House extension
How to choose a house extension company in Cyprus
What you can actually verify about a Cyprus extension contractor before you sign: registrations, who carries the permit, and what a complete quote itemises.
8 min read
Photo: Jakub Zerdzicki on Pexels
Andreas covers the structural end of the trades: what holds a building up, what keeps water out of it, and which of the two a given job actually affects. He records quoted prices per trade and checks contractor registrations against ETEK.
Published
Three things about an extension company can be checked before you sign anything: whether the business is registered and current with the Registrar of Companies, whether the person signing your drawings is on the ETEK register, and whether the quote prices the parts of an extension that actually cost money — the substructure, the connection into the existing concrete frame, and the permit drawings. Everything else said at your kitchen table is unverifiable. Contractors who are good at this expect to be asked.
What can actually be verified
Start with the company itself. The Registrar of Companies keeps a public search: you can confirm the entity exists, see the directors, and see whether annual returns have been filed. A builder trading as a sole proprietor is not automatically worse than a limited company, but you should know which you are dealing with before money moves, because it decides who you would be pursuing if the work stopped halfway.
Insurance is a document, not a claim. Ask for the certificates rather than the reassurance: public liability, employer's liability, current dates, and the insured party's name matching the name on the quote. An extension puts scaffold, a concrete pump and other people's employees on your land for months.
The permit file is also a record. Planning permission and the building permit are issued through the district or municipal authority, and the file for a property exists whether or not the contractor mentions it. If a company shows you a finished extension it built two streets away, that project has a permit reference, and a contractor who cannot produce one for their own recent work has told you something important.
What you cannot verify is reputation. A page of praise on a company's own website has no provenance behind it, and a screenshot has less. This site does not publish ratings or testimonials for that reason — what it can show is registration, coverage and time in business, because each of those comes from a document. If you want the human evidence, ask for the address of an extension the company finished two or three years ago and drive past it. A junction that has been through three winters tells you more than a photograph taken on handover day.
Registrations that matter
Registrar of Companies. Existence, directors, filing history. A company years behind on returns is telling you about its administration rather than its blockwork — but administration is what will handle your stage payments and your retention.
Contractor registration. Building works above a value threshold must be carried out by a contractor registered in the appropriate class, and the class caps the value of works that contractor may lawfully take on. Ask which class they hold and whether your project sits inside it. A registered contractor taking a job above their class is a problem that surfaces at exactly the wrong moment.
ETEK. The architect or civil engineer who prepares and signs the planning and building permit submissions has to be registered with the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber. Many extension companies subcontract this rather than employing the professional directly, which is normal. What is not normal is refusing to name them. Get the name and check the register yourself.
Tax Department. Ask for the VAT number and ask what rate the quote assumes. The reduced VAT rate available on a primary residence is conditional and applied for; it is not automatic on extension work. A quote that is silent on VAT is a quote you cannot compare with another one.
Social insurance. The people on your site should be declared. Undeclared labour is cheaper right up until somebody falls, at which point the question of who was responsible for them becomes yours.
Questions to ask
Most Cypriot houses built from the 1970s onward are a reinforced concrete frame with blockwork infill. That single fact shapes the whole conversation, because your extension is a new frame tied into old columns and beams, not a wall glued to a wall. Ask how they intend to make that connection and what the engineer has specified for it — starter bars, chemical anchors, the condition of the existing concrete where it will be opened up. "We tie into the wall" is not an answer, because the wall is not carrying anything.
Then work through the rest:
Where does the new roof meet the old one?
Flat roofs are the norm here, and the junction between old and new roof is where extensions leak. Ask who owns that detail, what membrane is specified, and how the existing roof waterproofing is cut back and lapped rather than painted over.
Has anyone looked at the ground?
In parts of Pissouri, ground movement is understood well enough that a structural survey before major work is standard practice. The same caution is worth applying on any sloping plot or any plot on made-up ground, regardless of district.
Can the plant physically reach the plot?
On many hillside plots around Peyia, steep access roads limit crane and delivery vehicle size. That changes the method, the sequence and the price. A contractor who has not walked the access before quoting has not quoted your site.
Who carries the permit?
Who submits the planning application, who submits the building permit, who pays the fees, and what happens to your programme and your price if conditions are attached. Put the answer in writing.
Which weeks, specifically?
If the property is a holiday let, the realistic closure window in Ayia Napa and the eastern resorts runs November to March — which is exactly when every trade in that district is booked. Ask for a start date and what it depends on.
Are we living here during the works?
If so, agree in advance where water and power come from, how dust is separated, which door the crew uses, and what hours they work. This is the detail that decides whether the months are tolerable.
Finally, ask who is on site daily and who you ring when something is wrong. On a project this long the answer matters more than the sales visit did.
What a good quote looks like
A rate per square metre is a starting point, not an answer. The same footprint costs very differently depending on whether the foundations are simple pads or have to work around existing services, whether you are going up or out, how much glazing there is, and how far the finishes go. Two quotes with the same headline rate can describe different buildings.
