House renovation in Nice: every kind of building has its rules
Bastides and farmhouses of the hinterland. Around Falicon, Aspremont, Vence or Saint-Paul-de-Vence, as in the valleys of Nice: rubble-stone walls bound with lime, timber floors on beams, a canal-tile roof on a wooden structure. These walls breathe: no cement render, no waterproof lining, but lime, drainage at the foot of the walls and ventilation. The roof structure is checked beam by beam before deciding what stays.
Hillside villas. Cimiez, Mont Boron, Fabron, Gairaut, Rimiez, the Corniche Fleurie: houses from the 1920s to the 1980s, on sloping plots held by dry-stone terraces. The structure is often concrete, flat roofs need their waterproofing redone, and access dictates the logistics: a narrow lane, steps, no room for a skip. We organise the site accordingly: small containers, a hoist, deliveries scheduled.
Town houses and semi-detached villas. In Nice as in Villefranche-sur-Mer, Beaulieu, Cagnes-sur-Mer or Antibes, the house shares a wall, sometimes a courtyard. Work on that wall, rainwater run-off and overlooking are settled with the neighbour before the first blow of the pick, not after.
Planning: what has to be declared before starting
Renovating the inside of a house needs no permission. As soon as the outward appearance changes — a new opening, a different roof covering, a façade render, a raised terrace — a prior declaration must be filed with the town hall. An extension needs either a prior declaration or a building permit depending on its size and the metropolitan planning rules.
Near a listed monument or within a protected site — as in parts of Cimiez, Mont Boron or the Old Town — the Architecte des Bâtiments de France gives an opinion on everything visible from outside, and processing takes longer. We prepare the file with you or with your architect, and the structural work starts only with the permission in hand.
Lead times: what really decides them
You receive the quotation within 48 working hours of the visit. The site programme then depends on three things: the processing of permissions — one month for a prior declaration, two for a building permit on a single-family house, longer in a protected area —, the supply of materials, and the season. A roof is not stripped in the rain; a screed and a lime render dry at their own pace, not ours.
The programme is handed over with the quotation, supplies included.
Materials: stone stays stone
In an old house, we keep what has proved itself: local stone, old tiles relaid as the top course, a sound roof structure, a terracotta floor. What we add must age as well: lime, solid oak, travertine, large-format porcelain stoneware in the wet rooms, stone or timber for the terraces.
Choices are made on samples, in the light of the room or the garden: stone and porcelain stoneware, parquet, bathroom, paints, fine materials and finishes. To add space, see our page on extensions.
HEXABAT — Construction & Rénovation, Nice
