Building materials/home construction on the EC coast

Just saw this thank you! As she said I'm currently in the design phase of a house I'm  building in Lopez. I'm in contact with Hormi2 about getting pricing and delivery of SCIP panels, and ventanasmagicas.com for windows. If anyone knows of any good sources for interior doors, furnishings and fixtures, as well as exterior doors and sliding glass doors that would be awesome! Thank you!

I did a big remodel on the north coast and I'm about to start building a house in Canoa. I had doors made, rather than purchasing pre-built doors. I recomend using a wood locally reffered to as amarillo rather than the flimsy laurel local shops will try to sell. For the house I'm about to build I plan on buying materials in Portoviejo and trucking them in. We'll build our security wall first to keep everything from walking off.

Yeah I was thinking about having he interior doors done locally as I can get really creative with them, but the exterior doors are all going to be sliding glass and I do not think I can get that done locally. Also does anyone know what the rules are for bringing in tools? I've got just about every tool anyone could ever need here in the states, and I understand I'm not going to be able to take a fraction of them with me, but I would really like to bring my cordless set with me. I can get a impact driver,hammer drill, sawzall, circular saw,jigsaw,multitool. As well as a lot of diamond tooling as I'm planning a lot of polished concrete in this house.  I can get all that in one 50lb luggage, but as long as it's all used and dirty should I anticipate any issues with taxes or tariffs?

I didn't have any trouble bringing in a couple multi-meters, non contact voltage testers, and various electrician's hand tools, but what you're describing might be pushing it if you do it all in one trip. Whenever I'm bending import rules I split up my items between my checked bags, my cary on, my personal laptop bag, and my pockets. What? I've got a lot of cell phones and tablets.

Yeah i mean i can split it up between my wife,myself and my daughter's luggage, but i figure one big luggage with a bunch of used dirty tools, a copy if my building plans and escritura of the property i think should be fine. Idk,last time we went we brought tons of tech and even some car parts and had them all split up and had no issues...

Jesse has a lot of experience.  But the truth is that the dogs of SENAE are a law unto themselves.

Ipso facto, you won't know for sure if they will come up with some fancy tariff or multa until you try.

Definitely bring that escritura and your building plans.  Good idea.

cccmedia in Quito

I have brought any tool that will fit in a suitcase.  All types and especially if used no issues

The fewer afilados (sharp-edged articles) you pack, the better.

cccmedia in Quito

MahindraDog wrote:

I have brought any tool that will fit in a suitcase.  All types and especially if used no issues

Good to hear! Maybe I was just really lucky but when we just flew into Guayaquil we literally just walked through customs no issue, had new iPhone and Ipads in boxes in addition to the used phones and tablets and computer parts, car parts, etc. no questions asked.

First time posting here...thanks for all the great info over the past year.  My wife and I will start building a home in Canoa in the next year...does anyone have any good builders to recommend?

Mike Machaskee wrote:

First time posting here...thanks for all the great info over the past year.  My wife and I will start building a home in Canoa in the next year...does anyone have any good builders to recommend?

I do, but we might be competing for his time. When next year? High end or budget construction? This guy is cheap, quality is okish, you'd need to be living in town and keeping a close eye on the project, and you'd probably want an architect. My project is, as always happens, being pushed back a bit. It might start by December. I'll post progress on my project here so you can decide if you want to use my guy.

Thank you Jesse...great info.  As much as I wish we could start next year some time, it will probably be 2017 more likely.  And we are still not sure how elaborate we will go as we want to  either use the home as a b+b or add on some casitas down the road.  We have talked to a Greg that has built a hotel there and many homes, but trying to see what other options there are.  When we were there in May, we learned about the government mandated increase in trade worker pay and are being told that that will pretty much double our costs from roughly $65/square foot to closer to $130.  Being able to watch what you are doing as you are doing it would be a tremendous help to my wife and me...especially since our property is in Canoa as well.  Forgive me as I am still learning to use this site...might be better to email each other more directly???

Mike, you can send me a PM here if you like. I'm on here at least once or twice a month. I take pretty much any new government rule with a grain of salt. That said, you should expect to pay middle class pay for skilled contractors. Sounds like we have similar Canoa plans.

Just flew into Guayaquil last night. Going to start building in Lopez and hopefully make some progress over the next two month. As was the case last time customs was a breeze. This time we had SIX of these big Rubbermaid type bins from Home Depot. Heavy duty, light, they measure exactly 62" and we had each one packed to exactly 50lbs. Had the lids zip tied shut and locked and threw a handful of zip ties in each one just in case they needed to be opened. When we got to GYE one of the bins locks had been removed and opened but whoever opened it was kind enough to reclose it with the extra zip ties, I'm thinking this was TSA because all the bins arrived with stickers on them saying TSA approved. When we passed the bags through at SENAE the nice young woman working there only asked us to open one of them as it passed through the scanner, the one with the most tools in it. She looked inside said thank you and sent us on our way. No problem. And we're talking LOTS of stuff. Small kitchen appliances, TONS of tools, a bunch of spare sawblades, drillbits, some stuff I got sloppy and even left it in its new packaging. Pretty much mirrored our last time through GYE with a bunch of electronics, not a single issue. I'm definitely sticking with GYE from here on out! Now to get to Lopez and get going on this house! Oh and I finally got some progress made dealing with Hormi2 in Quito, could still very well be building with SCIP panels, just maybe not on this trip, price is not bad though.

