Hiring a Tradesperson on Gran Canaria as a Non-Resident

The NIE: your number for anything official

The NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero) is Spain’s identification number for foreigners. It appears on purchase deeds, tax paperwork and invoices. If you bought property in Spain, you almost certainly have one already; it was needed for the purchase.

If not: in Spain the immigration office (Oficina de Extranjería) and the Policía Nacional handle it, abroad the Spanish consulates. You do not strictly need the number to place an order. But as soon as invoices, contracts or tax filings are to run in your name, there is no way around it.

A trusted person on the island

Somebody has to open the door, answer questions on site and check at the end that everything is done. That can be your property administrator (administrador de fincas), a neighbour, or a firm offering key-holding and property care.

Agree with the tradesperson who that person is and what they may decide. Everything else runs in writing: photos before and after the work, a short message for every change. That correspondence becomes the documentation you will need if there is ever a dispute.

If everything depends on one person, arrange a stand-in. Property administrators take holidays too, and a building site does not like to wait.

Invoices: insist on a factura

A complete invoice (factura) names the business with its tax number, you as the client, the individual items of work, and IGIC, the Canary Islands’ sales tax. A slip of paper with a total, or a payment “without an invoice”, supports neither a warranty claim nor a later sale.

For non-residents there is more: if you let the property or sell it later, documented building work can matter for tax. What counts in your case is a question for a tax adviser (asesor fiscal). But the invoices have to be collected now, not reconstructed later.

Keep payments traceable

Pay by bank transfer rather than in cash: a transfer proves by itself when and to whom you paid, and from a distance that record is your best protection. For larger jobs, agree a payment schedule tied to progress, with the final instalment due after acceptance; how such a plan belongs in the presupuesto is covered in our guide on estimates.

Acceptance and warranty from a distance

Have the finished work checked before the final instalment is paid, either by your trusted person or during your next stay. Record defects in writing, with photos and a date.

Keep the presupuesto, supplements, invoices and acceptance notes together. They are the basis for warranty claims and, when you sell, the proof of what was done to the property. For how a larger job unfolds, see our guide to a reforma.