How to lose 185 000 € for nothing

A house like new but only on the surface. Or how to lose 185 000 € for nothing.

A family was looking for a simple plan: buy a freshly renovated home near the ocean, move in, and live peacefully.

The agent reassured them  “fully renovated, practically like new.”

Everything looked perfect: crisp white walls, smooth ceilings, clean tilework in the bathroom.

They didn’t even bring in a surveyor what was the point? The house looked flawless.

The price was above market, but it seemed fair for a renovated home you could move into immediately.

The agent even spoke of “experienced builders” who had done dozens of similar projects.But within a year, the house started to fall apart literally.

The plasterboard in the hallway began to smell of damp and started to delaminate.

The bathroom developed a persistent mold odor, despite the fan running every time the light was on.Paint under the windows bubbled, and yellow spots appeared on the bedroom ceiling.

After my inspection, the truth came out:

The house had been renovated with no engineering plan, no technical design, no understanding of how the building structure actually worked.

All existing defects in the original 1997 construction were simply hidden not resolved.

Moisture damage was concealed behind plasterboard (Pladur), and the external insulation (Capoto) was applied using methods unsuitable for that specific wall type — which caused massive hidden mold growth behind the panels.

Materials were the cheapest available, installed without regard for standards or compatibility.

The work had been done by unqualified labor, unsupervised, with one goal: make it look nice, fast, and cheap.

This wasn’t renovation it was flipping.

What looked like a safe purchase turned into a full structural overhaul, hidden damage remediation, and a complete rebuild of engineering systems.

They thought they were buying a “like new” home but got an old house in a shiny wrapper, at a new house price.

The cost: over 185 000 € in losses and nearly a year living in a rental while repairs were underway.