From luxury real estate to domestic staff: All-in-one service for wealthy foreigners wishing to relocate to Switzerland. Singer Tina Turner, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad and Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher live in Switzerland. Not only for tax reasons. But above all, the high quality of living and the discretion are important to them. When foreign multi-millionaires wish to relocate to Switzerland, they contact Robert Ferfecki. He offers an all-in-one service. Robert Ferfecki helps the wealthy from all over the world to organise their new life in Switzerland. Many want to come here, at any price. But a Swiss passport cannot be bought. "Some of our clients come from countries where money can solve almost any problem, which is not the case in Switzerland. And this legal certainty is one of the reasons why they want to move to Switzerland." An important criterion when choosing a new home is location. Clients want to personally get a picture of Switzerland and the best way of doing so is from a helicopter. "Our clients do not have the time to spend days driving around in their cars. From a helicopter, one can capture both the topography and the surrounding at the same time." Among the preferred places for wealthy foreigners is the area around Lake Geneva. Here, in the Alps of Canton Vaud, Robert Ferfecki is merging four individual condominium suites to create an enormous chalet for one of his clients. "Normally, clients do not have the time or the patience to take on the construction of a new house as it takes 2-3 years to complete. Therefore, we often resort to a finished or semi-finished property that is already on the market such as in this case, and we then finalise the construction based on the clients’ requirements and ideas." Architect Hanspeter Sacher is responsible for realising the client’s ideas in this case. “In just 4 weeks the house shall look like on these plans and mood boards...” That is when an extended Russian family is moving in. They are leaving their home country for good. For foreigners, it is not that easy to relocate to Switzerland. But Robert Ferfecki handles everything to bring the newcomers to Switzerland. "From residence and settlement permits to negotiating lump-sum tax arrangements to delivering ready-made luxury real estate." Robert Ferfecki realises all of his clients’ wishes, no matter how eccentric. "Here, for example, we cut a massive hole into this load-bearing wall to mount a 180-degree rotating flatscreen TV, which can then be used both in the living room and in the adjacent dining room." During construction, clients generally still live in their old homes, thousands of miles away. It is therefore vital to precisely know the clients’ ideas. Interior designer Christophe Lombardo: “Firstly, I need to understand what the clients like. I present to them numerous options and they tell me which style they like. Then, I make suggestions with various alternatives." If requested, Robert Ferfecki will even park the befitting limousines in the garage. "Typically, our clients want to have relatively luxurious vehicles and every other would prefer a helicopter landing pad in front of the house but this is often not possible in Switzerland. However, we always find a solution." When it comes to domestic staff, there are fewer problems: Interview appointment with the cleaner in the shell. This is the children's floor. There are four or five children's rooms here. There is also a living room for the children, no kitchen, but each bedroom comes with its own bath. "Depending on the type of property, we need chefs, gardeners, nannies, sometimes a driver, and in very rare cases, if the client owns an aircraft, even helicopter or jet pilots." Approach to Stäfa on the "gold coast" of Lake Zurich, likewise one of the most popular residential areas for wealthy foreigners. Robert Ferfecki inspects this 14-bedroom villa together with an architect and the builder Urs Wenger. The architecture of the semi-circular window front reproduces the shape of Lake Zurich and offers a spectacular view over the lake and the mountains. Urs Wenger would like to sell this property. Robert Ferfecki is visiting the villa on behalf of a client. "I'm viewing this house for a foreign couple with two children and domestic staff. They need quite a lot of living space so that they can live here undisturbed and accommodate the domestic staff under the same roof." The house has 4 floors and can be divided into two separate homes. One for the family, the other for staff and guests. Such large living spaces are extremely rare. The spatial requirements of wealthy foreigners often exceed the living spaces offered on the Swiss real estate market. "In general, clients want as much space as possible and often very high ceilings. Our clients are very difficult to please with our standard ceiling height of 2.5 metres. Three, three and a half, four or even four and a half metre ceiling heights would be ideal for such clients but are very difficult to find on the Swiss real estate market." Builder Urs Wenger and the architect will complete the villa according to the purchaser’s requirements. Not all of the super-rich want to come to Switzerland. Those that come are looking for living quality, security and discretion. "Discretion should be important to clients who choose to come to Switzerland. If somebody likes to exhibit what he has or tends to show-off, then Switzerland would not be the right place to live." The villa in its shell state will cost around 10 million Swiss Francs. On to the next property. Urs Wenger turned his passion to build into his profession. He builds luxury villas for which he then looks for wealthy customers. "Only very few people have sufficient imagination to correctly interpret plans and to assess the building quality. But if you show them a luxury shell, then they start trusting that you can also finish the interior with the appropriate degree of luxury. This mutual trust is a prerequisite for being able to sell properties in these price classes." On the way, Urs Wenger shows us a futuristic villa that he constructed for a foreign businessman. For reasons of discretion we are only allowed to film from a distance. The interior alone cost 10 Million Swiss Francs. A 40,000 litre whirlpool inside and outside, a home cinema with better quality than any public cinema, a dining room and kitchen with a double ceiling height giving it the look of a cathedral. Also Robert Ferfecki has to deal with unusual requests. "An art collector wanted to have a home gallery, a car collector wished for his own car wash, not to mention the climate-controlled wine cellars..." Landing at Lake Aegeri in Central Switzerland. Here, Urs Wenger is offering his own villa for sale as he is moving to France. Robert Ferfecki recently showed the region to a couple from New York. They liked Lake Aegeri so much that he is now looking for a second home for them. And this may be Wenger's villa. If necessary, Robert Ferfecki also establishes an initial network of contacts in Switzerland for the wealthy newcomers. "Golf clubs, ski clubs, old-timer clubs - whatever the client wants. We support the entire "new socialising process" as good as we can or as intensive as the client wishes us to." Henley & Partners is an international firm and worldwide leading in residence & citizenship solutions for wealthy clients. In future, this could be a new business model for private bankers: Investments in the quality of living instead of in securities. "It is definitely good if a private banker can provide initial answers to the question of where his client could or should relocate." Robert Ferfecki is already heading to the next wealthy foreigner and thus to another good business deal.