#budgetrenovation #OffGridVilla #20KInSicily
What £20K Gets You in Sicily? Off-Grid Villa Renovation on a Budget 💶🏡
This week, I’m making big strides on my Sicilian villa renovation, working on everything from securing the property to dreaming up exciting future plans for this off-grid homestead. With a £20K budget, I’m transforming this abandoned villa into a unique off-grid retreat in Sicily. 🌞
🔑 Episode Highlights:
Securing the Property 🛡️: Preparing for an upcoming trip back to the UK, I start by securing the villa—making sure all blinds, doors, and windows are locked down. I want to ensure everything is in top shape and protected while I’m away. ✈️🇬🇧
Future Garden & Villa Plans 🌳: I share some landscaping ideas for the front and back garden. My vision includes relocating fruit trees to the front, building raised planter beds, and creating a cozy patio with an outdoor kitchen, seating, outbuildings, and a fully restored water well for gatherings and relaxation.
DIY Projects & Cleanup 🪓 Armed with my Stihl chainsaw, I tackle an old tree stump in the garden, leveling the ground for a smoother finish. After a delicious lunch from a local deli (Sicilian food is a must-try!), I remove leftover metal debris from previous cleanups, finding some interesting items like coat hooks that I plan to restore and repurpose inside the villa. 🔥✨
Meeting Contractors & Gathering Quotes 💬 With larger projects in mind, I update you on my progress with local contractors. I’m meeting with geometers for permit approvals and gathering quotes for electrical rewiring, air conditioning, and even a future swimming pool installation! 🏊♂️🔌 This step brings us closer to a fully functional and comfortable Sicilian retreat.
Final Security Measures Before Leaving 🚪 In the spirit of safety, I add metal reinforcements to blinds, secure doors with timber beams, and double-check that all windows are tightly shut. These small actions provide peace of mind, ensuring the property is well-secured while I’m away.
Renderings & Dream Designs 🌄 I also share some rendered images of the envisioned roof terrace and landscaped back garden—an exciting preview of what’s to come. With each project, this villa is closer to becoming a stunning off-grid homestead.
Why Watch This Series? 👉 Budget-Friendly Real Estate Investment: Follow each step as I work with a £20K budget to transform this abandoned villa into a valuable, off-grid property. 👉 DIY Restoration & Homesteading: Learn about the practical aspects of restoring a property in Sicily, from tree stump removal to securing doors. 👉 Sicilian Lifestyle & Sustainable Living: Experience the unique blend of Sicilian culture and off-grid living, with insights into local resources, food, and design.
Join the Journey! 🛠️ Whether you’re interested in property investment, inspired by off-grid living, or simply love following a good renovation adventure, this series is for you. Join me as I turn this villa from abandoned to amazing!
Be Part of the Transformation!
💬 Subscribe to follow weekly updates on this Sicilian renovation journey. 🔔 Turn on notifications to catch every step in transforming this property. 🙏 Support the Project: Your likes, comments, and subscriptions are invaluable to making this dream come true—thank you for being part of it!
mm:ss
00:00 – 01:49 – Weekly Intro & Project Plans 🌟
01:49 – 03:51 – Cutting Down Tree Stump 🌳
03:51 – 04:02 – Smoldering Stump from Prior Tree Removal 🔥
04:02 – 04:45 – Tasty Lunch from Local Deli 🍕
04:45 – 09:00 – Fire Cleanup & Metal Salvaging
09:00 – 09:45 – Tidying Up the Back Garden 🌿
09:45 – 12:43 – Securing Windows & Blinds 🪟
12:43 – 17:52 – Reinforcing Doors for Extra Security 🚪
17:52 – 19:23 – Locking Down Bedroom Windows & Blinds 🪟
19:23 – 25:06 – Strengthening Back Door Security 🚪
25:06 – 26:33 – Future Villa Renderings & Plans 🌆
26:33 – 29:04 – Flying to the UK with Ryanair ✈️
FOLLOW MY JOURNEY ON INSTAGRAM:
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👉 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/operation.sicily/
SUPPORT MY RENOVATION ADVENTURE:
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#SicilyOnABudget #BudgetHomestead #OffGridRenovation #italianproperty #diyrestoration #sustainableliving
47 Comments
What £20K Gets You in Sicily! 🏡
In this episode, I’m sharing what it takes to turn a budget-friendly villa into an off-grid homestead. Would you take on a project like this? Let’s discuss! 🌞
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👉 Subscribe, like, and join the conversation! And if you’d like to support my work, feel free to ‘buy me a coffee’ here https://buymeacoffee.com/operationsicily – every bit of help keeps the project moving forward!
