 Furniture is cheap, too. This handmade wooden table and four chairs cost me US$37. That was $17 for the table, and US$5 each for the chairs. |
Building Costs & Other Prices in San Rafael
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Furniture is cheap, too. This handmade wooden table and four chairs cost me US$37. That was $17 for the table, and US$5 each for the chairs. |
San Rafael remains one of the cheapest places to build a house in the world . . . certainly the most affordable in the Western Hemisphere.
Building permits are not required on the fincas outside of the city limits in San Rafael, and costs are quite low. Figure US$15 to US$20 per square foot to build a brick home with two or three bedrooms, ceramic tile floors, tiled bathroom with fixtures, wooden tongue and groove ceiling, metal roof and electric and plumbing installed.
During October of 2004 an American who bought a small farm here was building a 1,200-square-foot home (including a second-story loft) for less that US$8000. That comes out to less than US$7 a square foot. The price included electric, plumbing, well and septic tank, tiled floors throughout the home, finished bathoom (tiled shower, toilet, ceramic sink and bidet), wood-fame doors and windows, kitchen cabinets with granite counter-top, indoor barbecue oven and varnished pine tongue-and-groove flooring in the loft. The projected start-to-finish time was 8 weeks.
1) Labor: Minimum wage at less than US$50 a week provides a tremendous savings.
2) No Government Interference: The absence of building and zoning boards, expensive permits, building inspectors and other time and money wasters, helps projects go faster and lowers costs.
3) Argentines are not sue-happy: Things like workmen's compensation and liability insurance keep costs high in the USA. Argentine lawyers don't chase ambulances in Mendoza. And I apologize if you are an attorney or in the insurance game, but facts are facts!
4) Workers often live on the site and work 7 days a week to complete the project. Often they will have a trailer to live in, so work goes faster and they don't waste time or money driving miles back and forth from the site daily. Also, their presence solves security issues, so tools and supplies can be left on site.
5) Cheaper building materials: Locally-made brick is a fraction of U.S. costs, wood-framed doors and windows are next to nothing and you can dig a well and septic tank for less than the cost of dinner for four at a Chicago steakhouse.
Here are some prices from Easy, a local building supply super store in Mendoza (October 2004 catalog):
-- Ceramic floor and wall tiles for kitchen or bath: US 20 cents to US 40 cents a square foot.
-- Aluminum windows - sliders (4 foot wide x 3 foot high): US$75
-- Double sliding glass doors (aluminum) for exterior patio: US$160
-- Dry wall or gyproc (4x8 sheets): US$4.25 each
-- Exterior house paint (Sherwin Williams brand): 5 Gallon bucket for US$30 ($6 a gallon).
-- Argentine-made two-door refigerator/freezer: US$350
If you have priced building supplies in the U.S. recently, you'll know these prices are a fraction of what we would pay someplace like Home Depot, Lowes or Builder's Square.
Just for fun I wanted to print some menu prices from a quiet little restaurant we enjoy called Las Vegas, situated on Av. San Martin in San Rafael. It is not particularly fancy, but the food is good, there are table cloths on the tables and dinner always starts with a complimentary basket of bread rolls and a plate of soft cheese covered in olive oil and sprinkled with oregano:
* New York-Style Strip steak with mushrooms or black pepper sauce (includes fries or salad): 8.50 pesos (US$2.75)
* Ravioli or spaghetti with pesto or tomato sauce: 4.50 pesos (US$1.50)
* Polenta with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce: 4.50 pesos (US$1.50)
* 1/4 Roast Chicken with potato or salad: 7 pesos (US$2.35)
* Ham and cheese omelet: 4.30 pesos (US$1.45)
* Sparkling mineral water: 1.5 pesos (US 50 cents)
* Bottle of Mendoza red table wine (not bad!): 4 pesos (US$1.35)
And the last item is not a typo. A bottle of red wine -- similar to a California red or better that would could you $18 to $25 a bottle in the U.S. -- is just US$1.35.
And it is sort of a coincidence that the place is called Las Vegas -- because these are the type of "loss-leader" restaurant prices that the Nevada casinos were charging 25 years ago to get people in the door! Not anymore. We're told today that casino dining costs as much as a night on the town in New York City.
I remind people to enjoy it here in San Rafael while we can. These are the "good old days" we'll be telling our grandkids about.