Ukrainian developer Oleg Kornilenko discusses his journey from renovation to developing houses

Over four years in Spain, Oleg has worked his way up from an apartment-renovation contractor to building tourist apartments in Benidorm.

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Contact of Oleg Kornilenko:

https://construccioneskornilenko.com/

+34 60 70 29 387

Our interview in text format:

Good evening, Oleg. Today, we’ll talk about a very interesting topic for our viewers: how construction works in Spain and, in general, whether it’s worth investing in real estate in Spain. Is this your topic, as far as I understand, or not?

Oleg: Well, I’m new to this topic; I’ve only been in Spain for four years, so, well, it’s my topic anyway.

Well, four years is quite a while by our standards. Let’s start with the traditional question I ask everyone. How did you end up in Spain? In March 2022, like many Ukrainians, I ended up abroad, and that’s how I ended up in Spain.

Oleg: Well, my family and I moved here, and we had to start somewhere, continue doing something, which is basically what I did.

Was Spain a conscious choice based on some criteria, or was it just a coincidence?

Oleg: In my case, it was a wild guess. I trusted a woman—in my case, a woman—my wife and my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law was abroad, my wife and mother-in-law were at a competition, and she said, “We need to go, where? Let’s go to Spain, let’s go to Spain, where? Alicante, Spain.”

We arrived in Alicante, Spain, rented an apartment for a month and a half, and, well, actually, in Alicante, in San Vicente, there’s a student town. And then, actually, I rented a long-term apartment in an urbanization in Finistrat, here in Benidorm, for a year. Well, off we go, off we go, it was time to start. What can I do? Yeah, I can, I can. I mean, I was a developer back there, I can build a bunch of villas, well, given all these Spanish laws and regulations, well, obviously, I’m 32 years old, I can do anything. 31, 32, I was 31 then, yeah, I should have been 32. Yeah, I’ll do it all, just like back home, everything new, everything on track.

That’s actually what I started doing. I bought a plot of land, but at first, like all the other contractors there, I did renovations for people, so I just went and opened it. I immediately opened a company in the second month I was in Spain, in May. It’s clear that these are expenses. It’s not as simple as, well, not as easy. You have to supply it, the caster, every month. Starting costs 400 euros, opening a company costs 1,500 euros, 1,000 euros, and 1,500 plus the capital stock. So, what can you do? There are no clients. You have to, I mean, and here you need a reputation to at least get something. Well, I mean, repairs, yes, they did repairs for some guys, then they did repairs for other guys, the Spanish ones, then again for our guys, but I realized I wasn’t ready for that stress. The client wants quality, but they want to pay less.

Well, that is, plus there are disagreements, well, for me, for a new person in this field, here the builder, of course, the builder wants to make money, the customer wants to save money, and you also want to make money, but you are between the customer and, let’s say, the builder, that is, you should not, if you are a good, well, that is, in any case, a good, not a good specialist works for you, you should not offend a person with a salary, well, and, accordingly, the customer, and you, well, I was moving in this middle, and I do not like there with an outstretched hand, with an outstretched hand asking, well, pay, here, here more, here this is added, here this, well, and on this basis I said that this was my last renovation, the partner who was with me, he stayed for another year, he did the renovation himself, I worked remotely with Ukraine, I have a business in Ukraine, also a construction one, I do all this remotely, that is, Ukraine is in touch, and then I bought one land plot, then I developed another project in my head, that is, I, well, let’s say, see the goal, I see the idea, and I, roughly speaking, implement it, but only what, for example, in Ukraine I can do there in a month, say, get the documents, go through these bureaucratic circles, here it took me, unfortunately, 10 months, a year, a project, one license for division, a second license for change of intended use, a third license for construction, I bought a locale near the Bali hotel, this is in the city of Benidorm, near the Bali hotel, 500 meters from the sea, two beaches, one Poniente, the second Locale, right here is the Bali hotel, and 50 meters away I bought a locale, with a large building, there is a large building there, and next to it a locale, 35 meters along the facade and 20 meters deep, 7 meters of territory in front of the house, 9 meters long, that is 18 meters, 9 meters long and also partitions, that is 18-19 meters, and the façade. I immediately pictured it in my head, seeing it this way, that way, that way, and within six months, while we were paying the deposit, I had the money legalized. Legalization is probably the biggest problem our migrants are suffering. The main thing is to have it, but to legalize it, you have to transfer all these declarations, go to the bank to prove it, all these checks, and basically everything. And then I jumped back into the Spanish routine, where I started building my own construction business here, only now I was working for myself.

