Rubén Solís on building luxury villas in Marbella: the real saving is made before work begins

Marbella’s prime residential market is shaped as much by those who build its homes as by those who design, sell or buy them. Few builders have been part of that story for as long as B. Solís, the family company founded in 1987 that has since completed more than 90 villas in La Zagaleta alone.

In this edition of Pure Talks, Javier Nieto, CEO and founder of Pure Living Properties, sits down with Rubén Solís, CEO of B. Solís since 2019. They discuss the company’s origins, what buyers should look for in a well-built home, why construction costs more on the Costa del Sol and the challenge Marbella faces over the next fifteen years.

From a family bricklaying business to La Zagaleta

Bonifacio Solís started work in the fields at 13, as his family could not afford to keep him in school. At 16 he moved into construction as a labourer, and at 30 he realised that physical work would limit his future, so he set up his own business. He had no business training, but he surrounded himself with capable professionals and learnt as the company grew.

The firm began as a bricklaying contractor and found its opportunity as Marbella’s luxury segment started to develop. It earned the trust of developers across the Costa del Sol and grew above all in La Zagaleta. In 2005 and 2006 it had 900 people on the payroll. Today, Rubén says, it is not the local company with the highest residential turnover in the province of Málaga, and that is not the aim: the priority is reputation and a sustainable volume of work.

How did Rubén come to lead the company?

Rubén took over as CEO in 2019, following the departure of the previous chief executive. His father, now 71, no longer runs the business day to day and concentrates on managing the family’s assets, but Rubén still describes him as a teacher and an asset to the company for his advice and experience.

His main commitment on taking charge was to keep the original philosophy intact. He believes a humble, hard-working, family culture built on companionship explains the company’s success, and that the challenge now is to preserve it with a second generation at the helm. The entire management team now belongs to that generation.

Rubén learnt the trade on site. From the age of 13 or 14 he spent his summers working as a labourer’s assistant, mixing mortar and carrying out other site tasks. His father wanted him to understand both the work and the conditions of those who do it. That experience left him with real admiration for construction workers and a clear sense of the physical toll that 35 or 40 years on site can take. He later studied law and worked outside the family business for five years before deciding to join it.

Today, he says, the hardest part of his role is managing people: workers, clients and partners. What frustrates him most is the poor reputation the construction sector still has in Marbella, where builders are often treated with suspicion despite the hours and care they put in. Javier adds that many problems in construction come from clients choosing badly or trying to save in the wrong places. A cheaper professional, he notes, can end up costing more.

Who is building villas in Marbella today?

Rubén distinguishes between two types of client. The private client builds to live in the house, so the priority is that it meets the needs of the owner and their family, and cost can take second place. The developer builds to sell and must balance construction cost, product quality and margin. Neither is better than the other; they simply want different outcomes.

In the villa segment, he estimates that around 95% of private clients are international, with very few Spanish private clients. In residential developments the split is closer to 60% international and 40% domestic. Buyers come from many places, including the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, Norway and the United Kingdom, with no single nationality dominating.

Where do budgets go wrong?

For Rubén, a builder’s role goes beyond executing the work well. It must also advise the client, drawing on decades of experience, including how materials behave over time. That advice has two aims: adapting the project to the client’s budget and expectations, and avoiding decisions that seem reasonable at the start but cause problems later. Part of his job, he says, is to warn a client when a solution is likely to become a headache two years down the line.

The biggest saving does not come from negotiating the price of each item. It comes from a project that is clear, worked through and understood by the architect, the builder and the client. When the client is unsure what they want, the architect has not finished the design or the builder has not studied it properly, the budget can change radically.

• A well-defined villa should not exceed its budget by more than around 10-15%.
• A project started in a hurry, without proper definition, can overrun by 30-40%.

Javier agrees. Many clients want to start as soon as they have bought a plot, and he often recommends waiting two more months if needed to finalise the project, as it can make the build both cheaper and faster.

Changes during construction are almost inevitable, Rubén explains, particularly in a home built for personal use. They usually arise because the client is not entirely sure what they want: “since we’re doing this, let’s do that too”. He rejects the idea that they are a way of inflating costs, as many are based on unit prices already set out in the contract, and recommends agreeing from the outset on a coefficient to apply to any changes.

The most unusual requests

After years in this segment, Rubén says, many extraordinary requests end up seeming normal. The one that struck him most was a villa in Los Flamingos. The structure was already complete when the client decided he did not like the orientation and asked for it to be demolished and rebuilt with the house turned a few degrees. It was a difficult decision to understand, Rubén admits, but it was the client’s own home and he had the means to ask for it.

