#1407 – Episode 1407: Construction Challenges, Cultural Differences, and Living in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pad wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Here's an email from mr. C. He came to one of my expat insider seminars about I'd say four years ago He says Johnny. I'm about to pull the trigger on my plan B move down to Guatemala But I kept thinking all these years in preparation for coming down. What am I gonna do when I get there? I'm

[00:50] 49 I can't just Lounge by the pool suck down margaritas and fade into the sunset And being that I've been in the construction trades all these years. I thought hey, here's an idea Johnny's always talking about how the contractors in Latin America are really short on the detail They mostly suck and though they get things done always late on my Nana time They're still short on details and gringos complain about that all the time Johnny you talk about paint splattering on the windows on the tiles on light fixtures Crooked tiles showers stalls pitch the wrong way so they don't drain undersized tubing roof lakes and of course Buyers up in the states mostly don't tolerate crap like that

[01:37] Mostly because contractors give a one three or five year guarantee that helps and motivates And if there's one thing we hate is callbacks So I was thinking why not when I get to Latin America start a little custom boutique contractor business do things 100% the gringo way Sure, it's gonna cost the client a little more it has to but he'll get things done 100% the gringo way the way he or she's used to and we'll give him a standard gringo guarantee And I'm thinking so many gringos expats and Europeans are flooding into Latin America There's got to be plenty of demand for such a service and as for promotion and marketing I can just get on all those Expat Facebook site to capture exactly the right targeted audience gringo expat and Johnny on my last trip down

[02:29] I checked out some of the big hardware stores. You're right. They have everything necessary all the right tools all the right glues cements mixes and mortars Even the best commercial brands of power tools like Milwaukee Bosch, Makita, Dewalt So that's my preliminary plan. What do you think? All right, mr. See thanks for that it's nice to know you're thinking ahead not to pop your bubble or kill your enthusiasm But your idea of starting a 100% gringo construction business you being the boss Of course and having Latin locals work on you to your standards has been tried many many times before in fact when I first came down That was one of the very first ideas. I had myself. I thought hey Almost nothing built down here is to my standards

[03:18] Everything that's constructed down here seems to be pretty mediocre If that you don't have to look hard or be necessarily anal to see all those common defects You just pointed out mr. See in fact years ago I knew a couple of gringo contractors who started such a company in Costa Rica Well after about a year or so and just a couple of buildings they had the clothes shop They couldn't make a go of it for one thing you the boss the gringo with the high standards will be pulling your hair out every minute of the day Because your crew will be a hundred percent local Latinos who know just enough about their jobs to get by They're used to being sloppy. They're used to not cleaning up after themselves. They don't use masking tape They don't protect windows and tables and walls

[04:04] They don't use gloves, so they touch your nice white walls with their grimey hands at every turn They don't use vacuum cleaner or dust attachments when they're using power equipment Or eye protection for that matter in fact my recommendation for anyone having any kind of remodeling done at all Let's say you're having your bathroom redone Just one bathroom in your house, and let's say you've got three and a half bats My advice buy some big plastic tarps you know the kind you cover cars with when you put them in long-term storage and Cover all your furniture your beds your desks cover all your countertops with sheets or plastic And I mean all the rooms of contractors won't even walk into because you know what when they're done Everything in your house is gonna have a layer of contractors dust on it

[04:53] Oh, and you better close the doors in your bedrooms bathrooms and closets too because they won't They'll just work away sawdust and tile dust flying everywhere. Oh And here's typically what happens suppose. They're doing a tile job on the bathroom floor well They'll pull the door off they have to do that Take it off as hinges and move it elsewhere So they can work around the door jams at the floor level etc to trim and place the tile Now up in the states when you're doing that kind of job when you take the door off you're mighty careful not to dent scratch or damage the door or The wall you're gonna lean it against you'll throw it on a piece of cardboard Move the door to another room sit it on that cardboard so it's not scratching the floor or marking up the carpet and