You’re speaking so well, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ve covered all the questions I wanted to ask, but I have a few I’d like to clarify. First, with my untrained eye, I see that the Spanish don’t particularly care about quality; they think their work is just shoddy, and it seems to me that they do it haphazardly. How do you manage to justify your price when working with a Spanish client? I don’t think you can do it as badly as the Spanish; you probably do it properly, which means it can’t be cheap; it’s likely more expensive than what local craftsmen produce.

So, how do you explain to the Spanish that my work will be better, and that’s why it’s more expensive, or do you have to drop your price to the general level?

Oleg: Well, look, I position myself again. I don’t work for the Spanish; I work alone there, and even for our own. I don’t work for the Slavs. I mean, I buy a property, I go in with my team—well, I assemble a team, if I don’t have one—I go in with my builders, my company, and we do the renovations ourselves and sell them ourselves. So, if you’re talking about renovations, I have one or two specific clients who, let’s say, I’m willing to help because of family ties, and I don’t even charge for that. I help, I do renovations, I don’t charge for it just as a hobby, so to speak, well, obviously, I don’t charge relatives or friends if a friend needs it, but I don’t bother signing a contract with someone.

I’m at this very stage where, well, I’ve found my plot of land, and my task now is to find the money to finish it, figure out how to find an investor who will buy this property at a discount of 30-40-50%. They’ll trust me as a developer, entrust me with their reserve funds, and I’ll spend them on this property. Then, when it’s built, they’ll sell it at 100% or 50% interest.

I keep my prices low for clients because I build it myself, with my own team. That is, I don’t hire contractors or subcontractors; that’s how it works for me. For this property I mentioned, where I built three apartments, remodeled them locally, finished three apartments of 110 square meters each, all of which have terraces of 80 square meters each, I sold the cheapest apartment for 220,000.

That’s 110 square meters, plus an 80 square meter terrace. A total of 190 square meters. Fully mobile, complete with a kitchen.

So, I sold them for 220,000. The most expensive one, one of the less-than-stellar, sold for 300,000. And the client in the middle bought it for 250,000.

Well, not in the middle, I mean, he bought the second-in-line apartment. And so, this apartment is now for sale with this client. I reviewed it on my TikTok account for 550,000 euros. Two and a half years have passed.

So, for two and a half years, my project was underway, the client waited a year, a year and a half, and now he’s selling it for 550,000. And there are views, people come to him, look. He’ll make more money than I did on the entire project.

I see. And another one, for example, I met someone through connections; as a journalist, they tell me all sorts of stories. We’ve heard a lot about how Spanish bureaucracy is so difficult, tedious, long, viscous, unclear, and unpredictable.

I was told a story about a situation similar to what you described. An investor bought several parcels, and the mayor’s office allowed him to convert several of them to residential use so he could turn them into tourist apartments. And the neighboring locale, the largest one, which occupied half a building, where he wanted to really expand, for some reason, the mayor’s office said, “We won’t let you move this one into residential use.”

And he got stuck because he bought it, hoping to make a lot of money from it, like tourist properties, either by reselling it or renting it out by the day. But the mayor’s office, for some reason, told him, “That’s it, we won’t issue a license for this one.” How can you hedge your bets? How can you even predict the mayor’s behavior? There’s no way.

I took a risk, and I put it on hold. I took a risk, and what’s more, I have a colleague like him in Benidorm who’s doing the same thing, only with a garage and parking. And he went around and found out everything.

Well, here’s my story. I kind of tested the waters beforehand; I knew that this could only be translated verbally. There was no documentation to back it up anywhere.

I paid a deposit, my architect applied for this—there’s a thing called a compatibilidad certificate. It’s a compatibility certificate, meaning the mayor’s office states what can be built there, what can be used there, and how it can be used. And now six months have passed, we applied, and five or six months have passed, and we haven’t received anything.

