field notes · by françois

Field notes

Compliance explained in plain English, market data without the marketing, and lessons from builds we actually carried. No filler, published when there is something worth saying.

regulation2026 jul 10

Can you still build in Bali? What the moratorium actually closed

What the 2026 tightening actually froze, what it did not, and how a compliant project kept building through it.

living in bali2026 jul 10

Which visa for Bali in 2026? The rules, dated and sourced

The actual menu, dated and sourced, including the June 2025 rule most guides still miss.

living in bali2026 jul 10

Living in Bali with a family: schools, health, the everyday, without the gloss

Schools before neighborhoods, health in two tiers, and the two budget lines that stay European.

living in bali2026 jul 10

A second home in Bali: what serious buyers settle first

Tenure, visa, the 183-day threshold, succession and exit: the villa comes seventh.

development notes2026 jul 08

How we outperform the Bali average

The market average is real, and so is the average Harmonie, the asset whose numbers we publish, holds above 80 percent against it. Design, shared cost, service, and the part that only comes from years of doing this.

market intelligence2026 jul 07

Is Bali still a good villa investment in 2026?

Yes, but not for lazy money. Demand is real. Supply has grown faster than pricing power. Compliance risk is no longer theoretical. The honest, sourced answer.

field report2026 feb 04

Building Harmonie: what we would repeat and what we would not

Fifteen months on site, opened summer 2024. Three things we got right, one contractor decision we would not repeat, and what changes on every mandate since.

development notes2026 jul 07

Why shared estate amenities may outperform isolated villas

One big villa is one booking product. A well-designed small estate is several, with one service engine behind them.

compliance2026 jul 07

Why illegal villas can look more profitable, until they are not

The extra margin comes from deleting real costs off the spreadsheet, not from a better business. Where that risk actually goes, with real enforcement cases.

market intelligence2026 jul 07

What is a realistic net yield for a Bali villa?

Decks advertise twelve to twenty percent. Here is the full gross-to-net waterfall, one deduction at a time, sourced.

compliance2026 jul 07

Leasehold in Bali: what foreigners actually buy

Leasehold is not bad. A badly structured lease is bad. What a foreign buyer actually acquires, and how to underwrite a finite-life asset honestly.

compliance2026 jul 07

PT PMA vs nominee: the uncomfortable truth for foreign villa investors in Bali

Nominee looks like ownership until the relationship breaks. What Indonesian law and real Bali court cases actually say.

compliance2026 jul 07

Green zone, pink zone, yellow zone: where can you legally build or rent a villa in Bali?

None of those colors exist in the actual regulation. What each usually means, and why the color was never going to be the whole answer.

compliance2026 jul 07

How to legally rent a villa short-term in Bali

Being live on Airbnb proves nothing legally. The real compliance stack: zoning, building approval, the right KBLI, tax registration, staff coverage and guest reporting.

compliance2026 jul 07

PP 20/2026 and the 0.5% tax myth: what actually changed for villa companies

No, the rate did not jump from 0.5 percent to 11 percent to 22 percent. Here is what actually changed, and for whom.

compliance2026 apr 12

What Peraturan Pemerintah 28/2025 actually means for villa owners

The regulation everyone forwards without reading. We read it. Here is what changes for the operator and what does not.

market intelligence2025 dec 09

The 80,000+ listing problem: why Bali's villa market is becoming an operator's market

AirDNA counts more than eighty thousand active short-term rental listings across the major platforms, at roughly 47 percent average occupancy. Supply is not the edge anymore.