy followed by exchange of the originals by post, or a procura speciale — a notarised special power of attorney — given to someone you trust; a power of attorney drawn up abroad needs an apostille and a translation. Attached to it are the computo, the capitolato — the specification describing materials and workmanship — and the programme of works. The Italian text is the one that governs.
The site, with reporting written into the contract
While the work runs you get an update at an interval agreed before the start and written into the contract: dated photographs of the actual state, the operations completed since the last update, what begins in the following days, and any drift against the programme. Variations are never agreed verbally. Before anything changes on site, the change is set down in writing with its cost and its effect on the timescale, and it waits for your approval.
Handover and the record
At handover we film a walk-through of the finished building and hand you the file: the declarations of conformity for the building services, issued by the registered installers who carried them out, the technical data sheets for the materials actually used, the waste transfer documents, and the signed handover record. If you cannot be there, the handover is signed by your technician or by whoever you have authorised in writing.
Before anything starts
What we need from you before anything starts
EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. does not open a site for a distant owner until these seven points are settled. This is not paperwork for its own sake: each one corresponds to a specific way a remote job stalls.
- The exact address of the property and its cadastral reference: foglio, particella, subalterno. Without it neither we nor your technician can be certain which building is under discussion.
- Who holds the keys and who can open up. A name, a contact, and written permission for our trades and suppliers to enter. An obliging neighbour is not the same thing as an authorised keyholder.
- The name of the technician appointed for the design and the direzione dei lavori. You choose them, and we work with whoever you appoint.
- A decision on the level of finish. Conservative repair, a standard renovation and a full strip-back are three different jobs at three different costs, and that is settled at the beginning, not halfway through.
- A realistic ceiling on what you are willing to spend, stated early. It is not there to push the price up. It is there so we can tell you what that figure genuinely covers and what is better left to a second phase.
- A workable way to sign documents from where you are: a qualified electronic signature, or a power of attorney to someone you trust in Italy.
- Someone with authority to decide quickly. When a floor is opened and there is something underneath that nobody expected, the site stops until a decision is made. The time zone weighs far less than being reachable.
Being there
What genuinely needs you present, and what does not
Of the five moments in a building job, only one usually calls for the owner to be physically present, and it is not the one people expect. EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. would rather say so in advance, because a badly timed trip costs more than it solves.
| Stage | Do you need to be there? | How it works remotely |
|---|---|---|
| Initial survey (sopralluogo) | No, but somebody must open up | We attend with the keyholder. You receive the photographic record, the full video walk-through and a written note. If you can join a live call while we are inside, you ask your questions at the moment they count. |
| Signing the contract | No | Qualified electronic signature, paper originals by post, or a power of attorney to someone you trust. Read it slowly first: on documents the risk is not distance, it is haste. |
| Choosing materials | Better in person, at least once | Data sheets and posted samples cover most of it, but stone, timber and terracotta in a photograph are not what you see on the wall. Owners who can travel only once usually spend that visit here. |
| Decisions during the works | No, but you must be reachable | Anything unforeseen reaches you in writing, with photographs, the options, and what each does to cost and programme. A prompt answer is what matters: without one the site stands still and the delay becomes real. |
| Handover | Yes, if you can manage it | Handover can be done remotely — video, document file, and signature by your technician or your authorised representative — but it is the moment when raising a defect is easiest, and the one most worth seeing with your own eyes. |
None of these forces a trip. The point is to choose in advance which trip is worth taking, rather than working it out once the scaffolding has come down.
Payments
How payments track the work actually completed
Payments follow the stati di avanzamento lavori — the SAL, or stage assessments of work actually completed — rather than the calendar. A SAL is a measurement of what has genuinely been built up to that point, priced with the unit rates already set out in the quote and the contract. You pay for what exists and can be checked, not for what has been promised.
The contract fixes, before the site opens, when each stage falls and which portion of the works it corresponds to. No substantial sum is asked for in advance against work not yet carried out. Where an initial payment applies at all, it covers ordering materials and setting the site up, and it is written into the contract alongside everything else.