Exactly six months have passed, we’ve already completed the transaction; we paid a deposit, waited six months, completed the transaction with a notary, and still the certificate hasn’t been issued. So, we went to the mayor’s office, and they told us, “Well, unfortunately, you still have to wait at least three months, two months.” We went, asked again, and kept going, and they sent us the documents, and then they refused us, saying you submitted the documents incorrectly.

So, you wanted to rush things, but they ultimately decided it wasn’t the right request. Okay, so they submitted it incorrectly; your architect didn’t submit the correct request. Just a second, I’ll close the doors; the kids are getting ready for Carnival.

I see, so this Spanish bureaucracy is considered a risk for entrepreneurs, and all these delays, they’re ultimately, well, part of the cost of risk in this business? Well, part of the cost of risk, and part of the fact that nothing ventured, nothing gained, so to speak. Well, I mean, you know, I kind of think that’s true, that is, if we’re talking about when there’s a subordinate and a boss, yeah, the subordinate always thinks the boss is deceiving them for some reason. We have this notion that 80% think so, 20% don’t.

If those 20% of those guys who were, they were most likely also managers, they understand everything perfectly well and won’t try to prove anything to anyone. But those 80%, that is, they’ve never been in the boss’s shoes, they don’t know that for something to work out, you always have to take risks, you always have to go all-in, as they say, yes. If you don’t succeed, then, accordingly, you’ve lost everything.

Well, if you succeed, then you win. It’s clear that you’re winning, it’s clear that you’re getting gray hairs in the process, but at the same time, you’re becoming more mature, you’re moving toward a goal, toward a result. And you know, in the two years—well, it’s been four years now, it’ll be March—I’ve been here, and in those two years, people have been telling me, “Sorry, you’ve accomplished more here in two years than people here haven’t accomplished in, say, 20 years.”

Well, I, you know, I opened it, and then, well, I did it, you know, I bought land, I built one, two, three buildings, well, well, I mean, all these moves, yes, this is all the experience I have as a Ukrainian from home, I’m putting it to good use here, and I, unfortunately, or rather, fortunately, still have plenty of strength to try to develop and do all this. Yes, Oleg, by the way, here’s the question. I understand you have experience as a builder, which is why you’ve chosen this field, but why, or are you only focusing on local properties and converting them into residential real estate? Maybe you were thinking about jumping ahead a bit regarding your plans, maybe you have plans to build villas. I was once walking near Finistrat and saw that they were handing out plots in the woods, well, sort of in the woods, and, accordingly, a lot of people were building from scratch. The terrain there offers a good view of the sea. I wonder if you could build villas with views? Or is your focus, as an investor, specifically on apartments and converting local properties? Thanks for the question; it’s a very quick jump from one topic to another.

So, for me, Benedorme wasn’t, let’s say, a greenfield construction project. There was a building there, so we knocked down the walls. There was a structure, we had to put up new walls, put up a floor between the first and second floors, and install windows. So, basically, roughly speaking, it was a new construction project, but not quite. You don’t have to dig a foundation, you don’t have to use heavy equipment, but that’s Benedorme. Benedorme has its own nuances, there’s bureaucracy, and it took me a year—that is, getting the permit, the license, all those details, and getting the dacha into operation—that’s a year from this project.

Well, and Finistrat, this is the next stage, we bought land for the next project, my partner and I, that is, I calculated the business plan, I calculated the whole idea, that is, I come to a partner, a potential, yes, a partner, my friend, he is not a builder by profession, that is, I finish this project, and he, well, just like all the rest of our compatriots, what to do, the biggest money is construction, well, and the biggest risks, and the most, I say, look, there is a project to build three villas, the land costs so much, the construction of five villas, the land costs so much.

There will be 18 apartments. The smallest ones, 30 square meters, cost 100,000. With a tourist license.

And we’re launching the slaughterhouse. Well, of course, apartments are the next stage. This is when, you know, I built a 35-apartment apartment building back home in Ukraine.

