Prefabricated Homes in Puerto Rico

Hi Luis! We were in your same exact position and ended up not doing the pre fab option.  The main reason was because almost all contractors advised against it due to shortages of materials on CMA’s part or any other prefab company.  It is hard enough finding a good contractor on the island as it is and a lot of them wont do prefabs.  it took us 3 years to find a contractor and we will hopefully start building before the end me of the year. 🤞🏽

Wishing you the best and lots and lots of patience along the way!  Suerte!!

Luis my big advice to you is find an architect/engineer that can assist you in planning your dream home. I did my house with CMA. If I had to do it all over again, I would go the route I just advised. Read between the lines…Good Luck

@meloandriotswela

Good morning,

I was afraid of that.

Thank you for your response. Wishing you all of the best.

Luis

@judyvillacis

Hi Judy,

Thank you for your response. I will take your advice.

Luis

Saludo!

          I think there are contractors that build with the kits.  Many kit companies will give you names/#s of contractors who work w/ them.  It probably depends on which area you live in. If you're in the Ensenada that is in Guanico, I suggest you call Casas Borincanas (out of Hatillo) and ask about referrals to contractors in your area. Casas Eden just sent me some contractor referrals also. The company you mentioned (Anhelo) works with AceHardware so I think their supply line should be pretty solid. They no longer include the sand in the price of their kit, because the price of sand has varied widely in recent years.  Did you ask them for referrals to contractors in your area?

     If you don't speak Spanish, you might run into challenges, but you can always hire someone to interpret. I always start contact with emails or text/chat that I write both in spanish (using what i dont know from other resources) and also  telling them I cant speak Spanish on the phone. (I can barely speak English on the phone these days). I know many Puerto Ricans have told me that shows more respect than just contacting them in English and letting them do the translating.

        In late 2019, we had a contractor we were talking to about building a plan from CasasBorincanas but then the pandemic hit and he got Covid bad and never came back to work. 

        We eventually found another contractor, but he talked us out of the kit with the same argument mentioned in another comment: supplies aren't reliable. We spent almost 8k on engineering and permits with that guy, then suddenly his price doubled because "supplies are skyrocketing". I called Casas Borincanas and they had only added 5% to some of the plan costs, depending on how much concrete was needed.  So we dropped him and took a break from the building frenzy.  (That was in 2022 and there were NO Contractors available).

       Also in late 2019, we talked to an engineer who was "building" quite a few houses from Casas Borincana in a new urbinazation off of 301 between Boqueron and Combate here in CaboRojo. At that time, maybe 3 were finished, but now they all are. & They look great. (we drive by them when we visit one of my friends).  That engineer said he had a 3 year wait list, but I think he was both engineer & developer. It seems he has since retired.

        BTW, they aren't really Prefab, as they are just the plans & building supplies that the contractor assembles/builds. There are some companies in Bayamon and Caguas I think, selling State-style "prefabs". 

        I hope that helps. Buena suerte.

@judyvillacis

Did CMA not have you talk with an engineer before starting the kit? Casas Borincanas told us to we need to hire both an engineer & a contractor. But they gave us referrals.  I thought the engineer was mostly for land preparation but we never got that far, because of the pandemic. The engineers I did talk to either had a waiting list or tried to upsale us. Now we are starting over.

I'm sorry yours didn't turn out how you expected. Buena Suerte.