Buyer Beware on Panama Construction!

When we first went to Panama, over seven years ago now, our goal was to explore and analyze Panama and investigate the possibility to eventually have a home for retirement later on. Boy have we come a one way since then! As many of you already know we learned much from our ventures in Panama.

Because we were experienced in the construction industry ourselves, we were of course analytical in our endeavours to explore new developments. In other words we wanted to make sure that what we may be interested in investing in would live up to our expectations in the area of construction. We therefore checked up on several developers and went to various worksites to view the projects under construction. We actually would sneak on construction sites after hours to get a view of the quality of construction.

We all know that once the finished product is complete it can look pretty good! We wanted to see the raw product before all the finishes were done so we could evaluate for ourselves what kind of quality went into the finished product. We were horrified. People were actually purchasing these homes and condos and the construction was terrible. We found the block work was inferior, to say the least. Sometimes we found that the workers would start to lay the blocks right on the ground without even pouring a foundation. The ground was not even levelled off first and the blocks would be all helter skelter. Once the walls were all installed the floor would be poured inside and the walls would be parged and no one would know the difference. We could not believe it!

One site that we were on we noticed that they built the four walls independently of each other. They were not tied in at the corners and at the end they just stuffed the corners with garbage and newspapers and then parged over it. As you can see in the picture, the blocks are helter skelter with large holes and garbage in the gaps. Notice the corner as I mentioned. This particular picture was taken on a site that is actually a popular destination for many vacationers and North Americans who have purchased in here. Once we saw this quality of construction we decided to oversee developments ourselves to make sure other North Americans , such as yourself, were not getting ripped off.

You really need to be careful about what you are purchasing in Panama. If you want a home that is going to last and one where you are not going to have constant problems because of the initial quality of the construction please do your homework. We have done the legwork for you on this and so if you are looking for something to purchase in Panama feel free to email us to find out the background on the builder you are working with. We know many of the construction companies that are good and who to stay away from. The old adage stays true you usually get what you pay for so if it sounds to good to be true it probably is!

Check out our website and send us an email at http://www.connectiontopanama.com If you are looking to book your next vacation check out our rentals at http://www.panama-vacation-rentals.com