How Much Would It Cost To Build A House In The Dominican Republic?

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I am an Architect with over 10 years of experience in design, construction and cost analysis in the Dominican Republic, although that time of experience is not something very significant for a profession as extensive as Architecture, I have had terrible experiences in ​​construction that finally end up being good, all experience is good seeing it from a point of view.

If you are interested in building or renting a house in the Dominican Republic, I have some tips for you based on my experience as a designer and builder; I hope you find them useful.

Contents

How much would it cost to build a house in the Dominican Republic?

The cost of construction in the Dominican Republic is measured by square meters and may vary due to various factors; The quality of the materials, the type of construction, the construction zone, basically the cost classified by the quality can be classified into three lines:

Low quality with an average cost of RD $ 10,000 per M2 (US $ 200 for 10.7 P2) 

Average quality with an average cost of RD $ 15,000 to 19,000 per M2 (US $ 300 / US $ 380 for 10.7 P2) 

High or luxurious quality with an average cost of RD$ 20,000/25,000 M2 (US$ 400/500 for 10.7 P2)

In the Dominican Republic, the traditional method of construction is the so-called “gray work” (blocks, steel, cement), for the construction of villas where wood has a lot of prominence construction costs are much higher, because the wood is more expensive than gray work, and specialized wood workmanship is also much more costly.

The cost of a square meter of work finished on a wooden roof for a villa, costs around RD$ 5,500 (US $ 110 for 10.7 P2), and that without including the rooftop protection, and that is that’s treated pine, which is one of the woods for intermediate price construction.

To have a fairly approximate idea of the cost of a construction in the Dominican Republic you must first define the type of quality you want in the materials, have a design sized with the measures of the house and then add the total cost of the land and divide it Between the footage of the house, with this data you can already have a very close idea of the cost of construction.

The cost of building an apartment in the Dominican Republic

Building an apartment is more profitable than building a house because as I mentioned before dividing the cost of the land between the total footage of the house.

Space is used more efficiently because the growth is vertical, besides, a building requires a single foundation structure, the cost of building construction will also depend on the quality of the type and quality of materials.

A four-level building built with medium quality has an average cost of RD $ 18,000 M2 (US $ 360 for 10.7 P2), A four-level building constructed with low or basic quality has an average cost of RD $ 15,000 M2 (US $ 300 for 10.7 P2).

Cost of home remodeling or expansion

The cost for remodeling or expansion does not have an estimate as precise as the cost of construction from the start, for example, if you have a one-level house and you want to add a second level first you have to verify that the structure of the first level is ready to support, that it has the appropriate beams and columns.

If your first level is prepared to support another house on top of it, you could save on foundation costs, a traditional Dominican-built footing in 8″ blocks can cost approximately RD$5,600 (US$110) per M3, but this depends on other variables such as design.

It is very likely that the walls of the second level will have inverted beams so that they do not force directly on the slab of the first level, these details are already very technical.

These details are very particular to each project, so it would be very imprecise to give an approximate cost when it comes to remodeling or expanding a house, the best advice I could give you is to get advice from a good professional in this regard, who can do a visit to your project.

Necessary permits to build a house or apartment in the Dominican Republic

If you plan to build, It is necessary to know what the permits are, this may vary from the area of ​​the country where it will be built, the first thing you should have is a design project defined by allowed or collegiate professionals, this project must be signed with the professional’s tuition number.

Land use, Mayor’s Office

No objection, City Hall

Permission of gates (per meter of construction), City Hall

Construction License, Public Works office

Environmental Permit or environmental license, Ministry of Environment

Environmental rate, City Hall

Water connection, CAASD (Dominican aqueduct corporation)

electric Interconnection, EDES (Dominican electricity corporation)

Land and housing titles, Real Estate Jurisdiction. For this, you need to hire a surveyor and a lawyer.

If necessary, permission to remove sidewalks, City Hall

If necessary, permission to use public space, City Hall

Payment of fees to the CODIA (Dominican college of engineers and architects). This body receives a right paid by the engineer for membership and 0.10% of the work budget.

Enroll staff in the Ministry of Labor.

Payment of the social security of each worker in the Dominican Institute of Social Security. Although many ignore it, the owner of the property is the legal responsibility in case any fault in this matter is demonstrated.

Pay a fee to the Fund of Construction Workers, in the Fund of Construction Workers.

