What's the going rate for putting up blocks? Is there a kind of pro rata for blocks or is it a per day thing in Samana?
- Thread starter Hazel Lewry
- Start date
Advice on building costs.
Maestro de Construcci?n
I'd use the experience, supervision and quality control of a good maestro de construcci?n and pay him for each part of the work.
Welcome to Saman?.
donP
I'd use the experience, supervision and quality control of a good maestro de construcci?n and pay him for each part of the work.
Welcome to Saman?.
donP
Here is the "BEST ADVICE" you will EVER GET on "DR1"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't by raw land, and NEVER BUILD!!!
Rent for a year, then "Consider" buying!!!!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Don't by raw land, and NEVER BUILD!!!
Rent for a year, then "Consider" buying!!!!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
First, welcome!
You will get lots of advise ,more than you might want to hear. Please take all of with open eyes.
Building here isn't for the faint of heart. It can be done, and done well. But if you don't have an understanding standing of the culture and the building process you will spend more than you want to. I garentee that. Like CC said, think about buying something after living here for a year. Please don't be in a rush, to many people buy to soon and regret they did. There Is your deal.
But if you decide to build it will take you longer than you believe, and probably more than you expect. Take some time and do as much homework as you can in hiring a miastro, to handle your construction. We could write a small book about the process.
This advice come from experience, and I am very happy with my project.
Good luck! I hope you get what your after.
You will get lots of advise ,more than you might want to hear. Please take all of with open eyes.
Building here isn't for the faint of heart. It can be done, and done well. But if you don't have an understanding standing of the culture and the building process you will spend more than you want to. I garentee that. Like CC said, think about buying something after living here for a year. Please don't be in a rush, to many people buy to soon and regret they did. There Is your deal.
But if you decide to build it will take you longer than you believe, and probably more than you expect. Take some time and do as much homework as you can in hiring a miastro, to handle your construction. We could write a small book about the process.
This advice come from experience, and I am very happy with my project.
Good luck! I hope you get what your after.
Read what Cris Colon said as well as what drescape24 said. That is good advice (for everyone)
Go slow is the word. Patience.
There are people who can supervise for you (like Chip, for example) and people who can build (like a Maestro Constructor). You should
know that everything in Saman? is more expensive than most other places, because it is so far from the production centers for
your building materials (blocks, cement, re-bar, nails, wood, etc).
Once you get a "feel" for the place, then you might want to take the step. Building is a major pain in the buttinsky...red tape like
you have never seen...
So please, pretty please, go slow....
HB
Go slow is the word. Patience.
There are people who can supervise for you (like Chip, for example) and people who can build (like a Maestro Constructor). You should
know that everything in Saman? is more expensive than most other places, because it is so far from the production centers for
your building materials (blocks, cement, re-bar, nails, wood, etc).
Once you get a "feel" for the place, then you might want to take the step. Building is a major pain in the buttinsky...red tape like
you have never seen...
So please, pretty please, go slow....
HB
Great advice above. Rent first and get to know the area, the people who are doing building projects, the suppliers, etc. The $ saved will cover the cost of your rent and avoiding excessive aggrevation is priceless. I say excessive because there will be some no matter what.
You'll find a lot of good info here http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/63016-Homebuilding-in-the-DR-the-inexpensive-(Dominican)-way
Just keep in mind that some of the pricing is a few years old.
my contribution to the building versus buying discussion is this;
1/Building for me was way cheaper than buying...i found my block and put up my house
2/ you must find a builder you can trust. I stumbled upon mine and 12 years later the house is still standing, no faulty workmanship. I used a guy heriberto polanco in POP. I would use him again in a heart beat. I got lucky!!!!!!!!
