Finally found the dream house, but...

Any advice or comments will be very much appreciated.

Hi Michael and congratulations! You are giving me flashbacks on the last two renovations we did and why we swore to rent for the rest of our life. We have short memories though and love doing renovations.

I remember the post you had with the septic drain. Brings back memories to yesterday and cleaning out our kitchen P-trap. The property management company does nothing for this apartment. 

We had a great conversation with the owners of CRAD Studio | Expats Portugal at the Lisbon meetup. They are building a personal home in Portugal currently. I would check with them and Reabilitejo | Expats Portugal to see where each can assist or recommend options.

On the water pipes do you have any information on them? Material? I know you mentioned copper like we had in the US but in the 90s China shipped cheap copper around the world. My house in Las Vegas that was built in the early 90s with copper and already had pin holes in it in 2008.

Now the last reno we did in 2020 on a house built in 1970 with copper we chose to replace it with PEX just out of an abundance of caution. Plus, we were replacing the cast iron sewer lines and it was cost effective. 

Shannon and I always enjoy a good demo hammer project if you ever need help!

Thank you. No we have no idea what the water pipes are "mid 1990s", that's why I'm shocked that on a fully inhabited house with no visible problems (had survey) I'm asked by 2 builders to change the water pipes to be safe!

Posted by: @itexpert7

Does a less than 30 year old house really need new water pipes throughout?

Unless I missed it, you didn't say what brought this issue up with this property.  Who suggested it might be necessary, and did they say why?

Whilst newer pipework is most commonly PEX, and lasts well (and the joints work well), older pipework was metal (but not generally copper in PT) and tends to rust, leading either to infiltration out of the pipes themselves, or more commonly, at the joins.  We wouldn't typically expect this in a 1990s place, but it's quite possible.

If there are no damp issues linked to problems with the pipework, it may be that this is in the "when you're remodelling, check with a view to replacing" rather than it needing doing now.

Posted by: @itexpert7

Should I hire multiple builders, each for a specific job or 2, [...] or follow my lawyers advice and get 1 big company

I think this depends on your appetite/ability to manage the project yourself, above all.  Understandably, you don't go into detail of what's involved, but it sounds like it's less of a big job, than a complex one - and perhaps in any event you'll want to keep closely in the loop?

A key issue with the PT construction market is that there are small outfits (many overstretched, and pretty much all without project management skills/capacity - and I am talking general contractors who could theoretically run the whole thing), and there are pretty large ones (for which you pay, perhaps without the leverage in practice to "make" them do a good, smooth, timely job), but in an ideal world you'd probably need a mid-size contractor, which is almost non-existent in most of Portugal.  Perhaps you'll find this in the Algarve...

If you do go for a one-hit company, make sure of their reputation, recent work, etc, and check what the resolution approach is if they don't deliver.  Don't assume you can rapidly enforce against underperformance - you almost certainly can't.

Aside from this, whatever size the contractor, I would advise not breaking it down into very small pieces of work - you need enough to attract a contractor, and keep them on site, otherwise you'll spend the next few years trying to coax people back to finish the 20% they didn't sort before they went off to the bigger job.

Posted by: @itexpert7

I found out the pool is illegal, the seller after 2 months (slow lawyers) negotiations agreed to legalize it and keep 50k of the house price in escrow for 2 years in case it fails.
The plot is not clearly marked, looks smaller than the quoted size, so it needs topographic survey

I have to advise that these things should happen before completion of the purchase, unless you're able to live with the risk of the pool not getting legalized (ie having to remove it) or the boundaries presenting an issue.  I realise you may prefer to press on, as finding the right place is not easy!  The boundary work may be on file, as land registry data is better in the south of Portugal - your lawyer should be able to check this for you.

Posted by: @itexpert7

the septic tank has an "overflow run off pipe" at the end of the property and has never been emptied (they didn't even know where it is) in 19 years

This suggests to me that it's a soakaway type of tank, so may not require emptying if it's used correctly for that type of tank (toilet waste, basic toilet paper, and minimal cleaning products down all connected drains).  If this does not suit you, it would be worth budgeting for a completely new septic tank setup.  They're not prohibitively expensive, and having a new one might provide peace of mind.  Bear in mind that waste smells coming back into the house may be more to do with inadequate/non-existent traps, etc.