Introduction
The number one Costa Rica real estate and investment podcast, bringing you experts from all over Costa Rica.
Good morning, guys, and welcome to episode 279 of Costa Rica real estate and investments. This is actually a new podcast that we’re only doing once a month here, which is the development diaries here, which is where we basically, Jake actually in our office wanted to do it, which is interviewing actually me on some of our developments and also other developers in Costa Rica, which is just focused really more on kind of developing, building, design, all these kinds of things here and just kind of really giving you guys feedback on things to work out for. And, you know, I mean, challenges that we had and hurdles, et cetera, so that you can kind of learn from it.
So that’s what we’ll be talking about. Jake will actually be interviewing me about Via Xanadu, which is a five bedroom luxury villa in Arenal that we just did. Why we did it, how we did it, what we learned from it, you know, the good, the bad.
And yeah, and hopefully just kind of sharing some of that knowledge so that it can help you guys out there. Remember guys, if you are interested in project management here in Costa Rica, we actually have a project management division. I think we have about seven engineers in the whole company.
We manage about 15 home builds a year for clients. Everything from choosing the architect design program, getting involved from the start all the way through to the end guys as well. So if there’s any interest there, let us know.
You can just email us info at investing costa rica.com. That’s info at investing costa rica.com. Or if you want to, you can go to belongprojects.com, belongprojects.com.
And you can see some of the projects that we work on there guys as well. So we’re going to be doing this podcast once a month and just kind of updating you development diaries on kind of some of the projects that we’re working on. This one will be Via Xanadu and I think the next one will be probably the first three villas we did in Manuel Antonio.
And then we’ll talk about Villa 4, which we just completed and Villa 5 and 6, which is under construction here at the moment. So remember, if you need anything in Costa Rica guys, info at investing at costa rica.com. But let’s get straight into it.
Morning, Richard. Good morning. How are you doing, Jake?
Good, good. Thanks for joining me this morning. We’re kind of flipping the tables here.
Today we’re actually launching a new series called Costa Rica Developers Diary with real projects, real numbers, real lessons and delivered from the developer himself, you. So Richard, let’s get started. What is Villa Xanadu and why did this project matter to you?
What Villa Xanadu Is and Why It Matters
Richard Bexon
Well, I mean, Villa Xanadu is a five bedroom luxury villa in La Fortuna, Arenal. Why it mattered to me was just because again, I’ve spent the past four years or really 21 years analyzing tourism data through Costa Rica. And it’s amazing when I talk to my friends own hotels all over the country and just seeing growth and it’s Arenal is one of those areas that has constant year round occupancy.
The hotels have amazing average daily rates, but there really is no real estate market there. And I think, you know, we all get focused on the coastal areas and don’t really see what’s happening in the mountainous areas of Costa Rica. Because again, we have developments in many mountain areas of Costa Rica.
And they actually do sometimes better than the coastal areas. So that was it, you know, I think for me, why it mattered was it because it really brought together a, I mean, I suppose a thesis I had of if the hotels have high occupancy and have a high average daily rate, and there are low end vacation rentals that have high occupancy, but low average daily rate. Could I take some of that volume, you know, from those hotels and move it across to a luxury vacation rental?
And I can say, yes, it’s working like too well, Jake. You know, so yeah, that’s kind of why it mattered. And also it was like our first foray into La Fortuna.
You know, I used to own all the land where Zanadu was. I sold most of it off and then just realized that while buying and selling land in Costa Rica can be profitable, it’s just boring. It doesn’t add any, you know, the tide does not rise in Costa Rica on any front.
It’s just reselling land and like chasing dollars. And if I wanted that, I would have stayed, you know, in my last business rather than, you know, what my goal here is, is to, again, raise the tide of tourism in Costa Rica.
Timeline, Budget and Key Differentiators
Jake Alexander
So give us the like a 30,000 foot high level overview timeline budget and what made this bill different from what’s already available in La Fortuna?
Richard Bexon
Yeah, I mean, look, when we started, you know, I knew how much the land was. I knew roughly how much we could we do per square meter. So I kind of put together a, you know, a budget for it.
I mean, I think we’d done about 1.2 million dollars was the budget with the land and then the home. And then, you know, all of the architectural fees and insurance and everything that’s required in project management. So, you know, and I was basically trying to get it done in 18 months, but really a little bit sooner and more like 16 months.
