Chapuza – A Spanish word for those little DIY jobs around the house (that rarely get done in this one!), and for DIY or building type work that tends to have been done rather badly.
Take the situation in the communal hallway outside our front door, as seen in the photo above. The wires on the right are feeding electricity out of a neighbours house (who has not lived there for years), into the communal passageway lights (err, isn’t that techinically theft?) They have been like this for some time, and as you can see, the haphazard way they are hanging from the ceiling indicates a chapuza total – a hack job done quickly to save time. Still, seeing as the electricians in charge come back looking completely drunk after lunch every day, this is probably a fairly impressive piece of work – it’s a wonder they haven’t electrocuted themselves by now!
Anyway, learning to live with chapuzas on a national level is one of the joys of living in Spain, and it’s my duty as a long term resident to try to fit in. At least that’s what I tell Marina when she comes home from work and declares my latest plumbing/carpentry/painting job not quite up to industry standard. Oh but is, I tell her, just take a look outside our front door 
(Got a photo of a great Spanish chapuza? Send it in!)
Frank
21 Dec 06 at 8:14 pm
And as you made a mess of the job, she no doubt referred to you as a “chupacero”!
la_libelula
22 Dec 06 at 2:45 am
Here we call it a “chapuceria” when something just gets rigged as in the hallway picture. The job is of course done by a “chapucero.”
I wonder were the word came from?
Skip
22 Dec 06 at 10:40 pm
Looks like a fire Hazard to Me!!!
Ben
23 Dec 06 at 11:23 am
Chapucero sounds right to me, and yes, a fire hazard indeed! Fortunately things have now been put right and the dangling wires have gone.
El Casareño Inglés
3 Jan 07 at 8:30 pm
I must truthfully tell you that my house probably defines the word, but that it’s no different from any of my neighbour’s.
Everywhere I go in Andalucía, chapuzas abound. The only places without them have either called in non-andaluzs or foreigners to do them. Perhaps your electrician hails from Málaga?
Ben
4 Jan 07 at 6:07 pm
He was slurring his word so much after lunch it was hard to tell where he came from!
fettuchini
14 Mar 08 at 10:42 pm
He, he.
Yes, this is a real “spanish chapuza”.
Greetings from Zaragoza (Spain)