Think I’ll build a House II

[Cap'n Jib]

I hope the Cap'n's house has more re-bar than my wife's and my condo in Multi-Centro.” - Lostagain

Not to worry, they have a new technique here where they substitute Styrofoam in lieu of Re-bar. Wow! I am sure glad they started with my home first!


Yea BUT…..

One of the couples I have been ‘working’ with decided to have a “Come to Jesus” meeting with the developer/builder. Her husband decided to let her ‘straighten’ things out. She had two attorneys, an assistant architect, an engineer and construction inspector at the meeting. It was over a three hour meeting and of her 39 points she demanded, she got 9 accepted by the developer/builder.

The most interesting one was she was upset because they did not do the water pressure test as is typical in the U.S. (72 hours). In order to “PROVE” her point she had a Master Plumber available by phone from the U.S. to give his expert opinion.

When she started to make the call to the U.S., the Panamian builder said, “That won’t be necessary…this is Panama. We do things OUR way here.” She was irate that they didn’t care about her “higher authority”. Sheeeeeees, no wonder the Third World stays that way!


There is a material shortage!!!!!

Some of the builders have a “connection” with relatives to supply materials and the like. Many have even set up relatives (with no experience) in businesses to provide these services.

In two developments that I know of, the shortages experienced were BECAUSE the relatives could not get the materials or product. The materials or products WERE available for anyone to purchase from OTHER SOURCES. The builders would prefer to stop construction on the houses until the relatives are able to provide what is needed. This can add anywhere from two to three months to the time frame for construction of a new house.

[HonkyTonk]

Jib, I believe you could write a short book, maybe a long one, about building a house in LAm and the culture shock of adjusting to life SOTB. Could be a GT Best Seller

[Lostagain]

Cap'n have you considered an elevator for your home? We can get you a good deal from our office in Cidudad Panamá. I can email the manager and let him know you're interested.

Disclaimer: This is but one more effort at Swiss corporate domination of the world. Like the Nestlé company, we are bent on world domination and we have some pretty good elevators too.

[Cap'n Jib]

“Cap'n have you considered an elevator for your home?” – Lostagain

Thank you but no. The house is one level with handicapped accessible ramp. First one in the development and now two others are going to add one.

Maybe you should “sell” the elevator WITH your sister-in-laws phone number….just a marketing idea.

[Lostagain]

Then, obviously, you need a 2 stop hydraulic lift to get you up to the roof. You could have a deck up there for parties, sunbathing, and more.

Maybe, if you have a single friend, we could make arrangements for the purchase of the tel. # to give to him, and I'll throw in the elevator for free.

[Cap'n Jib]

Ah yes….THE house!

Some have P.M.’d me concerning the status of the house we are building. I can state that it is still a work in progress. As to the competition date….I expect……whenever!

I mentioned somewhere that a contract is subject to renegotiation continually. Our builder was in the standard progress position of falling even further behind and in order to speed up the Occupancy Certificate, I suggested forgoing some of the outside flower planters which could then be built AFTER occupancy. Mistake...BIG mistake!

After six weeks and little progress had been accomplished on the interior, I told them to build the stone flower planters. They responded with “We will do so IF you sign an extension agreement”. I said I could not make that decision and all that ‘negotiation stuff’ needed to go through my attorney.

The attorney asked how I wanted to handle the matter and I said tell them I would sign an extension agreement IF they agreed to a 15% discount on the total cost of the house. The attorney said I would not hear back from them and he was correct. They did finish the stone flower planters. Skip the kindness and show 'um NO mercy!

Actually all in all it is well built and I am of the belief that we will be happy living there….if we ever get to do so.

Big Dog

Was introduced by a mutual (and now ex-friend), to a couple who were having troubles with THEIR builder. The couple told me that they had heard that I was the best. I said that what they most likely heard was that I did not charge for my services. They readily agreed!

Naturally they started in on telling me all their woes and after a couple of minutes I stopped them and asked a few questions.

• Did they need to have the house build THEIR way or did they just want to have the dang thing finished? They still want to have it done their way. They are obviously not ready yet!
• What was the name of their construction attorney? Didn’t have one. We don’t want to spend the additional money.
• Who is your construction supervisor? They were doing it themselves….didn’t want to spend more money.
• Did they speak enough Spanish to communicate and could they read the blueprints in Spanish? No! No!

After a number of further questions, I was asked if I could help them. No!

This isn’t Kansas, Dorothy!


A Great Idea Whose Time…….

A Gringo ex-pat had set up a small cash business overseeing construction down here. Nothing big mind you, just a bit of spending money.

Was called in on a house under construction and commenced to get things back on track. He was there everyday for almost two months and was getting extremely frustrated because the ‘foreman’ just couldn’t seem to remember any of the instructions. Our Gringo hit upon the idea that he would go through all the needed corrections one last time. However, he would require the foreman follow along and write every thing down.

After 20 minutes our Gringo ‘expert’ noticed the foreman hadn’t written anything down. “Why not?” asked our Gringo “Can’t read or write” responded the foreman.

God I LOVE living here!


There’s no telling where the money went….