We started September 2024 with funding and kind of designing. We started construction March 2025 and we’re finishing December 2025, which is really quick, guys, you know, and everyone was like, even one of the investors who bought three shares, who owns the country’s largest property management company, which was weird for me, one of the country’s largest property management companies investing in my projects, if that makes sense. But it was part of their, you know, their global plan and strategy was to have property all over Costa Rica and while they were focused in one area, they were like, look, we can leverage Richard, his knowledge and just his ability to fulfill that plan.
So he was even when we started in March, he was like, Rich, there’s no way you’re going to be ready in December. He just built a house, you know, it was 25% late. I think it was like three, four months late.
It was over budget, et cetera. And I was like, look, dude, obviously you don’t know, like this is what we do for a living. You know, we develop and build and we get stuff done on time and on budget.
So yeah, I mean, we started September 2024 with designs. We started permitting, you know, in kind of January time. We got those permits back in February.
We’d already gone to bidding in January. So by basically the time in February 2025 finished, we’d had our permits and we’d also gone to bidding. And then we started construction.
And, you know, I had a tight timeline with the construction company that we used. I knew that they were good because we used them before. And I was just very clear with them, guys, I will penalize you if the house is not ready because I have clients arriving December 20th.
And I know that that drives my team nuts that I like say, we’re going to open this date and I start pre-selling it. But like, there’s nothing worse than a project without a deadline, dude. Or like, it’s roughly this date.
It’s like, no, it needs to be done by this date. You know, and I’d love to put that pressure and create that for myself, unfortunately, hence all the gray hairs. And also the team as well, you know.
But I think it allows you, you know, like in war, technology kind of comes out of it, you know. And that’s probably, you know, the second world war, atomic bomb, jets, you know, those kinds of things. When you put those time straights, people seem to think a little bit differently.
Jake Alexander
Why does a nine and a half month construction timeline turn heads here, especially actually getting it done, not projected, but actually finishing?
Richard Bexon
Well, because everyone just knows of like, you know, it’s just kind of like a rough idea, you know, but our projects get done on time, man. Because again, the contract states and we use reputable, you know, builders. I mean, there are builders here that will say, again, we’re about to start a build.
And I remember someone saying, yeah, I can get that done in three months. And I was like, I’m setting you up for failure. I know you’re not going to get it done.
And like, yeah, just, yeah. I mean, look, it usually takes 10 to 12 months to build a house in Costa Rica of a decent size. Once you’ve been in it long enough and like everybody will tell you what you want to hear here.
You know, they’ll tell you, no, we can get it done in six months, seven months, eight months. It’s like, no way. You’re not going to get it done in that time.
And it doesn’t matter what you do. You’re just setting yourself up for failure, for disappointment. They’re going to fall behind.
They’re going to miss payments. Well, yeah, it’s just, you know, but like this project we had, I was on it in most of the meetings. I had a project manager, Sophia, in my office on it.
Plus there was a, the construction engineer, Ronald was on site every day. Plus also there was a foreman. And again, we were meeting once a week as a team and twice a week, you know, on more detailed stuff.
And as we got towards the end, you know, I mean, the whole team then would meet every other day as we were there at the end, you know, with a final punch list. So, you know, a lot of it just came down to discipline, Jake, which is creating a timeline. The, you know, and having that, the project is only as good as the plan on it.
So we had like a whole plan of what needed delivers when with like major milestones and when they needed delivered. And we just basically followed that of like, how are we to that? What percentage are we?
What’s holding us back? What’s not? You know, we had weather issues and sometimes a little bit of material issues that we need to, you know, make decisions on.
But that’s why I was in the meeting a lot of the time as the client, because I was the client, just being like, guys, forget it. Just keep going. Guys, make this change.
Let’s move. Like just move and make decisions quickly.
Jake Alexander
Why, so why Arnall and why now? I mean, you’ve been in tourism here for 20 plus years. You’ve seen it.
Like, why is now the time for what you’re, we’re developing up there?
Why Arenal, Market Context and Cashflow
Richard Bexon
Um, look, I mean, it could have been done, you know, a couple of years back, Jake. But I think for me, it was just having the headspace in order to do it and just kind of getting all the knowledge that we had on all the team together. You know, we’re at 30 people now here, you know, within Belong Costa Rica, you know, from a construction company to property management, to project management, to investment advising.
