OK, here's the deal. I am originally from the US Midwest. I have been living in South Florida for almost 10 years and in Key West for 7. We know a guy here who is originally from PR and is retiring in a year from the KWPD. He still has family there and owns a home. He told me that I should move to Puerto Rico as there is contracting work. Here, it is miserable. My once 6 figure income has dropped to almost nothing. It has become a struggle to get by as Key West is expensive. I am personable, get along well with everyone, and make friends easily. Living in Key West has taught me to be patient as many things that most people take for granted aren't necessarily true here. Many times, we have to order things and have them shipped in to Key West. Considering that PR has stores that we don't have, I don't think that will be a problem, (Wal-Mart, Lowes, Costco, etc) but the isloation doesn't bother me at all. I am also not a young guy, 57, but can still keep up with the kids. But I do have to start thinking of retirement.
Everything our friend has told us about Puerto Rico has been confirmed by internet research, but I have doubts. He says that there is work in PR for good contractors, but with the economy there, I have my dounbts. I do mostly remodeling, but can build homes if necessary. I am good at what I do and can do most every trades skill there is. I have been self-employed or in management my entirte adult life and can hire and motivate people pretty well. Never had any problem, but that is in the states. My friend tells me that all the construction guys start early and start drinking around 1 or 2 PM. I do have a bit of a problem with that.
I realize this is a pretty long explanation, but here is my actual question. Although I am willing to start as a sub-contractor or even an employee, I eventually would like to become primarily a GC specializing in renovation and remodelling for North American expats, although I certainly wouldn't descriminate against natives. Their money spends too. I can offer Miami-Dade hurricane code construction (the most stringent in the US) and I build nothing half aZZ. If the client wants to do something that isn't right, I won't take the job. I love to do kitchens and bathrooms and am a decent designer. I often do things that give people that "wow" factor for not a huge amount of money. Sometimes I even do such things for no additional charge as a "thank-you" to my client for hiring me.
So, is there work here like this and can I make a go of it?
Still another question about moving to PR
No one wants to touch this one?
Yes I will - give a little time, please. I'm very busy 
There should be a market for you but it won't be easy.
I'd say you have a good chance to make a decent living if you were to serve upper middle class people and especially non-locals.
Because we're in hurricane territory 99% of the constructions are made in concrete (slab, columns and beams, concrete roof) and concrete blocks.
The general quality in construction in this country isn't very good. Many people hire a general contractor who works with a couple of friends/relatives. Many of them don't have a license or an officially registered business and require payments in cash.
Their prices are not very high. I know more than one 'contractor' who will build a complete house when you pay him 100 - 120 dollars cash per day; 80 -90 for helpers plus the building materials of course.
Those guys work hard - starting at 7 and leaving at three with only a couple of short breaks.
They do everything: concrete construction, blocks and plastering, doors and windows, plumbing, electricity, painting. A simple two or three bedroom house can be made for 40, 50 Grand by two guys this way.
Locals will most likely not hire you - they rather trust the friend of a distant cousin or his cousin (everybody who is somehow related is a cousin 
)
Being fluent in Spanish helps of course but you'll never be more than a gringo and when you want to get a contract you'll have to fight that, on top of the low prices.
Having said all that I think that if you get to know fellow Americans and Europeans who live here and who have enough money to pay for quality work, you'll have a chance to make it.
I'd advice you to spend a couple of weeks on the island, rent a car and look at construction sites. If you speak Spanish, get out of the car and talk to the workers; find a couple of larger construction companies and talk to them to see what their possibilities are. Talk to kitchen suppliers - many partner up with kitchen installers. Visit hardware stores (we have Home Depot, National, Masso - a local chain - and many family owned stores) and talk to people.
Check out the large gated communities and talk to developers. You might be able to find your niche.
Good luck!
Gary
Thanks for the response. I do speak a little Spanish and have worked with a number of Hispanics here in Key West. I have always gotten along with them well. They teach me better Spanish and I teach them better English.
The advantage I have is my friend. We were talking with him a few weeks ago and he told me that I should move to PR with him when he retires at the end of the year. He knows a lot of people there and wants to partner up with me doing construction. That would be our way in to working for locals. Finding Expats to do work for will simply take some networking. That is how I started in the Keys and became pretty successful at it. Unfortunately, the high cost of living here exacerbated by the bad economy has pretty much dried up most of the construction business. Only the really big contractors are doing much, paid for with US Governemnt economic stimulous money, and even they are only doing maybe 25% of the business that they did before the economy went sour.
My thought process was that the cost of living there would allow people who are Expats to do renovations on their homes. Buying a home there is much cheaper than it is here. Even a small 3/1 that needs a little work here is still going for over $250K. And a nice place is still going for more than $350K if one is lucky enough to find one at that price.
One thing you said seems a bit contradictory though. "Hurricane construction" and "bad construction" seem really mutually exclusive.
