Hello, a couple of you expressed interest in a progress report sometime ago when I mentioned I was doing a renovation project in Asilah. So I thought I would just post an update.

We took on a 5 bed, 3 story medina house in Jan 2007 total m2 hard to calculate due to the irregular shape but with a footprint of 70m2 we were looking at approx 100m2 internal space and 90m2 external terraces.
The house is a traditional "dar" a sort of mini riad but with a closed roof window rather than open space in the centre.
These don't have all the fancy plaster work of a riad or the giant doors (thank goodness) and many Spanish buyers pull down the original buildings and rebuild. Because we had 3 stories with a good view of the sea we didn't want to do that as the chances of our being able to rebuild to that height were pretty low. Also we rather liked the layout we just needed to change room usage to make it more comfortable.

We weren't able to access to start work until he beginning of June. (Most moroccans need some time to look for another property but with hindsight we were a tad over generous with the time allowed).
I used the time to draft project plans/schedules, electric & plumbing diagrams and draw together concept boards so that were ready to brief the building crew.
I divided the work into tranches of roughly 6 weeks work so that it enabled the crew to get on with a chunk of work and then me to visit to make sure everything was OK before they went onto the next stage. Altogether I spent 18 days on site out of a period of 6 months.
We pulled out some truly gruesome 70's tiles from stairwell & salon, demolished a wall & ripped out the existing kitchen, bathroom and separate WC & made good some of the external walls. We then rewired, put new sewer in & new plumbing throughout, installed 3 bathrooms, new kitchen and built a chimney. We kept about a third of the existing floor tiles, retiled the rest. Built up walls around the roof terrace & just for fun, installed a fountain up there too!

We employed a project coordinator, building crew, plumber, electrician and painting crew & by & large they were great & I can highly recommend them. Communication was in strangulated French, the odd bit of Spanish thrown in and a lot of diagrams & hand waving. The work was completed by the beginning of December ready for the fun part ...soft furnishings!!!

I had the time of my life & thoroughly enjoyed the experience...so I'm thinking of doing it all over again but in another area this time. We've been advised that we've added 70% to the asking price (that exc renovation costs & funding to date) although we have no way of knowing how accurate this is until we put it on the market but I don't think i's too far off.

It was hard work but I really loved it and we have made lots of friends in the process....for me, much nicer than buying an off plan & sitting waiting for something to happen for 3 years. So those of you thinking of it....get out there & do it!!!

Is there anyone else out there doing renovations cos everyone seems to talk off plan when they mention Morocco. I'm doing Azemmour next...anyone else active in that area?

Respect for stepping into the unknown and comming out tuther side. Any chance you could post some photos here?

TBH, I haven't the where with all for a foreign renovation, plus it would have a knock on cost on my UK business, so off plan suits me better. My personality type would find the process too stressfull (I've only moved house once as an adult as I detest the stress of moving and I have an over active attention to detail syndrome so something as simple as chosing new sockets becomes a 2 year journey!).

Well done, a remarkable achievement in my book.

Thanks for posting that update esmerelda. It doesn’t seem like such a long time since you were setting out on this project and now its nearing completion with what promises to be a nice pay out.

It certainly sounds like you have had a good experience with property development in Asilah, so what makes you favour Azemmour as your next target?

Would also be interested to hear how easy you found it to get good tradesmen. Were there any trades it was harder to find skilled tradesmen for?

Thanks for the kind words Dogbox. Call me pathetic but I'm not sure how to go about posting pictures. I hope I don't raise the wrath of the moderator if I supply you with a link to the website where you can see it!

http://www.homelidays.com/asilah/house-villa171853en.htm

It's next to the planned Mazagan resort (Plan Azur) 10 minutes from El Jadida (well established resort), you can still find reasonably priced renovation projects but the prices are on the up & have been since the summer. There are a number of investors that are snapping up these projects that are experienced in previous moroccan renovations in Marrakech, Asilah & Essouira. I found a property that i think I can do something with (saw a lot that I couldn't!).The town is still a bit wild west but in 5 years.....????

