Tiny Homes in Costa Rica

2POSTS

9 years ago

Hello, my name is Leanne and currently live in AZ. My husband and I have talked about moving to Costa Rica for a few years now. We would like to know if anyone has any information about either building/buying a tiny home or the costs of having on shipped.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Leanne & Patrick

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kohlerias ViP

1572POSTS

9 years ago

Why bother with a 'tiny house' when you could build or buy a small cement block house for a decent price? Import duty and taxes would be high.

Living in a 'tiny space' would be very hot...

Some info on and 聽 here

thedomainbunny Member

2POSTS

9 years ago

You make good points. However, we like the idea of being able to up and move to another location.

kohlerias ViP

1572POSTS

9 years ago

You hit the proverbial 'nail on the head'.

If you could easily move it, so could anyone else...聽

聽 Theft is common here, and unless it was secured, you would have to have someone in it, 24/7. Leave things in plain sight in your vehicle or on your door step and they will soon be gone.

During the heavy rain you would need to have an extended roof to keep dry and protect from the sun.

You may have problems getting a permit and a vehicle to move it.聽

It is not like North America and there is very few camping or RV parks spots here.

You can rent an apt, condo or house and move around a lot easier.

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giniwishes Active member

41POSTS

9 years ago

Hi Leanne and Patrick,

I like the idea of a "tiny house".聽 I wouldn't bother聽 have it shipped.聽 You can have it built here.聽 You will need to adjust your building to the tropics.聽 Building prices are about 700 to 1000$ the square meter.聽 Of course, it depends on the material you use for building.聽 I would bring a house plan maybe.

You will love Costa Rica!聽 Gini

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samramon ViP

1338POSTS

9 years ago

You should look into using SIP panels. SIP panels such as Panacor's are lower priced and earthquake approved and lightweight and fast to build with - much faster (thus cheaper) than concrete blocks. You can build with SIPs for around $650 a square meter ($60/sq ft). Now that's FINISHED with ceramic floors, roof, cabinets, sink, plumbing, etc.
Of course YMMV but if you shop around I think you can get that.

(Beware of a particular Canadian builder who uses SIPS, and caused me and many others a lot of problems. Luckily I found out about his b.s. before I paid him a dime, but he cost me a lot of time and frustration.)

Anyway I highly recommend the SIPS over concrete but both are fine if you get a great price. A 50 sq mt SIP house can be built in 3 months, saving a lot of labor costs.

As for shipping containers and such, here, to live in, personally I can't imagine living in a metal house in tropical sunny Costa Rica; I can't imagine that it would not be worse than a pizza oven.聽 Granted I've never been in one.

Whatever you build, tightness of the walls (i.e. no air leaks) is crucial, especially in the lowland areas, where you'll probably need a.c., and INSULATION especially below the roof, is key.

Some people build tree houses and you can find examples on the net. In fact there is at least one community of them.

Shipping anything into Costa Rica is a roll of the dice as to how much they're going to charge you for import taxes and how much red tape you'll have to go through to get it. I'd avoid it.

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macmeda New member

7POSTS

9 years ago

Moderated by kenjee 9 years ago
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Meadow10 New member

7POSTS

7 years ago

Thank you for聽 the information regards to SIP panels . I am聽 searching for聽 a reliable and experience builder of SIP home in and or around Heredia area, any information will be appreciated.

samramon ViP

1338POSTS

7 years ago

Check with Panacor or other SIP sellers. They surely know some builders.

Meadow10 New member

7POSTS

7 years ago

#10

Thank you for your responsibility nose. I will contact PANACOR.

rubi2018 Member

2POSTS

7 years ago

#11

Hello, for that will you need a lot to place it? or what is the idea? best

macmeda New member

7POSTS

7 years ago

#12

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samramon ViP

1338POSTS

7 years ago

#13

Can you explain to me how containers, being made of pretty much all metal, are not like hot ovens, even with insulation?
I'm not saying they are hot, I'm just thinking they'd have to be... especially here near the equator.
Also the rain beating on all sides, wouldn't they be awfully loud?

