The following is the original blog, which I added photos, etc. to the bottom of -- then I realized the same people visited the blog to see update, and since I will be updating it at least once a week, now that the house is starting, I'll be adding the new portions on top.
Yes, we signed a contract with Carlos, who assured us that he would build us a wonderful house for the budget we have available. I gave him a sketch of the floor plan that we wanted and told him we wanted an L-shaped roof that has hips on the ends and eaves that are a minimum of one meter from the walls. Okay, Paul was the one who demanded wide eaves - in SC, we learned just how much damage rain could do and there is a mega wet season here.
We're looking forward to having a termite-proof house - block/stucco walls + metal rafters & a faux red tile roof that's corragated cement.
I'd originally wanted the living room to be open to the outdoors, but Carlos tweaked my roof design to have a high roof with huge windows on either end - Paul figures that will be better at night. It does get nippy at this altitude.
Basically, the 'guest wing' will consist of 2 bedrooms connected by a full bath (shower only). Then a sort of hall, which is really open to the living room. On the other side, the kitchen will open to the living room - a large L-shaped eating counter will divide the space, yet allow people to intermingle. A half bath and laundry room are adjacent on one side of the kitchen; a small dining room on the other. Just outside the dining room, we eventually plan to have an outdoor kitchen, so we'll have a lovely sliding door to link the areas.
The door to the master bedroom opens off the dining room. I'd originally thought of having a sliding door in there, too, but the one in the dining room should be close enough. The Master bedroom opens into the master bath: Paul's jacuzzi tub, my shower, his and her sinks and, of course, a toilet... Paul totally detests the short toilets that are the norm, down here, but Carlos assures us that the can get 3 taller toilets.
He also assures us he can get this done in 4 months and give us a 'turn key house', though he does seem baffled by dishwashers and says we'll need to purchase this. (This after first offering recommendations for a maid.)
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Meet Victor, who has been working with Paul on the walls:
In the states, we would have the footings dug with a backhoe, but in Panama, labor is inexpensive because jobs are scarce. Our architect/contractor, Carlos, pays each worker on his crew $10-25/day and he's considered to be a great employer.
While Carlos (in the white cap) & his crew work on the house, Paul and Victor use the plentiful rocks in our yard to continue building the rock wall around the property, which they began a few weeks ago, and I putter at landscaping ... I'm hampered in this goal by the knowledge that the septic system will need to be dug in, so I'm second-guessing Carlos as per his intentions on that subject, and, for now, confining my efforts to one corner of the lot. AND, as I put in paths, I dig up rocks, which I shove to the side of my path .... dear Paul thought I was building walls and asked if I'd like some suggestions for building stronger ones.... that's a fine example of how one person judges another by themselves ... HE was building walls, so thought that since 'my' rocks were more or less in a line, I must be building walls, too. Not. Outlining a garden, until the rocks are needed elsewhere, yes - frankly, I consider my 'walls' more of a line of debris from clearing my path than a wall.
The house started out by going down to dig the footings, so for the first couple weeks there wasn't much progress to be seen. However, walls are now rising to the eventual roof and in some rooms we can even see where the window will be, so I can begin to lay out complimentary garden beds.
From the beginning, Carlos has told us that he wants to put a rock in our floor ... we learned that the rock he wants to put into it is apparently too hard for his crew to dig out of the footings ... they dug down over a meter and that rock is still going. I guess the darn thing could be in a worse place, but I'd designed the house to have a doorway to facilitate 'traffic flow' from the garage and laundry area to the guest wing and due to the rock, I'll now have to put shelves up there so people won't trip on the protrusion.
Building in Panama certainly has unexpected situations!
