Forums > Specific Focus > Home, Garden & Construction in Mexico

patricio_lintz

Jan 29, 2006, 3:33 PM

Post #1 of 17 (4942 views)

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Moving days

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Moving in, Monday Jan. 30 & Tues. Jan 31.

It may not be totally complete, but we are moving in anyway.

We still have temporary power, although CFE promised a connection last week. Just 110V (+-) at present. 220V (+-) to come. No kitchen cabinets, yet. most rooms have tile. One bath not yet complete.

Total cost to date including lot is

$1,207,019.88

pesos.

pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/juan_patricio

Rolly / Moderator

Jan 29, 2006, 3:41 PM

Post #2 of 17 (4938 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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Happy move-in days!!!

Rolly Pirate

sfmacaws

Jan 29, 2006, 4:47 PM

Post #3 of 17 (4925 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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Congratulations! What a gorgeous view and I love the wide mirador. Thank you for sharing the construction with us, I've enjoyed it a lot.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

patricio_lintz

Jan 29, 2006, 5:22 PM

Post #4 of 17 (4919 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] Moving days

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Thank you! Keep up the posts.

We intended to travel Mexico first before settling, but got distracted on the way. We still plan to tour using our home as the base. We enjoy your descriptions of other areas.

(This post was edited by patricio_lintz on Jan 29, 2006, 5:31 PM)

CCarol

Jan 29, 2006, 11:06 PM

Post #5 of 17 (4899 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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Thanks so much for the pics! Love the color you painted the exterior and the Arizona style.

Keep up the pics as you go along, they are great.
Carol

"Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle." (Philo of Alexandria)

bfwpdx

Jan 30, 2006, 7:43 AM

Post #6 of 17 (4883 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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Congratulations on reaching this milestone! But I am confused about the costs. On October 15th you gave the cost of the shell at 843,000 pesos. If your finished costs to date are now 1,207,019.88 pesos but INCLUDING LOT, then this means your costs for finishing the shell (including the lot) were only 364,000 pesos which does not sound reasonable to me....is this what you meant to say?

patricio_lintz

Feb 22, 2006, 8:36 AM

Post #7 of 17 (4786 views)

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Re: [bfwpdx] Moving days

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I separated finishing costs from shell costs. Unfortunately, I lost all data in my hard drive from a computer crash caused by low temporary voltage.

We are camping out in the house while we finish. No kitchen cabinets, maybe next week. Our kitchen sink sits on two cubetas, which our housekeeper empties daily (5 days of the week). We do have the electric meter installed now. Gates are being finished and retaining walls constructed to hold back the mountain, detras.

I still do not have internet and am working from internet cafes, whenever I have time to get to one.

The lot costs were correct, nearly $240,000 pesos total. The total house costs to date including lot, construction, and finishing are near $1,200,000 pesos. Losing my detailed spreadsheet was a real Bummer!

IMSS sent out someone to measure the house. It´s bigger than the architect stated. It is 240 sq. meters. He was trying to save money. I will owe $13,000 pesos more. My accountant is negoyiating still.

Rolly / Moderator

Feb 22, 2006, 9:18 AM

Post #8 of 17 (4782 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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Glad to see you are almost done. Even camping out is great after all this time and work.

You still have two big headaches -- cabinet maker and IMSS. Those two were to biggest problems of my project. Good luck!

Rolly Pirate

toddmc

Feb 22, 2006, 12:26 PM

Post #9 of 17 (4770 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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Hello

sorry to hear about the losing your spreadsheet.
I dont know how much help this will be but here is a copy you shared with us back on september 3rd.

Todd

*************************
Our new life in Patzcuaro: http://lifeinthecorazon.blogspot.com

(This post was edited by toddmc on Feb 22, 2006, 12:56 PM)

Attachments:

Mexconnect%20costs.xls (73.2 KB)

patricio_lintz

Feb 23, 2006, 10:06 AM

Post #10 of 17 (4732 views)

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Re: [toddmc] Moving days

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Thanks that will save time recreating it. I receipts for most everything except labor. I will just have to try to remember how many were working at each weekend.