Oh, and we are hoping to visit your beautiful island sometime this fall after the threat of storms has passed, maybe around Thanksgiving. I really don't want to ride one out in a different country then come home and find major problems because I wasn't here to prepare.
Ah, OK, I didn't get that you would partner up with your friend - that would make a lot of difference.
Contractor wrote:One thing you said seems a bit contradictory though. "Hurricane construction" and "bad construction" seem really mutually exclusive.
Bad as in sloppy. The main construction may be strong enough but the overall quality of work and finishing is sloppy.
I am a perfectionist. "If it ain't right, do it again until it is". I have done finish carpentry, was the lead carpenter as a matter of fact, in multi-million dollar condos here. Sloppy work isn't even in my vocabulary. I can also do rough carpentry, electrical, drywall hanging and finishing, and plumbing (hate plumbing and am slow at it though). I have done concrete work (hate it) and roofing (hate it even more), but I am sure I could find laborers to do that sort of thing.
I am hoping that the Expats there will appreciate the quality and be willing to pay more for it.
I tell people (jokingly) that I work three ways
1. Fast
2. Good
3. Cheap
They get to only pick two out of the three. Whatever two they pick, it won't be the third. LOL
I know what you're talking about - I'm a perfectionist myself.
You really need to find customers who want good quality and who are willing to spend the money for it. They're there, but not a lot of them.
Hiya Contractor... Gary is giving you a pretty accurate idea of how the construction business works here -- kudos Gary!
I would weigh in on a couple of subjects that are not directly construction-related, but maybe helpful: pricing and the general conditions of the housing market here. This will be an extremely simplistic analysis, and I would encourage anyone else to weigh in if you think this is off-base or have corrections.
First of all, I would note on a very macro- level that there is likely a general migration of the population from rural to urban, similar to the states, so to simplify, I think San Juan is really the model for discussing the housing market, since 1/4 of the population of PR lives there. Also makes sense to discuss this since I would guess the majority of americanos live there and that seems to be your target market.
That said, it doesn't seem to me that the housing market here saw the same severity of boom / bust as in the states. It has been pretty stagnant for a decade here, although San Juan saw some inflation perhaps propped up slightly by the country/city shift. There was a definitely a new -building- boom when the stateside housing boom / development dollars were flowing in (roughly '04-'07). Now there are a number of medium to medium-high end condo buildings sitting empty around san juan and specifically condado, and new suburban residential neighborhoods sitting almost vacant. Also -very few- development start permits being requested these days. Since there was no real housing boom here, there wasn't really a housing bust like in the states, but there should still have been a downward adjustment to compensate for the dissapation of development dollars and high level of vacancy. People seem to be hanging on to their properties here with an unrealistic idea of value which cannot be supported by the glut that was created by the one-sided building boom.
Recently further aggravating the problem, we went from something like 6-7 mortgage banks in PR (FYI, PR law requires use of a PR-chartered bank for mortgages, so not only is the competition low, the interest rates are typically at least 1% higher than the states) down to only 2-3 major banks. Yep, almost no competition. They are spending all of their internal resources just trying to sort this out, and even on a good day, these guys mortgage departments are horrificly incompetant and certainly unable to handle the foreclosure concept or even competently close simple transactions. I could only describe my experiences with the personnel of these entire departments (from low-level employees to meetings with directors) as "shamefully inept" and painfully unaware of basic mortgage concepts.
Anyway all of these factors have conspired to lead to a almost stagnant housing market here. It may sort itself out sooner, but I suspect we may continue flat for some time.
All that said, there is a very bright spot in the housing market ahead whereby the PR govt has instated (from Sept 1 to EOY?): 1) a 0% Cap Gains tax on proceeds from housing sales, 2) No fees for stamps and vouchers for home sales or for mortgage cancellations (amounting to thousands of $s on a home transaction, depends on price), 3) No CRIM (property tax) or "Special Assessment" tax (an addtnl tax = to property tax) for 5 years on purchases of -new- homes, etc.
Although there are elements attractive to buyers, this is mainly supply-side stimulus, but one would have a strong case to argue that any stimulus is good stimulus when it comes to housing here in PR. Hopefully this greases the wheels a bit!
Final thought on pricing...homes here are the same as in the states price-wise. It -completely- depends on the area you are looking to buy / build. You will see more of this on the visit!
Cheers and good luck!
J
I hate to sound pessimistic, Contractor, but whatever business problems you have in Key West will almost certainly only be worse here in Puerto Rico. There just is not a dynamic marketplace for services where some good advertising will get you clients.
Dear Contractor,
I am very interested in what comments you receive because I have a son who works in construction and I am also considering a move to Puerto Rico next year. I understand the cost of living is much less and since I am on a fixed income, I need a break from the cost of living here in the US. Good luck to you!
linda.wa wrote:I understand the cost of living is much less and since I am on a fixed income, I need a break from the cost of living here in the US.
You understood that wrong, Linda. The cost of living is about the same as in the lower 48.
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