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I’m hearing some good news from a few sources about falling building prices.
So far it’s only been talk. We’re gearing up to build soon.
Are there people out there that are already experiencing a drop in prices?
If so is it only specific areas such as certain materials, or are the builders themselves lowering their pricing in a slower market?
Thanks!I mentioned the drop in some materials prices at [ https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/2070.cfm ]
“This was a most fortunate decision because in the last 4-6 months, in Costa Rica the price of steel has dropped by 40-50%, copper is down by about 20%, the price of obra gris (cement, block, sand and rocks) has declined about 10% although the price of quality wood continues to climb.”
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI am currently building a “spec home” in Grecia and have found prices with cement block and cement itself to be down a little while metal re-bar, roofing and other metals have fallen by more than 25%. The cost of labor has stayed pretty constant. I am a builder from Texas and am currently building a main floor 2 bed two full bath with a second floor third bed/office, american quality construction for about 26,000,000 colones total labor and materials. The cost of the architect/engineer with permits was about 1,600,000 colones and cost of INS insurance(required in CR) was about 800,000 colones. Hope this helps.
lantana05 – Would you please contact me at admin@welovecostarica.com as I would also love to learn more about what you are building and how are you building your home in Grecia …
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comYou didn’t mention what the square footage is of this house you are building, but in any case…..WOW that is cheap! How can I build a home in the San Ramon area for these prices?
We too are currently under construction and have seen some reduction in prices. We are building a house and a B&B (totaling about 6,000 sf under roof) 30 minutes south of Dominical. Although prices are beginning to come down, it does not appear to be as dramatic as Scott is seeing in the central valley. Block, cement and copper have come down and wood is going up. We have been planning this for nearly five years and unfortunatly during that span the cost of construction in the south pacific had nearly doubled from $65 to $130 per sf. Since I am an architect, our place is a bit different and therefore a bit on the higher cost end. We got two hard bids from Tico general contractors (one was from San Jose) and another cost plus offer from an american builder. We ended up going with the american builder since we felt the prices would begin to drop versus the hard bids certainly included some potential price escalation to protect the contractors as back in September, the prices really had not responded to the global economic situation. It appears now that we will be saving a substantial amount over the two hard bids. Hopefully prices will come down more in the south pacific to reflect what Scott is seeing. At this point we expect to come in around $100 sf. If anyone is interested in seeing our progress pictures and it is ok with Scott I will post a link to them.
The home in Grecia we are building is 1250 sq feet living space and has a 260 sq foot covered terrazzo/carport for a single vehicle. We are using all good quality 15cm block, plenty of “nice” windows, tile throughout, hot water throughout on demand and a structural roof material with vaulted ceilings. I looked hard for the materials and bought in bulk to get the best discount level. I have found that most of the supply shops offer some to a lot of wiggle room if you do leg work and get out there to pound the pavement. Right now I would budget 41-45 dollars a square foot for construction. We then paid about 800 dollars for our INS insurance and about 3000 dollars for the engineer/ architect/visados and permits. We are having a nice concrete with iron metal work, electric slider gate installed at the 26 meter with top of the property for around 5000 dollars. If you are interested in seeing this property the next time you are in Grecia contact me. I am a builder from Texas.
According to La Nacion, http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2009/febrero/16/economia1870958.html, The National Institute of Statistics and Census, INEC, http://www.inec.go.cr, recently published its analysis for commercial and residential construction. The INEC study indicates that the price of steel rebar fell 5% to 8% and PVC pipe, steel laminate and paint fell 3% over the last three months.
Additionally, the overall cost of housing construction fell 2.5% in the last quarter of 2008. However, this INEC index has limitations, because the 25 building materials used is the analysis were chosen 34 years ago, before more expensive finish products became available here.
Unfortunately, because the building material cost reductions are recent, most new housing on the market does not reflect the lower costs.
The lower cost of local building materials is a direct result of lower international prices of raw materials based on much less demand for housing worldwide. However, the local price reductions are mild compared to the international market and three factors limit the local construction cost reductions.
1. Increasing labor related costs
2. Existing inventories of completed construction
3. Use of more expensive finish building products
Overall housing cost reduction perspective – A 2000 square foot basic home, at $50 per square foot, would cost $100,000.00. A 2.5% reduction in cost reflects a savings of $2,500.Edited on Feb 16, 2009 12:30
Edited on Feb 16, 2009 12:31
Building Material Price Comparison at El Lagar in the central valley.
You can see that basic building material prices rose since 2007 and only slightly reduced in the last three months. The synthetic plastering materials have risen substantially in the last three months.Rebar August 2007 November 2008 February 2009
1/4″ lisa 6mts. C659=$1.27 C1185=$2.15 C918=$1.65
3/8 deformada 6mts. C1818=$3.51 C3024=$5.49 C2500=$4.49Block
40 x 20 x 12 C246=$.51 C454=$.82 C410=$.73
40 x 20 x 20 C466=$.90 C709=$1.28 C668=$1.20Cement
Cement 50kg saco C4165=$8.05 C5508=$10.00 C5509=$9.90ImperPlaster
Grueso C2434=$4.41 C3113=$5.59
Fino C2434=$4.41 C3243=$5.83Intaco Repamax
Grueso C2772=$5.03 C3245=$5.83
Fino C3134=$5.68 C3343=$6.01
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