Independent advice before you commit to buying or renovating property on the Côte d'Azur.
We work exclusively for our client - not estate agents, contractors or anyone else involved in the transaction.
Most of the people advising you during a purchase or renovation have some interest in the outcome that isn't quite the same as yours.
Estate agents are paid when a sale completes, so their interests aren't always identical to yours.
Contractors are paid to carry out the work, so the scope of the work they're recommending deserves independent scrutiny.
Survey reports are necessarily cautious, and can highlight potential risks without telling you which are likely, which are minor, and which are worth acting on.
Proba Partners exists to give clients an independent view of the decision: what a property is really worth to you, what the work really requires, and what it should really cost.
Why independent judgement matters?
Most of the professionals you'll deal with when buying or renovating on the Riviera are good at what they do. But the system they work within can lean one way - toward the more expensive fix, the more cautious report, the bigger job. Not usually through dishonesty. More often through caution, convention, or simply what pays. Independent, hands-on judgement is what corrects for that lean.
| WITHOUT INDEPENDENT ADVICE | WITH PROBA PARTNERS |
|---|---|
| A specialist is called because of their title, not because they're the right fit for the problem | We work out what's actually wrong first, then bring in whoever can actually fix it |
| Multiple visits, multiple invoices, and the problem still isn't fixed | One assessment, a clear diagnosis, a defined cost to fix it properly |
| You're told something is expensive because it's complicated | We tell you when it isn't as complicated as you've been told |
| The professional is paid whether or not your problem actually goes away | Our only measure of success is whether it's actually solved |
| You have no way to know if a quote is fair | We've spent years on real projects, so we know what something should actually cost |
In practice
The cheapest quote. Clients getting quotes for a full renovation are often drawn to the lowest number, even when advised otherwise. What's rarely said out loud: some contractors quote unrealistically low deliberately, to win the project ahead of competitors, knowing the price will rise once work is underway, by which point switching contractors costs more than continuing, so there's no real choice left. When we review quotes before a client commits, we calculate what the chosen scope will actually cost to deliver properly, so the decision is an honest one from the start: a larger budget, or a smaller scope. Not a discovery made three months in, once there's no longer a choice at all.
The roof.A client's roof had been leaking for several years. Multiple surveyors and specialist roofing companies visited and quoted; one carried out repairs twice. The leak continued. Our inspection produced a quote a fifth of what had previously been proposed. The roof was fixed within three days and hasn't leaked since.
The design. A client's designer had produced a scheme that would have cost considerably more to build than it needed to, simply because the designer wasn't informed by how the work is actually executed in practice. We revised the specification to reach the same result for a fraction of the cost, without changing the design itself.
The rewire. An electrician recommended a full rewire that wasn't necessary. On another project, a job quoted at four thousand euros was completed for eight hundred once the unnecessary extras padding the quote were removed.
The waste pipe. A surveyor's report flagged a blocked waste pipe and suggested the system likely needed full replacement. Our inspection found a fifty-euro fix. Nothing further since.
The kitchen refresh. A full renovation of a client's kitchen was quoted at thirty thousand euros, more than they wanted to spend. We designed an alternative within ten thousand: new doors, a new worktop, added shelving and a set of smaller details. The kitchen reads as updated rather than entirely new, because that's what ten thousand euros should honestly buy, not a full renovation dressed up as one.
The pre-purchase check. A client's budget covered the notary and the agent, but nothing for a survey — in France, unlike some other countries, a structural survey isn't a legal requirement, so it's easy to assume the mandatory diagnostics cover everything. A formal survey would have cost around thirteen hundred euros, more than they'd allowed for. We inspected the property for five hundred, just before signing, and found a collapsing dry stone wall and an oil heating tank that needed replacing — together, around fifteen thousand euros unaccounted for in the budget. They found the extra funds and went ahead, this time knowing exactly what they were taking on. Without that check, they wouldn't have known at all.
Start a Conversation
The first conversation is free: a straightforward call, by video or phone, to talk through your property or project and whether we can help.