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Those of you who have already been thru this process and would be willing to pass on contacts I would be greatly appreciative.
Architects, Engineers, contractors, builders….names ,emails, locations, phone number. It’s always best word-of-mouth references and to hear about others experiences.
Our property is located in Guanacaste,at the foot of Volcano Tenorio- they don’t necessarily have to be in that area. Gracias in advance
I just finish my house in Guanacaste and here is my builders name. I looked for a good builder for one year and worked with a costa rican Jose Moya Leon who builds all over the country. He has alot of referances and his men are all costa rican and do a very great job.
On a related topic, I see ballpark construction cost figures quoted in various sources including Scott’s book. But so far have not found where the sources providing ballpark cost per sq meter, define the meters those cost apply. By that I mean, does the definition of sq. meters of construction include garage space, exterior space that has a roof but not four walls as well as an maids space or a terrance area that is landscaped and has a floor and shares one or two walls with the home. Can anyone shed some light on the CR definition of construction area which makes the cost per area clearer. Thanks
thank you for your response. I checked that web site and it comes up something about Malaysia???
When you have a moment can you send me photo’s of your home. Where in Guanacaste did you build? Glad to hear you were please with him and that he does a good job.
thanks again,
RhondaIf this builder, Jose Moya Leon is from Turrialba, I would not recommend him. His work may be good but in my opinion his ethics are not.
In Guanacaste, there are many good builders and we saw a few from Tilaran and Arenal with excellent pricing and finishing work.
Where are located?
Note: These comment were edited by the Moderator in keeping with the Discussion Forum guidelines….
Costaricafinca- thank you for the feedback.
Our property is near Tilaran. If you have any contacts I would appreiate it. thank you in AdvanceHi Rich, how are you doing ?
If you haven´t find any builder there in Tilaran, maybe you should consider hiring a building company that works all around the country.
One honest company would offer you the service and charge you a reasonable price even the workers come from different locations. For example, some very skilled workers are for Turrialba, Cartago, but the accept to work in other provinces without charging special extra amounts and an organized company can find them for your project.
Good luck about it.
Edited on Aug 02, 2009 07:22
Hello John, regarding your consultation, I would like to put a comment about square meter footage than may be useful.
In my opinion, some people in our country are using the concept in an incomplete or an inappropriate way that gets the projects´ owners confused.
First, you have the total area of a project. It means, the whole real footage of the building, but it could be a mistake to use a cost per square meter or square foot based on that area, because, as some friends have said previously, some parts of the building don’t have the same level of finishes and/or components.
So, it would be more appropriate to talk about an equivalent area or footage. It means to convert each room area into an equivalent one according to its components and finishes. For instance, a very common room, such a living room, would be a 100% equivalent area, but a terrace should be converted using a 50% factor, an external corridor, without a wall along one side, should be converted with a 75% factor, a garage with no fine finishes may apply a 75% factor, and a bathroom area should be converted using 150% or 200% (because the walls are very closed and you usually have fine tiles and bathroom furniture in a very narrow space).
For example, I designed a house for client which total real area was 380 M2 or sm (square meters), but the equivalent area, applying the mentioned converting factors, was 320 M2. So, the real cost per each square meter should be obtained by dividing the total cost by the equivalent area.
Some builders are using just the real area of the work but the cost per sm or sf is wrong, because, on one hand, they could be charging more money than necessary or, in the other, generating a very optimistic, but unreal, expectation for the client. Then, in the first situation, they would be earning more than is fair, and in the second scenario, the customer would find than he/she would need an average of 25% or 30% more than the initial estimation, and at that point the project’s owner should decide to fire the builder and hiring a new one to finish the work (what could be more expensive) or giving the extra money to the current builder to get done the house. In both cases, the customer is expending more than expected and in certain cases it could be not only unfair but problematic, too.
So, if you are studying a project for yourself, I recommend using the average cost per sm, but converting first the wanted areas for the house into an equivalent, just for discussing possibilities about your budget, especially with the professional in charge of the design of the project, in order to decide how big the size of the project should be so you can afford it. Then, before choosing a builder, based on the completed blueprints, your professional should prepare an accurate estimate for the project that guides you to hire the builder in charge. That way, you would be able to know you are can to finish the project under the conditions you are expectating and you can control.
I hope this explanation clears the topic a little more.
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