We design, legalise and supervise the installations in your building. We don’t sell the equipment or install it.
WHAT IS PROBUILD?
PROBUILD is a building services engineering practice in Palma. We write and sign the projects, technical reports and applications that a building or a business premises needs in order to operate legally, and we supervise their execution.
We work for homeowners building or renovating in Mallorca, developers, architects and businesses that need to open. Each one comes with a different question, and almost always in a hurry.
- Thermal and electrical installations: heating, cooling, hot water, ventilation, low voltage, refrigeration and fire protection. A project or a technical report, depending on the threshold that applies.
- Activity licences: classification, activity project and engineer’s certificate so a business can open.
- Legalisation: bringing up to date and registering installations that already exist, or that were altered without paperwork.
- Self-protection and emergencies: writing and registering self-protection plans, with the qualification required by Balearic law.
And one thing worth saying early on: the first question is free. If what you need to know is whether your case requires a project or a technical report is enough, that can be settled in one call.
WHAT WE DO
Building services engineering in Mallorca
Four services, and in all four the deliverable is the same: a signed document that the authorities accept and an installer can build from.
INSTALLATION PROJECTS
Heating, cooling, hot water, electrics, ventilation and refrigeration. With a bill of quantities and specification, so you can ask for three comparable quotes.
ACTIVITY LICENCE
Classification, activity project and engineer’s certificate to open a business. Corrections included.
LEGALISATION
Technical reports under the Spanish heating (RITE) and low-voltage (REBT) regulations, and the full procedure to register an installation that already exists.
SELF-PROTECTION PLANS
Writing, implementation and registration. Signed by an engineer on the register that Balearic law requires.
And on site, when someone needs to be there
The four services above end in a signed document. There’s a fifth that doesn’t, and it exists because there’s a gap between what’s designed and what actually gets installed.
We check that the installation is built as designed. And when the owner can’t be here, we follow the whole build on their behalf: progress, timing, cost and decisions, reported in English.
The house rule
We don’t sell equipment, we don’t distribute any brand and we don’t install what we design. Our only income is the fee you pay us.
And the fee is fixed, agreed before we start. Never a percentage of the construction cost: whoever charges a percentage earns more the more expensive the installation turns out, and that isn’t the incentive you want in the person designing it.
THE FIRST QUESTION
Project or technical report?
It’s what decides who can sign and what it costs, and hardly anyone publishes it. Here it is.
Thermal installations
| Over 70 kW | Project by a qualified engineer |
| Between 5 and 70 kW | Technical report. The installer can sign it |
| Under 5 kW | Nothing |
All the heating generators are added together on one side and the cooling ones on the other, and the larger counts. And changing the type of energy triggers the requirement on its own: replacing oil with a heat pump isn’t swapping a unit, it’s an alteration that needs a document beforehand.
Electrical installations
| Detached house | Over 50 kW |
| Pools and fountains | Over 5 kW |
| Car park with mechanical ventilation | Always |
| Premises open to the public | Always |
The two that surprise people most: the pool, which passes 5 kW as soon as it has a heat pump and lighting; and the basement garage with mechanical extraction, which needs a project however many spaces it has.
Regulations reviewed in September 2026. The full thresholds, with their exceptions, are on the building services engineering page.
WHERE WE WORK
There’s hardly a building type we haven’t worked on
Building services engineering isn’t a product catalogue: it’s solving a specific building under the regulations that apply to it. These are the building types we work with regularly.
Homes and villas
Detached houses and apartment buildings. Heat pumps, underfloor heating, heated pools, solar PV and the energy justification the architect needs for the project.
Hospitality and accommodation
Plant rooms, air conditioning, hot water, kitchens, self-protection and the upgrades required by the Balearic regulatory calendar — starting with the end of heating oil in tourist accommodation, due by 1 May 2030.
Shops and premises
Bars, restaurants, cafés, shops, hairdressers, gyms, workshops and warehouses. The most frequent type and the one with the shortest cycle: the client can’t open until it’s done.
