Building a home in Belize

We just build a house .in S Belize. No permit ,no code  no nothing ,just the way I like it. Best part of living in Belize. I hope the bureaucrats won,t get any ideas. Will be Just another source of corruption. Any screw up is mine to keep.
I had designed it,a construction guy built it. I had to guide him.
It may be deferent in Corozal.

Thanks, that takes a whole pile of paper work off my desk.  So much different from Canada!
Getting very tired of the government having their say in almost everything we do here.
Looking forward to Belize!
!!!Speaking of paper work, we bought the property in early April 2014, used a lawyer, and real estate agent, but we still do not have anything (deed) to say that the land belongs to us!
Anyone know how long this process takes or should take??
A bit frustrating considering we are 3000 miles away and would like to start on construction.
Patience I guess

Lookie2011 - Check out the Central Building Authority site: http://www.cbabelize.org/
For water, depending on where you are, you need to deal with either the local water board or
Belize Water Services. We collect rain water from our roof and have a big cistern.
Electrical, posts, meters etc., you contact BEL.
Our home is wood. We are inland now, but our home on the beach was wood as well.
We live a bit rural. No fence or walls. But a dog and really good motion sensor lights as well as
driveway sensors scattered throughout the property. The only thing that is closed off with a big
chain is our driveway.
My suggestion if you build - be there while your home is being built.

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There is a Building Code that covers all new construction, the advice to look at CBA's website is good information.  This Building Code covers the entire country.  Depending on whether you are in Corozal Town or Corozal District determines where you must get your permit to build from.  If you are in Corozal Town, you need to go to Town Board and talk to Mr. Efrain Teck ( not sure that is correct spelling) if you are in Corozal District you must get your permit from CBA in Belize City.  Your plans must be signed by a registered Belize Architect.  You also need PUC approval for your Electrical Plan....this must be done by a Belize licensed Electrician.  PUC is also in Belize City.  Depending on the size of the building you may need to also have plans stamped by a Belize registered Engineer. 

Hydro and water depends on where you are building. 

There are good contractors that are Belizean and others also.  Talk to people, talk to the builder and get names of people for whom he has built homes for before and talk to them and LOOK at the quality of construction in their home.  There are many who say they "know" to build but may not build to your standards.  If you talk to a builder that is not Belizean, an ex-pat, make sure they have work permits allowing them to work here or what their Residency Status is.  There is also Social Security to be dealt with. 

No matter who you use to build your home, the best advice is to be here during the construction period.

All good points. When we bought our property in Cayo district in 2012 no permits for building were required. When we started to build at the end of 2013 building permits were required. Three small houses were sitting idle in the middle of construction because they got a cease build order.

This certainly adds costs, and time to the process, but not something we are not used to in Canada.

What has already been said about building (being there & check out the contractors) I highly recommend as well. We got good ones (we had three projects with 3 different contractors), and they all turned out great. We have heard many horror stories though so be careful.