Il progetto è fantastico 👏👏 , se puoi ti consiglio di sfruttare il sole per l'acqua calda e i pannelli fotovoltaici per l'elettricità 🎯💯
adding to the many thoughts of the roof terrace, i would suggest to consider the wind situation too. you might want to have some sort of an l-shaped structure in the direction where the wind is usually blowing.
about security: let your neighbors know that you are away and ask them to have an eye on your property. make the house look lived in: the cheapest sunbed placed strategically will do + hang some washing out f.e.
I am originally from Sicily but have been living in London for almost 25 years.
I really appreciate what you are doing and wish you all the best in completing this renovation.
While you’ve secured a good deal on this property, I can’t help but wonder if it’s truly worthwhile, considering the time and money required to bring it to a reasonable living standard.
There are many properties on the market around the £100K mark that are in very good condition and require minimal renovation compared to this one.
Please note that I am not an estate agent or broker and have no vested interest in promoting any specific property. I’m simply sharing this information as it may be helpful to your followers here, particularly those considering relocating but feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of taking on a significant renovation project.
Your plans for the complete renovations is very nice. You may want to see into having a larger shaded area on the roof.
You have beautiful long term plans for the design of your villa. Making the outdoors comfortable in such a hot climate will be a challenge, but Sicilian buildings have been dealing with that challenge for centuries. Look to regional architecture for solutions that will fit your overall vision. Is solar powered electricity part of your plans? Best wishes for your ongoing journey, and thanks for sharing it with us.
I'm really enjoying your videos. I can't wait to see it progress. The glass roof will make that room into a greenhouse. Take it from a Brit…. the sun is lovely, living in a hot country, but the shade, somewhere cool is worth so much more afyer a while, you will see. Please reconsider. Safe trip back to the UK. Don't forget to bring back the Marmite !!
Very Interesting story about the house you bought. Lots of room for $20,000. Looks like you have a great plan going for the house too! Should be nice! I'll be watching!
Yes! Been waiting for your post! Som your vision is great and coming along. I would prune the existing mature trees and clean out under them. Plant some shade trees around the garden with soil amendment so they take well. Lay out on paper how you want your garden to look and what plants you want. Saves time and gives you a good sense of direction. A good drip irrigation system doesnt use much water and will help get things going. Have you looked into solar energy at all?
Enjoy your break sir and take care. Take plenty of advice and plenty local advice. It won’t happen overnight but as always it will come down to budget as it always does. A would hate to see the size of the key ring that they big wooden keys.😂. And Try to learn the language. 👍👌🏴
Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to. Start saving, keep saving, and stick to investments
I lived in Italy for a long time. You wont need a glass roof. It will make your house too warm and then youll need lots of air con! Put a normal roof with solar panels. You'll need shade!!!
Living in Australia I can only support all the comments about shade being needed in summer. On another note the onlyt other thing I would suggest is a stair case of some sort to link the roof terrace with the back patio – then there would be no need to go through the house to get from the roof to the pool and vice versa.
You have a lot of work to do but you will get there good luck
Trees that will do well in your climate and, once established (takes about 3 years), should need less water: pistachio, pomegranate, olive.m, fig. It is critical to prune and shape new trees each year for at least the first three years. There are booklets that show how to properly prune trees.