That’s when another stage began for me in Ukraine. Then I started working on townhouses, which means it’s a reputation, it’s a kind of, well, roughly speaking, project where people can come, see, well, touch, see it, and not just talk about it. Well, that’s the next stage: tourist apartments.

So, there were three. So, first, we—I built a hotel here, renovated a hotel in Alicante. I was a contractor and did a couple of other renovations.

Then, this hotel in Bali, three apartments. Now we’re building five villas. And the next stage is an 18-apartment building of tourist apartments.

And now I’ve bought another plot of land in the same location, 30, and I already have a preliminary design for 36 apartments. But that’s another story. So, so, so, well, you see, step by step, it’s all happening.

I got the impression that… God bless you. Yes. All this is possible, but difficult.

Well, I mean, the specifics, it’s all very specific. It’s not, well, I mean, it’s difficult, it’s difficult for me to adapt as someone who in Ukraine is 100% of this mid-sized business, which, well, like I’m starting here now, well, it’s more mid-sized, higher-end business, yes. See, when construction sites in Ukraine, 100% of our construction sites don’t have cranes.

We only had cranes on high-rise buildings. Here, even the villas have cranes. So, it’s still difficult for me to adapt.

I don’t have a crane at my construction site yet. Well, in the apartment, I already understand that I need to install a crane. And why? Because there are taxes, and hiring someone, you have to consider what’s cheaper.

That is, it’s cheaper to move a crane than to rent it and move it all with a crane. Well, that is, all these things, all these things, they really, really influence, well, relationships. I understand.

Tell me, yes, I want to understand, that’s what I thought at the beginning of your conversation, your story, and at the beginning of our conversation, when you said that somehow, out of necessity, I started doing construction in Spain. But the way you talk about it, with such passion, with such interest, it seems like you really enjoy this construction business and feel it’s your calling. So, which assessment is more accurate? That I simply needed to earn a living, so I took up what I knew how to do from my previous life? Or is it that you have this kind of gusto, like, I’ll take on projects that are ever larger and more interesting?

Yes, so that’s the question. Are you simply earning a living out of necessity, or are you driven by gusto, enjoying the greater risks, the larger scale, but also the greater achievements?

Well, you know, construction is probably where I become somewhat of an addict. My eyes start to sparkle, and there’s this phrase, excuse me, worth it, not worth it, and still worth it, so to speak.

You get pleasure from it when you create something, you do something, you organize something, and you see results. So, accordingly, it’s not in vain that you do it, and all that criticism that comes from, so to speak, from the outside—that is, all this can be concluded from this conclusion, that it’s all just evil tongues, and that’s all. Well, naturally, it’s not a piece of bread; it’s what I like.

What I like is that I… I have three higher education degrees. One is in maritime engineering, the second is in construction, and the third is in law. So, I got my construction degree by correspondence, specializing in water supply and sanitation.

I also got my law degree by correspondence, but I attended every session, every class, every defense; I did everything myself. So for me, it’s all, well, it’s not just the basics, but I understand it. Well, naturally, up to a certain level of building, I understand it in my head. When they start telling me something, I say, “No, let’s do it this way, this way, this way, this way.”

I understand all of this, everything. I enjoy it. It’s probably like when I worked as a manager at a large company, managing 60 people, so I enjoyed that management too.

And that was also a kind of strategy, a kind of plan, a kind of success. So you see the long-term game, the intrigue. It all worked out, and that’s it, you know, it wasn’t all in vain.

It’s also like construction: when you wake up, you want to go to work, that’s true. Oleg, two questions, excuse me, about the people. You said you work with people and enjoy them.

First, who are your main customers for your projects? Spaniards or our people, people from the former Soviet Union? And the second question is also about people. I understand that your team consists mainly of Ukrainians. Do you employ Spaniards? No, I don’t employ Spaniards.

First of all, it’s probably the language, which is my biggest problem. But I try to learn, I try to communicate, I try, but I don’t show up at classes. My Colombians are very hard-working guys, I’m happy, so my foreman, the most important construction project, is a Colombian.

He started with me almost two years ago; he’s been with me since I opened that building; he’s been with me for two years, and I’ve been working with him for two years.
My foreman, the most important construction project, is a Colombian. He started with me almost two years ago; he’s been with me since I opened that building; he’s been with me for two years, and I’ve been working with him for two years. Speaking English? No, no, no, Spanish.

