How We're Building a House Without a Construction Company in the Dominican Republic

Cutting out the middleman, saving thousands, and building smart in the Dominican Republic.

I want to start by giving full credit to the construction companies, and to make it clear that this article is not meant to criticize construction companies in any way. This is simply about shining light on an alternative option for building a home in the Dominican Republic.

Relax and Let the Company Handle Everything

The construction companies handle everything, from permits and tax payments to your floor plan and materials, all necessary to build your home. All you, the client, have to do is sit back and wait for your completion date, while everything moves forward as coordinated, making the process stress-free.

So, if you're motivated to save quite a bit of money by not going the construction company route, this is for you.

Appointment at the Sales Office

I’ll start this story without naming the particular construction company.

Earlier this year, my lady went “alone” to this construction company to get a quote for building a 180 meter square home. I’ll later explain the reason she went alone, if you haven't figured it out yet.

Here’s how it works. An appointment is made, you show up, and you're greeted as you enter the sales office. A salesperson will talk with you about your plans, etc. Not pushy or trying to sell you anything, they are there to assist you.

Later, as you walk through their beautiful model homes with one of their engineers, the breakdown of the quote is explained. This can go one of two ways: either you go with the construction company, knowing they will handle everything as explained, or you take on the job yourself and source what you need.

The Quote That Led Us to Change Course

In our case, we were looking at houses for sale around 8 millones Dominican pesos. These were already built houses in the preferred locations.

When my lady asked the construction company how much it would cost to build a 180 meter square home, the quote was quite expensive. We both thought it would be cheaper to build rather than buy an existing house. The quote was for 8 millones Dominican pesos, and that’s not including the land.

Their quote was 30% higher than what we were seeing for similar-sized homes already on the market.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, she went alone to make sure she would get the Dominican price and not a marked-up “gringo price.”

After contacting a few more construction companies, we realized that they were just going to be far more expensive than what we were budgeting for.

Hiring a Maestro Constructor

So we had to go to our backup plan, the open secret that all the locals know: hiring a maestro constructor to get the job done.

A maestro constructor is just as qualified as the construction companies. Why? Because that’s who they hire to build. Hiring an independent maestro is basically cutting out the middleman, which is why the savings are usually significant.

Construction companies mark up all prices, from permits to materials. Buying materials and getting permits are things anyone can do for themselves. Working with a maestro just means that we have to be more hands-on. We would need to hire an architect, fill out our own permits, hire contractors, and buy the materials.

After starting these tasks, I can assure you they are straightforward and simple.

Permits, Fees, and More Permits

Permits are surprisingly easy to fill out, not like those complicated forms we all hate.

Going into this house build, I put more thought into the short time it takes to physically build the home, not realizing that the permit approvals would take much longer.

After purchasing the land, there are more than 10 permits required to build. The wait time for approvals can vary.

Now this is where we used a cheat code... but don't tell nobody lol.

We Didn't Hire a Company — We Built a Crew

We have a pretty good social network in the DR of individuals who work in real estate. So, when we're asked how the house build is coming along, people often offer help by referring us to a good maestro, engineer (very important), architect, electrician, and the list goes on.

One gentleman who was introduced to us has been very helpful. His connections saved us a lot of time on certain permit approvals. I’m happy to say that we are within weeks of final approvals, and then we may begin construction.

I love how this whole process has been. We met really good people along the way. By not going with a construction company, we ended up building our own team. A team of skilled professionals whose work truly impressed us.

Between the money saved and the prompt service, we’ll definitely work with them again in the near future, or recommend them to other expats in need.

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