Errors and Mistakes

Jose’s Nightmare (A Story)

So I met this guy Jose a while back. He and his wife Maria built their “dream home” near the beach. Perfect spot. Sunsets, breeze, the whole package.

Saw them 4 years later. They looked tired. The house looked… melted.

Here’s what went wrong (and this happens to so many people it’s tragic)

1. The Termites They ate the cabinets. Not just chewed… devoured. Jose used “treated” wood but didn’t check the chemicals. Turns out the termites here view cheap treatment as seasoning.

2. The Rust. Oh god the rust. Living near the sea is romantic until your gates seize up. Stainless steel? There is no such thing as “stainless” near salt spray. Only “stains less”. They used 304 grade. Should have used 316. Now everything is orange.

3. The “Disappearing” Materials Classic story. Mark (their builder) warned them: “Supervise the mixing.” They didn’t. Workers were selling cement bags out the back door. So the concrete mix was mostly sand. Now the walls have hairline cracks everywhere.

What they learned (the hard way)

On Contractors: “We trusted them to handle everything.” Big mistake. One electrician, Ramon, told them straight up: “Sir, if you don’t watch, they will use thin wires.” And they did. Fire hazard city.

On Costs: Elena (local architect) told them: “Buy the expensive stuff now or pay fixing it forever.” They cheaped out on paint. It peeled in 8 months. Now they have to scrape and repaint the whole exterior. Cost is double what quality paint would have been.

The funny/sad part

Jose told me he kept a log of cement bags eventually. “I felt crazy counting empty sacks,” he said. But the theft stopped.

Takeaway?

Building here isn’t like building in the West.

• Salt air eats metal.
• Termites eat wood (and some plastics??)
• Workers might eat your budget.

You have to be involved. Like, annoyingly involved. Ask questions. Watch the mix. Count the bags.

It’s nicer to trust people but… Well, look at Jose’s gate. Actually you can’t, it fell off last week.

btw if you’re building near the coast, budget for maintenance. Serious budget. You’ll need it.