[05:39] They'll protect the top of the door with a piece of cardboard too as they lean it against a wall That way the door doesn't get scratched or marred neither does the wall or the floor where it's been temporarily placed Down here in Latin America, man, they just manhandle things. You know what I've been down here in Latin America More than three decades. I've watched or supervised over the construction of more than a dozen buildings I've watched dozens and dozens of contractors take doors off their hinges put them elsewhere temporarily and Never ever have I seen them protect the door the walls the carpeting Not at all. Oh, I've seen them scratch a lot of walls I've seen them ruin a lot of carpets Leave fine scratches and dents and a lot of doors by the way You've heard me say I don't recommend wall-to-wall carpets at all here in Latin America

[06:27] Because they're nice cushy homes for bugs and creatures and our water wicks during the rainy season Believe me, you'll have never ending problems with wall-to-wall carpets in Latin America Though the occasional throw rug is okay because you can take it outside and clean it But wall-to-wall carpet or carpet going up and down a stair a big no-no Anyway, the first big hurdle you're gonna have to overcome and it's a big one I'm talking to mr. C now about his idea of starting up a first-world gringo style construction firm your first big hurdle And it's a big one is to train up your Latino crew to gringo standards gringo standards, man Latinos just don't understand you sort of realize that every time you talk to a Latino who's been up to the United States For their first time. Let's say they went up to Disneyland or Nueva York

[07:16] Texas Los Angeles on vacation, whatever Now I'm not talking about Latinos who've been to the states and hang out and Latino ghettos I'm talking about Latinos that go on vacation Get a legal tourist visa and all that when they come back to their home after vacation and you ask them how their trip was They'll say things like American man, the US is so clean so organized. The roads are so wide There's so few potholes the buildings are all tall shiny and magnificent the cars All practically new barely a cracked window a dent or a scratch Yep, every Latino who I have ever met who's been to the US on vacation comes back with glowing reports of the US But you and I know the buildings aren't all magnificent. The cars aren't all perfect. The streets have their issues

[08:06] And all you have to do is take subway or go into a government building and you'll see it's not all that organized But you see in the minds of Latinos, they're comparing it to their society But they view first world organizational skills as an impossible dream One of the reasons why mediocre is the norm here in Latin America even less than mediocre Now as far as construction techniques and the skilled trades here in Latin America Like expat Eddie's says and he's had a lot of commercial buildings built down here He says Latin American contractors and tradesmen will promise you everything But in the end, I'll give you just enough to get by which is a okay if you're a Latin American Oh and take it from expat Eddie. Don't ever believe a Latin American contractor when he says he'll give you a guarantee

[08:52] When he gives it to you, he may be completely sincere about it But a five-year guarantee from a Latin American contractor is only good for that day According to Eddie another fact is that gringos and expats are used to the very low cost of labor here in Latin America That is because the price is right gringos are more likely to put up with a job That's a little rough around the edges. So for example, when you call a plumber, what can you expect? Let's say you're gonna replace an old sink and faucet with a new one You've bought the replacements at the hardware store and you're getting an estimate on labor and he says that'll be let's say 60 bucks And of course, he'll leave a big mess. There'll be globs of silicone caulk everywhere If you look under the counter cabinet where the tubing is connected the drain and the supply lines

[09:43] It could very well look like a rat's nest everything misaligned But it'll work and the cleanup when he leaves the cleanup for you or your cleaning lady will be monumental And by the way, he's liable to leave some ugly smudges on your nice white walls That's a given because you know, he won't clean his hands thoroughly on the way down He'll just wipe him on a dirty rag likely lean on your wall or your doors as he's talking to you on his way out Now suppose you got an estimate for that very same job from mr. C who wrote the email Mr. C's contracting company promises to do things a hundred percent the gringo away. Yep, they'll be clean. They'll be careful No smudges on the walls or doors. No globs of silicone caulk everywhere gloves masks I protection the works and as far as the tubing and the drain connections under the counter

[10:32] straight level artful a thing of beauty as for mr. C's estimate for the job his estimate for the job to be done to gringo standards is probably gonna be closer to a hundred bucks not 60 and guess what no Latino clients ever gonna go for that and as for gringo clients, they'll think twice as well For the cheaper price they'll put up with the mess and a job. That's a little rough around the edges Now, of course, you've heard me talk about gringos who have gone native sort of disheveled wearing the same clothes That same tropical toucan print shirt day in and day out You know the type when you can see him coming down the street Yeah Feel like ducking in an alley and hope they didn't notice you were trying to avoid him when you're down here in Latin America