No glass on the terrace, I would suggest either lattice work or shade cloth. Look at homes in the middle east, built with sleeping spaces on their roofs for hot weather.
Morning, I agree with a few other people on the glass roof … I know you would like more light in, but rather put in a few large windows/sliding door. I love the patio on the roof, but you will need a few umbrellas for shade. Regarding the trees in the back, rather leave them there and get new trees for the front of your property. Those big trees might not survive if replanted. All the best of luck to you and enjoy your time in the UK. Watching from South Africa
Should’ve chucked a couple of spuds in with the stump and had them with your lunch mate, lovely 😊😊
You really don’t need that glass mate, you’ll hate it in 5 minutes and wish you hadn’t done it, you’ll boil your nuts off.
Impressive plans. I do not think your trees will survive a move to a new site
I saw some great info on managing flies from a farmer. He any have been in Scotland and had some impressive success
Nice one buddy, thanks for the reply x
I’m quite impressed with how clean the house came up.
It will be so nice to come back to when you return..
Have you checked on the amount of water that you get from the well yet?
I hope it’s a good flow.
Obviously this was filmed a while back in the heat and you had no rain yet, but I’m excited to see your land after it does get damp.
I would be terrified trying to move those trees until at least they have been soaked for a few weeks and in cold weather.
I’m fascinated by the food you buy.. yummmy….
Cheers from Oz 🐨🐨
The Glass roof – I think I have seen advertised blinds which can shade glass patio roofs using an electric motor driven opening and closing systems. Otherwise the sun will make this portion of patio unusable in the warm/hot season.
Maybe hire a ‘man with a van’. or a skip to take rubbish to the tip assuming there is one. (Teaching you to ‘suck eggs’ I reckon )🤣 Thanks for the video – good to follow your progress. Hope you travel well back to blighty! Regards Phil.
Re the garden: We are in coastal Catalonia which until some months ago had a three-year drought. Summers are quite warm, 35 C max for a few weeks. Today the max will be 21 and the low 12, cool by Sicily standards. Little rain falls even in normal Summers. We made some planters and found they are not good in a parched climate, they dry out fast, need regular watering and restrict growth.
We decided to lay permeable landscape fabric on the soil and cover this with 25 mm pebbles (better underfoot than 10mm). This proved fast, and cheap, it controls weeds and has reduced ground evaporation. We cut through the fabric in places to plant drought-resistant shrubs in the gravel and placed large rocks for added interest, this looks good and is low maintenance.
We did the same with a lawn. Unless you have lots of irrigation lawns are a no-no in Mediterranean climates.
Wow your planned development looks ambitious, like others I would consider shade, same applies to the trees, I’d leave them be👍🥰
It could be possible to screen part of the terrace in order to keep mosquitoes/flies away. Window screens are critical in a hot climate. If I were designing your space, I would think about screening in your front porch area (where that cat was laying). It would be a lovely space to sit in. BTW: Did the cat have kittens? I TNR (trap, neuter, release) feral cats, and, yes, I feed & water them, too. It's good to have one or two yard cats, they will keep vermin gone.
Living in fire prone California, and having had to evacuare more than once because of wildfires, I have to say it scared the crap out of me when you lit the burn piles and then walked away from them. Here, burn piles are not left unattended, too dangerous.😮
Yes, solar panels could work. I watch a YT channel where, in one video, the property owners installed a large solar array on the SIDE (as well as on the top) of their workshop. Where they live, it snows, so that worked out great and took up no ground space. In this area, deer, wild turkeys, and other animals love to lay in the shade of ground mounted solar panels.
Lungomare Dante Alighieri, 91100 Trapani TP, Italy – Google maps has Ecocentro there. Household waste recycling centre.
The plans of what you are planning to do are really going to make this small umassuming villa in to something wonderful!
When I think of a Sicilian garden I think of a grove of orange trees. Keep up the good work!