You know, I mean, we have many facets, but we’re like, we’re integrated from start to finish. And I really wanted to make sure that we were integrated from start to finish, Jake, that we could manage the whole thing from start to finish before starting. Um, you know, and I just, I’m at that point in life now.
Like, if you’d have asked me in my 20s or 30s, I would have just run head, you know, straight into it. My friends are like, you know, heart surgery, Rich can do that. Like, there’s not much that like, he can’t figure out in a way to do.
And they kind of joke. But I wanted to just make sure that, you know, I had the experience and the knowledge in order to be able to do it. I mean, timing, I try not to time markets or anything, Jake.
It’s just, I look at cashflow and go, okay, guys, is the data there to support cashflow? Because if the cashflow is there, then when the next person comes to buy it, there is a logic behind the beauty and the emotion of Costa Rica in our now. But what really was, look, and we caught a wave as well.
Post pandemic, we have hotels like Nyada charging over 1500 bucks a night. You know, we have the Springs in their five bedroom villa with no kitchen charging $5,000 a night. You know, the Tabacon just got sold for 111 million.
You know, Enjoy Group just bought Royal Carin. So there’s a lot of stuff happening up there. And Nyada just bought a Hot Springs resort next door to them as well.
So, you know, most of the owners are my friends as well. People that I’ve known for many years. So it’s kind of that knowledge plus the tourism demand knowledge, plus also real estate values and the build.
The build up there is cheaper than it is at the beach because the team doesn’t need to move. I mean, there are great builders up there as well. You just need to know, you just need to find them, you know, and then be on top of them, you know.
So, you know, the saying, while the cat’s away, the mice will play. You know, you need a cat on the project and that’s usually the engineer. And then the project manager, you know, watching the engineer, if that makes sense.
And like everybody’s at different points. The, you know, the worker is seeing what’s in front of him. The foreman is seeing what’s happening today.
The engineer is seeing what’s happening in the week. And the project manager is seeing what’s happening in a month. And I’m seeing everything from, you know, probably six months out, because I’m there from, you know, the design all the way through to when are we doing permitting, to the bid and then also out the cash flowing and raising the money to do it.
Because Jake, we actually with this did a fractionalized. We split it up into $100,000 shares, 12, $100,000 shares, and basically had investors that we’d known. And I mean, it sold out in like three days, of course, because most of our projects do.
And I like that model a little bit, Jake, because it gives people $100,000 doesn’t buy you anything in Costa Rica. It gets you that. We guarantee them.
I wouldn’t say guarantee because there is no guarantee, but based on cashflow is, you know, they get dividends at the end of the year. And because we’re able to connect to our luxury network and create that cashflow, it really drives up the value of the real estate. But going back to your point, Arenal real estate is really immature.
It’s not like all the beach areas is mature. Like there’s a remix up there, but they’re not really moving, dude. I mean, two Costa Rica real estate is over there on the lake a little bit, you know, but it’s not that there is no established kind of main brand in La Fortuna, which is weird.
It’s still run very locally, like the beach areas used to be done. At some point that will change. You know, David Carr, who we get here on the podcast, is always like, Rich, should we do it?
And I might do it like, I don’t want to set up a real estate business. I’m not in the world of real estate. I’m a developer and investment advisor and like, you know, now in construction and property management.
But yeah, there’s just a lot of opportunity up there, Jake. And, you know, there’s flat land, there’s land on hills and creeks. And like, it’s just, it’s just very, and it’s beautiful, man.
I mean, it’s lush all year round, tons of wildlife. That volcano is stunning, hot springs. But I think it comes down to, Jake, is this is what I always say.
When you want a beach destination in Costa Rica, how many options are there? Tons of them, right? When you want a mountain location, how many options are there?
Not really that many. Like Monteverde, okay, cool. It’s jungle, you know, it’s cloud rainforest, but it’s not got hot springs, it’s not got rivers, it’s not got an active volcano, it’s not got a lake, like, you know, and Arenal has kind of come out as the adventure destination of Costa Rica.
