Imagine you’ve worked hard your whole life, and on the cusp of your semi-retirement, you decided to build a vacation home in a sunny, charming coastal town somewhere in Spain. You’ve saved and budgeted. You’ve pored over potential villages, sometimes feeling a bit like Goldilocks. This one is too small. That one is too big.

But finally, after searching and even despairing that you might not find your dream village, you found The One. You start learning the local dialect, even trying out a few phrases in your newly adopted language. 

You start a Pinterest board and decide on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and the approximate location of the pizza oven. Happily, your dream architect has an opening and agrees to the project. And while you’re poring over the architectural drawings, you imagine yourself sitting on your newly built terrace, watching the warm afternoon sun slant across the sea, drinking a nice cold beer.

But wait. It gets better.

Your architect calls with some great news! He’s found a way to save you a lot of money. Loads. So much so that you’ll have enough money left over to put in a pool.

Now, instead of drinking that cold beer on the verandah, you mentally move to the poolside, watching the kids splash and yelp while you poke at your sizzling rack of lamb with a fork, wine glass still in hand.

What is this amazing cost-save, you ask? All you have to do is skip driving the pilings underneath the foundation of your soon-to-be home. Yes, your house might slide right off the hill, but think of the cost savings! Outrageous, right? Outrageous indeed.