It is important to know that, depending on the bureaucracy of the mayor’s office that regulates the demarcation in which it will be built, the number of permits required may vary.

Not all of these permits are strictly necessary, and all of these permits can be managed by the construction company or construction professional that is in charge of the project.


I made this country house design a few years ago

Can a foreigner buy property in the Dominican Republic?

The Dominican Republic state facilitates a foreigner to buy an apartment or other property, by not blocking foreign investment in real estate, nor imposing additional taxes.

There is no legal or tax impediment that prevents a foreigner from buying an apartment and other property in the Dominican Republic.


I made the design and construction of this low-cost country house.

Some Tips for Building a House in the Dominican Republic

Avoid being a “smarty”, There is a word in the Dominican Republic to name those people who think they know everything, “smarty” (in Spanish: sabelotodo), when doing a job, some Dominicans consider themselves architects, engineers, builders, lawyers and think they know everything about anything, all this just to save some money, they almost always end up doing the wrong job and spending twice as much as they planned to spend.

Do not be a “smarty”, get involved in your project, but delegate the work to experienced professionals, it is a key part of the work of professionals to optimize costs in construction.

There is advice in the bible that says “If someone wants to build a tower, they should first sit down and analyze the expenses to see if they have enough to finish,” not literally, but the message is that the best advice I could give a person before getting involved in a construction project is to have clear accounts.

To do that you will need a preliminary design of the house and a preliminary budget, with the design you will know exactly what your space will look like and the budget will give you a very finished idea of the total cost, besides, the budget is done through the measurements of the design.

Don’t trust to hire cheap workers, in the Dominican Republic, workers who do not do the job well are usually called Bunglers, they usually charge cheaply, hiring such people is the worst thing you can do, you will end up paying a lot more for a poorly finished job. there is a phrase that is very spoken here “Cheap is expensive”, there are fair prices for work, but below that price you should already distrust.

Hire a Law Firm that investigates the legality of the documents required to sell a property.

• Never make a verbal or “handshake” deal in the Dominican Republic, no matter how informal you are going to make a business agreement, you should have absolutely everything in writing and signed by both parties.

Do not copy designs from other countries to be built in the Dominican Republic, this country has its own climatic and environmental characteristics, I know the case of a man who copied the design of an American villa, with very small windows and built it here, inside the villa was too hot since it was not designed for such warm weather.

The Dominican Republic is a country with a lot of rainfall during the year, before buying land or a house, make sure it is at the level or above the level of the street or avenue, thus avoiding floods and discomforts.

Choose spaces that provide security, but that offer the possibility of integrating with its environment in case you are going to build a country house in rural areas.

Water is one of the most determining factors in the deterioration of a home, if the house you will build has sloping roofs, make sure they have enough slope to drain the rains, in case the roofs are flat, they should also carry a minimum of slope in the percentage of its size, and be properly waterproofed.

If you are very interested in buying land or a house in a specific place, be patient, I recommend that before making the decision visit the place several times on certain occasions, at night, in the morning, when it’s raining, ect, so you will notice many things like, for example, the lighting of the environment if rainwater accumulates, if there is a lot of noise, ect.

Conclusion

I wrote a topic with some key tips when building or buying property in the Dominican Republic.

If you are interested in the architectural designs that I put on this topic, which are of my authorship, you can see them on other design websites that I have where you can get many ideas for architectural plans.

Most of them are free content, I will leave you the links here to my two architectural design pages, you can also contact me through the contact page here.

freecadfloorplans.com

Lets Connect!

If you need a design, budget, or consulting for your construction project in the Dominican Republic, you can hire my services, contact me at Whatsapp.

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52 Comments

  1. Ben Registe says:

    Hello
    I am looking for a piece of land the Monte Plata area to build a house. I saw the plan for the two storey house. I have no idea how much it will cost to build it. I live in Florida

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hi Ben…
      The two-story house that is on the cover page was built and designed by me precisely in the area near Monte Plata a few years ago…

      As I recall, the house in total has some 150 M2, I made the budget and the complete cost analysis of the house, it came out at approximately 2.2 million Dominican pesos (approximately 38 thousand dollars) if you divide the footage by the cost of the house that house corresponds to 15 thousand Dominican pesos for each M2 built.

      But that was a few years ago, now the materials have gone up a little more, so you would have to index the costs.