Car parks
From three spaces to several floors. Ventilation, CO detection, fire protection, EV charging and the electrical project that’s almost always overlooked.
Electricity and networks
Low voltage, transformer substations, distribution networks, outdoor lighting and services for new developments.
Public facilities
Sports centres, municipal pools, schools and ports. Capacity, evacuation, fire compartments and self-protection plans.
HOW WE WORK
Four rules we don’t break
They’re not website values. They’re the four things that change the outcome of an installation project, and the ones we commit to in every job.
Independence
No brands behind us and no deals with installers. If the project says a machine is unnecessary, it’s because it is — and if it says you need one more, it’s for the same reason.
Fixed fee
Agreed in writing before we start, with corrections included. You know what the work costs before you commission it, not when the invoice arrives.
Quantities and specification
The project comes with a bill of quantities and a specification, so you can ask for three comparable quotes instead of three that look nothing alike.
Dated regulations
Every regulatory justification states the version it was checked against and its revision date. In the Balearics the rules keep moving, and half of what’s out there is out of date.
Every client comes with a different question
If you’re building from abroad
Your house is going up in Mallorca and you’re not. You want the installations designed by someone with no interest in selling them, and someone on site who tells you what’s really happening, in English.
If you’re opening a business
You have an opening date, rent running and a council asking for things in Spanish. What you need is for the file to go through first time and for corrections not to drag on.
If you’re a developer
You want to know which installations your building requires, what they’ll really cost, and that someone checks on site that what’s installed is what was designed. Without relying on the judgement of whoever is selling them.
If you’re an architect
You need the installations designed and justified on time, with the regulatory part you’d rather not handle yourself, and without the project being sent back for a missing annex.
Project or technical report? We’ll tell you in one call.
The expected loads, the use of the building and the floor area are usually enough to know where your case stands. And if it turns out you don’t need an engineer, we’ll tell you that too.
Frequently asked questions
Can my installer sign the report and save me the project?
Below the thresholds, yes, and he’s right to: the technical report for a 5 to 70 kW thermal installation can be signed by the licensed installer. Above the threshold you need a qualified engineer. What matters is checking which side your installation is on before commissioning the work.
Do you work in English?
Yes. Calls, site minutes and reports can be in English. The documents submitted to the Spanish authorities are in Spanish, as they have to be.
Will you work with the installer I already have?
Yes. We have no installers of our own and no agreements with any. If you already have one you trust, all the better: the project gives them something specific to build, and you something specific to check against.
How long do the authorities take?
The deadline to decide on commissioning is six months. For low voltage, no reply means approval; for thermal installations it means refusal, so an incomplete file won’t sort itself out. In practice, the real timescale is set by how many times you’re asked for corrections.
Do you only work in Palma?
All over Mallorca. Much of our activity work is outside Palma — Inca, Manacor, Llucmajor, Calvià, Marratxí — and every council has its own zoning plan and its own quirks, which is worth knowing before submitting anything.
Insights
- The heat pump that wouldn’t start: 430 V, a builder’s supply and the grid’s ±7%
Commissioning can fail for reasons that don’t appear on any drawing. This one failed for two: a closed valve that stopped the system being evacuated, and a mains voltage of 430 V on a machine rated for 380 to 415 V. The second one teaches something worth knowing before you order a heat pump for … Read more - New Basic Self-Protection Directive: what changes for your plan
Since 11 October 2026, self-protection plans have been governed by a new standard: the Basic Directive on Self-Protection Planning. The 2007 Basic Standard, which almost every plan in the Balearic Islands was written under, no longer applies. Existing plans have four years, until October 2030, to adapt. And the list of who must have one … Read more - Oil-fired boilers in Balearic hotels and holiday lets: the deadline is now 2030
The deadline for removing oil-fired boilers from tourist accommodation in the Balearic Islands is 1 May 2030. Not 1 May 2027, the date that is still going around: Law 4/2026 of 11 June pushed it back three years. And for properties whose heating installation was built or replaced between 2019 and 2021, the limit is … Read more