Benissa is in the Marina Alta, up at about 275 metres, with four kilometres of its own coastline running between Moraira and Calp. Inland it is terraced country — vines and almonds on bancales stepped into the hillside, held by dry-stone walls that were built without mortar and have been standing a very long time. The old farmhouses sit on generous plots with the sea on one horizon and mountains on the other.
That produces three quite different jobs under one word. A campo finca on terraces. A stone house in the medieval old town, on a narrow street with neighbours either side. And a villa on the Benissa Costa strip, which is a different building altogether and usually a newer one.
We take on all three, and the first visit is largely about working out which of them you have actually bought — because the order of work, the access and the cost are not the same for any two of them.
Before & After
The Same Property, Twice
Images are for illustration purposes only.
What it involves
The Plot Is Half the Job
On a terraced hillside the ground is a structure, and it is the part most likely to be missing from a quotation.
The bancales
A dry-stone terrace wall fails slowly and then all at once, usually after heavy rain has found a way behind it. What it takes with it is the terrace above — and sometimes what is built on that terrace. Rebuilding one properly means taking it back, sorting the drainage behind it and relaying the stone, not facing it up.
Levels and access
Getting a digger, a mixer or a delivery lorry onto a plot that steps down a hillside is the first question, not a detail. Where the track is, what will turn on it and where material can be stacked decides how the job is programmed and priced.
Water on a plot with no main
A well, a deposit, a pump and irrigation, and a house whose bathrooms need pressure that the old arrangement never had to provide. Storage and pumping are designed around what the house will actually use.
Drainage
Most of these plots drain to a fosa, and where it sits, what state it is in and whether it can stay are questions to settle before bathrooms are designed around an assumption.
The stone itself
Repointing, rebuilding an opening, taking cement render off a wall that needs to breathe. What is worth restoring gets restored and what is past it gets rebuilt to match, which is a decision made on site with you rather than from a photograph.
Pool, terraces and stores
On a plot this size the outside is most of what you bought. Pools, terraces and outbuildings come as part of the same project rather than as a separate trade to chase once the house is finished.
How it works
Three Kinds of Benissa Property
- The campo fincaStone, terraces, a track and its own water. The work runs outside-in: access and ground first, then roof and services, then the inside.
- The old town houseNarrow streets, shared walls, ironwork balconies and nowhere to park a lorry. Everything arrives in small loads and the neighbours are told in advance.
- The Benissa Costa villaNewer, on the coastal strip between Moraira and Calp. Usually a reform rather than a rescue — kitchens, bathrooms, terraces, glazing and air-conditioning.
- Whichever it isOne detailed quotation, one programme and one point of contact in English and Spanish, from the first visit to the final handover.
Local
Working This Far Up the Coast
Benissa is at the northern end of where we work, which is worth being straight about rather than pretending distance does not exist. It changes how a job is run more than what it costs: materials are ordered in fewer, larger drops, and the programme is built so that trades are not travelling up for half a day of work.
The upside of a plot like this is that there is room to store material on site, which a town job never has. Between that and planning the deliveries properly, a Benissa finca generally runs with fewer interruptions than an apartment in the middle of a town does.
The other Benissa point is the split between the old town up on the hill and the coast below it. If you are buying and have not decided yet, the two are genuinely different propositions to renovate, and we are happy to look at a property with you before you commit rather than after.
Testimonials
What Clients Say
Reproduced word for word from the testimonials page.
“We knew from the beginning we could trust you and you didn’t let us down. Taking us to your suppliers to choose Bathrooms, Kitchen units and tiles etc was invaluable, we got exactly what we wanted.”
David & Susan Evans
“Fantastic, Fantastic, Fantastic, I never thought I would say this about a builder. You have helped us transform our apartment from an old fashioned 1970s to a bright new 2015 modern apartment that we are now proud to have friends come and stay.”
Mr. & Mrs. Paul and Elaine Glance
“Dragon Reforms has had the keys to my apartment for the past 12 months and I have found him to be very very reliable. He has kept in regular contact through WhatsApp with video calls, photographs and regular telephone conversations.”
John & David
Get a quote
Get a Quotation in Benissa
Tell us where the property is and what you are hoping to do with it. We will come up and look, and the quotation costs you nothing.
- Phone
- 0034 639917798
0034 669261858 - +34 639 91 77 98
- dragonreforms@gmail.com
- Address
- Calle San Isidre No 8, Pl 1 Dr
03510 Callosa de Ensarrià, Alicante - Hours
- Monday to Saturday, 9am–8pm
Related services
The Trades a Benissa Job Draws On
Builders, plumbers, electricians, plasterers and carpenters on one programme.
Before you call
Benissa Questions We Get Asked
Do you come out as far as Benissa?
Yes. It is the northern end of our patch, past Calp, and the way a job is programmed takes the distance into account so it does not become your problem.
A terrace wall has come down. Is that a separate trade?
No. Retaining walls, terracing and drainage are part of the same project as the house, and on a stepped plot they are usually the part that has to be right first.
The plot has a well rather than a mains supply.
Normal here. Deposit, pump, filtration and the pipework to the house are designed around what the finished house will use, not around what the old arrangement managed.
Can you look at a property before we buy it?
Yes, and it is a sensible thing to do on a stone house or a terraced plot. We will tell you honestly what we think it needs.
Can the old stone be kept?
Wherever it is sound, and it usually is. We restore what is worth restoring and rebuild what is not, then bring the services, insulation and drainage up to modern standard behind it.
What does it cost to get a quotation?
Nothing at all, and there is no obligation to go ahead. Easy payment terms are arranged once a quotation is accepted.