Building Your Own Retirement Home in Costa Rica

Juan Carlos has finished up putting the river rocks on the living room wall and since more rocks were delivered to the site very early on Friday morning, they can finish up the chimney and then start on the master bedroom wall...

We're trying to put all cables and water etc underground...

The construction crew have made good progress on sanding down many of the floors inside the house and the garage area is looking good... This week they should also finish putting up the remainder of the ceiling lamps.

On Thursday we spoke at length about how to install the sink into the bathroom cabinet, the ceramic tiles that will be used and, with the help of different photographs from various magazines, we are hoping that they will do exactly what we want.

Even with the help of my lady, who's first language is Spanish, we are never 100% sure that these very simple, country folk understand.

Depending on the construction crew you are using, you sometimes have to be quite forceful in asking questions. For example a few years ago when I built a similar styled home, we asked the man in charge of the previous construction (whom I would never recommend to anyone), if he could install a bath (una tina)...

What should have been asked was: Have you ever installed a bath before?

Why?

Because like most attorneys in Costa Rica who claim to know about every facet of the law when they do not, most builders will tell you they can do something when they may have not in fact ever done it before and our crew had never been in a home with a bath before and, had certainly never installed one...

But at the time, I listened to their assurances that they knew how to do it and after doing some homework myself, they sounded like they could do it.

However, one evening when I did run a much anticipated bath, I sat luxuriating in it for at least three minutes before realizing that a long crack had silently opened up underneath my legs (and I'm not that heavy) and the water was just running out.

Another lesson learned...

Left hand side for firewood storage, the right side for washer & dryer.

In this home, we will not have a bath, we will have a nice large shower and this weekend we have to try and find some old fashioned, rustic styled taps (faucets) for the bathroom and we must check out various water heaters.

One of the main goals in building this home is to have a refuge away from the modern world and if there are indeed serious global problems in the future which I fully anticipate, from a survival standpoint I would prefer to have my primary energy source on site rather than rely on electricity that could be cut off by some bureaucrat miles away from whatever reason.

It's also a lot more complicated and infinitely more expensive to have solar systems and batteries to store electricity.

As we did in our last home in this area, we will therefore be using a tankless or 'on demand' water heating system which was always incredibly reliable and efficient and we shall also be using gas for cooking.

If we keep three large propane tanks hidden safely in the same storage area as the washing machine and dryer in the garage building, that should be sufficient for at least two years.

Would you like a vacation home like this in a rural area 90 minutes from San Jose, Costa Rica? No - It's not my style thanks. Yes but I will build it myself. Yes but I want someone else to build it for me.

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Build Your Own Log Styled Retirement Home - My costs in USD so far:

Construction began during the first week of January 2009 and as of the 15th May 2009 the total cost so far in building this vacation or retirement home in the country has been US$70,182.16 plus the cost of the 5,000 square meters of land.

You can see the home we built (and sold) previously in the same geographical area at: Mountain Home For Sale By Owner - Fully furnished with one acre of land. Three online videos.

You can see previous articles about building our own vacation home below starting from the oldest to the most recent:

1. Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains - Part I - 1,775 square feet for under $100K
2. Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains - Part II - A simple summary of progress so far...
3. Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains - Part III - Progress summary US$61,386.47 invested so far.
4. Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains - Part IV - US$63,373.47 invested so far.
5. Building A New Log Styled Vacation Home in the Mountains - Part V - US$64,346.47 invested so far.
6. Building Our New Vacation Home in the Mountains - Part VI - US$66,791.47 invested so far.
7. Building Our New Vacation Home in the Mountains - Part VII - US$77,376.47 invested so far but the size has increased by about 25% and so will the cost...
8. Building Our New Vacation Home in the Mountains. Part VIII. The roof goes on next week
9. Building Our New Vacation Home in the Mountains. Part IX the roof goes on.
10. Building Our New Vacation Home in the Mountains of Costa Rica. Part X - Ten weeks and the roof is on...
11. Building Our New Costa Rica Mountain Home. Part XI - US$52,874.15 invested in the home so far plus the land.
12. Building Our New Costa Rica Mountain Home. Part XII - US$56,103.94 invested so far in the construction.
13. Building Your Own Home in the Mountains of Costa Rica - Part XIII - Inches and fleas...
14. Building Your Own Retirement Home in Costa Rica - Part IV. 14 weeks and US$58,696.34 invested so far.
15. Building Your Own Retirement Home Part XV. 15 weeks and $60,563.88 invested in construction so far.
16. Building Your Own Retirement Home Part XVI. 16 weeks and $63,945.35 invested in construction so far.
17. Building Your Own Retirement Home Part XVII. 17 weeks and US$64,385.45 invested in construction so far.
18. Building Your Own Retirement Home Part XVIII. 18 weeks and US$69,111.35 invested in construction so far.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore.