Construction Prices

[Pingu]

Which would be more expensive. Wood Flooring or Marble Flooring?

[Palma]

Hello everybody! Rick Snyder- you are the best!
But what are the first steps I should take?
Do I need any approval in DR? Or permission to build?
Is American blue print good for DR?

[Rick Snyder]

Pingu
In reality nobody in the DR uses wood because of the climate and because of the price of wood compared to concrete. As I had mentioned earlier the floors are usually poured after the walls are constructed and the Dominicans try to level said floor using a homemade wooden float (trowel ) and their calibrated eye balls. As most Dominicans can not afford to purchase ceramic tiles or marble they use a technique of applying colored cement on top of the pour and floating this into the pour to give a marbled effect.

If you had the money to invest then I would suggest three possibilities.

Depending on where you are building and its susceptibility to water.

1.Having your floor level at least 2 or 3 feet above ground level and laying treated wooden beams to apply a wooden floor.

2. Pouring a concrete floor and applying ceramic tiles.

3. If you have a 2 story building then you can, if you wish, have your second floor wooden as the wood at the second floor level has less likelihood of getting wet. If choosing this option you still must treat the wood against insects as that is a big problem here.

If you should choose to have a wooden floor at ground level I would suggest doing only a portion of the floor this way and the rest concrete. I would think that having an impressive livingroom and or dinningroom with a wooden floor would look nice.

Galina,
First step is to have land to build on!!!!! All kidding aside, The majority of construction of houses here do not have a building permit or any other type of paperwork. I am not really sure of the law here concerning construction so there is the possibility that there is a permit required to build but if there is I have never seen it done. If a permit is required and you build without it can they bring misery into your life? Probably but my house and land is in my wifes name so if they should decide to move against me it will be poor Domanican vs Domanican government and it can be pointed out that none of the people in the barrio had a permit, tear us all down or charge us all.

If you should build you can use any blueprint you wish but take into account that the use of wood is not a good idea because of the price, climate and insects. The availability of material and hardware here. The DR is not famous for the ability to purchase such things as tar paper, shingles, sheetrock (drywall), metal joist fasteners and things of that nature. All those things that you take for granted in the USA and you can buy from any local Home Depot. The majority of the people don't use those items here and wouldn't know what to do with it if you handed it to them. 95% of all cement workers here use a metal float or wooden handmade float to work with cement. If they were to see a metal/rubber or metal/plastic float they would think they had died and gone to heaven. Same is true with things like a screed vibrator. Those things that we take for granted for in the USA and can buy or rent in any town.

Hope this helps the two of you.

Rick

[Pingu]

Rick,

I was thinking of having just the bedrooms (4) in wood as well as the dressing rooms. They'll be on the second floor regardless. Thanks for the input

BTW Are there significantly more home building options in Santo Domingo (i.e. Tiles, Wood Finishes, Appliances, Window Treatments) than in Santiago?

[Rick Snyder]

Pingu,
As my travels out of my bubble have never taken me north of Santo Domingo it will require the response of other board members to answer the question you post.

As to your 2nd floor. If you, with a skill saw and carbon blade, cut a notch into those required block on the final course of the first floor and insert 2 x 10 beams and with the center wall of the house made of block you will have all the support you need. Built in this fashion you could even have wooden walls built in the interior of the 2nd floor to allow the building of closets and such.

I have no idea what the price of sheetrock is or where you can buy it. What most Dominicans use in its place is 4 x 8 sheets of particle board (yuck).

Rick

[rallimike]

Sounds like I should get a Home Depot franchise, and come on down.

[Palma]

Happy New Year everybody!!! Best wishes to all of you!

Rick, how water pipes installed in concete house?
In USA they are hidden inside drywalls. How about DR concrete blocks walls?
Thanks

[Rick Snyder]

In the DR they usually knock or drill a hole in said block where they wish the pipe to enter. The idiot that constructed my bathroom did in fact run the tubeing inside the block for my shower but ran it in such a way that his efforts are nonfunctional and he failed to run any tubeing for the sink and toilet he installed. This was an "expert" construction individual. The "expert" electrician that my wife hired ran ALL my wires using the roll of red #12 wire and took the roll of white home with him. Had I been in country at the time almost everything would have been done differently but that's in the past.

