Hi Kay
We live in Staffordshire and are also planning to retire to Italy in 2010 when my husband John retires.
We bought our house via House around Italy who were also excellent but we were disappointed with the builder one of their agents put us in contact with.
We are now planning to do most of the renovation work ourselves as my husband is very good at DIY.
We were charged 24.000euros to have our property rewired, new bathroom and plumbing, pipework for radiators in every room, a new boiler and a new doorway to our bedroom. We have since been told by another source that this price was too high. Also the workmanship, apart from the new bathroom, was not of a high standard.The agent was supposed to oversee the work, but obviously didn't.
We would also like to meet up with any expats in the area, perhaps it may be possible if any of our trips to Italy coincide.
Judy.