A quote you can actually use has all of this in it:
- The scope broken into stages — substructure, frame, blockwork, roof, openings, first fix, plaster, finishes, external works, making good — with a price against each rather than one number at the bottom.
- Provisional sums named as provisional, so you know which figures are estimates waiting on a decision you have not made yet.
- Payments tied to completed stages, not to calendar dates. You pay for a slab that exists.
- A retention: a portion of each stage payment held back until the defects period ends. Agree the percentage and the release date in writing.
- The VAT position stated.
- Exclusions listed explicitly. Permit fees, engineer's fees, connection charges, kitchen, and landscaping are the usual candidates.
- A programme in weeks, with the start date expressed as conditional on the permit rather than promised.
- The named engineer and the named site manager.
Get three quotes, and give all three the same written scope. If each one prices a different building, you have three numbers and no comparison. Our house extension project guide sets out the sequence in more detail, and the district pages show which companies work in your area.
Warning signs
A price far below the others is almost never efficiency. It is usually a smaller scope, and the parts most often missing are the substructure, the permit drawings and the making good where new meets old.
Other things worth stopping for:
- An offer to start before the permit is issued. Unauthorised work follows the property. It surfaces when you sell, when you refinance, and when the title deed is updated, and by then the cost of regularising it is yours.
- Cash only, or a refusal to give a VAT number.
- Refusal to name the engineer or the architect signing the submission.
- A deposit large enough to fund the entire first stage before anything is delivered to site.
- Pressure to sign at the first visit, or a price that expires this week.
- No written scope — only a total.
- A verbal promise that a condition on the permit "won't be a problem". Conditions are the permit.
Common questions
Do I need planning permission for an extension in Cyprus?
Adding floor area normally requires planning permission and then a building permit, both through the district or municipal authority. The sequence matters: planning first, building permit second. Enclosing a veranda is the case people most often get wrong, because it feels minor and frequently counts as new floor area.
How long does the permit take?
There is no single answer, and any contractor who gives you one has guessed. What determines it is the completeness of the submission, whether the plot has an existing title and approved drawings, whether the proposal sits inside the plot's building coefficient and coverage limits, and how heavily loaded that particular authority is. Complete submissions move; incomplete ones sit.
Can I use a builder who is not a registered contractor?
For works above the registration threshold, no. Below it, you are relying entirely on the contract you have written, so write one.
Should I pay a deposit before the permit is issued?
A modest mobilisation payment is normal once you have a signed contract. Funding a whole stage before permission exists means paying for work that may have to change.
Does an unauthorised extension affect the title deed?
Yes. Work built without permission, or built differently from the approved drawings, blocks the final certificate and follows the property through any sale. Regularising it afterwards costs more than doing it in order, and sometimes it is not possible at all.
Is a veranda enclosure a cheaper alternative?
Often, and sometimes it is the better answer for the way you actually use the house. But it can still count as an extension for planning purposes, so the permit question does not disappear — only the structure gets simpler. It is worth pricing both before deciding.
Extension contractors in Cyprus
8 companies covering this area.
Polart Construction
Strovolos Iii, Nicosia
Polart Construction is an architecture practice in Strovolos Iii, in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.
- Planning submissions
- Drawings
- Site supervision
Karyatides
Strovolos, Nicosia
Karyatides is an architecture practice in Strovolos, in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.
- Planning submissions
- Drawings
- Site supervision
Andreas Vlittis
Paralimni, Famagusta
Andreas Vlittis is an architecture practice in Paralimni, in the Famagusta district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.
- Planning submissions
- Drawings
- Site supervision
Nicolaides Viana Partnership
Limassol Centre, Limassol
Nicolaides Viana Partnership is an architecture practice in Limassol Centre, in the Limassol district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.
- Planning submissions
- Drawings
- Site supervision
P. A. Constructions Ltd.
Engomi, Nicosia
P. A. Constructions Ltd. is an architecture practice in Engomi, in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.
- Planning submissions
- Drawings
- Site supervision
Andreas S. Hadjizacharias Ltd
Agios Nikolaos, Limassol
Andreas S. Hadjizacharias Ltd is an architecture practice in Agios Nikolaos, in the Limassol district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.
- Planning submissions
- Drawings
- Site supervision
SB Pazzleco
Acropolis, Nicosia
SB Pazzleco is a construction company in Acropolis, in the Nicosia district.
Grinelion Property Developer
Kiti, Larnaca
Grinelion Property Developer is an estate agent in Kiti, in the Larnaca district.
Sources
- Department of Town Planning and Housing — planning and building permits — retrieved 2026-07-24
- Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK) — register of engineers and architects — retrieved 2026-07-24
- Registrar of Companies — company search — retrieved 2026-07-24
- Tax Department — VAT on residential property — retrieved 2026-07-24
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