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That is a mistake I can understand. When you mark out a house down here, it is to dig the footings of heavy load supporting walls. They always add in things like patios, porches etc later. The key is to have a good builder you trust and have a good relationship with. Everything else can and will get worked out along the way.

Enjoy the process and don't over-stress on things that you will simply laugh about later as you look back at pictures of the construction...

Wooo, what BG said! No matter how clearly you think you've explained your requirements & how positive the builder is in assuring you that they GET exactly what you want....there's always going be to a difference in how you see something in your mind's eye versus how another person is going to envision it. I believe that the blueprint for visuals along with exact dimensions & location markers on your property help, but even then, you're going to end up with subtle to horrendous variables in interpretation.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard...."But this was easier"....""I thought you'd like this better"...."But this is better than what you asked for".... "I like it better this way"...."I didn't think the dimensions/location was important"...."It couldn't be done they way you wanted it"....and my eternal-guaranteed-to-cause-immediate-jaw-clenching-reaction least favorite...."That's not how we do it in Mexico"! There are exacting & precise people in this world....& there are mas o menos people....sometimes, I think the "twain shall never meet"! After all the fodder I've personally provided for your enlightenment (i.e., reading all my horror stories), there are a few things that may have become apparent....

• Learn to expect the unexpected.
• Don't assume your mental image is your builder's mental image.
• Never assume anything is as important to the builder as it is to you.
• Don't assume anything!
• Attempt to explain WHY exact dimensions/location are crucial to you.....i.e., "our 10' couch won't fit in this 9 1/2' space...."the bottom of the window has to be 48" above finished floor level forour 47" cabinet to fit under"...."the outlet needs to be on this side of the doorway so we don't trip over the refrigerator cord every time we come into the kitchen"...."the cabinets need to be mounted at this level, because mi espousa is muy chico".
• Always mark starting/ending points for everything & do a walk-thru with builder pointing out & discussing....even what might be blatantly obvious to you.
  If it's important to you....BE THERE for every phase where something could be misinterpreted or modified. (<< Read all!)
• Watch, check & measure everything as it's happening, as with the placement of the footprint of your casa vs patio, it's easier & cheaper to catch & correct things before they get "cast in concrete" than it is after the fact. Confirm that outdoor patios slope whatever degree of slope & what direction(s) away from the casa you want before they're poured.
• Remember, finished opening dimensions need to allow for finish plaster depth, etc.
• If you haven't already mastered these words...."Necesario exactamente, por favor....mas o menos es no bueno.", do so....these words should become you new best friend!
• Learn to expect the unexpected.
• Don't assume your mental image is your builders mental image.
• Never assume anything is as important to the builder as it is to you.
• Don't assume anything!

As should be readily apparent, even if you employ all of the above & more, there are still a multitude of things that will go wrong. It's inevitable! There is a huge cultural difference & as with "shades of gray", there are hundreds of shades of each color & I can guarantee that the word "red", for instance, will appear in 100 people's mind's eye as 100 different variations of the shades of red!! No matter how much you learn from other people's construction tales, I can guarantee that you'll experience several new/different things that nobody experienced or thought to warn you about.

All you can do is be there, be proactive, maintain your sense or humor, acquire the ability to think fast on your feet, learn to decide between things which are life-altering & those you can learn to live with! Think outside the box. Learn to pick your battles.

Why do you think I look so weary & battle-scarred.....I've done this 3 times!

I agree but....It's actually not very stressful. I try to stay on top of everything, measuring, checking and checking again when they leave for the day. That's how we caught the two "almost" errors.

One thing that really impressed me about my builder was that when he was laying out the house he found a 1" discrepancy between one side and the other. We sat down at the computer and searched and searched until we found where the mistake in the drawings was. I don't think most local builders would even bring it up, let alone put in the time to find it.

As far as plumbing and electrical, I'l have no one but myself to blame as I'm doing that myself

I cannot believe that the paint on those Tecate cans hasn't faded...

Originally Posted by BigWooo

As far as plumbing and electrical, I'l have no one but myself to blame as I'm doing that myself

Uh oh!!! Does that mean you won't have a grounded system because "We don't do that in Mexico"?

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

Uh oh!!! Does that mean you won't have a grounded system because "We don't do that in Mexico"?