As you wish to have a water tank on your roof and as it is best to have a concrete roof then with careful planning you could accommodate the plumbing to insure an invisable installation. Before pouring the vige de amarre I would lay my tubeing along this route and down through the blocks to their final destination. The use of an elbow and up pipe would insure that the tube in fact extends above the roof. All you need is for this pipe to be in close proximity to where you will have your water tank. The drains must be calculated in and these pipes, if you wish them to be unseen, should be laid prior to pouring the footings and elbowed up in the middle of the footings and through the blocks or through the floor close to the wall.

Rick

[Danny W]

Rick is obviously very experienced in building her and Pingu and Galina obviously are not. Remember the expression "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". Rick, without the close supervision of a trustworthy person of your experience, these people would be headed for disaster if they tried to cut corners or supervise their own construction. That is why my advice would be to pay for the services of the best people. It may cost more up front, but in the end they will be better off. - D

[Toronto2inDR]

There is a big problem in the country when it comes to construction. Everyone wants the lowest price but expect “American” or “European” standards of finish. While you could build a, for example, 150sq.m. home for less then US$25,000, most people will not be happy with a tin roof and mud brick floors and pine doors/windows etc.

The prices quoted here are wide ranging because you could build with no guarantee, no conscience and no clue, using beach sand and bad re bar, and cheap block etc, but some people actually want a house that will not leak or fall apart within the first year or 25 years for that matter.

It is a very tricky business where an engineer will tell you, with a straight face that it’s better to build something wrong and fix it later then build it correctly in the first place. Why is that…you use cheap labor to do it wrong and then IF the client notices it and wants it fixed, then you bring back the cheap labor to correct the problem. It ends up costing less that way then to hire a more costly crew to do the job right the first time.

Another major cost that most builders won’t even consider is waterproofing. This is a very important issue and I know very well what happens when you go cheap because I’ve just fished up a job repairing water damage in a relatively new home and visited another that’s less then a year old with the same problem.

In both cases the builders went with a cheaper roof tile (locally made), that in themselves could be perfectly acceptable if installed correctly but these particular kinds of roof tiles require a very good waterproofing job because they are pours. Secondly, all concrete surfaces MUST be sealed with a special concrete sealer paint (I use 2 coats). Both of these steps mean that you protect the concrete and more importantly the re bar of the structure. Add approx. US$25.00 per sq.m for waterproofing roof and concrete.

Then, if you want walls, doors and windows that are square and level then you have to make sure your crew knows how to use tools to check for this. These guys cost double what a monkey block installer would cost but you’ll have a much easier time installing the doors, windows and less cuts in your floor tiles…saving time, material and money later.

Either way, you need a tile installer that can understand what a straight line is and can also use a level. This costs a bit more but there are few things worse and more noticeable then a bad tile job.

You could also go with cheap materials but you may pay the price later. If you go for ceramic tiles under RD$500.00 per sq.m then you get what you paid for. If you go with something over RD$1,500.00 per sq.m then you paid too much. And you can’t just go to 8A, find a tile you kinda like ask the price and then tell them you want something that looks the same but cost half…You’ll be sorry later.

Also, you should have your tile in mind during the design process because you can minimize the number of cuts you have to make if you consider the measurements into your layout. Saving time, materials and money.

Back to roof tiles, if you go with a fired, Spanish style tile you may want to get your ass on a bus to a factory in S.D. where they produce them…no imported ones (cost and supply and quality issues)…but you’ll have to be there while they load them on to the truck and then follow the truck back to your worksite…to make sure you get the color you want, don’t get robbed, and that they don’t brake half of them or ship you tiles with hairline cracks from the factory. For the average build this would mean 2 even 3 trips spending the whole day out in the sun selecting and watching the tile get loaded. It’s not much fun. Add 25% or US$5.00 per sq.m to the cost of the roof tiles to go with a better product and end result…not including the cost of your time.

Many builders will lowball the cost to get you to sign contracts. Only after you’re financially committed will the bad news spring up…that costs have gone up and adjustments must be made to the budget and you have to pay more or the work stops. Your options then are to pay what they want or get a lawyer and fight it out, but this usually means that you’ll have to get another builder to finish up and either way it’s going to end up costing you much more then that US$400-500 per sq.m that you heard about once, way back when…

These are just a few of the many things you should keep in mind but basically, the lower end of the scale means you’ll be repairing water damage in a year, pulling up floor tiles to fix bad plumbing and replacing cheap wiring etc. Every inch of a build must be well planned and supervised. You have to execute quickly and have a good crew and try not to go with the cheapest materials you can find. If not then you have to just live with the results.