Building Our New Vacation Home in the Mountains – Part VII – US$77,376.47 invested so far but the size has increased by about 25% and so will the cost…

With all the little modifications made so far, our vacation home has grown in size by about 25% and, so we are anticipating that the final price will increase by about the same.

• The main home which has two bedrooms, one bathroom with a 25M2 (270 square foot) office upstairs now measures 167M2 or 1,797 square feet.
• The bodega (storage room), pila (outside washing area with washing machine and dryer) and the cochera (garage area) measures 43M2 or 462.68
• We had started off with a new home design of about 145M2 and now we have a total construction size of 210M2 which is 2,260 square feet.

We still have some big ticket items to pay for like the roof, ceramic wall tiles and floor tiles, doors and door handles, windows, the toilet, lights, kitchen sink and cabinets, bathroom cabinet, the largest part of the labor, oven, washer, dryer and refrigerator, plus the balance of the architect’s fees must be paid.

Build Your Own Log Styled Home – My costs in USD so far:

As of the 22nd February 2009 the total cost so far in building this vacation or retirement home in the country has been US$77,376.47 which includes the cost of the 5,000 square meters of land which – as part of our purchase negotiations – was made ready to build on.

• Building Our New Vacation Home in the Mountains – Part VI – US$66,791.47 invested so far.
• Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains – Part V – US$64,346.47 invested so far.
• Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains – Part IV – US$63,373.47 invested so far.
• Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains – Part III – Progress summary US$61,386.47 invested so far.
• Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains – Part II – A simple summary of progress so far…
• Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains – 1,775 square feet for under $100K
• You can see the home we built (and sold) previously at: Mountain Home For Sale By Owner – Fully furnished with one acre of land. Three online videos.

God Fearing Honest Construction Crew:

On a regular basis I electronically transfer money to the hardware store so the foreman can pick up what he needs and we cross-check what was bought with the receipts we get from both the foreman and more comprehensive receipts we get from the hardware store.

Last week our foreman Juan Carlos, who sprinkles his conversation with “Thanks to God,” and “if God is willing” and “with the help of the Virgin Mary,” gave me his copy of the receipts and paid me 1,350 colones (about US$2.40) which he said was for a small screwdriver that he had bought for himself and not for the construction of our home.

This is a very big reason we are working with the same crew because they are – I believe – honest down to the last penny.

[thrive_leads id=’261603′]

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.