By Ivo Henfling

I read this unbelievably interesting post on a forum from a US licensed builder in Costa Rica, trying to advertise his business of building container homes. I wanted to share this with you as it shows the totally wrong attitude, to my opinion, of someone who lives in Costa Rica and is advertising himself by saying the locals suck at doing construction.

This week, our preferred Costa Rica home inspector Tom Rosenberger, sent me a shocking post on the CostaRicaCentralValleyLiving Forum. This post gave me the idea of writing this blog because it might be educational for those who might have some construction plans in the near future or want to start a business in Costa Rica.

The post I am talking about is a 2nd post of a man who calls himself  “Duke” wrote and it goes as follows:

Re: Container house project in Grecia

A side note about the container/bamboo building project by the river in Grecia---We (all the workers except the laborers) are all gringos with construction LICENSES from USA. We are proud of our work and our licenses reflect the dedication and knowledge we have. Would you like an unlicensed, uneducated, local Electrician building YOUR dream house? One who has NO idea of USA standards? Or for the same or CHEAPER price- get a LICENSED USA Electrician, carpenter, plumber, roofer from a 1st world country--working on YOUR dream house? If you hire a 3rd world contractor - By the time you realize that many mistakes and substandard work has been done - you will not only be money behind and have paid more - but you will be in the position of trying to hire someone to fix the bad work. Then you will be on the worst merry – go - round of your life.

Perhaps I go on a bit too much about the inferior local workmanship - but it's just that almost every day I am fixing and re-doing the bad and dangerous work done by the local so-called tradesmen. It can be heartbreaking. Save yourself the nightmare- Hire AMERICAN!!! And you will be satisfied and also be pleasantly surprised with our low prices. We will work by the week- so if you are not happy with our work, you can stop in time to look for and hire one of the "fine" locals. After all- if you have been here for even a short time- you know what I am talking about.

Duke Ster costaricariver@... (register at the forum to be able to see the comment)

Well, since I am very opinionated, I’d like to comment on this by a couple of bullet points, for easy reading:

1.    Duke should be told we are in Costa Rica, not in the US.

2.    In Costa Rica, we build homes by Costarican standards, not by US standards. Does Duke know the Costarican building codes? Costa Rica real estate is different than what Duke is used to.

3.    If we would be building by US standards, Costa Rica probably would be State # 51 or at least a District of the USA.

4.    Unlicensed? I am an unlicensed realtor, and I consider myself a very good realtor.

5.    Costa Rica doesn’t have licensing in construction, only IMAS diplomas, but for sure Duke doesn’t know what IMAS is.

6.    Since when is only a US licensed building good to build in Costa Rica? I’m Dutch, but I wouldn’t want a Dutch builder to build my house in Costa Rica.  

7.    It is possible Duke doesn’t even has a working permit/residency, because to get one, you cannot take away the job of a Tico, which is what Duke tries to do. Unless he is married to a Tica and she might be looking for a new husband soon.

8.    Low prices? Is he paying CCSS, INS and 13th month to his crew?

9.    I can’t find a website for Duke, nor can I find him in the Costarican construction company directory. I hope he can at least show a long list of local clients who can show you the great jobs he has been able to perform in Costa Rica.

10.    Does Duke speak Spanish so he can communicate with his local crew?

If you are planning to build a container home in Grecia and you call Duke for a quote, do yourself a favor and ask him all the questions above.

Written by Ivo Henfling, a Costa Rica realtor, who has been in Costa Rica for over 30 years. Ivo enjoys keeping you informed about all the good and all the bad Costa Rica has to offer you. If you plan to retire to Costa Rica or buy a home in the Costa Rica Central Valley, contact him now.

Duke is apparently building container homes in Costa Rica but as you can see in the above testimonial, Brooke Bishop, as our Grecia Specialist, can offer you beautiful homes in Grecia as well as building lots in Grecia with spectacular avlley and mountain views.