Also it depends on where it has to go once it gets to the gulf... Someone I know just brought one here for storage and it cost him around $2500 just for transportation and placement.

I have no horse in this race, as they say. I don't sell sips nor represent them, but it seems to me a better option in terms of coolness of the house and cost of transportation, not to mention construction cost and time.

Also to answer a previous post, living in a tiny home like a small SIP panel home, has advantages. It's easier to keep clean and downsizing feels good. When we moved here we had to throw out tons of stuff that was just sitting in our closets for 20 years... And while at the time you're throwing it out or giving it away it feels a bit weird, afterwards we felt more free.

Also there is this:聽 Depends on where you live in Costa Rica but in general being broken into can be an issue, and I feel my humble home is much less likely to get broken into than a big 3 bedroom gringo style house. So again, a tiny home has advantages aside from costing less to build.

macmeda New member

7POSTS

7 years ago

#14

Nothing wrong with SIPs, but... container homes can be insulated just like any other home, with proper materials and installation. And refrigerated containers are another, even better, option. By the way, the cost of moving a 40ft high-cube container from San Jos茅 to my lots about 1,000 ft above Playa Hermosa south of Jac贸 (up a pretty steep hill) was about $400.00.

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samramon ViP

1338POSTS

7 years ago

#15

macmeda wrote:
Nothing wrong with SIPs, but... container homes can be insulated just like any other home, with proper materials and installation. And refrigerated containers are another, even better, option. By the way, the cost of moving a 40ft high-cube container from San Jos茅 to my lots about 1,000 ft above Playa Hermosa south of Jac贸 (up a pretty steep hill) was about $400.00.

Thanks for the info.
That's strange. I am not sure why then it cost my friend so much. Perhaps because the lot to put it on was not ready and he had issues with getting it down his narrow driveway. I think he had to hire the transport truck, a backhoe, and a crane to place it where he wanted it and it had to come up a very hilly dirt road as well.

I have no idea why it cost him so much other than that, but I do know that is what he paid. Maybe it depends on how big it is and who you buy it from?

macmeda New member

7POSTS

7 years ago

#16

We did not use a crane, $700.00 more, just a backhoe to help him up the hill, around tight corners, pull it off, then help him down hill, both the truck and the backhoe $400.00, The insulated containers have a better r-value then the sip company you talk about here.聽 Remember they load them up with around 60,000 pounds of merchandise, then stack them 6 high on a cargo vessel.

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samramon ViP

1338POSTS

6 years ago

#17

macmeda wrote:
We did not use a crane, $700.00 more, just a backhoe to help him up the hill, around tight corners, pull it off, then help him down hill, both the truck and the backhoe $400.00, The insulated containers have a better r-value then the sip company you talk about here.聽 Remember they load them up with around 60,000 pounds of merchandise, then stack them 6 high on a cargo vessel.

Can you tell me where you got this information: " The insulated containers have a better r-value then the sip company you talk about here."? And what is an r-value?

Would love to read any such information online that's not from a container promoter.

I still don't see how a house with metal on 4 sides can be as cool as a non-metal building, insulation or not. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the insulation is all that matters? But call me skeptical.

I did find this re using SIP panels TO INSULATE a container home:

"Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)

Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) are panels designed to provide both structure to walls as well as insulation.聽 They are mde with OSB panels, a foam core (or other material such as plywood, cement board, etc) and a connector piece for putting them together.聽 They are by far the strongest option here, and are widely used in modular homes.聽 I do not have any experience in using them, however, I think that the additional structural support might be useful in projects where large portions of the container are going to be cut out and additional structure needs to be added to the remaining walls.聽 The pros - they are very strong and provide a high r-factor.聽 The cons - they are expensive and heavy, which make them a little more difficult to work with."

So, unless I'm wrong, using SIP panels to insulate a container home would have a higher interior heat factor than a home built only from the same SIP panels, no?

In any case, a point to take from all this is that, especially in Costa Rica make sure you use PLENTY of insulation, especially under the roof and especially if you live in an area where you will require air conditioning, such as near the beach and near sea level.

