Day 35: Concrete beam around upper floor

At the beginning of week 6 the house now has a steel reinforced beam around most of the upstairs. And the sun is still shining most days. Hopefully they can get the roof on before the rain comes too heavy and too frequent.

Day 28 Upper Floor Walls

Four weeks and we have about 30% of the upper floor (first or second depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on). The exterior walls will be concrete block while the interior walls will probably be a lighter material. The sun is still shining, just about. 

William Miranda Constructor + Electrics

This is the man in charge, el constructor, who is also doing all the electrics and plumbing for the house. His name is William Miranda, he lives in San Isidro in the district of Perez Zeledon and we are really impressed with his work.



In the photo you can also see that the horizontal beam has now been poored. You are looking at the kitchen window.

William has built houses and condos all over the sourthern region but especially on the coast between Dominical and Uvita and also near Platanillo on the road between San Isidro and Dominical. We saw many of the houses he built near Platanillo and were really impressed with how great they looked, even after several years of tropical weather.

I have no idea of whether he is expensive or not. I think the price he charged us was very fair. What is interesting is that though we started with a very strict budget and very worried about how much every detail would cost, after meeting William I began to appreciate more that we need to be a little more flexible on budget to make sure we end up with a house we really like.

The water container in the foreground is how William brings water to the site for the workers to drink because it is healthier than unfiltered river water they are using for the construction and he doesn't want the workers missing days because they're sick.