Construction Begins
On February 27, 2008 we returned to Cerro de Ortega, intending to get things started. We arranged to talk with the architect in Tecoman the following day. We also talked to some local construction guys about building just the stone wall. Before leaving Chapala, we had talked with a builder/friend who estimated that a wall such as we described should cost $25,000 to $35,000 pesos, depending on details.
With the help of an iron-worker who would do the access doors, we contacted some builders who could make the wall. Their estimate, for a 2.5 meter high wall with one individual steel door entrance and one 3.5 meter wide driveway door came to an astounding $74,000 pesos. And their plan called for a cement covered brick wall, rather than stone, ‘because it is much less expensive’. We thanked them for their time and went to talk to the architect.
The architects original proposal was also more than we wanted to spend, so we discussed scaling back the project. We settled on a plan that adds just one room: the bathroom of course. The larger existing room is to be converted into a kitchen and living-space, open concept. The smaller room is to be the bedroom. The stone wall will be 2.5 meters high, and made of stone. The metal roof over the existing structure is to be replaced with a peaked cement roof.
The architect itemized the costs of each element in the project, and we went back to review those figures the next day. It was still a bit more than we were comfortable spending right now, so we looked at various options to lower the cost. He suggested leaving out the wall, which would reduce costs by $24,000 pesos (a far cry from the $74,000 wanted by local workers!) I wouldn’t budge on that essential item though. In the end we decided to leave the metal roof on the existing structure for now, and replace it with the peaked roof in a year or two, whenever we can afford it. The scaled-down project cost came to $124,353 pesos, or about $11,700 U.S. at current exchange rates.
As is customary, we paid half up-front, with the remainder to be paid as work progresses. Construction of the wall was to begin this week, but of course we are no longer there, so we won’t know how things are going until our next visit, or when the architect requests more funds, our having agreed that such requests will be accompanied by photos of the work completed to date.
The contract specifies that the project must be completed within one year, though he expects it to take much less than that — it will certainly be several months however. We hope to live there next winter, so if it takes until October it won’t really matter to us. If it goes beyond that we will have to change our plans — one learns to be flexible when living in Mexico. Under the terms of the contract, the agreed upon work will be completed at the agreed price — any loss of material due to theft, increases in material costs, etc., will be the architects expense.
Here is a rough plan of the current project. This started out as the architects original architectural drawing of the larger plan, which included expanding the entire structure to the front. I’ve added the wall in brown — it is wider than it should be if it were to scale, the stones will be 35 to 40 cm thick. I photoshopped the rest of the changes, so several things are not quite exact, but it gives the idea. There will be a utility area between the wall and the bedroom, which will allow access to the bathroom roof, where the gas tank, water tank and hot-water tanks will all be. That also allows for a window in the bedroom, where we plan to put a small air-conditioner. The big driveway doors will have a smaller door within them for individual access. Entrance to the house if from the back, into the living room. Big windows from the kitchen and bedroom face the garden in back.
In the next few days I’ll try to post some more ‘before’ images of the casita as it is now. I also have images of some of the deceased critters we found inside …