A modern house is demolished after about 50 years.
A timber-framed kominka, once repaired, can house generation after generation.

Toyama, Ishikawa and Gifu prefectures and their municipalities have schemes supporting vacant-house renovation and relocation. The conditions and windows differ by municipality and change every fiscal year. Tell us where and when you plan to live and we check what applies, and help prepare the paperwork.

Yes. With old houses, no drawings is the norm. From photos and the location we give a cost range; we measure the house when things move forward. Land registry documents and title deeds are not needed at this stage either.

It depends on the scope. Partial work such as inner windows or a bathroom starts in the ¥2 million range; a full renovation of a 130–200 ㎡ house runs about ¥15–30 million. These are construction costs and exclude the purchase of land and building. Real figures and schedules are published on each project page.

The construction itself takes about two to four months. A project centred on insulation and underfloor heating and a full renovation of both floors each took two months; a guesthouse with two new bathroom sets and exterior wall work took four. Add time for design, and for permits where needed.

Yes. Spot repairs — fixing a leak, adding inner windows, replacing one bathroom — start from a few hundred thousand yen. A full renovation is not a precondition. If you plan to do more later, we tell you which jobs should come first.

It depends on the scope. If the work can be split — ground floor only, upstairs only — it is sometimes possible. While the bathroom or kitchen is out of use, though, we will ask you to stay elsewhere. We propose what is realistic after seeing the house.

Not if the insulation is done properly. Cut corners there and within a few years it is "still cold" again. In Case 02, insulating first made a house whose temperature and humidity stay stable without running the air conditioning all year. We recommend this approach to anyone who cares more about running costs than the upfront cost.

We judge after seeing the house. Hokuriku farmhouses are framed with thick beams and posts, so the structure is usually sound, but the foundations and the amount of bracing wall differ from today's standards. We set out the reinforcement needed and its cost up front — it is hidden work, so it is the item most likely to be added later otherwise.

We do that. We have opened a kominka as a minpaku guesthouse, and can advise on the Minpaku Law filing and fire-safety requirements. Depending on the use, a change-of-use permit under the Building Standards Act or a health office licence may be needed. We check that before design starts. After opening, we run it for you as our minpaku operation service in Toyama.

Only the name differs; what we do is the same. We keep the posts and beams, joined without metal hardware, and rebuild the insulation, seismic strength and plumbing for today's living. We repair around the frame instead of demolishing and rebuilding. Some call this kominka restoration, others renovation.

Yes, we cover all of Toyama Prefecture, and kominka in Ishikawa and northern Gifu (Hida) too. If you do not own a house yet, we help you find one and come along to viewings before you buy, free of charge.

Snow and cold. The roof carries the weight of snow, so when we re-roof we plan for snow at the same time. Insulation stops the deep winter chill, but cut it and the cold comes back within a few years. Even in Toyama's azumadachi farmhouses, the damage is usually only on the outside and the frame is still sound.