What to expect
| Typical duration | By programme · staged handover typical |
|---|---|
| Cost band | Figures live in the cost index |
| Permit required | Full permitting programme |
| Seasonal constraint | Programme spans multiple seasons on most schemes |
Procurement is the programme
On a mainland development you can order in tranches and rely on availability. Here, every repeating component — sanitaryware, ironmongery, glazing, kitchen units, tiles — has to cross, and a shortfall discovered at unit fourteen of twenty is a sailing away rather than a phone call.
- Bulk order the repeating items early, including a genuine allowance for breakage and rejection. Ordering exactly the quantity on the schedule is how a scheme ends with nineteen finished units.
- Freeze the repeating specification before the site starts. Unit-by-unit variation is the enemy of an island programme.
- Stage deliveries against the programme, with storage planned. Storage space is itself a constraint on most Santorini sites.
- Identify the single longest-lead item and build the programme around it. It is usually glazing or joinery.
What we bring to a development
- One contract across every trade, so the interfaces between packages are our liability rather than yours to referee.
- A programme with float allocated where island risk actually sits, rather than spread evenly and therefore useless.
- Procurement discipline: long-lead identification, bulk ordering, staged delivery and storage planning.
- Repeatable quality control across units, with the checks that matter — cover before pours, falls before screeds, waterproofing before tiling — programmed rather than improvised.
- Staged handover where the commercial plan needs early units released.
- As-built documentation per unit, which matters at sale and at first defect.
Risk allocation, honestly
A development contract on an island needs to be explicit about who carries what, because the risks are different from mainland norms.
| Risk | Who realistically carries it | How it is managed |
|---|---|---|
| Ferry cancellation and weather | Shared — it is outside both parties' control | Explicit programme float, named in the contract |
| Supplier lead time | Contractor, if ordering is our responsibility | Long-lead schedule agreed at the start |
| Free-issue material arriving late | Developer | Delivery dates committed to the programme |
| Ground conditions | Shared, subject to investigation | Trial pits before pricing, not after |
| Archaeological findings | Developer | Engaged before design freeze; programme float |
| Design changes mid-programme | Developer | Priced as variations with programme impact stated |
| Workmanship and coordination | Contractor | Single contract, retention, defects period |
What we would advise on a Santorini scheme
- Standardise ruthlessly. Every variation between units multiplies procurement risk. Vary the finishes, not the components.
- Resolve the permitting position completely before committing to a programme. Cadastral, settlement, archaeological. See permits.
- Do the ground investigation across the whole site, not one pit in the middle. The variation is what catches schemes out.
- Plan the site logistics as seriously as the building. Storage, access, staging and waste on a constrained site is a design problem.
- Programme across seasons realistically. A scheme that assumes continuous full-rate working through August is not a programme.
Questions people actually ask
Can you deliver multiple units to a fixed programme?
Yes, with the procurement discipline that requires — long-lead identification, bulk ordering with breakage allowance, and staged delivery. The programme is only as good as the ordering schedule behind it.
What is the biggest programme risk on a Santorini development?
Procurement, consistently. Not labour, not weather on site. A missing repeating component at unit fourteen costs a sailing, and sailings do not accelerate.
Can you work with our own design team?
Yes. We would ask to review the developing design for buildability against island constraints and for procurement risk, which is cheap at design stage and expensive later.
Do you offer staged handover?
Where the scheme allows units to be completed and separated safely, yes. It needs planning into the programme rather than being requested at the end.
How do you price a development?
From quantities and rates against a defined specification, with provisional sums labelled and exclusions explicit. On a scheme with unresolved permitting we would rather price after that is settled than build the uncertainty into a number.