So if you want a whitewater raft, you either go to the southern area of Costa Rica or you’re up in Arenal, really. You know, so it’s just that, and it’s occupancies all year round because it’s that, because normally people are coming for, I think in the travel agency, 70% of our clients went to Arenal and then went to the beach. So if I say 50% of all clients coming to Costa Rica go to a mountain location in the beach and there aren’t that many mountain locations, it just continues to scream to me, you know.
And I may be nuts, Jake, in the idea of building multi-million dollar homes because we’re about to build even more up there. And again, anyone that’s interested, I’m sure our contact details are in the description down below, but we’re about to do, you know, a major project up there in real estate. But yeah, it’s, again, it has the cashflow and I always come back to that, Jake.
Is the cashflow there? Because ultimately anyone coming to buy something, it’s probably not a lifestyle thing. I mean, it’s like, I’m just going to live in it all the time.
It’s, I’m going to live in it a couple of weeks or use it here and there. I’m diversifying. Does it produce cashflow?
And does it beat the market and some of my other investments? And the answer is yes, it does.
Jake Alexander
I think even for people that are investing, when they say that it’s like a lifestyle, anytime you start moving towards lifestyle, you start moving away from return. And this is one of those things where it’s like, it’s reality of you get returns, you get usage, you get discounted usage other times of the year. And like, it draws the line between investment and lifestyle and something that you can actually use.
Boutique Vision and Product Positioning
Richard Bexon
Well, look, I mean, Jake, my bigger philosophy is this. What made Costa Rica and that Puerto Vida, like feeling that we have, that no artificial ingredients, was the 80s and 90s of these pirates and nomads and hippies kind of coming into Costa Rica, building boutique hotels, if that made sense, developments. The thing is now the numbers don’t work.
So what’s happening in Costa Rica is all these large resorts and the large resorts are coming are high-end, Ritz Carlton, one and only, Wardorf Astoria, like it’s bringing a different type of clientele. The thing is that clientele also wants experiential travel and you’re not getting that in those resorts. And I don’t think it’s raising the tide generally of all of Costa Rica.
It’s because people stay in those resorts and they’re stuck in those resorts. So I’m like, okay, I believe Costa Rica is losing its Puerto Vida-ness, like it’s what makes it unique because of that boutiqueness. The thing is the numbers don’t work to do a boutique hotel today because of all the staffing and et cetera.
But there is this world where people want villas, they want hotel services in a boutique environment. And that’s really what we’re bringing together there, Jake. So we build basically and developing boutique developments throughout Costa Rica.
Xanadu, which we’re talking about here, is kind of the first step of that in Arenal. And my theory has now been proven to run out and do a lot bigger project, still boutique in Arenal.
Jake Alexander
When you start this project, so you had the land, design started, what rules did you give the architect?
Working with the Architect and Design Rules
Richard Bexon
I’m a bit of a control freak, Jake. So the architect that we use had worked with me for a little bit before, but what I gave him was this. I said, the house needs to be around this size and this is our budget.
This is how many bedrooms it needs. Go nuts. And I didn’t say anything else from that, okay?
Because what I try not to do is, architects are artists and I try not to define them the size of the cat. Well, I don’t tell them what materials to use, et cetera. I go, this is the canvas that you have to work on, paint me something beautiful.
Then they come back and go, and then I usually go, and the reason I do that though, Jake, is because they might come up with something that I haven’t thought about, okay? And then I bring the reality in, which is, okay, for this to be a vacation rental, sometimes its function needs to follow its form and form function. So I’d look at stuff like storage and laundry rooms and social areas, but also climate.
Arenal has very strong sun and very strong rain and it sometimes raids sideways. So when they came back to the first design, the eaves weren’t big enough. The outside space wasn’t covered enough.
The bedrooms were good. The overall design was okay. Some of the materials, I was like, guys, that’s a maintenance nightmare.
We’re getting rid of that. And of course it was bigger than what I asked for, which is typical. We were building a 600 square meter, 7,000 square foot home, give or take.
And they came back at like 800 square meters, which is nearly 9,000 square feet. But anyway, we just kind of played around with the stuff. But my philosophy was, rooms don’t need to be amazing.
They’re still nice and room parity. And I didn’t say that, but once we went back, we bought parity the rooms in four of them and then one bunk room as well. But also it was back of office stuff, laundry, food storage, because we do breakfast, which is very different.
