Building your dream home on Isla Mujeres

It is not easy to build your dream home on Isla Mujeres, it probably isn't easy anywhere but Isla Mujeres has all the  usual difficulties plus many more. For a small island it has more than its fair share of rouge builders. There is a "builder real estate agent" partnership who have caused so much damage over the years; their modus operandi  is to find Americans who are new to the island and unaware of the pair's reputation and offer to design and build the perfect home. The perfect home then turns into a nightmare, both in terms of cost and build quality.

People often ask, how do they get away with it on such a small island? The main reason that they have been able to conduct themselves in this manner is because neither is Mexican. Many of these unfortunate clients have taken legal advice, and been told that it is not only a civil matter  but also criminal because it is fraud. One of the victims in particular was prepared meet whatever cost necessary to bring them to justice. Ultimately they and the many others who have sought legal advice, have been told that it will cost a substantial sum of money, take up to two years and because they are not Mexican they will just leave Mexico to avoid prosecution. Both come from other South American countries.

Assuming one can avoid the disreputable builders on the island, what are the other pitfalls? One difficulties is that there are very few builders who know how to complete what is known as a Catalogo de Conceptos. This is a document of up to fifty pages which lists every item of labor on each part of the construction and all the materials, down to the last screw and fixing. It is the only way of ensuring you are not going to hit with extras. That is probably a good place to start; if when choosing a builder, they don't know how to deal with a  Catalogo de Conceptos then you are not dealing with a qualified builder.

The other thing that is essential,  is to see their previous work and speak to at least three people for whom they have built. It is also important to see evidence that the builder is paying the social security costs of the staff. If that hasn't been paid,  the owner of the home can be held liable for a number of years following completion of the construction.