Niiice! I love your ideas for the roof and the outdoor room. I would leave it as one big open space and you can divide it up with strategic placing of furniture/plants. Lovely!
My pleasure mate
We had a conservatory at home and even when the sun came out here it was unbearable, especially when we had that warm spell a few years back. Needless to say conservatory is no more.
Have a nice safe trip home and look forward to seeing more when you get back, all the best mate.
Advertising on YouTube, that you'll be leaving, may not be the best thing, better to have not mentioned it .
I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, I'm loving watching you renovate your future home, we live in Spain and have had a drought for a few year's, except now for the dreadful destructive storms, we have a huge terrace, and pictured family times, except it turned out to be , so excruciating hot, that ten minutes of putting washing on the airers, left me dripping in sweat, and knocking me feeling physically sick, the huge awning not much better, because of the intence humidity under it, the evening's still so hot and humid, have the added attraction of copious amounts of mosquitoes, even now on November cooler evenings, with mosquito repellent, they find a way 😂 to suck your blood 😢.
As a daughter of a Horticulturist, I would consult an expert in your area before attempting to move any trees. As to Architectural design, I do like your ideas, but there are some flaws. Some here have already touched on it as to the glass roof over the back terrace. Unless you want more heat, I’d do a pergola for better air flow and shading. The roof terrace is good, but for the cooler times of the year. I was glad to see that you used the turret for getting to the roof.
UV protection added to the glass for the roof would help to block the sun's harmful rays. It can also help prevent fading of furniture, art work and flooring. I know from experience the fading caused to wood flooring due to only one skylight. I would imagine the heat would be also be unbearable.
Forget the glass roof ! You need insulation to keep the heat out. You need to think of shade,rather than light. Do as the locals do,they know best.
I woukd look into a heat pump system and have solar panels on your roof we have them in our house in Rome andvthey are so much more cost effective rather than air conditioning. 😊
I would also suggest getting security bars for your Windows ones that can open fully for protection and security
Hi Jonathan. 😊Finally I could see your video have been very sick lately and have not been able to do anything at all.
it looks great and it's so good to secure your property while you're away. I have asked someone who knows about trees and he says they die if you move them, as the roots are now so dried out and cannot be brought back to life at all by moving them. They will not be able to settle, no matter how much water you give them, also newly fertilized soil or compost.
It will be such a shame, then you'd better get new plants and you don't need to buy the most expensive ones, as long as you provide good soil and watering, they should probably grow quickly and do well. I wonder if you can find some cuttings in those markets, yes, or ask if they know someone who sells privately from their gardens at a cheap price. Because then you can be lucky to get a lot of different beautiful trees and flowers for the garden. My son says there is an app where you can make your questions in your language and then it translates it into Italian. They answer verbally and you get the translation back in your language. Very useful, I think it's hard to maintain learning that language phew it's hard I think and will be something of a challenge in the first several years when we move there.
I think it will only take hold if you had some friends quickly who we listen to and can help us.
The dogs in your town would drive me crazy,😫😱 it's unbelievable that no one gets a handle on this because there is never peace so you can enjoy it outside.
I think we will have some challenges on the island if they don't have our rules like here in Denmark, which I don't think they have on the same level. We would rather not become unpopular from the start, yes you know what I mean because I don't want to be a Karen ha ha..😛🤣🤣
May you have a safe and pleasant journey to the UK🙏. Looking forward to the next phase on the house and grounds. Take care of yourself ok. Many greetings Maria-😊🌳🌴🌲🌻🥀🏵
Do you know when the villa was built and by whom? It has a very interesting facade… Also, which way does your block align?
It's nice to see the video and its progress, great reasoning for the house, but don't put a glass roof on the porch, rather a roof that opens and closes.. I can't wait to see the future progress..😊👏1819👍
I've watched from the start and can't wait to see what you do. From the comments you are getting some good advice from people 👍 👌
Safety glasses dude and ear defenders,,no one thinks anything is gonna happen,but it does, stay safe, do things right.