And then also the element of fun and social areas that you can basically use when it’s raining and at nighttime. So fun from the point of slide, pool, jacuzzi, sunken living room, barbecue areas, social areas. I was trying to create areas where people kind of hang out and have experiences with always having that volcano view, because it’s a stunning volcano view.
But also from the point of view, if you have kids, if kids are happy, parents are happy. So how do we do that and make the house kind of fun from that aspect? And that’s, the bunk room is pretty cool to hang out in.
It’s got two queen size beds with single bunk rooms, bunks over it. And then also is again, like that sunken living room area where people can kind of chill out, or if they want to be up at the barbecue area, they can, or if they want to be in the jacuzzi at night or during the day with a view, and they can kind of just jump between these areas and people can kind of peel off. And then from a material aspect, Jake, just something I just didn’t need to maintain.
So just guys, no exposed woods. If we’re going to use it, let’s use a wood plastic composite and just making areas kind of large and a little bit more open and versatile that if we needed to move stuff out, we could and, but yeah, and back office and storage, which is most things that most people don’t think about.
Jake Alexander
And why, from like a design standpoint, you know, everyone, the like beach, modern architecture is pretty popular in Costa Rica. Like what drove the decision for the materials and as well as the design to fit the area?
Materials, Climate and Maintenance Choices
Richard Bexon
I mean, look, some of the materials was actually driven by the architect. He wanted to try this like Japanese burnt wood, which is basically by where you take wood, you kind of oil it, then burn it, and then oil it and burn it. And I’m like, that’s great, dude, but nobody knows how to do it here.
I’m not going to be a guinea pig for it, but there is a black wood plastic composite that will look exactly the same and do exactly the same. And I don’t need to maintain it. So that’s what we chose kind of on that front.
You know, and then just eaves, like wide eaves, just so that sun didn’t come blaring in and we were using tons of AC, it’s not very sustainable. And like, again, like non-slip tile throughout the whole house. I don’t like when some of it’s non-slip and some of it is because nobody knows sometimes, and then they just run in and crack their head.
And just the ability to open everything up, Jake, like you can open all these windows and doors and they just disappear. And so you have this inside outside element. But I mean, we put more money, I would say, into the outdoor areas and the kitchen than we did the actual bedrooms and the other areas as well.
You know, I mean, we used wallpaper in the bedrooms, you know, because it’s a good way to use stuff, but we didn’t do too fancy in the bathrooms and the bedrooms. It’s still beautiful, don’t get me wrong. The kitchen, we did spend a lot of money on.
And also the outdoor areas, pool, swimming pool, jacuzzis, you know, sunken living room area. We kind of focused there. And at concrete as well, we used a lot of, you know, concrete throughout the whole house just from an insulation point of view was very good.
And, you know, they were talking about using this MKS, which is like this, you know, it’s styrofoam in a mesh and then spraying on concrete. And I was like, dude, that sounds great, but not many people know how to use it here in Costa Rica. We’ve had experience with it.
But if the construction company doesn’t really understand it, like don’t try and be their first guinea pig, man. So I just try to stay kind of pretty safe if that makes sense, Jake. But we were going for more of a, we used kind of black a little bit on this one, you know, because of the volcanic rock and what was around us.
And then just kept it very plain because outside is all very green, you know? So, yeah.
Jake Alexander
From the budget standpoint, when you’re 1.3 all in, where do you find that people usually underestimate? And, you know, you kind of mentioned this before, but maybe dive a little bit deeper of where you intentionally spent a lot more.
Budget, Hidden Costs and Where Money Went
Richard Bexon
Well, look, I mean, I think budget is, you know, you buy a piece of land, which also has like four to 5% expenses on it with all your studies. And then, you know, the institutional transaction fees here. The one thing people don’t understand here is, you know, it’s all of the design and then some of the studies that are required, you know, and something that doesn’t get involved, Jake, a lot of the time is the actual infrastructure, you know?
And we actually had to invest more in infrastructure than we thought as well, just because of the rain. And the way, like sometimes, nobody thinks about infrastructure. They think about the house and everything, but they don’t think about then water control afterwards, entranceways, gates, gardening, all these kinds of things, you know, these kinds of expenses.
