I can guarantee my brother in law is the BEST architect you will find in the whole Coast of Ecuador. Juan takes every single project like if it was his own. Congrats guys you made the best choice best! 🎉👏🏽

Absolutely love Juan!! I would recommend him hands down, he's our first choice for all our clients. Great video!!! Love it guys.

We met with Juan today and hit it off. He took me out to a site where his crew is building a big beautiful house outside of Olón. We then went out and took a look at our new site. He is going to start drawing up plans for our new home. I would have liked to have seen what he did to your home first hand while we were here. But we’re taking off for manta on Monday after conducting some business. Having a lot of construction knowledge myself having done it I can tell you that he and his crew really do good work. Thanks very much for your video and recommendation.

Turn key here is not as we know turn key in the USA., we are very happy with our build but a few things had us scratching our heads. However we lived a block away from our build so hubby was on site every day to oversee. Your home is Gorgeous!

Great video. My wife is Ecuadorian which made our build possible. I designed the layout and drew plans for our house. We interviewed 5 builders. One was an architect engineering firm. Their price was a turnkey. But we didn't want that. We ended up with a maestro with good references. We paid him for labor. Everyday he would WhatsApp us a list of what he needed and we tracked it down, paid for it and got it to him. We are so lucky to have found him. (Riobamba area). He usually had 10 people working. Sometimes more, sometimes less. We were onsite nearly everyday. I contracted my house in the US too, so I had some prior knowledge. One think you haven't mentioned and is my bailiwick (I am a Soil Scientist) is septic systems. To my knowledge, there are no rules for them here in Ecuador. I am from Virginia and what I have observed here is what was done in VA in the 1930s. Of course the goal is that your septic system works and is safe for the environment. #1 consideration; soils. If you have slowly permeable soils, you will have problems. Along the coast of Ecuador, slowly permeable volcanic and marine clays are common. I have seen sewage straight pipes literally on the beach in many places. There is no help with this here, you are on your own. So if there is no sewer available, you need to really study this issue. I am lucky because I designed systems in VA for 35 years and the soils at my house have good permeability with no high water table issues. Do your septic research and be aware of the water use in your home.

Another great video. Thank you. What a beautiful house!!

Before you buy or even consider any land get the “ linea de fábrica.” This will save you money and time! Shows you all the issues and tells you what you’re allowed to build! Building in Ecuador isn’t tough if you have a very strict policy of firing people that aren’t reliable and honest. Keep good workers, feed them well and challenge them with great projects. We built an amazing ecolodge with the same six workers. Awesome experience!

Hi Kris and Mike, Thanks for toggling on Spanish subtitles for this informative video.

I'm ready to live a life I love!!! ✋️ thanks for being an inspiring role model of taking the leap

So nice to have a 1hr 'visit' with you today 😊 So much to consider. But great tips on understanding 'local standards' vs 'expat standards'. I wonder if building materials are as hard to find there as it can be in northeast ontario...

The show/tell steel structure, was that for earthquake proof/protection house ? Does your area have hurricanes rarely, but have thejm? Aculpulco just got wiped out in Mexico. Horrible.

Are there some good places there in your area to rent before building/buying?

Really good interview, btw. 🙂 Do you think STEEL beam house was built for earthquake 'proof' ? What does your engineer think ? It was interesting. Is steel 'reasonable' out there ? Probably coming from China. Lots of good information. Again, thanks.

What are the costs for those corrections, redo's of houses people bought knowing they needed work ???

I believe it's square meter, the meter square is probably from translation

If my Social Security from USA is not quite enough for the Retirement Visa, may I do Investment Visa in buying or building a home for me to live in as my Investment? What is the minimum that would cost, and is it true that housing costs much less in Ecuador than in the States? I do not have much money. I do not think that I need to be on the beach, nor to have a view, and I really do not like windows that are too large. I want to ship a container and so I would not need my home to be furnished. I would expect to have basic light fixtures and kitchen cupboards but not much more than that. Am I allowed to purchase my container and have it placed for many years in the back lawn? So that I can unload it whenever and not have to hurry at that? Any suggestions? I am thinking Cuenca area of Ecuador. Maybe some more affordable outlying area. Rather than "wow" factor, I am interested in having ample interior space. Maybe 2000 square feet or 200 square meters. In the states, I have a 3-bedroom 1 and half bath with partial basement and an outdoor storage shed. After moving, I would sell my home in the states, so as to have a little money to live off of. I do not live in an area in the USA that will sell for much money, and my house is old and way overdue for a remodel, which I could never afford and I did not need. I want to obtain permanent residence or even citizen of Ecuador and obtain my 2nd passport.

Is now the time to move to Ecuador???? Things sre pretty stressful there.....