fjack Posted October 10, 2021 Report Share Posted October 10, 2021 New to Lake Chapala area and looking at renovating a home in the area. Does anyone have experience or knowledge of an architect or construction company in the area they can recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vista lake Posted October 11, 2021 Report Share Posted October 11, 2021 I have one I can recomended, he realible English, he can make the home inspection, and make an estimate, he can have the permits you need, and he can answer all the questions you have, Hes name is Raul, you can contac at 3314451634, if you want more refences, send me a PM, greetings. Susan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dichosalocura Posted October 11, 2021 Report Share Posted October 11, 2021 Vista Lake is not representing Raúl, he is Raúl or Ruly as some call him. He is not trustworthy, be warned. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vista lake Posted October 11, 2021 Report Share Posted October 11, 2021 8 hours ago, dichosalocura said: Vista Lake is not representing Raúl, he is Raúl or Ruly as some call him. He is not trustworthy, be warned. Is Rau! You can find in lake chapala area, Rudy he is marmol specialist, or Rury he is a contractor from ajijic, Raul Gonzales, is the name of the person I said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudgirl Posted October 11, 2021 Report Share Posted October 11, 2021 Vista Lake instantly replies to every post regarding construction recommendations, has done for years, does not ever participate in any other conversations. It is pretty obvious that they are promoting themselves, under false pretenses of a "recommendation". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honorandfaith Posted October 24, 2021 Report Share Posted October 24, 2021 I recommend that you join the FB group, Construction at Lake Chapala, lots of great warnings and recommendations. I can tell you several people NOT to use. Some advertise heavily in the Guad Reporter ( not that they are responsible for their advertisers business practices). So PM me if you like. There are great perils here. It's not what you think. Take it from this lady who has several year of experience restoring historic homes in the US! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeside7 Posted October 25, 2021 Report Share Posted October 25, 2021 Well another subject with a BIG can of worms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nessa Posted November 20, 2021 Report Share Posted November 20, 2021 I can recommend you my architect, Juan Carlos, that is finishing 7 apartments for me. He also speaks English. He's from Mexico City and has done big projects for Bimbo, Coca Cola, Costco. I hired another architect from Guadalajara before him and I ended up with so many issues with leaks and structural problems. The guy took the deposit money and left me with a huge mess. He also won't answer the phone anymore. Juan Carlos has done an amazing job at cleaning up the mess he left and he's also now a full time resident of Chapala. Here's his contact info: Chapala.arq@gmail.com +52 333 371 0213 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timjwilson Posted November 20, 2021 Report Share Posted November 20, 2021 On 10/24/2021 at 2:59 PM, Honorandfaith said: I recommend that you join the FB group, Construction at Lake Chapala, lots of great warnings and recommendations. I can tell you several people NOT to use. Some advertise heavily in the Guad Reporter ( not that they are responsible for their advertisers business practices). So PM me if you like. There are great perils here. It's not what you think. Take it from this lady who has several year of experience restoring historic homes in the US! "Membership in this group is allowed with **careful vetting**. To apply you MUST have an actual FB profile page, thoroughly read and answer ALL the questions and SUB QUESTIONS to join this group." - Isn't this a little overboard? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Cartero Posted June 1, 2022 Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 Anybody have recommendations for Architect Oscar Chavez Orozco of Lake Chapala.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 If you are new make sure you have a RFC number and ask for facturas for everything because all the cost of the work you are going to do can be deducted from your profit later on when you resale. It is not always easy to get the facturas but get them no matter what. First get the RFC and the constancia fiscal if you do not have that. All the material has IVA on it so the stores have to give facturas if you ask It gets tougher with the worker but if you have an architect or a contractor just do not hire them if they do not give you facturas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyjillin Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 1 hour ago, bmh said: If you are new make sure you have a RFC number and ask for facturas for everything because all the cost of the work you are going to do can be deducted from your profit later on when you resale. It is not always easy to get the facturas but get them no matter what. First get the RFC and the constancia fiscal if you do not have that. All the material has IVA on it so the stores have to give facturas if you ask It gets tougher with the worker but if you have an architect or a contractor just do not hire them if they do not give you facturas I have had extensive renos done many times and all I require is a written quote and payment schedule. I don't give a rats arse about resale 'cause we're willing it to our heirs.