We don't pour concrete. We don't lay tile. We're the trusted person making sure the people who do, do it right. Independent project management for overseas owners renovating an Athens property - with weekly site visits, photo reports, and contracts that actually hold up.
Yanis Zisis spent 15 years as an overseas property owner, including a decade in London. He has personally renovated two of his own Athens apartments - one in Makrygianni now operating as an Airbnb, and one in Thissio still mid-project. He knows where contractors cut corners because he has watched them try to.
Every renovation overseen by Home Watch Athens is run by Yanis personally. He is the sole keyholder, your single point of contact, and the person on every site visit.
Two of my own Athens renovations - Makrygianni and Thissio. Every system, contract template, and oversight protocol we use was built and tested on those sites.
We handle payments on your behalf with a network of trusted vetted contractors who issue legitimate invoices. Defective work gets fixed at no extra charge.
Real-time updates. Photo reports after every site visit. Always the same person who was there last week.
Read more about Yanis's story →
And the one with the worst feedback loops. You can't drop in. You can't see what was actually delivered versus what was specified. You can't tell if the tiler is on schedule or already three weeks behind. Every status update arrives second-hand, often translated, and almost always optimistic.
If you've ever started a sentence with "I just need someone in Athens I can actually trust" - what comes next will sound familiar.
Responsive in week 1. Slow in week 3. Silent in week 4. Reappears in week 12 with a 40% overrun and no documentation of why.
You specified Italian porcelain. You're getting Turkish ceramic. You'll only know if someone independent verifies the delivery.
"But you asked for that, remember?" Without written change orders, every dispute becomes your word against theirs.
Your cousin in Athens has the best intentions but a full-time job. Two site visits in five months isn't oversight - it's hope.
Independent weekly site visits. Timestamped photo reports. Written change orders. Materials verified on delivery. Penalty-clause contracts. And someone who will tell you when the project is going off-rails - before, not after.
From the first scope brief to the final document archive - and every milestone in between.
We translate your vision into a written scope brief. We source 2-3 quotes from our vetted contractor network - without referral fees. We compare them line by line, flag the red flags, and draft a contract with penalty clauses, milestone-tied payments, and a real change-order process. By the time work begins, every detail is written down.
Your project manager visits site weekly with a structured inspection. You receive timestamped photo reports via WhatsApp after every visit. Milestones are signed off only with your written approval. Schedule slippages are flagged the day they happen, not at handover. Coordination with architect (αρχιτέκτονας) and engineer (μηχανικός) where applicable.
Materials are verified on delivery - this is where most "swap" issues happen, and where independent oversight pays for itself in the first week. We handle payments on your behalf, working only with vetted contractors who issue legitimate invoices. Every change order is documented, priced, and approved before work proceeds.
We walk the property with the contractor and produce a written snagging list. Defects are resolved before final sign-off. You receive a complete document archive - contracts, change orders, photos, invoices, certificates - in a single folder. Optional handover to ongoing home watch or Airbnb management.
Three property contexts, one underlying need: a trusted person on the ground who acts in your interest, not the contractor's.
Inherited or family apartments in central Athens or the suburbs. The well-meaning cousin or uncle is not enough - the project needs a real project manager who speaks your language and handles the διαχειριστής, μηχανικός and οικοδομική άδεια on your behalf.
International investors renovating between tenancies, before letting, or to reposition the asset. Every week of unnecessary delay is lost rent. Every undocumented change order is a future tenancy dispute.
Athens sits in Zone A of the Greek Golden Visa - a €800K residential threshold for the entire Region of Attica. The €250K route exists separately, only for commercial-to-residential conversions or listed-building restorations. Either path requires renovation done right - short-term rental is not permitted on Golden Visa property, and compliance must be built in.
Preparing your future home from abroad before relocation. The renovation must be done right - not rushed, not over-budget, not cut-corner - by the time you arrive.
