Renovating as an expat: Top tips from a Brussels architect firm

Renovating your house or apartment can be a daunting experience, especially if you're an expat. The rules, written and unwritten, are different than those you've grown up with, the local habits can be weird and hard to grasp, and language differences only add to the challenge.

That old social circle that could have offered some advice now live far away and that awkward but handy DIY-uncle will not be flying in to rescue you. Finally, your new friends are probably expats too, and equally clueless as you are.

But now that making your life in Belgium and need help with a project, how to get started? At Metriek Architects and Engineers we have carried out several successful renovations for expats in Brussels in recent years. Here’s some of our best tips.

Define your priorities

The first question is the hardest: what do you really want? In the long term, do you plan on staying here indefinitely, and if not, for how long do you think you want to live here? Do you really want to do all the renovations at once, or can you maybe do them step-by-step? In the short term, what do you really want from a house? What is your budget and what is your timing?

We often notice that marketing and daily habits have a major influence. So we tease our prospective clients with out-of-the-box questions to loosen the thinking. How do you live when you are on holiday (tent, hotel, campervan, etc.), and why is this different from what you expect of a house? If you could live in a TV movie or series, which one? If you could only change one thing in your house, what would it be? And so on…

Get informed

So, now that you know what you want, it’s time to get informed. Find people who have done a similar renovation and ask them for advice and references of people to contact.

You can also contact local non-profits for advice on renovations (in Brussels, Homegrade does a fantastic job). Find blogs or advisory websites on renovations in general; try to look for content that is sufficiently in-depth to offer all the nuances and details that are inherent to building work. It can be worthwhile to pay for documentation or subscriptions. Make an appointment at the city council to verify if your plans need a permit, and if so, whether your renovation ambitions qualify for one.

Be careful of simple Google searches. You will often be quickly diverted to either marketing websites with biased advice or DIY forums with arguments equally heated and uninformed. Be even more wary of AI-responses; as architects, we often find this source to just be plain wrong when it comes to building technicalities.

Make a plan, or find someone to do it for you

This will sound a bit biased, but we do strongly advise you to talk to an architect as soon as possible. The worst way to start a project is to contact or even commit to different contractors and only bring in the architect when you stumble on the obligation of a permit.

Why do we advise this? Not because we don't trust contractors - although a healthy dose of suspicion always helps in our industry. It’s because every nightmare project we have come across shared the same lack of a good project definition, overview and overall budget. And that's not the job of contractors; that's what architects do. We make you a plan. Not just the kind with lines on paper. We also give you a budget and a timing plan. As architects, we are the sole interlocutor that will be there from start to finish. By law, it is our job to help you sort out the priorities, make an overview, and provide impartial advice and guidance throughout the project. For the duration of the project, we can be your best friend.

Are we perfectly neutral? Of course not. You'll meet lots of people on a building site, but rarely angels. A lot of architects will want to make a nice design for our portfolio and most of us will also want to charge you some money for that. But a firm discussion about your aesthetical ambitions and the fee structure can sort this out quickly. This way, you can quickly focus on the important part: letting us put you on the route towards your dream project.

Stay happy

And most importantly, stay happy. Even a perfect project is not worth going through a nightmare to get there. Budget conservatively and be willing to be flexible and improvise. If financially possible, don't stay in the home during the work, but get a rental. When in doubt, do less. When in stress, relax and let the professionals take the burden. And if you have any questions, just contact us.

Photos: ©Metriek Architects and Engineers: A kitchen with custom-made veranda in Molenbeek ©Lucid Jochen Verghote; A hidden rooftop terrace in Jette ©Sebastiaan Leenknegt; A semi-basement kitchen and custom staircase towards the garden ©Mahdi Elahi