I just happen to find this so am passing it along re shipping containers. This refers to shipping containers in use for shipping. Not sure if all shipping containers have this issue or not but many sites on google point to problems with toxicity in shipping containers:

So it just points out a concern and questions to ask about any shipping container you may want to buy and turn into a home.

macmeda New member

7POSTS

6 years ago

#18

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Bhavna Team

43467POSTS

6 years ago

#19

Hello everyone,

@ Macmeda, please reach out to the member through the private messaging system. Posting contact details + advertising is not allowed on the forum section.

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PanamaMark Member

1POSTS

6 years ago

#20

Hi Leanne & Patrick.

Just getting on expat.com now and noticed your post - I know it's a few years old, but thought I would check in and see if you are still on here and what you managed to discover about Tiny Home Communities in Central America. Let me know if you are still exploring the idea.

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samramon ViP

1338POSTS

6 years ago

#21

If you do an internet search, I think you will find a tree house community and I think it's in the southern zone, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it's a community with rules and things like that and they have to approve your design and so on. But it might be something similar to what you are looking for. I don't have the details... but I heard about it a few years ago and thought I'd like to go there to see it some time.

Laura Spiers Active member

26POSTS

4 years ago

#22

I was looking into this container builder at Playa Hermosa.聽 They are refrigerator containers with excellent insulation.聽 We were in Costa Rica last week and a guy across the street was building with one and said the temperature was always cool inside.聽

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samramon ViP

1338POSTS

4 years ago

#23

Laura, I really don't know much about container homes. But I do find it hard to believe that a container of METAL in the hot sun would not heat up like an oven. I guess it's possible that with enough insulation it may not... but it seems counter-intuitive to me.
Look into building with SIP panels instead. The walls/panels have a type of styrofoam inside which is good insulation and a hard surface on each side of the styrofoam.
They are lightweight, strong, anti-rust, anti-bugs, earthquake resistant and quick and easy and inexpensive to build with.
I've lived in mine for 6 years so far and I love it. We used Panacor in san Jose. We've had zero problems with them.
The tightness of the construction makes it great for air conditioning or a dehumidifer. Also no bugs can get in after you plug up any tiny holes where pipes come into the house, around windows and doors etc.

samramon ViP

1338POSTS

4 years ago

#24

Laura, I take back what I said about container homes above. It turns out a friend of mine was familiar with one of the refrigerated containers , and he told me that yes, the ones made for refrigeration are actually cool inside.

Someone above mentioned that they are hard to find a place to put them. Actually land in Costa Rica is very cheap and it shouldn't be hard to find a place to put one .
someone with a bunch of acres might just rent a space for you to put it and you would just have to build a septic tank and bring in the electricity and water. I think a lot of people-especially Ticos- would be willing to rent you a parking spot for a tiny home for a couple hundred dollars a month or less.

edwinemora Serial expat

514POSTS

4 years ago

#25

samramon........With that kind of information for Laura,you are setting her up for some huge problems ! To make those casual arrangements with Ticos,you are asking for it !

samramon ViP

1338POSTS

4 years ago

#26

edwinemora wrote:
samramon........With that kind of information for Laura,you are setting her up for some huge problems ! To make those casual arrangements with Ticos,you are asking for it !

Where did I say "casual arrangements"? That's your assumption. And your opinion.

Jaye989898 Member

1POSTS

2 years ago

#27

I would love to buy a small lot with a 900sq foot tiny home (all eatimations). The lot needed would be lass than 1/4 and acres. I'm looking to build with recycled materials, and certain wants, but mainly wood and windows, but must find a reliable builder. It would be stationary on the lot. Any information that could benefit my needs, is greatly appreciated. I need to find a lot, and builder, and would like to begin living there.

edwinemora Serial expat

514POSTS

2 years ago

#28

@Jaye989898...What you are describing is the standard Costa Rican/Tico dwelling.....Just buy one ! In the country side they are plentiful.....Make sure the dwelling has standards you can live with(excrement wafting Tico standard plumbing)......Basically this what your looking for, tiny home with a tiny waste disposal,for the attempted minimal investment in Costa Rica..