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneyBee Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 My name is HoneyBee not heirs please update your will. Thanks 😊 1 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 El Cartero did not state whether the architect is required for a remodel or new construction. First, you should be aware that asking for official facturas will jack the price up on EVERYTHING. Secondly (and most important if it's NEW construction), I would suggest a local REPUTABLE accountant to do the IMSS on the workers and make sure that the accountant provides you with official statements of payment EVERY month. If you cannot PROVE that you made those payments, you will be unable to register the house to the property since IMSS has to provide the AOK that you have made the payments. IMSS measuring a house after build (insidelakeside.com) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudgirl Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 43 minutes ago, Ferret said: If you cannot PROVE that you made those payments, you will be unable to register the house to the property My neighbor had an architect/builder who collected the money for the building permits and IMSS payments from her, and totally faked the receipts. Then he disappeared and she had to pay it all over again. You are correct regarding it costing a lot more usually if you want official facturas. I suppose it depends on the building project and resale price- if one is under the limit to pay capital gains, it may not be necessary to have facturas to deduct. When I built my house, I had no architect and no contractor- I had a small crew of local guys, and I bought all the materials myself. So it ended costing me much less than what I would have paid had I had a contractor, who not only would have charged me for his own cut in addition to the workers', contractors add on a percentage to the materials cost as well. Needless to say I didn't get any facturas from the crew. I realize, though, that many people know zero about construction and don't speak Spanish, so trying to run the show themselves wouldn't be feasible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 When we built on the coast, we had a lot of construction and remodeling experience under our belts. And, it was absolutely useless here because construction in Mexico is totally different than NOB stick construction. When we got a phone call in August from the contractor about bricks we were really wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. He wanted to buy the bricks THEN to be reserved for when construction started in October. He had been given a tip about the price going up and that proved to be very accurate. He was wonderful to work with. He would tell us when he needed certain materials like tile, doors, windows etc. and we found, bought and stored them so there was no dead time waiting for stuff. On time, on budget. A totally excellent experience with a great builder. Also didn't owe a dime to IMSS to get our finiquito because of an excellent accountant in Bucerias. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudgirl Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 Yes, the construction techniques were totally different here than in Canada, but I had done quite a bit of rock and tile work in Canada on my own place, so I was familiar with cement and concrete. And in fact, I actually knew a lot more about mixing up cement than my crew did, even though they have been doing that work for years. They do it like their daddy did it and their grandpa before him, but don't actually know anything about the chemical process involved. So they do things like mix up a batch of cement, then break for breakfast for an hour, and then add water to the mix that has already started to set up. or they mix up more than the maestros can use before it starts to set up, so they are adding water to the cement in their hods. You never add any thing to the mix after the first 10 minutes after it has slaked- that makes the cement weaker. So I tried to kibosh that stuff early on. They thought I was nuts, but there are cracks in all the stuff they did and none in the rock and tile work I did. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrB Posted April 9, 2023 Report Share Posted April 9, 2023 On 6/2/2022 at 11:48 AM, Ferret said: When we built on the coast, we had a lot of construction and remodeling experience under our belts. And, it was absolutely useless here because construction in Mexico is totally different than NOB stick construction. When we got a phone call in August from the contractor about bricks we were really wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. He wanted to buy the bricks THEN to be reserved for when construction started in October. He had been given a tip about the price going up and that proved to be very accurate. He was wonderful to work with. He would tell us when he needed certain materials like tile, doors, windows etc. and we found, bought and stored them so there was no dead time waiting for stuff. On time, on budget. A totally excellent experience with a great builder. Also didn't owe a dime to IMSS to get our finiquito because of an excellent accountant in Bucerias. What is the name and contact info for the builder you are recommending here and did you also have an architect or that builder did it all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted April 9, 2023 Report Share Posted April 9, 2023 His name is Beto Ramos Balcazar but I believe he is now retired due to health problems. He lives in Bucerias, Nayarit and is very well known. We had Estella (architect in Sayulita also very well known) draw up the plans that we wanted and that was the end of her participation. Beto took over with the plans and he got the building permit. It's important to be on site every day... probably twice a day. Beto does not speak English. Estella (architect) does speak English. She would send us plans to San Miguel de Allende via computer and we would make changes and send them back until we got what we wanted. She is a little flamboyant in design whereas design, function and practicality were more our style. The time for the San Pancho build (including a pool and a retaining wall) took exactly four months start to finish. On time and on budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted April 9, 2023 Report Share Posted April 9, 2023 Short video with Estela (architect in Sayulita) ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha1 Posted April 9, 2023 Report Share Posted April 9, 2023 On 10/10/2021 at 6:42 PM, fjack said: New to Lake Chapala area and looking at renovating a home in the area. Does anyone have experience or knowledge of an architect or construction company in the area they can recommend? I can definitely tell you who not to use. PM if interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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