What are the construction standards in Corozal?

Corozal has recently instituted a government agency from which you must obtain a permit in order to build. They review your plans and are mainly concerned with electrical because that’s where most fires start. The electrical in Corozal is to US standards.

 

There are a lot of builders down there (Mark Leonard and Ed Moore being just two of them), and bunch more US guys who do build to US standards. The Belizeans don’t necessarily build to US...

Corozal has recently instituted a government agency from which you must obtain a permit in order to build. They review your plans and are mainly concerned with electrical because that’s where most fires start. The electrical in Corozal is to US standards.

 

There are a lot of builders down there (Mark Leonard and Ed Moore being just two of them), and bunch more US guys who do build to US standards. The Belizeans don’t necessarily build to US standards, but can do it if you just explain to them how you want it done. 

 

The inspectors don’t really care if your plumbing breaks because that’s your problem but if you catch on fire and burn down some other people’s houses, they’re not going to be happy about that. 

 

If you were interested in buying a home in Corozal that was already built, my advice to you would be to have a contractor go over with it you and really look at it.  You can get a local contractor. I’m a licensed real estate inspector in the state of Texas so I do some of that mainly for our rental properties in Texas, so I know a bit about the importance of home inspection.  Getting your home inspected in Belize is something that you would definitely want to take a good look at, especially the main systems before you buy and especially if it’s an older home.  

 

(Pictured: Work being done on a home being constructed by Mark Leonard, Corozal, Belize.)

If you are buying a house in Corozal, you can get a licensed home inspector to look at your home before you purchase it. If you are building, the construction standard could also depend on the contractor that you get.

 

As an example, Mark Leonard oversees the building of the homes in his development. He works with the homeowners and architects, and makes sure that the home is built well. So the standards are what you want but you just have make sure that...

If you are buying a house in Corozal, you can get a licensed home inspector to look at your home before you purchase it. If you are building, the construction standard could also depend on the contractor that you get.

 

As an example, Mark Leonard oversees the building of the homes in his development. He works with the homeowners and architects, and makes sure that the home is built well. So the standards are what you want but you just have make sure that you secure the right person to oversee the project.

 

There are several others who do that as well in addition to Mark. Some who come to mind are Americans who have relocated here. They know the standard that an expat wants and they follow those standards as well as make the house Belizean in the sense that it is hurricane-proof. They utilize the best of what’s here to reach the standard that expats would expect. So you can build it right.

 

Photography was essentially my hobby for years and here in Belize, I am actually paid on occasion to do it. Frequently, I take pictures of homes.   The ones I’ve photographed are solid, well-built homes that have been custom-built for the owner with the direction and cooperation of the builder. In general, the homes here can be built very well.

 

I have a good friend who built a bed and breakfast who secured the proper permits but the government agency that oversees it sent somebody out but they didn’t really do a full-on inspection. They only came once and it was very early on in the construction. The home inspections here are lax. They are not strict like we are accustomed to in North America where we have electrical inspections and many other things being required. It is sort of tongue and cheek. You are supposed to get permits and most people do but there are plenty who don’t and it might come back to bite you. 

 

In general, you cannot really depend on the government to do the inspections for you. The inspections are slipshod, which is sort of expected for a small country of 350,000 people with government agencies that are underfunded. Some people do not understand why the roads here are not better. They take swipes at it but they don’t repair the roads in such a way that the problems do not keep reoccurring. They just patch it up and when the rain comes, the problems are there again. So there is these kinds of inefficiencies. Some of it is due to funding and some of it is due to lack of vision, a lack of resources, and a lack of intellectual resource, which is common.

 

Belize City has a lot of development. It has improved tremendously since the last time I was there but in the Corozal area, you don’t see that. They are similar in the sense that the wheels turn very slowly; there are hoops to jump through and bureaucracy to wade through, which is normal in any country. Here in Belize, it is really slow and things move very slowly and there is some inefficiency.

 

(Construction site at Cerros Sand, Corozal, Belize, pictured.)

In Corozal, there’s everything from no standard to very high standard in construction. It’s very difficult to get an estimate of the cost to build something without knowing what they’re going to do because the standards for electricity are very strange here. Plumbing has very low standards here in Corozal. You have to reach out and find reputable builders, and you have to do some homework and ask people they’ve built for if they did their job well. Everyone...

In Corozal, there’s everything from no standard to very high standard in construction. It’s very difficult to get an estimate of the cost to build something without knowing what they’re going to do because the standards for electricity are very strange here. Plumbing has very low standards here in Corozal. You have to reach out and find reputable builders, and you have to do some homework and ask people they’ve built for if they did their job well. Everyone says they can do it but not everyone can. 

 

If you want to build an American-style home here in Corozal, it would actually cost as much money as it would in the US. You can build a cheaper house here in Corozal, though, but you might not have hot water or windows. A lot of houses in Corozal don’t have windows because you don’t need them if you want more breezes. Houses in Corozal have shutters in place of windows. When it’s dark out or it’s raining hard, you just close the shutters. But it never gets cold in Corozal.

 

There is a permitting process in construction in Corozal and in Belize in general, and they’re gradually implementing it more strictly. In general, the law says if you’re working on less than a thousand square feet, you don’t need a permit. If it’s over a thousand square feet, on the other hand, you do need a permit, but they don’t really check. If you live in a community, there’s more checking.

 

(Home in Orchid Bay resort, near Corozal, Belize, pictured.)

The construction standards in Corozal are anything from the rural Belizean “build a palapa,” which I’ve been involved with many times through First World construction. Concrete is the favored material to use because if you build it well, it will last a long time and will outlast any of us who are here today, or your children, or your children’s children.

 

Construction in Corozal is good, and the cost would be about equivalent to...

The construction standards in Corozal are anything from the rural Belizean “build a palapa,” which I’ve been involved with many times through First World construction. Concrete is the favored material to use because if you build it well, it will last a long time and will outlast any of us who are here today, or your children, or your children’s children.

 

Construction in Corozal is good, and the cost would be about equivalent to building in the Midwest, where construction in the US is cheapest. You can go “hog wild” and spend a lot more but there’s no need to do that. Structures in Belize are really inexpensive and very, very sturdy.

 

(The modern beach architecture of The Crimson Orchid Inn, Corozal, Belize, pictured.)