The huge difference in build costs are one of the reasons more and more people are buying and building in central portugal, if you commission a build on the Algarve at say 1500euros m2 you can have the same house built in central portugal for 500 euros per m2, so with the huge difference that you can save it will pay for your flights for 20 years or you could build a house 3 times as big for the same money or the same size for a third of the price..makes sence eh. the quality of the workmanship in the central portugal region is very high, and stricktly controlled so no worries about fly by night builders. they take a lot of pride in what they build here. where we live the builder regularly brings visiting relatives to see the house that he built and this is a year after it was finished. hes very proud of his reputation as a quality builder. I just couldnt bring myself to pay over inflated prices for the same job elsewhere.