Met with the architect in the municipality today. Since I already had an architectural drawing of the house all he has to do is add plumbing,sanitary and electrical pages, stamp them and request a permit. He said I should be good to start building by next Tuesday.   Missed my chance to open a bank account today, the person that handles that is only in Lopez one day a week so I've got to shoot up to Jipijapa tomorrow and I'll let you all know if I get my bank account without a cedula. Looks like everything's going well, I brought my surveyers tape and rotary laser with me so I'm gonna head out right now and shoot some elevations and mark out where I want to place the house on the property!   

Thanks for all the updates. It's really helpful being able to follow other projects step by step like this.

We just started our site prep in Canoa. We estimated 15 truckloads of dirt to elevate grade 50 cm. it ended up taking 23 trucks. We also bought 2 truckloads of rich black garden soil. We were quoted $340 but ended up at $600. Par for the course since it took an extra day and several extra truckloads.

Yeah I hear that. I've got to get a tractor in here and do some grading and clear the roadway a little to the property for better access, but fortunately I don't need to bring in any fill, just move around what's already here just to level things out. I will definitely keep posting our progress here.

@suefrankdahl hello I love to heard who you get the garden soil from. I am getting ready to buy a land in canoa

@TerrazzoGuy so did you have a design done for you   

Neither Sue nor Terrazzo have posted since 2015, would not expect a reply.

Neither Sue nor Terrazzo have posted since 2015, would not expect a reply.
-@mugteck

it's been 7 years. 80% chance they probably don't live in Ecuador any more tbh

@cccmedia hello I just bought a land near Canoa, can i have my plans done in Canada ?

Common sense suggests planning

for architecture or construction

on the Ecuador Coast ..

in Ecuador, not in Canada.

cccmedia

As CCCMedia suggests, A designer in Canada will have no idea how buildings are planned, laid out, or constructed in Ecuador. Bringing drawings from outside of South America will only create A great deal of frustration for both the builder (Who will likely be insulted, confused and justifiably indignant) and for yourself, in trying to interpret and impose North American drawing traditions, building materials/techniques, and terminology on Ecuadorean construction traditions, use of construction materials, and tradesmen Quality/knowledge. depending on the Miss Palite they may require a local architect to review, re-draw, attach their professional seal to the drawings that will end up being actually used. Not to mention misinterpretation is very likely when trying to translate Canadian drawings (in North American textbook Spanish) to local Spanish terminology.

In Canada a building is laid out to the nth degree by a surveyor, and the plan marked out, and re-marked out at every stage of construction… In Ecuador a contractor will likely have a surveyor visit once, bang several posts in the ground to locate the outside corners of the building, with sticks attached near the top, angled to indicate approximately where roof slopes will occur, and maybe even some strings or ropes tied between the posts to guide the bricklayers / stonemasons to keep the wall straight as they go up; Craftsmen (and many of them do deserve the title) who nonetheless may or may not be able to read, never mind being able to interpret technical drawings from Canada.

Design should always be done by somebody on the ground, in Ecuador, who is aware of:

-Site conditions: Ground water, local bedrock, Trees (roots) and plantings, path of the sun in the sky For maximum daylight, soil stability and drainage.

-Local materials: what's available, what's the quality, what size is it; I would be shocked if there was a standard size for local brick, concrete block, wood… but it would definitely not be to the exacting standards, strength, and minutely accurate dimensions found in North American construction materials.

-Location factors: where's the view, what buildings, structures, or volcanos are next-door? Where is the best place to put the house on the lot, which way to face it, where are local water and sewer connections underground, and how far does a house need to be away from those services? is the lot plan accurate or does it need to be re-surveyed?

How it looks on plan will never end up being the “correct” Location, layout, or orientation on the ground, in person, for you.

Best advice is to search for and ask questions about the local Architects, builders, available trades, and ask them about the quality and sources of local materials, and any challenges with delivery. Find a good interpreter who understands LOCAL construction terminology, who can help you communicate your expectations to the architect and builder (and at the same time educate you on reasonable expectations possible in Ecuador). Someone who can guide you through the legal process of permitting, documents, regulations, fees. And if your expectations are high and exacting, find someone in Ecuador who has experience and knowledge of construction, electrical safety, and plumbing standards in Canada or the US, who can help to adapt your expectations to the realities in Ecuador as far as it is possible.