Guides
Renovation guides for projects that cross a language.
Written for owners and contractors who run real projects: what to track, what to ask, and what goes wrong when the crew, the architect, and the client don't share a language.
Renovating in Italy
How to Manage a Renovation in Italy from the United States
A practical playbook for running an Italian renovation remotely: who to hire, which permit you need, how payments and IVA work, and what to check every month.
What Is a Geometra, and Do You Need One?
A geometra files your permits, updates the cadastre, and supervises the works. What the role covers, how it differs from an architetto, and what to ask before you hire.
Italian Construction Terminology for English Speakers
Over 80 Italian building terms grouped by category, with English meanings and notes on what each one signals when it shows up in a quote or an email.
Italian vs American Electrical Systems: What Owners Need to Know
230V, 50Hz, a 3 kW default contract, type L and Schuko plugs, salvavita protection, and the conformity certificate you must not skip. Written for American owners.
Understanding Italian Renovation Estimates
Preventivo versus computo metrico, regional unit prices, IVA rates, the exclusions that blow budgets, payment stages, and how to compare two Italian quotes fairly.
Questions to Ask an Italian Contractor Before You Sign
The questions that separate a good impresa edile from an expensive one: DURC and insurance, scope, timeline, payments, subs, warranty, and closeout documents.
Renovating a Family Property in Italy
Succession, co-owners, cadastral mismatches, unpermitted work and sanatoria, heritage and rural constraints, utilities reactivation, and running it all from abroad.
Italian Kitchen and Bathroom Renovation Checklist
A phase by phase checklist for Italian kitchens and bathrooms: demolition, rough-in, screed and waterproofing, tiling, fixtures, 60cm modules, bidets, hood venting, handover.
Multilingual job sites
How to Communicate With a Spanish-Speaking Contractor
Practical methods for English speakers working with Spanish-speaking contractors and crews: written scope, photos, read-backs, key phrases, and where translation fails.
Building a Bilingual Construction Checklist (English / Spanish)
How to structure a construction checklist that works in English and Spanish: phases, item ownership, done-when definitions, change orders, daily logs, and sample items.
Construction Spanish: 100 Job-Site Words That Earn Their Keep
Job-site Spanish grouped by trades, materials, tools, actions, safety, scheduling, and money, with notes on Mexican, Central American, and Caribbean usage.
English/Spanish Crew Communication for Remodeling Contractors
For small GCs: morning huddles, written scope per sub, punch lists, photo proof, monthly client reports, and OSHA's language requirement for safety training.
Managing a renovation remotely
How to Manage a Home Renovation Remotely
A working system for out-of-state and overseas owners: decision log, weekly photo protocol, payment milestones tied to items, a local proxy, and what photos cannot prove.
Renovating a Second Home You Do Not Live In
Seasonal access, choosing a local contractor, utilities, security, vacancy clauses in insurance, furnishing logistics, and the paper trail a second-home renovation needs.
Remodeling
Renovation Progress Reports: What a Good One Contains
What a monthly or weekly progress report from your contractor should include, a sample structure, red flags to watch for, and how to ask for one without friction.
How to Write a Contractor Punch List
A room-by-room method for the final walkthrough, how to describe defects so they actually get fixed, US retainage norms, and how to sign off cleanly.
12 Things Homeowners Forget During a Kitchen Renovation
Outlet placement, appliance clearances, cabinet lead times, permits, ventilation, dust protection, and eight more kitchen renovation details that get missed.
Checklist templates
10 phases · 76 items
Kitchen Renovation
A kitchen renovation runs through the same ten phases almost every time, and most problems come from doing one of them out of order. This checklist follows the work from the first measurements to the final walkthrough, with the dimensions and code items that are easy to miss until the walls are closed. Use it as the shared list for you, your contractor and every trade on the job.
9 phases · 70 items
Bathroom Remodel
A bathroom is the smallest room in a renovation and the one with the most ways to go wrong, because water, ventilation and clearances all have to be right before the tile goes on. This checklist covers the whole job with the clearances, rough-in heights and waterproofing steps written into the items. Work through it in order and the expensive mistakes get caught while they are still cheap.
12 phases · 93 items
Whole-House Renovation
A whole-house renovation is a dozen small projects that have to happen in the right order, and the cost of getting the order wrong grows with every phase. This checklist runs from the first budget conversation to the twelve month review, at the level of detail a homeowner and a general contractor would actually track together. It is written to be edited: keep the phases your project has and delete the rest.
7 phases · 64 items
Punch List / Final Walkthrough
A punch list only works if everyone is looking at the same list, in a room by room order, with each line written as a check that can pass or fail. This template covers the items that come up on most final walkthroughs, from the exterior to the closeout paperwork. Take it on site, mark what fails, add a photo to each failure, and assign it.
9 phases · 78 items
Renovation in Italy
Renovating in Italy follows a documented sequence, and most of the difficulty for a foreign owner is knowing which document belongs to which phase. This checklist lays out the phases from purchase due diligence to agibilità, using the Italian terms your geometra and impresa will actually use, with the English meaning next to each one. The paperwork items matter as much as the building items, because a missing declaration can block a utility contract or a future sale.
9 phases · 69 items
Overseas Renovation
Renovating a property in another country is mostly a problem of information: you cannot see the site, the rules are local, and every question crosses a time zone. This checklist is country neutral and built around the three things that keep a remote project under control, which are due diligence before you commit, a fixed reporting rhythm, and payments released only against verified milestones. Use it alongside whatever local process your technical lead follows.
Pricing
$100per project
One project. One payment. Not a subscription.
Build your checklist free, preview it in every language, then activate for a one-time fee to invite your team and start monthly reports.
Free for everyone you invite