We are thinking new floors, kitchen and bathroom. Its 90m.
Our broker told us we need an estimate from an Architect/Interior Designer which we will send with our mortgage applications.
Anyone know the best approach here or where to find a good Interior Designer? Do we look in France or Italy or stick with Swiss based companies?
When I googled it many seem to be servicing the high end market. Way above our means.
We're very happy with the kitchen they did for us, friends had their bathroom done with some quite significant changes (i.e. walls moved) and were also happy.
Peanuts for Geneva !!
It's no point just doing it on the cheap for the sake of doping it.- Take your time, choose what you really like and pay the necessary price and you'll be happy, anything less and it will always there to remind you how you should have waited for a few months and spent that little bit extra.
You'll be far happier in the long run and you won't be continually thinking about changing it and what a real waste of money it was.
The way I did it ....
I got a building loan attached to my mortgage, which had the same mortgage terms. I could release the loan in instalments, which kept the repayments a bit less. In my case, I'd already got a mortgage provider lined up as my case was a bit tricky and not many people wanted to lend to me ...
I tackled it two ways: went to a local builder/kitchen fitter and got them to give me a quote for the work I wanted to do. This was free of charge.
I then discussed it with my bank. They also had a look and gave their own estimate of how much the works would cost.
We agreed an amount.
I didn't have to sign up with any particular interior design/architects/builders firm at this stage, just to get the building loan.
So maybe you could go that way, and then shop around for local suppliers in your area who you think could be the best fit, once the money is agreed - which may of course be the company you approached for the quote in the first place, if you feel they are right for your project. IMO if you know exactly what you want, and the work doesn't need an architect (structural changes), then you can go this way.
Maybe I wasn't so concerned about the steps, as I am an interior architect! But I think it should be pretty straightforward.
Obviously, then you have to keep in that loan amount, or stump up the extra cash, if you fancy gold taps and marble floors that weren't in the original plan . My bank which I had my mortgage with, had to pre-approve all the costs incurred, but that wasn't an issue.
Good luck!
IP
Just one word of warning. When I was shopping around for mortgages, one of the Cantonal banks also offered the main mortgage + renovation mortgage structure, but we had to firm up on the cost of the renovations within 3 months i.e. we would have needed a clear view of the total renovation costings within 3 months. Knowing how long it takes to get quotes etc in Switzerland, I went with CS who didn't care how long the whole thing would take.