Another development a fair piece from here had an interesting situation. His workers did not show up a day after they were ‘supposed’ to be paid. I tell you, the people are so naive in Latin America that they expect to be paid for the work they have done and also be paid on time. If they are not careful and keep going this way, before you know it, their countries will be of the 1st World order.

Naturally the ‘developer’ had taken the deposits for various homes to be constructed or under construction and built himself a 5,000 sq. ft. home. A ‘bit’ large by Panamian standards.

When asked about the situation, he explained that he did not qualify for a loan and where else could he get the money? A good question if ever I heard one.


It only happens to Gringos?

The other day I had coffee with a Panamian attorney who practices in a small town about an hour from here. We had met about 5 months ago and I promised that if ever I was in his town to stop by.

He had built a nice home over two years ago and we were sharing war stories. A guy knocked on his door on a Sunday and said that he was now able to finish the kitchen in the house, but first needed to get paid.

The attorney did not remember the guy but his wife certainly did. It seems the kitchen was short two specially handcrafted doors. The kitchen man had told them that he would get the doors for them but first he needed to be paid in full to have them shipped. That was over a year ago.

The kitchen guy comes back and tries the same ploy on an unsuspecting Panamian Attorney.

Latin America….an equal opportunity for abuse no matter what your nationality. God I LOVE living here!

[Cap'n Jib]

This has been rewritten due to the fact there appears to be a delete button on my computer key board.


TYPICAL

I have been asked by a few members how the house building project is going. Well….it’s normal for Latin America.

We decided in October, to move to the development and rent a house there. The idea being we were closer to our house while it was under construction. Good thinking!

We had been told by one of our independent consultants, we would be in our house in 30 days. Three months later the house was still not completed. We were under pressure from the furniture stores we had purchased items from to take delivery. I notified the builder that I needed two of the bedrooms FINISHED in two weeks so we could store those items. And in order to do my part, I decided to paint those bedrooms so we could use them for storage.

The Guru Loses It!

Conversation 1:

Jr. Jefe : “You will have to leave the property!”

Yo: “Who said so?”

Jr: “The builder in Panama”.

Yo: “Tell him he’s fired! I own the proterty not him!”

Jr: ”You can talk to him.”

Yo: “He can talk to my attorney.”

Jr.: “Well, you have to leave the property!”

Yo: “Call the police and have me thrown off.”

Jr.: “Talk to my boss.”

Yo: “Come to think of it….your fired too.”

Not exactly the lofty position an enlightened master might take I’ll grant you, but it felt good! For those who think I am really out of it (you are of course correct), telling him to call the police and have me thrown off the property and especially in a foreign country….might see fool hardy. Well it seems that our small wedding was attended by a Panamian criminal attorney…..like not a problem!

Conversation 2:

A knock at our rental house which is across the street from the one we had hoped to have built. It was Jr. again.

Jr.: “My boss is on the phone and says you HAVE to talk
with him!”

Yo: “I do NOT talk to employees I have just fired and I DO
NOT HAVE to do a damn thing.”

Jr.: “He says you had to leave because your working in the
house was interfering with the completion of the
house.”

Yo: “No one has even walked through the house in the last
three days and certainly NOT worked on it.” “ Talk to
my attorney and ONLY my attorney.”

I was back into my spiritual center. Nothing could affect me. I was reflective and open to all. I was one with the universe. I was a deep and calm pond. “Sue ‘em…sue all of ‘em!” I told my attorney. “And their kids…..and dogs….and their mothers….and their mothers’ dogs!”

A lesser mortal would have, perhaps, held a grudge, been bitter, even vindictive. Ok…think of me now as ‘Jib the Lesser’.

Hired all sorts of professionals. More attorneys and more engineers to prepare for the case. I had done my own “Bill of Particulars” in two weeks and found no less than five defaults under the signed contract. I even hired a Urologist with the intent that IF I decided to ‘piss on it’, I would not suffer a plumbing failure during my effort.

Got good advice, which I took, from all the professionals which was basically just force the builder to finish the house. Good advice for others perhaps, but in my case…..not the right thing FOR ME.

Another two months went by and wonders of wonders, the house was finished…by Panamian standards. The day we took possession of the house, we listed it for sale.

Have since bought another property and will most likely start building again in June or so. This time we will act as our own general contractor as both the wife and I have some experience in the construction trade.

God I love this place!

[HonkyTonk]

Hell of a story Jib! I'd have been asking the Gringos to chip in for my bail about 3 months ago...

[LastLion]

Damn Jibster, that is a hell of a story! I am not sure I would want to be a general, down there, now you will have to deal with a a bunch of subcontractors!

I wish you well!

[Cap'n Jib]

LL,

You are of course correct with your concern of dealing with a bunch of subs. From what I have learned here, the trick appears to be, have a separate contract written for EACH sub.

Should one not perform, firing him is RELATIVELY easy. Also as each contract is separate, there is little chance of 'ganging up' on the owner. I have also 'gone to school' on a failed development project where they made a number of Gringo assumptions but never considered their down side risk exposure. Their contracts were not conditional on performance by the other subs, and so no pressure was put on subs by other subs who had vested interest in the project.

Of course I have NO illusions that things will go smoothly. After all, this IS Latin America we are talking about.