The rules changed. The economics changed. And the cost of getting it wrong is now genuinely material - fines reach €20,000 under Law 5170/2025, and some Athens districts can no longer issue new AMA registrations at all. If you're renovating to Airbnb, the renovation and the compliance work need to happen as a single project, not two.
New AMA registrations are frozen in Athens' 1st, 2nd, and 3rd municipal districts - Kolonaki, Koukaki, Pangrati, and Exarchia. AMAs no longer transfer with the property on sale or inheritance, destroying resale economics for some buyers. We will not undertake renovation projects in moratorium zones for short-term rental - but we will tell you that upfront, and help you pivot to long-term let or sale.
Renovation is the cheapest moment to bake compliance in - retrofitting after handover costs 3-5x more. We coordinate 6kg fire extinguishers per 100sqm, smoke detectors, RCD circuit breakers with licensed YDE certificates, civil liability insurance, first aid kit, emergency signage, and Climate Resilience Fee (ΤΑΚΚ) collection setup. Every requirement, in writing, before you list.
From May 20, 2026, every Athens short-term rental needs a unique EU registration number. Listings without it will be delisted by Airbnb, Booking, and Vrbo. We ensure your property is registration-ready before the listing goes live - not after a sudden delisting cuts your revenue mid-season.
An Airbnb fit-out is not the same as a residential renovation. Durability over aesthetics - porcelain over ceramic, solid over veneer, commercial-grade over residential. Photogenic finishes that read on phone screens. Smart locks and thermostats chosen for guest-proof reliability. Soundproofing - guest noise complaints kill reviews. Spare parts stocked from day one.
If you're renovating an Athens apartment for short-term rental in 2026, we'll tell you honestly - before you spend a euro - whether the numbers actually work in your district. Then we'll coordinate the renovation and the compliance as a single project, not two.
We learn the project, the property, the budget, and the timeline. We tell you honestly whether oversight makes sense for your scope. No commitment.
We translate your vision into a written scope brief, source 2-3 contractor quotes from our vetted network, compare them line by line, and recommend. Contract drafted with penalty clauses and milestone-tied payments.
Your project manager visits site weekly. WhatsApp photo reports after every visit. Milestone sign-offs only with your approval. Schedule slippages flagged immediately, not at handover.
Final defect resolution. Complete document archive in one folder. Optional clean handover to ongoing home watch, Airbnb management, or a tenancy.
Every project run by Yanis personally. No rotating staff, no subcontracted oversight. The same person on every site visit.
Yanis has renovated his own Athens apartments - Makrygianni and Thissio. He knows where contractors cut corners because he's watched them try.
We don't take referral fees from contractors. We earn from you, not from them. Our only incentive is recommending the right contractor for your project.
Foundational service - the keyholder model and the continuity of relationship that makes intensive project oversight possible. Continues seamlessly as ongoing care after renovation handover. View membership plans →
Renovation oversight fee, scaled to scope and complexity. Light bathroom or kitchen renovations sit at the lower end. Full apartments, villas, and structural projects at the higher end. Agreed in advance after scope discovery.
We only work with trusted vetted contractors with legitimate businesses who can issue invoices. Moreover, if something goes wrong, when working with trusted people from our network, you have the security and peace of mind that if something is defective, they will come and fix things without extra charges.
Two of Yanis's own Athens renovations - every system, contract template, and oversight protocol we use with clients was built and tested on these sites.
A 30sqm studio in Thissio, fully gutted and rebuilt. The project included a brand-new sewage system installed for the entire building - requiring general assembly approval, διαχειριστής coordination, and multi-unit cooperation - plus full permitting to pull down main walls and a complete kitchen and bathroom retrofit. The €40,000 budget covered appliances and furniture as well as construction work. Every contract template, change-order procedure, and milestone sign-off process we use with clients today was built and stress-tested on this site first.