The good thing is this wasn’t our first rodeo and we had an interior designer, you know, we had the architect, et cetera. But, yeah, I mean, look, the cost per square meter of the house is what it is, but then you’ve got to think about furniture, you know, like I think in furniture, we spent nearly $100,000 on furniture on the house, you know, because it’s all custom-made wood throughout in some areas, like concrete tables, those kinds of things, Jake. There were some decisions that we made for stuff because it was acting more as a hotel than it was a home to live in.
You know, I probably wouldn’t have a concrete home in my own home. In a vacation rental, it’s great because it cleans very easy and very difficult to chip. You know, the bad thing is you can’t really move it because it’s a concrete table, but it’s solid.
And just like from beds and linens and everything, you know, more hotel-style decisions were made there, like sofas and things using certain materials that are, you know, a little bit more durable. But like, again, after 21 years in Costa Rica, having owned a boutique hotel, vacation rentals and stuff, I know where to spend the money and where not to spend money on certain things. Like, for instance, fixtures and fittings, I didn’t go really high end with them, Jake, because the client won’t know the difference between like an okay brand, not an okay brand, but like what an okay shower looks like and what an amazing $20,000 shower looks like.
And to be honest with you, you should wow clients on the outside because that’s the whole idea of Costa Rica. They want to be wowed inside. Look, there are tons of homes in the US for that.
People want to be wowed on the outside in those social areas. And that’s where we spent a lot more money. And the kitchen as well, because the interior designer really pushed me on it.
And I knew at some point, Jake, I’m going to have to sell the house in the future. So I wanted to make sure it had a kick-ass kitchen.
Jake Alexander
What upgrades did you add that you think directly impact the nightly rate?
Upgrades That Drive Nightly Rate
Richard Bexon
Well, the jacuzzi, heated jacuzzi, Jake. There was talk about not doing a heated jacuzzi. I think that one did.
We spent quite a bit of money on that jacuzzi. The heating system, using a much quicker heating system, much more efficient system, and then lighting in there. I made the terrace bigger.
It’s weird because when we designed this house, I could have just done a box, but I didn’t want a box because that’s boring. I don’t ever want to do anything boring. We kind of had one layer and then the other upper layer above it, which created then an open area underneath, which is where we put a lot of the social area.
Because again, it rains sideways. So I wanted to make sure that clients could still use these social areas even when it was raining and didn’t have to retreat inside, which we did. Repeat the question again, Jake, sorry.
Jake Alexander
Just any upgrades that you added to get the nightly rate higher.
Richard Bexon
I mean, just an upgrade hiring an interior designer from the beginning, Jake, which is not cheap. I think when it came to stuff that clients were sitting on or stuff that they could touch and feel, if we thought that we could do a little bit better, we did. The main door as well, I don’t know why I’m just obsessed with entrances and main doors.
We spent a lot of money. And landscaping, Jake, we spent a fortune on landscaping as well because that’s kind of part of the experience. Where we saved a bit of money was on tiling, floor tiles, pool tiles, that kind of stuff.
It needs to look good and not look cheap. I think it would scare, not scare some people, but they’d be like, really? You spent that amount on floor tile?
That’s not expensive at all. And I was like, yeah, because then we spent money on windows and doors and towels and bedding. And where we did spend money, Jake, was actually on staff and its training and that experience that clients have and making sure that we recruited the right people for that just because the staff is so vital in that experience.
We bought an expensive barbecue. I’m trying to think what other stuff. Do we put TVs in all the rooms?
And we had decided yes, just because clients probably do want to watch a movie and that sometimes retreat to their own space. The slide? I mean, the slide, yeah.
Slide was like nearly $7,000 and the unit, the thing to build it on and stuff. But I knew that clients like that would make it unique and I’m going to have to find something unique because I’m almost sure other people are going to start to copy me with the slide. Again, as I said, kids are happy, parents are happy.
But at the end of the day, the parents actually get involved in the slide. And how often do you go to a vacation rental that has a slide? Yeah, so yeah.
Jake Alexander
For the construction, I mean, nine and a half months in Costa Rica is not typical. What system or systems made that possible?
Project Management Systems and Team
Richard Bexon
The team, the project manager, Jake, like discipline. Again, we project manage about 15 builds for our clients. We do our own stuff, but we also do it for clients as well because we kind of from there we see so much stuff that we’re able to like save clients time and money as well as ourselves.
