on my first trip to boca chica, about 10 months ago, i met a guy from NY who was building a 4000 square feet mansion and he said costs were about $200 USD/square feet. back then the paso was around 45-50.
01-28-2005 11:17 PM
4000 square feet is a big house but not a mansion. And the cost of building here in D.R has a lot to do with the price of the american dolar but not all.
Wages have gone up. So in July you would have some making RD$450 at the exchange rate of 45 that would be about 10 dolars.Now do you think he will work for RD$300? no actually he is making RD$500 at the exchange rate of 30 that about US$16.67. That is about a 11% increase in pesos but a 60% increase in dolars.
As to the cost of building in D.R being more expensive then Fl. this is true. The use of wood and plaster makes building quicker and cheaper..A 2500 square foot home can be built after all permits in FL. in about 35 days this just is not possoble with D.R stlye of building. Also you have seen the damage a hurricane can do to Florida homes. That's why Domicans, if they can, build their roofs of rebar reinforced cement(a la Iraq bunker). It is more expensive, it is hotter in the hot days of D.R. and much more costly to maintain but it will kick *** and take names in an hurricane. This means you invest more from the ground up because your structure will be carrying a much heavier load. .
Hey, you can build cheaper if you want I wont stop you. But if you ask me for advice I will always give the best I can with the little knowledge I posses.
"Now all that said I'll give you the lowdown. You should be able to build your home for about $15,000.00 a square meter. That's if use both an arquitect and ingeneer. If you do not you can take off about 15%. Also I did not factor in the lowest prices for floors etc etc."
That would make my estimate $12,750.00 pesos and that since I took into account that she had allready paid for the lot has the cost of land in it. I should have said $15,000.00 with lot sorry my mistake.
When ever one of my freinds or family members ask me to take a look at a home they are considering for purchase I ask for complete plans of the home. I do this because I know a high percentage of homes are built without these in D.R. my advice to DRgirl was given with the presuption that she would not move herfamilyhome of uncertain worthyness, as you all know we had an earthquake a couple of years back. People thought those tall buildings in Santiago would all fall, but they didn't. The reason for this is that comercial builders like myself must meet requirement's that a person building their private home does not. Why you ask .Because when we sell 90% of these homes are financed by a bank. The bank does their homework before lending.
And I can tell you that a correctly built home can get about RD$9,000.00 per square foot of financing.
A home being built in D.R. with everything "de primera" as we say in D.R. at a scale of 4000 ft2 should, in boca chica,be a little more expensive to build than US$200 per square foot.