[11:17] You'll run into guys like that Well, I'm not suggesting that because you or I accept mediocrity that we've gone native The fact is us gringos and expense do get accustomed to the way things are done down here We just sort of accept it even gringos who live part-time in Latin America and part-time up in the States down here They have no trouble accepting mediocrity while up in states It just won't do some of us don't seem to have any trouble shifting our value systems a bit early on I wondered why because we're sort of outraged when we call a plumber or carpenter electrician and watch how sloppy these guys work It's as if the guy just learned his craft two days ago And when you see his bag of busted up dirty tools, you're thinking how is he gonna work with those things? Just remember when you hire someone down here and accept mediocre work

[12:04] It's not a sign that we've gone native because you know when gringos really do go native That's a deep hole and it's hard to climb out of What I'm saying is almost all of us gringos and expats have sort of learned to accept shitty workmanship As much as it pisses us off and as much as we complained to other gringos about it We accept it you have to like mañana time. We realize that's just the way it is And to stumble upon a guy that does work to first world standards a guy who's a real artist That's like winning the lottery because I'm telling you even in brand new apparently first world style projects Like in high-end gated guarded subdivisions where they use the best materials reinforced hardwood cabinets

[12:51] granite and marble countertops Marble floors if you look closely you don't even have to have an eagle eye and you'll see for example just open a closet See how the jams were joined at the corners You'll see the miter joints aren't perfect You'll see surfaces that are mismatched and not quite level Doors that don't close against the jam exactly flush in fact that all my time down here in Latin America I don't think I've been in a single house where at least one of the doors doesn't scrape against the jam Or the floor you know what you do then you take the door off and you plane it down ever so slightly You think anyone bothers to do that? Instead they just put up with that scraping every time they open or close that door

[13:37] There's a day after day month after month Eventually you get immune to the sound I guess and squeaky doors man I can't stand squeaky doors here in Latin America You know there's lots of humidity especially during the rainy season and door hinges rust You know there's two ways to cure that one temporarily and one permanently temporarily You spray a little wd-40 or a little silicone spray on the hinges Miraculously the annoying squeak will be gone for maybe three to six months anyway It'll come back the permanent solution however the one I like to use all the time is To replace those cheap ass shitty hinges they always install down here cuz they are cheap Replace them all with stainless steel hinges

[14:23] Yep, they sell those in most hardware stores down here, too But they're two and three times as expensive as the crap hinges so almost no one buys them Oh, and there is a medium priced hinge too called satin chrome, but those will end up rusting, too But they will last a couple of years before they start changing color and rusting by the way I've always found it's a better deal to buy stainless steel hinges or door hardware in general on Amazon It's much much cheaper than buying stainless steel anything at the local hardware store For example if you have the average home or apartment you could probably replace every door hinge in stainless steel For a hundred bucks total if you order them on Amazon again, we're talking about door hinges now They come in pairs or threes or sets by the way last time

[15:11] I think about a set of 24 hinges on Amazon for around a hundred bucks Was enough for I think eight doors because you know most doors have three hinges not two By the way another extremely smart move is to buy all stainless steel doorknobs If you plan on living in your house permanently or more than a couple of years Stainless steel passage locks and doorknobs are the way to go you know some doors like bathroom doors have a lock but without a key so for example if a kid locks himself in the Bathroom you can get in by using a pointy tool or skinny Phillips screwdriver I've seen them rust and jam and you don't want that so anyway you'll find here in Latin America Contractors use the cheapest doorknob sets Within a couple of years or even less they'll start rusting inside the mechanism will eventually freeze up or poop out

[16:01] Every gringo living down here will verify that claim But that will not happen if you buy a stainless steel replacement doorknob set also Available in most hardware stores, but rarely purchased because they're twice or even three times as much as the crapple doorknobs and passage locks Again, if you go to Amazon you can get a much cheaper and in sets three decent stainless steel brands to get quick set Schlage and Yale Just make sure it does say stainless steel not just brushed chrome or satin chrome They will rust. I know I know some of you are thinking stainless steel itself sometimes rusts, and that's true if exposed to severe enough and prolonged humid salty weather and especially standing water and

