Remote apartment renovation in Batumi while you live abroad

A remote apartment renovation in Batumi rests on practical details: who has the keys, who signs papers for you, how you check the work through a screen and how the money gets here from another country. The general process is described on the page about the stages of working with us, and here we go through the details.

Keys: how they get to the foreman

Most often the developer hands over the keys on a set day. If you can't fly in, the foreman accepts the apartment under a power of attorney and lists any unfinished work in the handover certificate before it is signed: this is how accepting an apartment from the developer without the owner works. With a resale apartment, the seller or the agent hands over the keys after the transaction.

If the keys are with you, you can pass them to our office or through someone you know in Batumi, agreeing the day and the method with the manager in advance. Before that, photograph all the keys and fobs: the set is checked against these photos in the handover form. Over the months of a renovation the keys pass through many tradesmen's hands, so at the end we recommend changing the lock cylinder.

Power of attorney: which renovation steps need one

The renovation contract is signed remotely and needs no power of attorney. You will need one wherever the owner's signature is usually expected: the developer's handover certificate, re-registering the meters, an application to increase the electrical capacity for air conditioners if the electricity company only accepts it from the owner, and calling out the gas service when a pipe has to be moved or disconnected. We agree the exact list of actions with you before you go to the notary. Without a power of attorney, each of these steps waits for your signature and for the documents to be sent over.

The power of attorney is drawn up by a notary in the country where you live, and we arrange its translation into Georgian. Whether it also needs an apostille is something a lawyer checks for your country. If the apartment will go into management after the renovation, include those actions straight away, so you don't have to go to the notary twice.

Stage sign-off by video: what to ask to see

Video sign-off works when you go through the checklist from the contract: a general walk-round with the camera shows very little. These things are easy to check through a screen:

• walls for painting: a torch held along the surface, and the shadows from the raking light show every wave;
• tiles: tapping with the handle of a tool can be heard over the phone too, and a hollow spot sounds dull;
• a shower without a tray: a bucket of water poured on the floor shows whether it runs to the floor drain;
• electrics: a tester in every socket and the labelled circuit breakers in the consumer unit (fuse box) in close-up;
• doors and windows: every sash opened and closed on camera, and any misalignment shows in the gap against the light.

If the connection is weak, the foreman films the same route as one video without cuts. Keep the recording of the call: six months later it shows what you accepted.

The time difference and decisions with dates

Batumi is on UTC+4 all year round and doesn't switch to summer time. Moscow is an hour behind, Israel one to two hours depending on the season, Central Europe two to three, and Kazakhstan is an hour ahead. A question asked on site in the morning sometimes reaches you by lunchtime, so the decisions the schedule depends on get dates in the calendar:

• the wall-hung toilet frame and the taps before the rough plumbing, because they set the heights of the outlets;
• the tiles and their layout before the bathroom pipework, so that the joints line up with the floor drain;
• the kitchen design before the rough electrics, or the sockets end up behind the cabinets;
• the doors together with the floor, before it is levelled, because the height of the opening depends on the thickness of the floor covering.

Until a decision is made, work on that part of the job waits. It helps to agree a regular time for a call on the day of the weekly report.

Paying from abroad

Pay from your own account, opened in the name that is on the contract. The payments then match the certificates, and if you have to sell the apartment before you have owned it for 2 years, these documents will prove your renovation costs when the tax is calculated.

An international transfer takes from one to several business days, so it is best to send the payment for a stage straight after signing the certificate. If the transfer currency differs from the currency of the account, the bank converts it at its own rate and may charge a fee, so check the amount that will actually be credited. There is no need to hand cash to the tradesmen: we pay the crew ourselves.

If you have nobody in Batumi

Anything that can't be settled by phone is taken on by the project manager. They meet furniture and appliance deliveries and film the unpacking, arrange passes, the lift and waste removal with the building's management company, and if there is a leak, they shut off the water or, if it is coming from above, go to the neighbours and the management company.

After the renovation, the keys are handed over against a signed form to someone you know or, on your written instruction, to the building's management company. If the apartment comes to us for management while you are away, we keep them. An empty apartment needs airing and regular visits in winter, or damp will move in before the first tenants do.

How much a remote apartment renovation in Batumi costs

A renovation from white frame for an owner abroad, with us running the project on your behalf, costs from 600 to 780 ₾ per m². The price includes the labour, the materials for the rough work and the things an owner usually does on site: buying what you have chosen, receiving deliveries, meetings with the management company. Turnkey with mid-range finishing materials comes to between 900 and 1,200 ₾ per m². If you have hired a crew yourself, technical supervision and a site foreman cost from 1,390 to 1,800 ₾ a month.

The price goes up when wet areas are moved, when materials are ordered from Tbilisi or abroad, and in a building with strict rules for renovation work. It comes down when decisions are made before the start and materials are bought from stock in Batumi. The final cost is set after the site measurement and once the estimate is agreed, and the price of each stage is written into the contract.