Picky, picky picky...

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

...."the cabinets need to be mounted at this level, because mi espousa is muy chico".
:

Boy, we recently completed our year long off-grid construction project in Loreto and I must say we didn't encounter any of the issues you guys describe. The only issue we really had was with the builder himself. We originally hired a "gringo" builder from Mulege to do the job as we were impressed with his knowledge and the qualify of his work. Everything was going really well for the first three months when he calls up and says he has some good news and some bad news. The "good news" is that he is going to save us a bunch of money on our house,(his fee) the "bad news" is that he got a great job offer in Calif. and is leaving on Thursday! Forutnately his entire crew stayed and we became the new contractor. This crew was so good, we really had an easy time completing the house, and yes we did save a bunch of money in the process. Pluming and electrical are all first rate and the quality is really tops. When friends come to look, they are all impressed with the workmanship and even the carpenter was amazed with how square everything was when he was making the cabinets. Although it was a long process, it went remarkably well and now we can enjoy the finished (is any house ever finished) product.

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

Picky, picky picky...

Actually, an ungrounded system can be very safe if constructed properly. Of course, that's that catch.....it HAS to have total integrity.......

Congratulations Wooo. Look forward to the progress. Can anybody build in front of you or do you own all the land to the water?

Originally Posted by soulpatch

Actually, an ungrounded system can be very safe if constructed properly. Of course, that's that catch.....it HAS to have total integrity.......

I ain't asking Wooo for his total integrity qualifications....you ask him!

I can tell you that an ungrounded outlet in my place knocked me on my butt! I can also tell ya that the workers found more humor in the situation that I did!

Originally Posted by Gaucho

Congratulations Wooo. Look forward to the progress. Can anybody build in front of you or do you own all the land to the water?

Thank you. We own the property up to the federal zone, and have the federal zone concession, so no one can build in front.

After a slowdown due to a two day dust storm, construction has resumed. Wind and dust were so bad they couldn't lay block, or do much else:



Note: The hue in the picture isn't my camera, it's dust in the air!

Finally the wind died down and the dust settled, so they started putting up walls:



Foam insulation filled the cells:



And I got to start wiring the electrical:



By the way, in the picture above, that's not snow on the ground. I didn't catch them early enough, and they put foam beads in some of the cells where I need to run wire. When I punched through the block to run the wires, foam poured out of the holes. Always fun.

One thing I've discovered, 50 something year old hands sure cut and scrape easier than 30 something year old hands! Haven't done this type of work for quite a while.

I'm SOOOOO happy that you & Ola are finally seeing some progress! Take lots of pics of the wire runs & plumbing....I'm still referring to my pics to see what's where before corrective work is done....but you GOTTA have a more detail-oriented builder than I had!

If the wind keeps up, all the foam beads might end up being blown all over the landscape!!

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

I'm SOOOOO happy that you & Ola are finally seeing some progress! Take lots of pics of the wire runs & plumbing....I'm still referring to my pics to see what's where before corrective work is done....but you GOTTA have a more detail-oriented builder than I had!

If the wind keeps up, all the foam beads might end up being blown all over the landscape!!

Muchas Gracias, it's so nice after so long to finally get this thing off the ground .

Wind is pretty relentless this time of year,so the boys figured out a way to load the foam bead delivery bag using a spent foam bag as a wind block:



SUCCESS!

Originally Posted by BigWooo

Thank you. We own the property up to the federal zone, and have the federal zone concession, so no one can build in front.

Nice!!!

The boys look mighty pleased that they figured out a way to beat the wind!! From the size of that pellet bag, it looks like they could be using it as a tent for lunch breaks!

Really looking great Wooo and I know how excited you must feel right now, especially after all you guys have waited to finally get started. Legz is right, take LOTS of photos of EVERYTHING. Especially all the plumbing and electrical runs. At some point in time those same photos may become extremely important. Plus the story they will tell will be fun to go back and review in years to come.

One suggestion though - you ought to rehang the Tecate cans up on the rebar columns...

Originally Posted by BigWooo

..two day dust storm...

...

Where were the kiters/sailboarders? That lineup looks pretty happening.

Wow, All I can say is I sincerely wish you and Oladulce all the happiness and tranquility you can stand for the rest of your lives.