But it was, again, we had a project manager who was dedicated to the project as all of our clients are. We had the discipline to meet at least once a week and when it became necessary twice a week and when it became necessary every day, Jake. In the final delivery, we were meeting every day at eight and at 12 to basically run through to see where stuff was coming up, any issues and just how to solve them.
And some of the stuff I was like, guys, forget it, not important, move on, if that made sense. And also for the stakeholder to kind of be involved in that process as well. But we had, and this is typical for our projects, we have a project manager, we have an onsite engineer who’s from the construction company, and then also the foreman as well.
And they are usually meeting at least once a week to go over deliverables for that week and also timelines. But like when we start any project, we have a budget, we have a development timeline as well of when certain milestones will be delivered. And then we’re just talking about those milestones, what’s stopping us, what we need to have, our materials on site, those kinds.
It’s the same as any project, Jake. It’s no different than delivering, I don’t know, a piece of software as it is at home. Just physically you can touch,
, you know, things and actually see houses being built, etc. But yeah, I mean, it was just like, our stuff does get built on time, we’re not usually late, if that makes sense. But because this is not our first rodeo, and you know, a lot of the time clients are like, look, I don’t want to pay your fees.
And it’s like, dude, and they end up coming to us halfway through the project anyway, saying, hey, we’re way behind, we’re over budget, those kind of things, you know, so I always like to say that we’re like the tiger rock that, like, you know, kind of keeps the tigers away. So yeah, but I think it’s just, look, it’s discipline, Jake, which most stuff comes down to discipline, discipline and planning. Yeah, you know, even the company was like, wow, you guys are really on top of all this, you know, and I love it when a construction company and even the architect is like, Rich, I love working with you guys, because everything is so organized.
Jake Alexander
If someone remembers one structural decision from the build, what should it be?
Structural Lessons and Quality Control
Richard Bexon
Man, I remember, God, the plumbing guys came in and drilled through the H beams in order for the plumbing, which like degrades its integrity. And it was like, my God, who? That was just a lack of coordination, you know, between the plumbing team that came in and the structural team, like you don’t drill through H beams, dude, like you just don’t do it.
And so we had to reinforce that. You know, that was one. And another thing is, which nobody ever gets done is we also test the integrity of the concrete being poured.
And it was a little bit less than we were looking for. So they had to put kind of a hardener on it in order to get it to the level that we wanted to. And that was a backwards and forwards negotiation, you know, getting credit from the concrete company and stuff.
But nobody does that. They just usually just pour the concrete and that’s it. But structurally, we review like how good the concrete is, you know, and we’ve had it before, Jake, where we’ve had people just knock it all down and do it again, you know, and in our contracts with our construction companies, and also the concrete companies is that it must reach this standard.
Yeah, man, I was at my friend’s house the other day, they’re building next door, and they’re doing the foundation with like a, the mixer on site. Yeah, I mean, it’s going to be so many different stages that that concrete is going to be in, it’s going to be a nightmare, dude. You know, it’s going to be patchy, different quality.
Yeah, I mean, you need to pour it all at once. In terms of, you know, everything you learned from going through this project, what lesson saved you the most money? And which one, you know, can hurt the most?
Um, saved me the most money, I think. Look, a decision that made me was not spending a fortune on floor tiling, because the, you know, we needed like 600 square meters of floor tile, you know, architects will spend 50 to $100 a square meter on floor tile, you know, we spent 25, you would not know the difference, dude, you would not know the difference, we got it on offer. It’s a beautiful floor tile, anti-slip.
So we did that. I think also just making the decision to have, you know, I could have probably done the build a little bit cheaper, Jake. But having the on-site engineer there full time, and also the project manager from my side, you know, there was just, I think, very imperative.
And also is we outsource the labor for the build to a local provider. And we’re just on top of them and also made sure the contract was very smart in deliverables, etc. But they were great as well.
I mean, it’s like a lot of it just comes back to just making sure you’ve got a great team, Jake, it really does. So like, don’t, you know, for $40,000 on a, you know, $1.3 million build, like don’t be cheap. You know, I mean, that’s like, what, like 3% of the overall project, you know, but it got done on time.
And then I’ve already made that back in rentals. Yeah. So speaking of rentals, I mean, the villa opened on December 20th.
