How to expand a house at a third of the price

The average price per square metre for the fitting out of an attic revolves around 200 euros, three times lower than the price for the construction of a house, and demand for attic construction soared last year, when, because of the crisis, Romanians no longer invested in building houses from scratch, reads Business Construct monthly in its 29th of April issue. Building an attic is faster than building a new house because of the already existing infrastructure and construction permits are obtained in a shorter period of time. Moreover, building an attic helps better thermally insulate the house. "(...) We can say a trend is shaping up, as people are starting to understand the aesthetic and economic advantages of fitting out an attic," stated Hans Wreifalt, general manager of Velux Romania, an importer of attic windows. Velux posted turnover worth above 6.7m-RON in Romania in 2009 and for this year the company's representatives expect flat turnover, but are not ruling out a sales rally should house construction rebound domestically.