There are a couple of things that may help those of you who are contemplating building, though. One is that even though you ask an overly-friendly builder for a price, doesn’t mean that he can actually give it to you. If he doesn’t, and then you go to a lawyer to hold him to his contract, you may simply be throwing good money after bad. Think about this fact a lot before you start construction with a deal which is too good to be true.
A rule of thumb for building these days is that if the price is less than $7,000 pesos per meter you or your builder are dreaming. One possible exception to this rule can be in developments where mass production can be realized.
There are modes of construction where the price can be lower, but all of those modes have inherent problems. For instance, if your guy wants to build using Styrofoam or cinder block you may encounter structural problems. Styrofoam is gaining in popularity in certain circles but it is not known for its long life span.
Cinder block is cheaper than brick but since it is not really cinder block but jal block, it has the characteristic of absorbing water. As it absorbs water it tends to break away from the mortar. A characteristic of homes built with block is cracks in the walls. With either of these two materials you must have a very solid post and beam structure which will stand alone. It is best to stick with tried and true building techniques. These are more expensive, to be sure, but then there are very few problems with them either.
I think that one problem for the newly-arrived is that they believe that they can build in Mexico for less money than in the US or Canada. I don’t think this is true anymore. Another problem is that they believe that the builder can get them a good deal on material. This is absolutely not true. None of the local material suppliers give meaningful discounts because they all get their material from the same place. A large percentage of their cost for sand, gravel, and jal is trucking. They all pay the same for fuel. They all pay the same for the material at the banks. Cement and steel prices are set on a national level. You figure it out.
For tradesmen, the same thing is true. Wire, plumbing supplies, contacts, electrical boxes pretty much cost the same from one supplier to another. The same is true for floor tiles, bathroom tile and kitchen tile. The only savings you can realize is to buy last year’s models or discontinued styles. Carpentry is expensive simply because the wood used is expensive. You can realize some savings by using inexperienced carpenters but then…
Let’s face it, if you build a house here you really should be thinking about the resale value. If you are building a house on a limited budget, then you should either pace the size of the house to your budget or rent. You won’t get something for nothing. You may get part of something, but it is very unlikely that you will get what you want.
If you can afford to build at the $7,000 pesos per meter level or better in the current real estate market you will very likely realize a nice return on your investment within a year or even less. If you try to cheap it out then you may lose money on a resale because of the problems which will appear in your construction within the first or second year. As the man on the oil commercial says, “You can pay me now or you can pay me later.”
