Construction Costs

starting costs around $250 per sq ft, do a search typing in building costs and click all dates there should be several pages of good info there!

stx 175

It all depends on how easy it is to build on your lot. If it is steep with lots of hard rock and your plan requires two or three cuts your site prep could easily run over $100K. Also if you have to build a road and want it paved the cost of blacktop has gone up.

The averge cost figures that I have seen run in the range of $250 - $300 sq ft.

Jim

s

From my recent and ongoing experiece you should budget for 150-200 per square foot . Ther are so many suprises such as rock, rain and erosion, concrete pumping and things that aren't considered outside the building. Sewerage systems, long runs of pipe and conduit, driveways, gates, alternative energy. I think a good rule of thumb is to prepare a budget as completely as you can, take that number and add 20%, then have some reserve money. Another consideration is time. Time is different on the islands and what might take a week to do in the states could take a month here due to any number of causes or reasons.
Building in the VI would be really hard for an exacting control freak or for someone who's not here to manage the project.

Of course if you are going to build a huge place on a hilltop the price would escalate rapidly.

I have a little different way of answering this question - figure on spending $125 to $150 per square foot to get your basic foundation, cistern, concret block walls with openings for doors and windows, roofing trusses and sheething and roughing for plumbing and electricity. The per square foot cost for everything else including, floor and wall tiling, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, windows and doors, roof tile, stucco, paint, hardware etc. can add anywhere from a minimum of $100 per sq. ft. for what is know on the mainland as "builder's standard" materials up to the sky's the limit if you want designer finishes. Everyone's personal taste and preferences are different so it is diifcult to give specific meaningful numbers that the reader can easily misinterpret.

Also, as Jim pointed out your site preparation work can easily add $75K to $100K to your project costs and you won't know how much it will be until after you start construction unless you are willing to spend thousands having an engineer do some pre-construction studies.

I disagree a bit with Bombi's rule of thumb. Based on my experience and that of others I know who built homes in the islands 20% cost over runs sounds low. I tell people to get their best pre-construction estimates and add 50%. If that number doesn't frighten you then proceed with the project. Regardless of whether you use 20% or 50% rest assured there will be cost over runs so factor that into your budget. Building a home in the Caribbean is not for the faint of heart or those with a limited budget. It pays to have deep pockets. There's a good reason you see all those very expensive houses on the island.

Lastly, aAnyone contemplating building a home in the Caribbean should first read the Bongo Bongo Blog (www.bongobongostjohn.com/blog/) it will give you some idea of what to expect.

also www.reefmadnessvilla.com It's really tough to estimate costs, and many contractors want to build on cost plus... No one cares about your money the way you do, and we've found that there is little incentive for them to save on costs the way you might if you were doing it yourself, even for the contractors that are honest and want to do a good job, and those guys are out there. We find that being on site and working right along with everyone else is our best way to make sure that things mostly get done right and without too much waste on either the supplies or the labor end. We do as much of the buying as we can. Not everyone has the luxury of doing construction this way though. If you get a fixed price contract, contractors usually price some of these difficulties in supply and labor into their bid, but then the numbers are higher right from the start---perhaps not higher by the time you get to the end...but I'd worry about them cutting corners if their costs got out of sight. Much safer on a small job. I'm in the process of running our numbers to see where we are on costs...though I'm not sure I really want to know. Good thing we like the house for the most part. It is not easy though, unless price is not a concern, and its going to take longer than you expect.

So J West did the prices you saw here scare you, or have you been busy reading the bongo bongo and reefmadnessvilla blogs?