Turntables for cars, car lifts and even rotating bedrooms have become common features. Wellness areas also carry growing weight: indoor pools, saunas, hammams and serious gyms. A high-end villa today needs a strong amenities area, both to enjoy and to add value to the property. The longest pool he remembers building measured 25 metres, and it sat indoors, in the living room itself, in a house that also had an outdoor pool.

Building to live in or building to sell?

The difference lies in where the focus is placed. A home built to live in is designed around the specific needs of its owner. A development built to sell is about optimisation. The developer must keep materials and quality at the right level without losing control of costs, because the project is a business. In the luxury segment, Rubén says, that balance is particularly difficult.

When a home needs to be optimised, the first adjustment is usually in decorative elements. The company tries not to compromise on the quality of materials or the performance of the installations, but it may reduce costly decorative features, such as extensive wooden false ceilings. The reasoning is practical: these elements have less effect on how the house is lived in, even if they carry real aesthetic and financial weight.

Why is Marbella more expensive to build in?

Rubén does not put a figure on the comparison with international luxury markets, as he does not know the costs elsewhere in Europe precisely. Within Spain, however, he is clear that Marbella and the Costa del Sol are generally more expensive than other areas, a view confirmed to him by a senior figure at a national construction group.

The main reason is the limited number of suppliers and subcontractors capable of working at this level. There are few installation, joinery, aluminium, marble and finishing companies that can be trusted to deliver a high-specification villa. Demand is high and the specialist market is small, so each link in the chain can raise its margin: whoever supplies the marble, whoever prepares it and whoever fits it. The result is a higher price than in Seville or Valencia, although Rubén does not see Marbella as much more expensive than Mallorca, which in some cases may cost more.

The cost of living on the coast also plays a part. Bringing in workers from elsewhere means paying for accommodation, and renting a home for four people can cost around €1,200 a month. Local expertise in delivering certain finishes adds to the price as well.

How can a buyer recognise a well-built house?

Rubén points to three factors:

• The quality of the materials, which can be hard to judge for anyone outside the industry.
• Execution and finishes: the junctions, the alignments, the order and the detail of the installations.
• How the house performs over time, which is the most important criterion, even if it cannot be seen on a first visit.

A well-built house should still be in very good condition after ten years. Swollen wood or joinery that begins to fail are, in his view, the clearest warning signs.

Where would Rubén live and invest?

If he could build or buy any home without financial limits, Rubén would choose a small, comfortable family house in Guadalmina. He grew up in San Pedro de Alcántara and values the area’s connections to the motorway and the coast road, as well as its calm compared with the livelier atmosphere of central Marbella. It is not the most exclusive or sought-after area, he admits, but it has personal value for him.

For investment, he highlights several areas:

• Sierra Blanca, an area that, in his words, has never failed so far.
• Marbella Club and the Golden Mile, which he believes remain areas of great value.
• La Cerquilla, which appeals to him less personally but has delivered significant returns.
• Frontline beach, which he particularly values, although few plots remain.
• Estepona, Manilva and Casares, where he sees potential for multi-family developments: land is not yet excessively expensive and new homes already sell at high prices, which leaves room for growth and margin.

He would not choose La Zagaleta for himself, despite considering it a wonderful place. He prefers Sierra Blanca and the parts of Marbella closer to the coast.

Marbella in 10 or 15 years

Rubén is concerned about the Marbella of the next decade and a half. In his view, infrastructure is not keeping pace with population and urban growth. He points to several problems already visible today: a lack of electrical capacity for new residential developments, insufficient water to fill swimming pools during droughts and oversubscribed schools. Growth, he says, calls for a broader view of roads, hospitals, schools and public services.

He sees this as an issue for the whole Costa del Sol, but one that directly affects Marbella’s future. Business owners and developers, he argues, should not limit themselves to buying, building and selling villas. They also have a responsibility to make sure growth is sustainable.

The Marbella Rubén Solís prefers

Rubén arrived in Marbella at the age of four and still feels it is his hometown, despite everything the city has been through. He remembers a time when there was no seafront promenade in San Pedro.

His Marbella is a quiet one. He does not identify with the nightlife. He would rather cycle along the San Pedro promenade with his children, head up into the mountains and enjoy the calm that some parts of the coast still keep.

Pure Talks is a series of conversations with the people shaping life and property in Marbella. Watch more interviews on our Pure Talks page.

Pablo Almagro Jiménez Marketing

Meet Pablo

Raised and educated in Marbella, with a degree in Marketing from the University of Malaga, Pablo Almagro shows a special interest in digital marketing and new technologies. He speaks fluent Spanish and English.