Oh sorry forgot the craftsmen bit! I found 3 builders, walked them through the house talking about what I wanted & picked the one I thought we could work with & I have not regretted it. We didnt use real specialist craftsmen as we were not renovating a riad so had no need of the fancy plaster and tiling. Did use tadlekt, the polished plaster for bathrooms, chimney and one bedroom. A good tadlekt person is difficult to find but again I was very very lucky, a personal referral and he just happened to be working in the area when I needed him. All the rest of the workers on site were outstanding...not a thing went missing from the house, they were pretty punctual (except in Ramadan...don;t try to get anybody to do anything then....not just the last couple of weeks...all of it!) All in all, it was a very happy ship and we all had a great "Workers Welcome" party in December to celebrate!!

Looks really comfortable and inviting.

This is what fascinates me here on this site. On the one hand you have a doer like Esmerelda who just gets stuck in and tries to create something in life and on the other you have the sour, bitter depressing pessimists for whom the world holds nothing but danger, with con men lurking around every corner and tumbling world asset prices.

Nothing would ever get done if we were to take a lead from the sour ones.

Thanks for the responses esmerelda. Enjoyed looking at the pictures of the end product.

Oh thanks guys (I think you are guys?) those are really nice comments from the pair of you.
Yeh - I was hoping to hear from some more renovators really & see what their experiences were/are but it looks like it's "off plan city" here. Dogbox you said you couldn't live with the stress of renovation....I couldn't do the off plan thing...tried with tanjah Beach...nearly had a heart attack!!!! So I guess it's horses for courses.

This ones for you Dogbox

News released yesterday regarding Saidia is that the Marina is already having to be expanded as demand on subscription for berths has outstripped supply, originally set at 850 berths this is now being expanding to over 1000.
reasons given are that the marina over the water in Marbella costs over 3x more and the cost of fuel to run the yachts is considerably cheaper in Morocco - Saidia resort does not seem to be as remote as many people believe it will be!

Whilst official figures released by the Moroccan government for tourists visiting in 2007 was over 7.2 million, even though non of the Kings resorts are operational. The target of 10 million by 2010 may seem to be quite conservative after all.

"keep the faith"

Mozo

The remoteness argument was always a non starter. As I always said, a development with what is reported to be the Meds largest marina, is not going to go un noticed.

Its still a long days sailing to get from Spain to Saidia. It isn't a nip over for lunch job like Tangier is from Gibraltar etc. I asked a couple of sailors how long the sail would be from Spain. These guys like to sail the Med in the summer, so will have a fair idea of the time involved to make the crossing. They suggested that normal size sailing yachts, in normal Med conditions, would take around 24 hours of continuos sailing to make the journey from the closest point in Spain. In my opinion that will restrict demand for rental berths and means that Saidia's marina will still be relatively remote.

When I looked at possibility of buying a berth the maths didn't stack up. From memory the primary reasons were that:
1) You are leasing the berth (20 years or so) and when lease is up it will cost you considerably more to lease it again (it won't be a nominal amount if current practice in Spain, UK and elsewhere is anything to go by.)
2) Rental isn't likely to be high given proximity of other marina's that attract healthy rentals (i.e. the better located ones in Spain.)
3) Your lease starts now, so there'll be a significant chunk of the 20 year lease where you receive little or no rental with Saidia not being complete for some time.

Having said all that, the marina being extended is good news for Saida.

Soup, A boating chap told me Marina Saidia was a significant build as there will be berths of sufficient size to take the largest luxury boats which he said are too large for Peurto Banus. I'm not sure of the significance myself, nor why he compared to P Banus.

I also considered the berths but for your reasons 1 and 3, I did not pursue. Not sure on your point 2. It's concievable the reported relatively large number of footballers buying here (I understand all the sports villas were sold, not given to footballers), the 500 shop complex and substantial marina might be quite a combination.

I do wonder how they will fill these 500 shops though

The marina can take large yachts etc and I have no difficulty in seeing its importance to Saidia going forward. However, I also see that it may not appeal to:
Sailors that like sailing from port to port. (Long journey from anywhere but other North African marinas.)
Sailors that want a base that has many places of interest nearby.

I suspect we'll see nearer 200 shops with some of them taking up several units.