Glossary

SIP panel

Structural Insulated Panel: two OSB boards bonded under pressure to a core of rigid insulation, usually expanded polystyrene. The panel is load-bearing element and insulation at once — wall, floor or roof —, cut in the factory to the design and assembled on site in 1–2 weeks rather than months.

OSB

Oriented Strand Board — a panel of oriented wood strands pressed with resins, used as the faces of a SIP panel. OSB/3 is the moisture-resistant grade suitable for structural use; our boards are in emission class E0–E1, i.e. no free formaldehyde above the threshold allowed for homes.

Shell ("la roșu")

The house taken up to the structure under the roof: the foundation, the SIP structure assembled by our crew (in Romania), the floors, the rafters and the roof covering. Windows and exterior doors are not included; they are added as an option from €30/m², i.e. €3,000–4,500 for a 100 m² house. With us it starts from €400/m² with the foundation and from €300/m² without it, when the client’s own builder makes the foundation from our drawings. Ready 6–12 weeks from contract, permit time not included.

Turnkey house

The house handed over ready to move in: on top of the shell on its foundation, windows and exterior doors, electrical and plumbing installations, heating, additional insulation and interior finishes, interior joinery, floors and basic bathroom and kitchen fit-out. One responsible party, one deadline — with us up to 6 months, permit time not included — and a fixed price set after the consultation, from €900/m².

House kit (for self-assembly)

The parts of a catalogue house, bought from the factory for the client to assemble: SIP panels and C24 timber elements, cut and labelled in the factory, with the design plans and panel layouts. Picked up at the Baia Mare factory or delivered, with delivery agreed together with the kit included in the offer; assembly, roof covering, windows and foundation are organised by the client. With us it starts from €150/m² and is the only option with an exact price, given in the offer for a standard design. The price can rise with thicker OSB (12 or 15 mm instead of 10 mm), with the price of C24 timber or with design changes.

Strip (continuous) foundation

A concrete foundation poured under all load-bearing walls as continuous strips buried below the frost line. It is the standard solution for stable ground and light SIP houses. With us the foundation is part of the shell-on-foundation and turnkey prices, and its type (strip with a concrete slab, monolithic slab or concrete piers) is chosen for the plot and the geotechnical study.

Screw piles

A foundation on steel posts with a helix, screwed into the ground down to the bearing layer, with no excavation and no poured concrete. Installed in a day, usable immediately and often recommended for slopes. We can build them, but for the foundation to be approved the piles have to be screwed in to a set torque, measured by a specialist service paid for separately; that makes them dearer than a slab, and we recommend concrete piers instead.

Concrete slab (raft)

A foundation in the form of a reinforced concrete slab over the whole footprint of the house, poured on a bed of gravel and insulation. It spreads the load evenly, serves directly as the rough floor and is preferred on ground with low bearing capacity; we choose it when the plot and its geology call for it.

Thermal bridge

A spot in the building envelope where heat escapes more easily than through the rest of the wall: a timber stud, a concrete beam, an uninsulated joint. Condensation and mould appear on bridges. A SIP panel has no studs across the wall field, so bridges remain only at the joints — which is why assembly details matter so much.

U-value (thermal transmittance)

The amount of heat passing through one square metre of wall at a one-degree difference between inside and outside, measured in W/m²K. The lower the value, the better the wall insulates. A SIP panel reaches low values at a thickness far below that of an equivalent insulated masonry wall.

Eurocode

The family of European structural design standards (EN 1990–1999) adopted in Romania and Hungary alike: actions, concrete, steel, timber, seismic design and so on. The structural calculation to these standards is made for the specific house and plot, in the permit project, by the engineer who signs it.

Urban planning certificate (certificat de urbanism)

The document issued by the town hall stating what may be built on a plot — height regime, setbacks from the boundaries, site coverage — and which approvals must be obtained. It does not grant the right to build. Since 2026 the Code splits it by purpose: anyone can request the information certificate, while the building certificate is the first step towards the permit and has a limited validity.

Negative urban planning certificate

The town hall’s reasoned answer, to a request for a building certificate, that the project cannot be built on that plot: for example because a PUZ is not allowed there or the project contradicts the approved urban plans. It is new in the 2026 Code. The information certificate never gives such an answer, because it does not assess a specific project.

Building permit (autorizație de construire)

The administrative act under which, as a rule, any new building fixed to the ground is erected, whatever its area — the "15 m² without paperwork" threshold is a myth. Since 25 August 2026 it falls under the new Code of spatial planning, urbanism and construction, which also sets precise exceptions: a few works with no formality at all and, in villages, a notification for some annexes and for a ground-floor-only house of up to 150 m². It is obtained at the town hall on the basis of the urban planning certificate, the design signed by licensed specialists and the required approvals; realistically the road takes 3–6 months.

