Overseas construction blog part 4: A few bumps on the dusty road
This is the fourth of a series of posts in which David Steckler shares his experiences of building a vacation home at Hacienda Iguana resort on Nicaragua’s Pacific coast. (Here are the previous posts #1, #2 and #3) The goal of this candid construction blog is to reduce the anxiety levels of people who have bought real estate in Nicaragua or elsewhere in the region and plan to build, but are afraid of making mistakes along the way.
A few bumps on the dusty road
This month our builders from Horizon Group made great progress on our home at Hacienda Iguana……., but there were a few surprise bumps in the road. We discovered that to bring electricity into our future home we would need to purchase a transformer from Union Fenosa, see No. 5, but why don’t we let Jeff and Tony tell you in their weekly construction report to me, which is accompanied by photos.
Hola David,
Lots of progress again this past week.
All of the fill material was compacted into the foundation of the main house and casita. The fill was brought in one wheel barrow load at a time, spread 6″ deep at a time, watered downed and hand compacted with one-gallon sized paint cans, filled with concrete and a carved tree limb as the handle. (See the photo on the right)
- The crew continued on the rough stucco coat of the interior and exterior walls. This is a very tedious task, but we are making headway.
- The rebar is being tied and set on top of all the walls. Once José from JSRA comes out this week and we confirm all of the structural aspects of the roof, we’ll be able to finish this and move forward with framing the tops of the walls for the concrete pour to set everything in place.
- The casita progress is now in line with the house and we are marking out the terraza right now. Since we had to move the casita back a couple of meters from where we originally planned, more rebar, concrete, bricks and fill are required to bring everything up to the correct level. Hopefully we’ll be able to make it work financially. We’re keeping close tabs on the costs, but won’t know for sure until we finish.
- We received the bid for the transformer installation and electrical connection. It comes to $6,500. Here is the breakdown:
- Materials – $3,300 – 15kW transformer, mounting brackets, 1/0 cable, meter
- Labor – $1,300 – Installation of transformer and underground house connection
- Union Fenosa – $1,900 – This is the electric company’s fees (ridiculous!)
Tony thinks a 15kW transform can power up to 4 houses about the size of yours, but I’m going to confirm this with the electrician and I’ll get back to you. I know this is a bummer, but unless you have worked something out with Iguana, I’m not sure we have much of a choice.
Sorry to end on a sore subject, but I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and the Super Bowl.
Jeff, Horizon Group
The other event that happened, which I’ll call our silver lining to the $6,000 dollar surprise transformer investment, was our Builder’s stepping forward with a concern that was structural in nature they felt needed to be addressed. Near our main entrance way, see construction plan above, we have a floor-to-ceiling glass mitered corner, which is positioned underneath a flat cement slab roof. We asked our Architect to confer with his structural engineer and Jose got back to us with these comments.
Hi Guys,
The structural engineer had calculated the live loads for the entry slab at 220 lbs/m2, so the slab strength is not an issue. But, he did agree that the cantilever would require at least 1” expansion joint between the glass windows to avoid breaking. I think we should introduce a 3” round metal column at the glass corner (interior side) leaving 4” clear on either side to make it easy to clean the glass. This solution should reinforce the slab while keeping the design concept of the open corner.
Best,
Jose, JSRA
And as always here are some construction pictures from our builder to complement the progress report for this month:
Photo above: Casita coming along nicely
Photo above: Casita veranda
Photo above: Progress on the main house
Category : Blog &Overseas construction in Nicaragua
Marcus
Feb 23, 2011
Did you purchase a lot supplied with electricity? In a development is this not the responsibility of the developer?
David Steckler
Feb 24, 2011
I was also under the illusion that being in a
“Development” I would just need to tap into the power line for our electricity. The resort had the electrical line in place, but the developers assumed that the transformer cost would be the lot owners responsibility. The good news is that when my future neighbors build on their lots they’ll need to buy into my transformer, which will be able to power 4 other homes in the vicinity.
Dan Statlander
Mar 19, 2011
Interesting.
Dan Statlander
(Real estate experts in Boca Raton Florida)
EPDM Coatings
Mar 29, 2011
The design of that house is great, the electricity transformer budget of $6000 is a little high though.