He started as a regular builder, a regular handyman. And now he’s with me; I’ve made him the construction manager, the construction organizer. Well, we call it incargada here.

Well, we’ll work together, we’ll show up together, we’ll work together, and then I’ll raise the guy’s salary, and I’ll see that he’s listening, heeding my words, reporting back, and we’ll work together. It makes me enjoy what we do, unlike many others. I changed three foremen and three senior builders on this construction site.

One was our Ukrainian, a new arrival; he knew everything, but he had those ambitions, which, unfortunately, didn’t work out. The second man was also a builder, and I promoted him. He—there are people who shouldn’t be given power—he felt like he was everything.

I say goodbye, you’re not everything. Well, the third one was also sick, he worked, and I knew it was necessary ,temporarily, to get things going. Well, I test people, they’re suitable, and we work.

If they’re not suitable, well, we have to part ways, and we part ways. Are our clients mostly expats? Yes, that’s what our clients are. My first client was from Kyiv, my second was an architect from Madrid, and my third was an immigrant from Miami—Italians in America, retiring from America to Spain.

So, that’s what I have with regard to those townhouses near the Bali Hotel in Benidorm. As for my villas, they’re from Odessa, from immigrants who now live in Canada. Odessa and Canada are my friends, families, colleagues—let’s say, our former selves.

Our second client is from Hungary, and also Ukrainians from Hungary; apparently, they’re looking for warmer climes. Our third client is from Kyiv, and our fourth client is these guys who were from Hungary; well, they brought along some Hungarian friends. And the apartments are for tourists; we’ve just started accepting deposits and reserves.

We have a mix of Germans and Spaniards; Lithuanians, Latvians, and Spaniards came to my construction site today to see the quality I deliver, the quality I build.

So, Oleg, in conclusion, since time is running out for our interview, I wanted to ask if there’s any chance those watching our video could approach you with an offer to either buy something from you or perhaps come and say, “We want you to build something for us somewhere?”

Build? No, I’d say no right away. Buy? No problem.

Buy? No problem. We’ll sell, show, tell you, we can take over management, we can take over as a business, an investment. For those who want to buy on an installment plan or acquire a property, we have those terms.

We have the terms: here are apartments, one-bedroom and two-bedroom, a reserve of 20,000 rubles. The guys are waiting for us to get a license, which takes six months; the license takes six months, we’re in Finistrat, and in Finistrat, thank God, they issue licenses quickly. The project takes two months, we wait for the license for two months, and the second project for two months, and that’s it, we start building. In Finistrat, it’s fast.

We have an 18-month installment plan, where people pay 4,500 to 5,000 euros monthly, and ultimately they receive their own tourist apartments, which they can lease out for management, or manage themselves. My service company will be there to help if needed. We’re always there. Well, the service company will be there, but these are separate registration numbers; each apartment will have its own registration number, its own legal title, and each will have its own escritura. Excellent, and the traditional final question: we’ll soon have the Chinese New Year, and not all the new years have passed yet. What would you wish for yourself and perhaps for those watching? What New Year’s wishes would you have for yourself, for yourself, and for others? First of all, I wish all your families good health, that the children and the adults stay healthy, and that your families are warm.

So, for those watching, I’d like to emphasize once again that the essence of the Best West Life project is for us to build horizontal connections together, living our best Western life here in Spain. So, in the description of this video, we’ll definitely provide Oleg’s contact information. You can contact him. I recommend buying in Finistrat, because the place is undoubtedly very beautiful, with stunning views. Benidorm is a truly beautiful place, but, guys, one thing: you need to enjoy life there; you can’t rush around. It’s a vacation spot where you simply need to, like the Spaniards, learn to enjoy every moment of the life you’re living. So subscribe to my channel, subscribe, go to the Best West Life website, contact Oleg, and help us all build our best lives.

Thank you so much! This is, I think, your first, but not your last, interview, because I want to ask you more questions. You speak so well, I was afraid to interrupt.

No problem, I’m happy to answer any questions, and I’d be happy to chat. Thank you for inviting me.