[16:48] Really the only stainless steel that can withstand that is marine grade stainless steel That's ultra expensive and only for boats really In any event for doorknobs hinges sinks 304 stainless steel is common. It's the most popular 304 Speaking of sinks man. Do I have a problem with sinks in Latin America? They just love flimsy stainless steel sinks down here I'd say 98% of all the kitchen sinks in Latin America are stainless steel Nothing wrong with that you might say if it's the right steel 304. That's okay Well, it's not the type of stainless steel. That's the problem It's the thickness of the steel the thicker gauge the steel the more solid the product the more rigid support

[17:34] You have for the faucets and handles What makes the stainless steel sink so low-class and flimsy and trailer-court like is when they use 18 or 20 gauge steel They're so flimsy you could press on them with your finger and they'll flex Not to mention if you pull on the faucet or faucet handle just a little bit it'll flex That's a bad sign a sign that it's a very shitty product That's why almost all the stainless steel sinks in Latin America are junk Besides the fact that stainless steel scratches, and it's not stainless at all boy What an oxymoron stainless steel you ever have a stainless fridge or stove I think you know that if you just look at it, it'll stain I'd like to get a hold of the guy that coined the term stainless steel

[18:19] By the way, there are some high-end stainless steel sinks, but you don't see them in Latin America. You can order them on Amazon They're three or four hundred bucks plus the shipping 50 pounds so all in all to get one down here to Latin America to cost you 500 bucks Meanwhile the stainless steel sinks they use out here the crappy 20 and 18 gauge jobs are always between 75 and 150 bucks Not worth it. So then why are the high-end stainless steel sinks the ones they don't install down here Why are they a cut above the high-end ones are 16 gauge stainless steel very thick won't flex won't bend but again, they just don't use them down here in Latin America because they're two or three times as expensive as the 20 or 18 gauge pieces of junk you see everywhere

[19:08] So then whatever happened to the porcelain kitchen sink. We're all so used to well They're not putting them in down here anymore. Don't see them hardly anywhere except in older houses though You still see small porcelain sinks installed all over the place in bathrooms Thank God for that and therein lies the problem. You see you walk into a new house You see a high-end kitchen or pretty high-end because it's got granite or marble countertops I mean in the US that's a sign of class Unlike laminate or plastic countertops granite marble countertops are solid and beautiful. They last a lifetime And in the states too expensive for the average home Oddly enough here in Latin America. Yes, see granite and marble countertops everywhere even in low-end housing and Since up in the states, we always see them in high-end houses

[19:55] We assume they should have high-end fixtures and high-end sinks too, but they don't It's really odd when you see a really nice granite countertop paired with a crappy flimsy stainless steel sink It doesn't make sense because stainless steel sinks are Considered the norm for low-end housing and cheap apartment block housing at least that's the general American gringo take on it man in the states You never see a stainless steel sink paired with a high-end granite or marble countertop That would be a sacrilege though. I think Elvis had him in Graceland. Have you ever been there Graceland? It's the pinnacle of bad taste Mmm, wait a minute, but then there was Liberace Oh and Latin America is also the home of extremely bad kitchen and bathroom faucets

[20:44] You know, it drives you nuts when you actually see a nice porcelain sink with a cheap ass faucet I don't know if you know this but the cheap faucets these days they look like chrome, but they're not they're just chromed plastic So strong and sturdy they're not a few bumps and jars or a couple kids around the house I guarantee in a year or two, you'll wish you'd never had them the faucets and the kids sure You can buy the high-end solid steel chrome and brass stuff at any of the local hardware stores But most people don't shop in that section of the store. They shop for the cheap chromed plastic junk Unfortunately here in Latin America. It's not about quality. It's about the price now back to these apparent World-style construction projects. Yep. It's true. Some contractors try hard