Notification (simplified procedure)

The short route in the new Urbanism Code, instead of a permit: you file a notification at the town hall with a simplified design drawn up by specialists, and if the town hall does not answer within 15 working days, the notification is tacitly approved (art. 296). It is most often used for a single ground-floor-only family house of up to 150 m² in a village, inside the built-up area and outside protected zones, with a design endorsed by the county chief architect; the Code also allows it for a few smaller works.

Approvals (avize și acorduri)

The approvals that utility providers and the relevant authorities give before the permit: environment, fire safety, public health, roads, as applicable. The full list is written in the building certificate, and the permit file cannot be filed without them. In some localities they are obtained through a single-approval committee, elsewhere directly from each issuer.

Geotechnical study

The investigation of the ground — boreholes, samples, laboratory tests — that establishes which layers lie under the house, how much they bear and where the groundwater is. On its basis the engineer chooses the type and depth of the foundation; it is required in the permit file and is the only sound way to decide between strip, slab and piers.

Land-registry registration (intabulare)

The entry of the building in the land register after the completion inspection. Only from that moment does the house exist legally: it can be sold as real estate, mortgaged, insured and cleanly inherited. A building put up without a permit or a notification cannot be registered — hence the real risk of "houses without paperwork".

PUG and PUZ (urban plans)

The PUG, the general urban plan, covers the whole locality: it sets the edge of the built-up area, the zones and, through the local urban planning regulation (RLU), which uses, heights and densities are allowed on each plot. A PUZ, a zonal urban plan, changes or creates these rules for a specific area, for example to bring farmland into the built-up area or to parcel out more than 12 lots; the local council approves it after approvals and public consultation, in months rather than weeks.

PUD (detailed urban project)

The project that sets out, for one plot or a few, exactly how the building sits on the land: position, setbacks, access. It does not change the zone’s rules but details them, so it is simpler than a PUZ. The town hall can require it through the urban planning certificate, and inside the built-up area up to 12 house lots can be created once on its basis, if the plans already set rules for the parcels. The 2026 Code calls it a “project”, not a “plan”.

POT and CUT

Two figures from a plot’s technical regime. POT, the land occupation percentage, is the share of the plot the building may cover on the ground: with a POT of 30% on 1,000 m², the house’s footprint is at most 300 m². CUT, the land use coefficient, is the total floor area, across all levels, that you may build relative to the plot area; an attic floor counts.

Intravilan and extravilan (inside and outside the built-up area)

The intravilan is the land inside the locality boundary set by the PUG, where you can build under the urban plans’ rules. The extravilan is everything else: farmland, forests, pastures. A house cannot be built there directly: the land must first be brought into the built-up area through a PUZ, with the agriculture ministry’s approval for farmland, and outside it the law allows only a few categories of buildings.

Splitting and parcelling (dezlipire, parcelare)

A split divides a plot in two; inside the built-up area it needs an urban planning certificate for cadastral operations, and without one the split and its deeds are void. A parcelling means three or more building lots: up to 12 house lots can be created once on a PUD, if the plans already set rules for the parcels, otherwise a PUZ is needed. A lot that came out of a split cannot be split again on an ordinary certificate.

Barnhouse

A house style borrowing the shape of a barn: a simple rectangular volume, a gable roof without wide eaves, large windows and an open interior. It is a style, not a technology — it can be built of timber, masonry or SIP; its rational geometry is exactly the one in which SIP panels are cut without waste. Our catalogue has 13 barnhouse designs.

A-frame

An A-shaped house: two steep roof slopes running down to the foundation that are also the side walls. One level plus a mezzanine or floor under the slopes, gable ends usually glazed. The fastest house to build from SIP and the preferred format for holiday cabins and glamping; our catalogue has 6 A-frame designs.

Mezzanine

A partial level open to the space below, built under the roof above part of the ground floor — usually as a bedroom or a workspace. It is not a full storey: it has no walls around its whole perimeter and in many designs no separately stated area. In barnhouses and A-frames it is the usual way to use the height of the roof.

Heat-recovery ventilation (HRV/MVHR)

A mechanical system that extracts stale air and brings in fresh air through an exchanger that recovers most of the heat. In a very airtight SIP house, ventilation is not optional: without it the moisture of everyday living has nowhere to go, and condensation and mould appear at the thermal bridges. With us it is part of the design from the start.

Glamping

Tourist accommodation in nature with the comfort of a house — "glamorous camping": small cabins with a bathroom, heating and a kitchen, placed on scenic plots. The format favours units of 40–60 m² that build fast and pay back from rentals; the A-frames and small barnhouses in our catalogue are designed exactly for that.

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