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My wife and I are buying a piece of land near Diamante waterfall. The price of the land is set and we are working with one of the top law firms in San Isidro. We met with a prefab concrete architect who has offices in San Jose and Dominical. We have designed a very simple 100 square meter home with polished concrete floors and very open floor plan. Nothing fancy since we are planning on semi-retiring on a shoe string budget. Okay, okay, I know what you are thinking “They have no clue on what they are doing” Well we have been vacationing in Costa Rica for 12 years, married there 10 years ago and spent the last vacation strictly looking at land and talking to locals and contractors. I have done a lot of construction on 3 renovated homes so I can do about anything. I know about plumbing, electrical or building a 12′ X 45′ deck and cabana overhanging a river. Yes, it is still standing.
My question is what is the true cost of concrete prefab in Costa Rica? The architect said it should run about $270 US dollars per square meter ($27,000 US) based on the governments estimate. We are not doing air conditioning or heat and very few extras. It will be roughly 30′ X 30′ one bedroom box with a bodega/closet/pantry/all purpose dehumidified room in it. I will do as much of my own work as possible but will hire out the shell, roof, concrete floors, rough plumbing, electrical and grading. I have read many articles where someone budgets $80,000 US and it ends up closer to 120 or 140K. We can’t afford for that to happen since we are budgeting for around 30K. Does anyone have real experiences with this process? I hope that we can talk further. I will give you my personal email or call you if you would like to help us with all of this. Thanks, Brian and Rachelle
There may (may) be cost savings associated with prefab building using precast panels, but I am very skeptical that you can finish a 1,000 square foot home for $27,000 or $27 per square foot.
While the vertical walls may come in cheap, the costs of footings, roof and ceilings, floors, electrical and plumbing rough-in, windows and doors, electrical and plumbing fixtures, grading, utilities, permits, paint, cabinetry, locksets, knobs and other hardware, countertops, etc will be virtually the same.
And better heads than mine have asserted here that, while the wall panels themselves are inexpensive, finishing them isn’t. So the savings may not be what you hope for.
Think about this . . . If you could really accomplish this project for $27 per square foot, why would anyone build any other way? You’d have to be crazy, no? And yet you see mostly concrete block construction and very little using precast concrete panels. Look around you. How many homes are built this way? Why not?
I’m afraid you’re chasing a dream that you can never catch, but don’t just take my word for it. Get with your architect, the guy who’s giving you these assurances, and ask to see the last three projects he’s finished using this building method. Talk to the owners and ask them what they ended up paying. Be convinced that you’re not being sold a bill of goods.
And then consider this: Let’s say you undertake this $30,000 project. The builder starts the work and (say) gets the walls up and the plumbing roughed in. Then he announces that he’s gone through your $30k and needs that much more (if you’re lucky) to finish. What are you going to do then??
And there’s something more . . . You say the architect estimates this project at $27,000 based upon the “government estimate”, right? If what you’re referring to is the per square meter cost used by the Collegio of Architects and Engineers to set the cost of the architect’s fee and the permits, that number has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual costs of construction. It’s just an agreed-upon rule of thumb that has no application in the real world.
I wasn’t sure whether you meant the [i]’slide togethers'[/i] as David mentions or the whole wall which is aprefabricated cement panel? Since you were dealing with some in San Jose I thought it may be the latter.
We checked into the sliding panels and again, as David says, the finishing is the trick and making sure there is no openings at all for the wind to make worse.
For the same cost you quote, you can go for a decent sized block home constructed by a local company who do these all the time. But you will get what you pay for…
We are presently using a local contractor to construct a block house, and are very pleased with his work and he is doing everything, wiring sand plumbing, to North American standards.David – what a great post. You really bring reality, without put down or emotion, into perspective – thanks
I have done some research on this, the prefab will only save you about 10%. The price you will see quoted are for walls only. Then you need to contract out with a builder to finish the house as you wish. What you save is also time as the walls for a 900F2 house could be up in about 10 days.
Like anything you do you will need a good team to complete your project. There is a lengthy thread here with links to some of the companies offering prefab packages. If you can get through all the people bemoaning:wink: this type of construction; there is some useful information.
While “[i]The price of the land is set and we are working with one of the top law firms in San Isidro'[/i] it doesn’t really make any difference in building costs or guarantee that here will be no surprises later on 😆
Another comment though, if this is [i]’semi-retirement'[/i] does this mean you mean to leave the property [i]’unattended’ [/i]while you return to your home base? This may cause you some problems unless you arrange for to stay on your property when you are gone.A member ‘PM’ me, and while answering I thought I would add this here.
If one is on a [i]seriously strict budget,[/i] I personally suggest purchasing an existing property where you know exactly where you stand. And there are [i]lots to chose[/i] from, out there.