3/my general impression is that homes in desirable areas are quite expensive. When i consider buying a block of land and putting up my own home ive found i can do it for 25%-35% less than buying some of these over priced 'monstrosities'
Example
land in costambar $50 a metre = $50000 away from beach
construct basic house $500us a metre * 125mtr2= $63000
pool $ 15000 budget
fence $8000
Total $138000...round to 150k
i have been checking costambar and the cheapest home i could see in the real estates online was $199k... a S@#tty house on a nice block
Would i build again, yes but only using my previous builder. if i couldnt use him id buy and pay the premium. My experience with dominican service providers and land sellers has been horrendous. This would be the governing reason to buy i.e limit your involment with the local people
Total construction cost in general:
Hiring your own Maestro:
Basic house US$500/m2 (no AC, only very small woodwork)
Using a construction company with fair pricing:
Bare bone office building $550/m2 (no finishings inside offices)
Nice apartments US$800/m2 (AC, only very small woodwork)
Nice house US$900/m2 (AC, nice woodworks etc)
Luxury house US$1200/m2 (the works)
I have not seen a construction company who has employed regular labours like you would expect in Europe. They are in that sensense all independent contractors.
Typically a construction company will consist of an architect and one or more engineers. In my opinion the construction company should make about 10% of the contract sum in profit for managing the works and should get paid only for direct resources on the work site. 5% is a decent amount on top of installations companies invoices for managing and coordinating them. For this profit he should be ultimately responsible for the quality.
A typical large house should have an onsite engineer during the project. He in turn will hire a maestro who finds and manages the workers. The maestro will get paid a fixed price for m2 of brick walls, m2 of plaster, m2 of roof etc, always per produced volume, never per hour. It is the work of the engineer to push the maestro to deliver quality works.
The engineer will make $2000-2500 per month.
I would never hire a maestro myself to save 10% profit from the construction company unless I knew very well what I was doing and had the interest.
Then again, most constructions companies are probably factoring in 20-30% profit up front. Problem is that few wants to make a transparent project with actual costs reported. Hence they make rough calculations and vague definitions of what they should deliver. That makes the project very fluid. A badly run project (not uncommon) becomes rapidly less profitable so that the builder does not make all that money in the end anyway. So in luxury resorts in this country, luxury homes typically costs you 1400/m2 to build, but I would bet that the builder is not making that much more at the end of the day, often due to poorly run projects. If as the case often is here, the best builder is not the one always allowed to market his services in the resort, then the situation will not improve like you expect in a well functioning market.
Hiring your own Maestro:
Basic house US$500/m2 (no AC, only very small woodwork)
Using a construction company with fair pricing:
Bare bone office building $550/m2 (no finishings inside offices)
Nice apartments US$800/m2 (AC, only very small woodwork)
Nice house US$900/m2 (AC, nice woodworks etc)
Luxury house US$1200/m2 (the works)
I have not seen a construction company who has employed regular labours like you would expect in Europe. They are in that sensense all independent contractors.
Typically a construction company will consist of an architect and one or more engineers. In my opinion the construction company should make about 10% of the contract sum in profit for managing the works and should get paid only for direct resources on the work site. 5% is a decent amount on top of installations companies invoices for managing and coordinating them. For this profit he should be ultimately responsible for the quality.
A typical large house should have an onsite engineer during the project. He in turn will hire a maestro who finds and manages the workers. The maestro will get paid a fixed price for m2 of brick walls, m2 of plaster, m2 of roof etc, always per produced volume, never per hour. It is the work of the engineer to push the maestro to deliver quality works.
The engineer will make $2000-2500 per month.
I would never hire a maestro myself to save 10% profit from the construction company unless I knew very well what I was doing and had the interest.
Then again, most constructions companies are probably factoring in 20-30% profit up front. Problem is that few wants to make a transparent project with actual costs reported. Hence they make rough calculations and vague definitions of what they should deliver. That makes the project very fluid. A badly run project (not uncommon) becomes rapidly less profitable so that the builder does not make all that money in the end anyway. So in luxury resorts in this country, luxury homes typically costs you 1400/m2 to build, but I would bet that the builder is not making that much more at the end of the day, often due to poorly run projects. If as the case often is here, the best builder is not the one always allowed to market his services in the resort, then the situation will not improve like you expect in a well functioning market.
First of all, Grease is the word.
Building is, indeed, a major ordeal, but in relation to what? A home you buy for $200,000 can be built for $120,000. Think about how much work you must do sitting at a desk to clear $80,000. It is a way to get ahead. A frustrating, gut wrenching way to get ahead. A personal choice.