Where to start… This is the 3rd world and very likely a different culture than what you are used to. Things move slower here. Sometimes it feels like watching grass grow. Using your curiosity and remembering this is a new way of living will help you to adjust. Exercising patience with yourself and to others will facilitate good relations and interesting results. Ok. This is starting to sound all “new agey”. Just don’t “bite the dog” – nobody benefits. 

Moving on to Contractors. After interviewing several contractors and talking to expats we hired one. We went with our gut’s intuition. We got lucky and he turned out to be the best and still is after 15 years. Ask your neighbors how happy they were with their contractors. Don’t just take one person’s opinion or experience over others. Keep in mind one person’s experience in a restaurant can be totally different from another’s experience. Same applies here. Interview the contractors – maybe take them to lunch to see if interaction with them meshes with your preferences and expectations.

Construction of your home or buildings on the South Shore:

Basics:

Homes on piers, a must and can be enclosed. Seperate buildings like a garage can have a cement pad raised above the surrounding yard by landfill or block wall foundation and may still suffer some flooding in extreme weather. 

Professions:

There is no certified training in engineering, construction, cement work, plumbing or electricians like in the States. There are no inspectors to verify the meeting of safety codes. No formal or informal training in reading blueprints. And OMG – do not agree to build your home using only a graph-paper drawing! They can build from a graph-paper drawing but SO much will not meet your expectations. If you don’t want to pay the expense for an architectural design on blueprints, an alternative is taking a graph-paper drawing and converting it to an Excel sheet drawing quite similar to blueprints. Space & floor plans indicating actual room sizes and elevations included. Door and window schedules, electrical plan and written information is included. I’ve done this with 3 houses (and I’m told) the owners, contractors and subcontractors are pleased with my work. If you own property on Utila and are serious about building here please contact me, include your email address and I can send a sample. You may be able to do it yourself. 

Contracts:

I strongly suggest you write and sign a contract – have the contractor sign it – insist on it. Perceive and explain to your contractor that this is the same verbal agreement repeated in writing.The written contract will help settle any future mutual confusion of what was verbally agreed to in the beginning or you may find a lack of information or have revisions that will require a new negotiation between you and the contractor. Ask if he needs it translated to Spanish – not everyone can read or write English. Contract agreement to include total price, progress payments and how/where to send payments. Once a week progress reports with pictures. Maximum cistern sizes and locations, size/type and location of sewer. Details of who supplies what and/or budgets for lighting, ceiling fans, air-conditioners, pumps, sinks, faucets, appliances, etc. Types of doors, windows, cabinetry and countertops. Specify insulation and Ty-Vek of exterior walls. Color and type of roofing materials. Finishes of floors, walls, ceilings and exterior. A screened porch or not. A bodega (garage), the size and whether it’s a separate building or under the house. Style and materials of stair or porch railings. Expected sidewalks, stair landings, driveways, fencing or outside facilities. All the details! It helps cut down on the surprise expenses.

Final advice: 

Don’t call or email your contractor every single day. It will be met with resistance and eventually you will not get a satisfactory rapport when it’s really necessary to converse. A once a week report, with pictures should keep you well informed. If there are questions or you see a problem, email, text or Whats app to schedule a convo with him. You are in business together – not a parent/child relationship.