Yep. Tell me about, you know, how much was already pre-sold and based on the people who have been there, what did the early performance confirm or surprise you? Well, look, Jake, I mean, I always say that I’m cheating just because, you know, I used to be a co-owner in the largest luxury travel company in Latin America and know, you know, the majority of the owners of all the other travel companies.
So it’s very easy for me to integrate. I mean, before we even opened doors, you know, we had $300,000 of future reservations on the books, which is nuts. You know, you know, we were at 60% occupancy through the year, even before we’d started, which is, it doesn’t happen.
Even my buddy who we build a house for an hour an hour was like, Rich, how are you able to do this? And I’m like, dude, this is what I do for a living, you know? So like, this is what I do.
But yeah, I mean, look, we are fully booked. I think we’ve got a couple of gaps here and there in January and maybe a couple of nights in Feb, but then from there, you know, it’s fully booked out. But yeah, and, you know, we sold based on renders, but it looks exactly like the renders.
And that’s what clients said. This looks exactly the same as the renders, but it’s even better. And that’s what everyone says about our projects.
You know, everyone’s always like, oh, it’s not built yet. And I’m like, look, here’s a folder with all the pictures in throughout the whole build. This is our company.
Like you can go belong costa rica.com and you can see our projects and how we get it done. Like when we don’t upset clients, because it only takes one bad review, you know? And client reviews have been great, man.
I mean, they love the place. They love its spaciousness. It’s bigger than they thought.
It’s more comfortable than they thought. And they always rave about the staff, you know? And I think that that’s it, Jake, of like, that interaction culturally with staff is really important.
And that’s what makes us different than most Airbnbs is you just turn up and that’s it. Like, no, like there is a full-time househost on site. There’s a full-time concierge for you, you know?
And you get to interact with these people. Last question. Looking back, what part of the project are you most proud of?
Go on, man. I think really all of it, to be honest with you, Jake. I mean, it’s very difficult to say one part.
I mean, proud of? I mean, delivering it on time with the team that we had. It was just, it was a really easy project, Jake.
But I think it’s because we had a great team on it. That’s what I’m most proud of, I think. It’s just, it was an easy project because the team that we had on it was amazing, you know?
Had a great engineer in Ronald, had a great project manager in Sophia, a great interior designer in Sadie, you know? The construction company was great. Alonzo the foreman was amazing, you know?
It was just a really good team, Jake. And I don’t know how people sometimes come down and build and develop in Costa Rica, where they just choose one random person, you know? It’s like throwing like chicken bones and figuring it out.
And then they don’t and it costs them a lot of money. I just don’t understand. They wouldn’t do it at home.
Or maybe they would because they know there’s recourse, but there’s no recourse here, man. Like, we see so many projects that we have to take over where it’s like, hey, we’re 60% through the project, but the 100% of the budget’s gone. And it’s like, well, why did you give the guy money when the project wasn’t at a certain milestone?
Like, you don’t do that, you know? So yeah, I mean, it’s just had a really good team, Jake. Awesome.
Well, this was fun. The first entry we have for Costa Rica Developers Diary. If people want to explore via Xanadu or talk development strategy, where should they go?
I’ll put all the contact details down in the description because, yeah, this is like our normal podcast that we put out here. So it’s always good, you know, to kind of mix it up as well. But all of the contact details as well as via Xanadu’s contact details will be in down below.
But yeah, that’s it. All right, great. Well, hey, thanks for joining and flipping the script today.
That was fun. Not at all. Thanks very much, Jacob.
Weird for me to give the summary here of the podcast that we did there from Jake. But, you know, as I say, with most things in Costa Rica, it’s only as good as the people that you have on it, whether that’s investing and buying property here in Costa Rica, developing, building, or even operating, it’s only as good as the team that’s on it. So yeah.
I hope you’re enjoying the podcast, guys. And again, if you need any help with anything in Costa Rica, guys, we have a huge Rolodex. You just email us info at investing at costa rica.com or our contact details are down in the description down below. Quite a few of you have been reaching out with just, hey, Rich, can you help me with this? Can you help me with that? And yeah, we’re more than happy to help, guys, with anything.
We’re a sucker for helping people. Please, you’re never bothering us. Yes, we’re busy, but we’ll find the time to help people.
It’s how we started this business and why we started it, which was to help people here in Costa Rica. So yeah, again, info at investing at costa rica.com. Thanks very much for your time and we’ll see you on the next podcast.
