The phone rang just as I arrived at a meeting with investors on Ibn Gabirol Street.
On the screen - a Romanian number, one of the contractors working with me on the residential project I had begun accompanying eight months earlier on the outskirts of Bucharest.
“Mr. Leibovitch,” he said in broken English, “the floor is ready. I sent you a picture. I need the payment, as we agreed.”
“A picture of what?” I asked.
“Of the floor. Everything is perfect.”
At that moment, something in me no longer felt perfect.
The project that began like a dream
A few months earlier, an Israeli developer named Doron had approached me for consultation.
He had purchased a plot not far from central Bucharest, with an approved zoning plan for multi-family construction.
He planned to build a 12-apartment building and sell. The yield looked dreamy on paper - especially compared with yields in Israel.
“I don't need someone to hold my hand,” he smiled at the first meeting, “just help me with a local lawyer and let's move forward.”
The contractor was chosen after a quick investigation, the architect seemed professional, and Doron had a local representative who also spoke Romanian - a cousin of a friend from the army.
So why did it end in a budget hole of 180 thousand euros?
Because the floor in the photo was not the floor on site
When the contractor sent me the photo, it looked shiny.
But I know the games. I asked for a short video, with a handwritten date, and someone filming the rooms in sequence.
In the video, the picture was entirely different.
The floor that had been photographed was only in one of the rooms.
In the other three - bare concrete, gaping sockets, and a small sign with the words “in progress.”
The contractor was of course offended: “You don't trust me?”
And the local representative? He actually thought it was “fine, that's how they do things here. First you get the money, then you finish.”
The distance - not only geographic
This is exactly where the root of the problem began to be exposed:
An Israeli developer, even if experienced, even if precise, does not really control the project when he is not physically present or without a local professional eye on his behalf.
Doron, with all his good intentions, relied on “bonds of trust” and on a loose representation, and in practice:
- He had no orderly reporting system.
- He had no periodic review by a neutral technical party.
- He had no clear definition of what counts as “completion of a stage.”
- And above all - he had no common language with the ground.
The hard lesson: when there is no supervision - you pay dearly
Over the following three months, Doron paid for three different floors, two of them twice.
Each time the contractor claimed to have finished - but in practice there was a need to fix, add, “adapt to the standard” or come back again.
Only after I sent a supervisor on my behalf, with an official letter in Romanian, did we stop the bleeding.
It turned out that some of the work was done with non-standard materials, that some of the invoices included equipment that was not supplied, and that some of the workers on site were not registered as required by law.
But by then it was already too late.
The cost rose. The schedules were delayed. The investors began to press. And Doron felt he was losing control.
So what do you do differently?
If you are a developer thinking of launching a real estate project abroad, here are a few principles that are worth gold (and sometimes save you from a loss):
- Set up a local supervision system that reports to you - not to the contractor
A supervisor, a lawyer, a professional representative - someone from your side, not from the side of the field.
- Demand video and not only photos. Dates. Names. Signatures.
In a world where every picture can be edited - you must have evidence from the field.
- Pay according to defined milestones, not according to feelings or requests.
A floor is not just a floor. It is a layer, cladding, connections, finishes. Only when everything is signed and approved - do you release payment.
- Understand the cultural codes.
In places like Romania, Greece, and even Portugal - the pace is different, the communication is different, and answers are sometimes given “for the sake of peace,” not “for the sake of accuracy.”
- And most important - be there, even when you're not there.
That means a management system, it means reliable people on the ground, and it means that at least once a month - someone of yours physically goes over every site.
And today?
Doron completed the project.
He sold the apartments, admittedly at a smaller profit, but with a lot more sense than at the start.
And the first thing he said to me at our last meeting?
“Next time - I start with the team. Not with the calculations.”
If you too are planning to launch a real estate project in Europe or the USA -
Don't build only an architectural plan.
Build a control mechanism. Build security. Build yourself peace of mind.
Stories are based on real situations, with identifying details changed. Not legal advice.
Translated from the Hebrew original. עברית