Wooden/Log Houses. Advice needed!

[kimonas]

Does anyone out there have any experience or advice on building a wooden house in Cyprus? I have started looking at companies throughout Europe. The prices seem very reasonable (as in a few 10s of thousands), but the first Cypriot Company we investigated quoted in the 100s of thousands. Is it possible to buy direct, import and self build? I'm new to log cabins, and any advice would be gratefully received!

Many thanks

K

[Veronica]

I would not recommend trying any sort of self build unless you are prepared for a huge ammount of stress.
The red tape for any sort of building here in Cyprus is very very complex and unless you know what you are doing you will regret trying to do self build.
Timber frame buiding does not work out any cheaper than the traditional concrete bulding but you end up with a much more eco friendly home.
If you really want to try self build make certain you have all your planning permissions and licences to build in place before you order a kit or might find yourself with an expensive pile of firewood.
Remember also that a basic self build kit does not include things like bathroom and kitchen fittings, wardrobes, tiles etc so that will make the eventual cost of self build higher than at first appears.
When choosing your plot of land bear in mind that you must have road access before you will get planning permission. Dont let the person selling you the land tell you that road access hasbeen approved without getting your solicitor to check it out.

regards Veronica

[BabsM]

Oddly enough we saw an advert recently for Scandinavian log cabins in one of the free moving or relocation magazines in Cyprus. I don't remember the name of the company. We were discussing the idea with friends who are also developers and they thought the idea too risky. They thought the unusual construction would 1) negatively affect the resale value as Cypriot like the tried and tested concrete frame and 2) it might have difficulty passing the earthquake code requirements. I don't know how objective/subjective their comments were.

Someone near us has built a lovely 2 storey house out of wood. I don't know the people involved but there is a rumour that the local authorities have refused to grant a permit of some type because of the construction and they can't get title to the land.

[kimonas]

Thanks for the replies and views. I'm getting along with the research, there are many viable companies and dozens of successfully completed projects on the island- the planning issues are the biggest headache. I'm not really interested in resale - the wood is attractive because of lesser environmental impact and aesthetics - the site is an ancient olive grove, with very old trees to work around, building a concrete monstrosity just seems criminal. I'm interested to see if anyone has any experience of dealing with a wood cabin build, or positive/negative things to say about living in one...

Many thanks again

Kimonas