[21:34] They're marketing up to wealthy Latinos and gringo expats who've got a plan B upon first inspection The finished product seems much closer to first world than not Well, let's say you think you've got lucky and you've stumbled on a guy that builds first world style projects I would say not so fast Unless the contractor actually is a gringo-american or European Then you're truly looking at a first world project, but those are very far and few in between so then how can you tell if a construction project is truly first world in all the details or Just try and hired and mostly faking it Well, you know a lot of gringos and expats especially new green gringos and expats Think that just because the project has a good presentation

[22:20] Some good glitzy marketing and it's all in English then it must be built to first world standards, right? Well, it probably isn't but how can you tell there are a number of things you can check Have a look at the windows how the frames were set in the block or the concrete I mean look you could order cheap ass flimsy windows with crappy latches that are obviously junk In fact, those are the majority types of windows that are used in new construction down here But you can order real expensive nice windows Casement windows that would look good in any million dollar home up in the States Well, you see those in really high-end houses and buildings here, too Not often, but you do see them yet when you look how they're installed they're mostly installed with the same kind of carelessness as

[23:09] Cheap-ass window, but really who looks at the windows? Well, I do Thing is though you walk into a model home down here and the windows have nice beautiful blinds on them called Cortina's or Percianas in Spanish, by the way, if you look close around the window jams, they'll be window putty oozing out Maybe even an air gap you see sunlight where the frame meets the wall Oftentimes even in a new model home or apartment the windows won't even be clean Still with some factory grime and glazing and a few production stickers still attached Details detail another thing to check are the floor drains Yep, you know since cement flooring and tiles are used everywhere and Latinos have such a hard time with controlling water

[23:59] Even though they've had 500 years to figure it out. Sure didn't take the gringos up in the states that long so anyway in almost all kitchens and bathrooms, there'll be a little floor drain, you know in case there's a flood or Water pipe leak whatever. Well, you know, you got to cut the tile to make that little metal cover fit make it flush with the floor So just have a look and see how well the tiles were cut around the drain Is it beautiful symmetrical and form-fitting or does it look like Picasso made those cuts after a couple of tequilas? Obviously, those aren't the only things you should have an eye out for when you're inspecting houses and apartments, but it's a good start We're getting close to the end of the show know and I thought I'd finish off with something that was quite amusing to me When I first read about it this week, I thought man you got to hear this

[24:47] This comes from one of my favorite South American news sources El Mercurio But first just to refresh your memory if you're a longtime listener, you know I've talked a lot about how people like to drink and drive here in Latin America, man You'll pull over to a stop sign and you'll see a guy holding a beer The driver and the passengers and they'll think nothing of it day or night Unlike in the States man, if you're drinking and driving, you don't want anyone to know it They don't care down here because the cops don't seem to be interested either. That is until now apparently in some Latin American countries like Ecuador The drink and driving problem so serious. There's been so many crack ups and homicides do the drunken driving The cops have seriously started using breathalyzers at routine stops that said according to an article in El Mercurio

[25:37] Cuenca Ecuador transit cops conducted an alcohol control checkpoint on the Quinta as a ket this highway for just three hours on Friday, December 27th 2024 they did it as sort of an experiment to see how many people were drinking and driving. They netted a total of 23 drunken drivers in less than three hours a government spokesperson said it was the most Drinking and driving arrests ever made on one night at one particular checkpoint By the way, the transit penal code in Ecuador is kind of strange It establishes sanctions on a sliding scale Depending on the quantity of alcohol ingested by a drunk driver if your alcohol blood level is from point three to point eight

[26:23] The fine is four hundred and sixty bucks or one month's basic salary Along with five days in jail if your alcohol blood level is point eight to one point two the fine is two basic salaries or nine hundred and twenty bucks and 15 days in jail if your levels above one point two defined as three basic monthly salaries or thirteen hundred eighty bucks and 30 days in jail Now it doesn't say anything about impounding your car letting you drive away drunk But it does say for drivers of light or heavy public transport vehicles or commercial or cargo vehicles The transit police will retain your vehicle for 24 hours and take it to an impound lab

[27:10] On top of that if you're driving public transport or a commercial or cargo vehicle you get 90 days in jail Now all that sounds great, right? Except here's the thing those laws have been on the books for a long long time and they're just now Starting to enforce them. So then what do you call that? I call it lag time plus manana time squared You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com