They sent me a photo. In the photo – a floor. Then came the bill

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 started supporting eight months earlier on the outskirts of Bucharest.

“Mr Leibovitch,” he said in broken English, “the floor is ready. I sent you a photo. I need the payment, like we agreed.”

“A photo of what?” I asked.

“Of the floor. Everything is perfect.”

At that moment, something in me already didn't feel perfect.

The project that started like a dream

A few months earlier, an Israeli developer named Doron had come to me for advice.

He had bought a plot not far from the centre of Bucharest, with an approved zoning plan for multi-storey residential construction.

He planned to build a 12-apartment building and sell. On paper, the return looked like a dream – especially compared with returns in Israel.

“I don't need someone to hold my hand,” he smiled at our first meeting. “Just help me with a local lawyer and let's get going.”

The contractor was chosen after a quick check, the architect seemed professional, and Doron had a local representative who also spoke Romanian – the cousin of a friend from the army.

So why did it end in a 180,000-euro budget hole?

Because the floor in the photo wasn't the floor on site

When the contractor sent me the photo, it looked gleaming.

But I know the games. I asked for a short video, with the date handwritten, and someone filming the rooms continuously.

In the video, the picture was completely different.

The floor in the photo – was in only one of the rooms.

In the other three – bare concrete, gaping sockets, and a little sign with the words “in progress.”

The contractor was offended, of course: “You don't trust me?”

And the local representative? He actually thought it was “fine, that's how they do it here. First you get the money, then you finish.”

The distance – not only geographical

This is exactly where the root of the problem began to show:

An Israeli developer, however experienced, however precise, doesn't really control a project when he isn't physically present or doesn't have a professional local eye working for him.

Doron, with all good intentions, relied on “relationships of trust” and loose representation, and in practice:

• He had no proper reporting system.
• He had no periodic checks by a neutral technical party.
• He had no clear definition of what counts as “completing a stage.”
• And above all – he had no common language with the site.

The hard lesson: without supervision, you pay dearly

Over the next three months, Doron paid for three different floors, two of them twice.

Each time the contractor claimed he had finished – but in practice things had to be fixed, added, “brought up to standard” or redone.

Only after I sent an inspector on my behalf, with an official letter in Romanian, did we stop the bleeding.

It turned out that some of the work had been done with non-standard materials, that some of the invoices included equipment that had never been supplied, and that some of the workers on site weren't legally registered at all.

But by then it was already too late.

Costs went up. Schedules slipped. The investors started to press. And Doron – felt he was losing control.

So what do you do differently?

If you're a developer thinking of launching a property project abroad, here are a few principles worth their weight in gold (and that sometimes save you from a loss):

• Set up a local supervision structure that reports to you – not to the contractor

An inspector, a lawyer, a professional representative – someone on your side, not on the site's side.

• Demand video, not just photos. Dates. Names. Signatures.

In a world where every photo can be edited – you need proof from the site.

• Pay according to defined milestones, not according to feelings or requests.

A floor isn't just a floor. It's a layer, cladding, connections, finishes. Only when everything is signed off and approved do you release payment.

• Understand the cultural codes.

In places like Romania, Greece and even Portugal – the pace is different, communication is different, and answers are sometimes given “for the sake of peace and quiet,” 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 walks every site.

And today?

Doron finished the project.

He sold the apartments, admittedly at a smaller profit, but with a lot more wisdom 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 property project in Europe or the US –

don't just build an architectural plan.

Build a control mechanism. Build security. Build yourself some peace of mind.

And if you need legal, planning and strategic support – I'm here.