I am down to one albanil & his son, the helper. I will consider the house finished when the carpenter who is building the kitchen cabinets installs them. Na when my albanil and helper finish the retaining wall out back.

Then I will post final (approximate) numbers and pictures.

patricio_lintz

Feb 24, 2006, 8:00 AM

Post #11 of 17 (4695 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Moving days

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Cabinet maker- Cesar, from San Nicolas, we lucked out! He is a very good carpenter and reasonably priced. $23,000 pesos for all the cabinets and counter tops for a 9 foot X 12 foot kitchen. He did a nice bathroom cabinet for us for $2500 pesos. That was his trial to see if we wanted him for the kitchen and interior doors. He has done three hollow core interior doors for us. We are pleased with all at $1750 cada uno, installed.

Mi espousa is in Phoenix on other business & also trying to find him a requested tool to trade for part of the cost of the kitchen cabinets. He wants a cordless, 18 Volt, RYOBI 3-speed hammer drill- Don´t we all! So far she found out that Home Depot had had a big sale on that item and was sold out.

When you find a good worker / craftsman, try to keep him happy!

Rolly / Moderator

Feb 24, 2006, 8:24 AM

Post #12 of 17 (4692 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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I am puzzled. Interior doors installed for $1750 each? These must be awfully fancy doors. We paid $550 each on my projects. The other prices you quoted are also terribly out of line with what we paid here in Lerdo. Que paso?

Rolly Pirate

Rolly / Moderator

Feb 24, 2006, 8:34 AM

Post #13 of 17 (4689 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Moving days

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I just went back to my cost sheet on my Las Casas project (http://rollybrook.com/building_directory.htm) to check on the numbers. We spent an average of $29,000 pesos per apartment for all doors and cabinetry. 5 interior doors, one fancy entrance door, 3 built-in wardrobes, bathroom and kitchen cabinets in each unit.

Rolly Pirate

patricio_lintz

Feb 25, 2006, 8:14 AM

Post #14 of 17 (4654 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Moving days

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Carpenters are higher here, in the Guadalara vicinity. All hardware was included. Several quotes for the front door at $4000 pesos each. Other quotes for interior doors were $2000 pesos each. The Lakeside area is in a building boom.

I always thought that things were cheaper in the really smaller towns. Current wages for albaniles are $1500 pesos per week for the albanil & $1000 for the helper. Painters quotes were unreasonably high. It was a lot cheaper to pay the helper & he did a good job.

Rollie, how old is your data? I am sure that 3 or four years ago, it was much cheaper to build here.

Rolly / Moderator

Feb 25, 2006, 9:23 AM

Post #15 of 17 (4648 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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I guess I must have picked a good place and time -- 3 and 4 years ago. Your labor costs are the same as I was paying toward the end of my projects 3 years ago.

$4000 for a front door is not bad. I paid $5000+ at HomeMart. That was the only 'store bought' wood item on my project. But $2000 for an interior door is crazy. You can spend less at Home Depot.

Rolly Pirate

patricio_lintz

Feb 26, 2006, 8:56 AM

Post #16 of 17 (4615 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Moving days

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Then again, its possible to save significantly if you do not have a significant other.

I have uploaded some new pictures at:

www.flickr.com/photos/juan_patricio

Check out the custom cabinet. I do not think that I overpaid.

The doors- I went with the low bid. $1750 each with hardware, framing & installation. Rather standard looking 6 panel hollow core doors.

I´ll try to get more pictures.

Rolly / Moderator

Feb 26, 2006, 10:09 AM

Post #17 of 17 (4610 views)

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Re: [patricio_lintz] Moving days

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I agree. That bathroom cabinet certainly looks like a good buy at $2,500. Nice!

I'm looking forward to more pictures.

Rolly Pirate