The project Villa Padma in 2009 1
The development and progress of the project Villa Padma .
When we went to Bali for the first time we had absolutely no plans to build there.
Just a nice holiday in a villa , that was our plan ......
But , then came the villa management and helpdesk man .
Robbie Drexhage : born and raised in the same village where I was born , hevisited the same high school as my siste.r We sat down and soon emerged a very animated conversation about memories , mutual acquaintances etc.
Robbie lived already for twelve years in Bali , was now married with a Balinese woman and he was in the development and construction of villas in north Bali
The villa where we where was called Villa Manga . In terms of structural finish very moderate
Since my husband and I both have a technical background and have an eye for quality, we thought we can do better .
Together with Robbie we visited some of his projects.
What a difference : very high quality materials and solid construction and a very high degree of finish . And besides , there were building permits , property deeds and notarized actes ... ( There are companies that do not take so closely with all its consequences for the unsuspecting owner .. )
The next step was an extremely secure awareness of how it all works for potential home owners : legal aspects , permits , financial aspects ... before we knew it we went with Robbie to look at plotsof building sites that were for sale .
Building Villa Padma
Anyhow, within no time we had faith in the trustworthyness of Robbie and his company also by contacting other customers of him and double checking his stories. One of his customers appeared to live just arround the corner in The Netherlands. What a coincidence...
When we left for The netherlands we were the proud owners of a beautifull piece of land: in the middle of Central Lovina, very close to all the restaurants, close by the sea, with a breathtaking view over the rice fields.
Back home again I started with designing the house and the garden. I am originally a industrial engineer and this was a , for me, once in a lifetime chance, to design my own house, garden and also some of the furniture. ( for balinese prices, which are totally different when compared with dutch prices...)
Thanks to email and scanning a number of versions have gone back and forth to Bali. Finally, after a year we had a good design, calculated until the last penny. We had the building permit, all the necessary contracts were signed, so we went back to Bali and were there when the building started.
During the months of building we were updated on a regular basis with foto's, sent by email. That worked very fast en efficient.
Because of the fact that Robbie and his wife also take care of the villa management and the organisation of the helpdesk for the guests, you do not have to manage the staff and the maintenance of the house yourself being the owner. That should not have been possible anyhow from such a great distance.
We deliberatly have chosen to rent the house out. Up until now renting out has been very succesful. A very good investment, much more fun than the stock exchange. And we contribute to te bali economy by employing the staf. Tourism is the main source of income for the balinese people.
