Always Get It In Writing
Navigating negotiations in a foreign culture
Hello friends,
According to my acupuncturist, the Portuguese believe that if the sun shines on February 2, we’re in for many more weeks of winter weather. I guess Groundhog’s Day is a thing here too?
Welp, it was sunny on the 2nd, and he told me this last Thursday, as Porto was getting drenched by a wet and windy storm. Go figure.
Aside from trying to stay dry during a week of downpours, what have we been up to?
Always get it in writing…
Remodel update
Quick hits
Let’s dive in!
Always get it in writing…
We recently wrapped up a long, painful negotiation process with the building’s roof contractor (hired by the association). It taught us some subtle but valuable lessons about negotiating across cultural lines.
We approved the roof replacement bid at our January 2023 association meeting, when we were still Portugal construction newbies. Not understanding the language or practice, we went with the majority of owners and trusted everyone without personally reviewing the bid (mistake #1).
The work began in June, with a 90-day window to finish the entire project. We agreed to let them use our demolished/empty apartment for staging, with the common understanding* that they’d clear out at the end of the 90 days so our work could start. (*mistake #2).
Anyone following this newsletter knows that there were uncountable delays, they left our place dirty, left stuff in the way of our remodel, and took significant time to address continued leaks. The road was bumpy, but in the end, the work itself was good.
Fast forward to December, when the project was finally declared complete by the association (while we were in Malaysia), and payment was settled.
So how did we get personally involved?
Our apartment never had HVAC of any sort, so there was only one exhaust chimney on the roof for the building’s sewer/water. We had to make a separate contract with the roofing company to add our own chimneys for our apartment’s upgraded ventilation.
The bid seemed very expensive to us, but to maintain continuity on the project, we sucked it up and agreed. This was before we started having problems with their delays, so we didn’t write some key timeline requirements into the contract (mistake #3).
To make a long, complicated story short, the roofing contractor did not replace any of the building’s exhaust tubing/chimney, but they did install our chimneys and billed us for them.
Also, our GC connected the building’s exhaust to our chimneys, because he was running our other venting and, well, the job needed to get done. We discovered all of this in our December invoice.
So…
The building paid for chimneys and tubing it didn’t get, and
The roof contractor is billing us for a chimney that the building is using, and
Our contractor has billed us for all of the exhaust piping the roofing contractor should have done (and has been paid for).
How to fix it?
My Portuguese is getting better, and lots of business is done face-to-face here, so I agreed to meet with the roofing contractor and our association manager in person to try and resolve the issue (mistake #4).
Follow-up conversations revealed that we had not actually resolved the issue. The roofer proceeded to make all sorts of claims, like “there was never a pipe/vent there” (we have photos otherwise), “this work wasn’t in the original contract,” (turns out it is in the contract), etc.
We finally got ahold of the Association’s original roof contract, and while maddeningly vague, it clearly states that chimneys and tubes are included.
I emailed them the contract to point this out, and that ended it without additional cost to us, which felt like a big win.
Lessons learned?
Never assume you’re on the same page with someone when it comes to things like construction contracts, especially in an unfamiliar culture. Ask too many questions. It’s surprising how often we find honest yet core misunderstandings hidden in mundane details here.
Follow in-person meetings with clearly written minutes, so conflicts can immediately be identified. We even do this with our own GC, whom we trust a lot. The language and expectation barriers are difficult to navigate.
Write project-delay penalties into contracts, especially in Portugal!
Cement “common understandings” into the written record, so nobody has any doubts later.
Take pictures of everything. Luckily we just happened to snap photos of the piping and vent before demolishing and that saved us on this negotiation.
Remodel update
We are WEEKS away from having a finished apartment, and the excitement is palpable.
The carpentry is almost complete. This includes custom cabinets in every room, window trims, doors, etc. Next up are countertops, floors, toilets, bathroom hardware, and appliances. We have a bit more electrical to complete as well. Overall, they’re doing an incredible job. Our builder and his team are rock stars.
The current challenge is figuring out how to get our American-sized refrigerator up a European-size stairwell.
We contacted the #1 moving company in Porto to give us a fridge-lifting assessment. It turns out that just one corner of our whole 4-floor stairwell is the problem. Fortunately, our contractor has a winch set up that they will use to get the fridge past that one troublesome corner.
It’s a dicey plan but should work, and it means we don’t have to get a permit to block the street to crane it up there. Lol.
Everyone, please keep your fingers crossed for us!
Quick Hits
A friend who visited Porto for NYE (while we were in Malaysia) accidentally booked his room at a fancy local hotel for Jan 31 instead of Dec 31. A critical mistake I’ve made before too. He had 3 non-refundable nights to use, so he generously reached out and gifted us a staycation. We luxuriated in a fancy room with a big bathtub, in a 5-star hotel located in a former palace. It included a full breakfast buffet, sauna, and pool. We thoroughly enjoyed a couple of days of playing tourist in Porto.
Before the rain hit this week, I was able to squeeze in a nice, long bike ride up the Douro River. I’m also continuing to train daily at my local spin studio, recently adding boot camp and body sculpt classes into the routine. I’m feeling stronger than I have in years. My acupuncturist says I seem far less stressed, too. Maybe I just need more staycations?
We’ve been delving into the craft beer scene in Porto, lately. We have a friend who works in the industry, and some others who are enthusiasts. It’s opening up some fun new connections and helping us learn more about an emerging culture here. This last week we attended a birthday party for the original local craft beer bar, Catraio, and a friend’s birthday that took us to yet another local beer hall. Good thing I have been burning those extra calories!
How is your February shaping up?
This week’s music is my new Funk Bar playlist, which came to me courtesy of Spotify’s Daylist feature. I spent my Sunday morning rocking out to global funky beats, and now you can too:
Hey Don,
Enjoy your posts. We're headed to Porto March 25. Is it difficult to find parking spaces for a rental vehicle? We could use recommendations on food. Any suggestions are great appreciated.
Recently finished a remodel at our home Florida and after our challenges need the vacation!
Remodel is hell in every country, but doing it in a foreign language must be even more challenging. (Our oldest daughter has been remodeling an old house for three years now here in California, lots of mistakes and lessons learned).
How frustrating to find people blatantly lying for their advantage. With iPhones these days taking lots of pictures is a great help. Hopefully it will all be finished soon and you will never have to touch it again.
We were up at Lake Tahoe last week during the big storm. Romantic and beautiful but not much chance for skiing.