To Build in Costa Rica

How we would love our casita to look. 

Well, there hasn’t been too much to report with regards the progress of our construction. What was supposed to be a March 2014 start has become perhaps, if we are lucky, a late July or August start. However our builder assures us we will be able to move into our casita in November, which is lucky, because our vacation rental apartments are filling up for the festive season!

Our plans have changed- we made the decision to build simply our casita to begin with. Not having a feel for what the MgO SIP construction is like to live in, nor having any finished product of the builder to evaluate, we thought it prudent to start simple.

Our original architect decided to resign from our process once the plans were done, for various reasons. Oscar Villavicencio is the technical director moving forward, and has purportedly had experience working with SIP construction. He has been very professional to date, making some excellent suggestions on design flaws, and we look forward to working with him.

Since I last blogged about our journey, we have had the opportunity to see in person, the first home being built by Trevor. Located in Uvita, far south of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, I was impressed by the cleanliness of the job site, the ease with which any changes could be made, the simplicity and efficiency of the PEX plumbing system and also, Trevor’s roof-over-the-construction for protection from the rain and searing heat before the real roof gets put on.

Disappointing to us however, and to Trevor also, is the fact that MgO Board Corp will not supply smaller quantities of Gecko roofing. One must order an entire container (purportedly $25K worth) of ONE color to be able to get an order of this Gecko roofing. I have discussed this at length with Trevor, and though he did find a source for a smaller supply, it arrived and did not meet quality control standards, with the enamel baking process sub-par and resulting in bubbles to the surface.

We are currently investigating alternative solutions such as recycled plastic roofing, but I must say it is a huge disappointment, and one that I hope can be overcome somehow. I don’t know if now we are going to need special insulation, the price is going to be in any case, and the product not as energy efficient as the Mgo roofing was touted to be.

I was not able to see an example of the acacia glu-lam beams because there was a supply problem with these, primarily due to the distance between the source up north, and the current job site, which we are hoping will be resolved for our casita.

Happy to have visited the job-site, and also happy to hear that Trevor and team have learned a lot during this first project. From how to transport the SIP panels (closely supervise the truck being loaded, so as to avoid damage to the panels from cinching down the straps too tight for example), to creating job-specific tools that make for better efficiency.

Just a couple weeks ago, our home SIP panels were paid for to Trevor. The panels and flooring for our casita came to roughly $12K, but when it lands on Costa Rican shores, there will be duty/ customs fees and taxes as well as shipping on top of that.

Our plans will go to the municipality in the next week or so, once the CFIA (Costa Rican architects college) approves them.

You can see the progress made to date on the home in Uvita by visiting http://casasenescazu.com/updates/