Every stage is documented before it is invoiced: the measured quantities, dated photographs and, where the appointment provides for it, the signature of the direzione dei lavori, who is your technician and not ours. If the supervising technician does not certify a stage, that stage is not invoiced.
An owner living far away receives exactly the documentation an owner walking onto the site would see: the measurement, the photographs, the comparison against the computo. If a figure does not look right, the place to check it is the computo metrico, line by line. That is precisely why the quote is itemised in the first place.
The website in three languages, the work in one
This website is published in Italian, in English and in German, but the work itself happens in one language. EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. works in Italian: the trades, the suppliers, the technicians and the comune all work in Italian, and suggesting otherwise would be dishonest. You are welcome to write to us in English or German, though: enquiries in those languages are read and answered. Quotes, contracts and reports are drawn up in Italian, the language that carries legal effect in Italy, and the Italian text is the one that governs. Meetings, site visits and calls are held in Italian: you can bring someone to interpret, or we can suggest someone locally.
Common questionsQuestions
What owners abroad ask before they commit
Six questions an owner outside Abruzzo asks before signing anything. The answers describe EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. and, in large part, how a private building contract works in Italy.
Can I sign the contract without coming to Italy?
Yes. A private building contract can be signed remotely in three ways: with a qualified electronic signature recognised in Italy, with a wet signature on a scanned copy followed by exchange of the originals by post, or through a procura speciale — a special power of attorney — given to someone you trust. A power of attorney drawn up abroad needs an apostille and a translation. The Italian text remains the governing one, even if you have it translated to read at your own pace.
How much has to be paid before work starts?
Payments are tied to stage assessments measured against work actually carried out, and the contract fixes them before the site opens. We do not ask for substantial sums in advance against operations not yet performed. Where an initial payment applies, it covers ordering materials, it is written into the contract, and it does not replace verification of what gets built. We publish no percentages: they depend on the individual job and are agreed in writing, not on a web page.
How do I know the work is actually progressing?
You receive a periodic update at the interval fixed in the contract: dated photographs of the real state, the list of operations completed since the last update, and any drift against the programme of works. That is documentation, not reassurance.
The real technical check, however, is not the contractor checking itself. It is done by the direzione dei lavori, the technician you appointed, whose job is to verify that the work conforms to the design and to the capitolato.
Who lets the builders in if I am not there?
You need someone in Abruzzo who can open up: your technician, a relative, a neighbour, a managing agent. The name and contact go in before the start, together with written permission for our trades and suppliers to enter. If the keys are entrusted to us, that goes into the contract in black and white, with the dates they are handed over and returned. Until this point is resolved, the site does not start.
Do I have to appoint an Italian technician, or do you handle that?
You appoint the technician, and it is an appointment separate from ours. EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. carries out the works; the design, the direzione dei lavori and the permit filings are a distinct professional appointment held with the professional you choose. We do not perform that role and we do not tell you who should. The separation is in your interest: the supervising technician checks the contractor on your behalf, and cannot do that while depending on the contractor.
What protection do I have if I live abroad?
The guarantees are the ones Italian law gives anyone who commissions building work, and they apply in the same way if you reside outside Italy. Article 1667 of the civil code governs the contractor's liability for difformità e vizi — departures from what was agreed, and defects — with the notice and limitation periods it sets. Article 1669 governs ten-year liability for gravi difetti, serious defects affecting the structure or the building's fitness for use.
For formal notices that need a certified date, our PEC address edilnozzisrl@pec.it is a certified legal channel. For an enquiry or a quote, use the contact form instead.
First step
The building first, the price after
Write to us through the contact form with the comune the property is in, what you want done and roughly when. If you have photographs, a visura or drawings, say so in the message and we will ask for them straight after. We then set up a video call and, if the job suits us, a survey. The price comes after the survey and the computo metrico, never before.