What to ask for before work starts

Why this page exists

Because we connect you to people and then step out of it. No guarantee passes through this site, we hold no register, and we insure nothing. If work goes wrong your recourse is with whoever did it, on the terms you agreed with them.

That sounds like a disclaimer. It is really an argument for spending five minutes on the list below, because those terms are entirely within your control at the start and entirely outside it afterwards.

The five things to settle before anyone starts

1. A written scope. One paragraph is enough on a small job. What is being done, what is not, and what materials. Verbal scopes are where disputes are born.
2. What happens when something unexpected is found. This is the single most common source of conflict on this island, because opening a wall in a building of this age almost always finds something. Agree now whether that is a new price, an hourly rate, or a conversation.
3. Who is liable. For the work itself, and for damage caused while doing it. Ask whether they carry public liability insurance and, for anything substantial, ask to see it. We do not verify this for you.
4. What any guarantee actually covers. Workmanship and product are different things, and the split matters — see below.
5. Payment stages. Against work completed. A deposit for materials is normal on this island because materials are ordered from the mainland; paying the full job in advance is not.

Workmanship and product are not the same guarantee

The distinction catches people out constantly, and it is worth understanding before you buy anything yourself.

Workmanship

The installation. Given by the tradesperson, usually for a stated period, and it covers their work failing — a tile lifting because it was badly bedded, a joint leaking because it was badly made.

Product

The thing itself. Given by the manufacturer, and normally void if it was installed incorrectly. If you supplied the item, the tradesperson will guarantee the fitting and not the item — reasonably, since they did not choose it.

Neither

Wear, weather beyond design, movement in an old building, salt corrosion on something not specified for coastal exposure, and anything altered afterwards by someone else. On Santorini the salt exclusion is the one that surprises people.

What licensing actually means in Greece

Some work here legally requires a licensed professional, and no informal arrangement substitutes for it.

• Structural work requires a civil engineer (πολιτικός μηχανικός) who signs and carries the responsibility.
• Anything needing a permit requires the architect and engineer named on the file. See building permits.
• A new electrical supply or capacity increase involves the utility and requires proper certification of the installation.
• Pest control for tourist accommodation requires a licensed operator and documentation.

Ask who is signing, and ask early. Engaging a builder before the professional who has to approve the work is the most expensive routine mistake made on this island.

Keep the evidence

• Photograph everything before work starts, including the parts nobody is touching.
• Keep the written scope, the price and any variation in the same place.
• Photograph services before they are covered — cable and pipe routes, once plastered over, are gone.
• Get the certificates: electrical, and any that a licensed professional issued.

On a property here that record is worth more than owners expect, and it is worth most to the next tradesperson who has to trace a fault in a building nobody has drawings for.