Presently, I know of a woman near us, who home will never be ‘completed’ due to unexpected/unbudgeted expenses….plus problems with the roof structure because she insisted on cutting corners and her insistence in doing it [i]’her way’.[/i]Does anyone have any “new” information to add to this discussion on prefab houses? My hubby is interested in exploring the options.
[quote=”sweikert925″]Haven’t come across anything on prefab house construction in CR, but I did recently come across [url=http://qz.com/413081/portable-solar-powered-ecocapsules-mean-you-can-live-rent-and-electric-bill-free-globally/]this[/url] that I found rather interesting. Not a practical solution as a permanent dwelling, but it takes camping to a whole new level.[/quote]
Wow! How cool is that? I might be able to live in something like that if I were by myself, but with another person? I don’t think so!!
[quote=”sweikert925″]Haven’t come across anything on prefab house construction in CR, but I did recently come across [url=http://qz.com/413081/portable-solar-powered-ecocapsules-mean-you-can-live-rent-and-electric-bill-free-globally/]this[/url] that I found rather interesting. Not a practical solution as a permanent dwelling, but it takes camping to a whole new level.[/quote]
Didn’t Mork land on earth in one of those?
Can’t provide much help on the prefab but a friends neighbor has one and the walls don’t offer much insulation as they are only 2.5 inches thick. You can feel the heat from the fridge through the walls… If you go this route, it is ‘advisable’ to have a wide overhang to keep out the heat and of course this undercover area is considered part of the house when applying for a permit and is priced the same as the interior.
Our [i]Tico[/i] friend is a builder of small homes, and was telling us yesterday, that the one he is presently building, a [i]very [/i]small and basic 2 bed, is nearing $100,000 in cement & blocks alone…much more than last years prices.A friend contracted for a small prefab at a cost of $3,500. She has now paid the first payment on the prefab PLUS another $10,000 for things that aren’t covered in the prefab.
On the other hand, a local couple bought a Tico house and had it rebuilt and extended. They are very happy with the result.
The price quoted above is for a ‘slide together house’ that many [i]Ticos[/i] build, [i]I think, [/i]but there is a few other companies out there that offer more house plans and a better quality without the ‘slide in part’ showing.:wink:
We are looking into prefab construction and I know 2 Ticos who built their own homes this way and I saw them and they looked okay; not as “finished” as I’d like but certainly livable.
We talked to Concrepal in Palmares and they have a 46sq mt “key in hand” service for around $30k U.S. plus some extra fees like septic tank, engineer and permit fees etc.
I do plan to try to find some gringos who have built with them and look at their homes and talk to them before committing to this. The fact is Concrepal has built a lot of homes and I spoke with a long-time expert on Costa Rica who’s lived there forever and he says if you have a limited budget, he would recommend Concrepal.
I am also looking at Maderas Kodiak which uses a EPA specially treated (metal infused!) wood called MicroPro I think it is, and the prices are about the same as Concrepal. They have model homes you can look at in the Central Valley, one in San Ramon and one in Alajuela that I heard about. I looked at the one in San Ramon and it looks super nice but I would want to see how one looks after 10 years…. With Concrepal too – I want to see an older one and speak with the owners.
I also know a builder who has built many homes who recommends Concrepal and several people I have spoken with who do build homes have told me YES these pre-fab homes are MUCH cheaper to build than regular concrete block. So those who say otherwise – I wonder how they come to that conclusion?
I note that this thread was started years ago and 2 things have happened since then:
Concrepal and other prefab companies have built a lot more homes; and prices for concrete block that is the “norm” in Costa Rica have gone way up as well as other building materials.I am not saying those who say prefab is nearly as expensive as regular concrete block are wrong, but I would like to see evidence of such. Seems to me that if a lot of Ticos are now building with Concrepal it MUST be quite a bit cheaper.
Several weeks ago my hubby and I drove to Cartago to check out prefab homes built by Inprefa. For a 96 m2 home, the cost of just the panels is $4500. Delivery to our lot is extra. For them to construct the home is $50,000. If we want a deck, it would cost an additional $20,000. One of their engineers drove us around town to look at 2 finished homes. We only saw the exteriors. We did get to see 2 homes being built. We have decided against a prefab. Our builder says they are cheap. We have learned to take comments such as these with a grain of salt, but I definitely didn’t like the prefabs. Why? I don’t want columns running up the walls inside the house. My hubby and the engineer discussed this, and there are ways to fill in the area between the columns. Still, I would prefer to build using a “regular” method. I will say I found everyone at Inprefa to be very professional. The one woman spent a lot of time configuring our house plans on her computer.
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