A 1-bedroom Airbnb apartment in Makrygianni - 40sqm of interior plus a 12sqm balcony - converted to a fully Law 5170/2025-compliant short-term rental. Brand-new kitchen and bathroom installed throughout. The balcony features a brand-new hot tub with plumbing routed through the walls from the bathroom: cold and hot water input plus full drainage. Smart locks, soundproofed bedroom partition, durable porcelain finishes, full fire safety compliance, AMA registered. The full Airbnb fit-out playbook applied to a real revenue-generating asset, operating since 2024.
More client case studies will be published with permission as they complete.
The questions overseas owners actually send us before booking a call. If yours isn't here, send it on WhatsApp.
Home Watch Athens provides founder-led renovation oversight in Athens, run personally by Yanis Zisis. Every project is overseen by Yanis directly - there are no rotating staff or subcontracted project managers. He is the sole keyholder, your single point of contact, and the person on every site visit. The service is built specifically for overseas owners who cannot supervise the renovation themselves.
Yes - with the right oversight in place. The three things you need are: a trusted, independent project manager on the ground; a properly vetted contractor selected for your specific project; and a written contract with penalty clauses, milestone-tied payments, and a clear change-order process. With those three in place, renovating an Athens apartment from abroad is straightforward. Without them, the distance and language gap make it dangerous.
It depends on the scope and your access. Below roughly €20,000, with a contractor you genuinely know and trust, and the ability to visit weekly - probably not. Above that, or with any meaningful distance from the property, the answer is yes. Independent oversight typically pays for itself in the first month through caught material substitutions, prevented scope creep, and contractor schedule discipline.
Renovation oversight is priced as 5-10% of total project value, depending on scope and complexity. Light bathroom or kitchen renovations sit at the lower end of the range. Full apartments, villas, and structural projects at the higher end. Every renovation oversight client is also a Home Watch Athens member - the foundational membership covers the keyholder model and ongoing property care, and continues seamlessly after handover. The exact percentage is agreed in advance after scope discovery. We handle payments on your behalf, working only with trusted vetted contractors with legitimate businesses who can issue invoices.
No - and this is the most important thing to understand about the service. We do not pour concrete. We do not lay tile. We are the independent oversight that makes sure the people who do, do it right. We work with a vetted contractor network, but we do not take referral fees from any of them. Our only commercial relationship is with you. This independence is the entire point of the service.
Yes, we can oversee any contractor. Many of our clients arrive with a family-recommended or previously-used contractor and want independent oversight on top. We will vet that contractor at the start, run our standard contract with penalty clauses and milestone-tied payments, and oversee the project the same way we would with one of our network contractors.
For a 60sqm light renovation, plan for 2-3 months. Full apartment renovation up to 100sqm typically runs 4-6 months. Villas or structural work can extend to 6-9 months. Always add a 30% buffer for permits, διαχειριστής approvals, and supply delays - these are real factors in Athens, not pessimism. We track every project against the agreed timeline and flag slippages immediately.
Yes - with full Law 5170/2025 compliance baked into the renovation from day one. We coordinate fire safety, RCD certification, civil liability insurance, AMA registration readiness, and Climate Resilience Fee setup. Important: we will not undertake projects in central Athens moratorium zones (Kolonaki, Koukaki, Pangrati, Exarchia) for short-term rental, because new AMAs cannot currently be issued there. We will tell you that upfront and help you pivot to long-term let or sale if the numbers do not work.
Yes. The 2026 Εξοικονομώ grant cycle has specific contractor qualification requirements, milestone documentation, and energy-efficiency reporting that benefit enormously from oversight. We coordinate the qualified contractor selection, the application milestones, and the post-project documentation needed for the grant disbursement. Overseas owners often qualify but assume they do not - most of the time, they do.
Home watch is ongoing scheduled inspections of an empty property - designed to catch problems early and keep insurance valid. Renovation oversight is project-based, intensive, and time-bound - designed to deliver a specific renovation on time, on budget, and to specification. Many of our clients use both: renovation oversight during the project, home watch after handover. The two services hand off cleanly to each other. See our property management service →
Tell us about your project. No obligation, no pressure. Whether you're three months from breaking ground or two years away from inheriting the apartment - we'd rather hear from you early than late.
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