      Nowadays, I don’t do construction, but if you need orientation of costs and designs you can write me to the mail through the contact page.

      1. Kenneth Feliz says:

        Hello, What year was that? Because I’m looking to build a multi unit in Puerto Plata to sell by apartments and to my understanding the cost is higher. What are the costs now?

        1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

          Hi, the construction I mentioned was in 2018, really not that long ago.

          But building materials have gone up in price, especially during the pandemic.

          Anyway, the price per m2 of your construction will depend on the type of finish you choose for your apartments.

          1. Brian Carmichael says:

            Hello Elvis
            I bought 700 metros in Miches by the beach
            I want a put a foundation for now and build later
            What do you think the cost should be

          2. Elvis Alcequiez says:

            Hi Brian, yes, you can build the footing and bring it to ground level, but more precise information is needed to know an approximate price.

            It is very difficult to give an approximate cost of footings because it will depend on the number of walls in your design, how many levels does the house have…

            You must also consider the columns at the time of making the footing and for this, it is necessary to know the design.

            The levels of the house will also influence the depth of the footing, width, and camber.

            Even if you are going to do your design in stages, I advise you to get your design now and stick to that design from start to finish.

      2. Carole Benton says:

        Hello Mr Alcequiez,
        Would you be interested in working on a couple of bungalows in Samana?
        Im in the process of purchasing a piece of land of 555 square meters.
        How much do you think bungalows would cost, versus an appartmant building or a duplex, like you were mentionning earlier.
        Thank you for your time,

  2. Elvis Alcequiez says:

    If you are going to build apartment units with the same floor plan, do some research on pre-fabricated construction, the cost is much cheaper, I believe it is currently under 15,000 Dominican pesos per M2.

  3. Where can you buy pre-fabricated construction blocks?

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hello Julian

      The prefabricated construction is not blocks, they are metallic formworks that are used to make the walls, many construction companies work with this system in the Dominican Republic, and also some independent engineers.

      This system is used by one of the most popular construction company in the country, I once heard that the cost per M2 of this company was under 7,000 Dominican pesos, which I found really impressive and I thought it was true because they sell apartments at very low cost.

      1. I am trying to figure out the following things:

        1). Building walls with blocks, pour concrete or pre-fabricated concrete walls. What is the cost for each of those or where I can go to get the price for bricks and cement (how many per pallet), how much ready concrete truck would cost and what is their carry capacity (in the US – the truck comes with 10 cubic yards of concrete per truck).
        2). Do you have web page where I could get all information of the above + construction labor costs.
        3). Do you know a company that could create blue prints of a house with breakdown of the different costs and what is the cost to draw blue prints (house design and measurements) ETC.

        Lastly, I am considering buying land in one of two places, Jarabqoa and Cabrera. Any information regarding those two towns.

        Feel free to email me.
        Thank you.

  4. I have a land 200m2,I would like to build 3 apartments how much it will cost me.

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hello, your lot is not very large, assuming it is 10×20 linear meters and subtracting a couple of meters to the boundaries, that would give you to build apartments of approximately 80 M2 in size.

      With the great increase of the materials of this year 2021, you should calculate in traditional construction an approximate of 22 thousand per M2.

      Considering that data and assuming that you are NOT going to build apartments that have luxury, the cost per finished unit could be around 1.7 million Dominican pesos, the complete project of the 3 apartments could cost you approximately 5.2 million pesos.

      I am giving you the approximate costs of the finished project, but in reality, your project is not far from the numbers I just gave you.

  5. Frank Bekaert says:

    I have a piece of land of circa 15 ha near Santo Domingo, 20 minutes from the sea. Can be developed for residential housing/ appartement a I understand. Can I for example build a villa for myself and sell off plots of say 1000-5000 m2 each? What would the value be? Any info welcome. Frank (Belgium), frank71.bekaert@hotmail.com

  6. Demarius Howard says:

    Hello
    I’m looking to build a container home in the DR. What is a good price for near beach lots and cost for building a 1000sqft container home?

  7. Elvis Alcequiez says:

    Hello, I have replied to you via email, thank you for your comments.

  8. widjyne Dunbar says:

    hello i loved your article bery informative i am looking to build a small apartment complex in santiago i would love to have some recommendations

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hi Dunbar, thanks, what kind of recommendation do you need? If you want you can write to me through the contact page directly to my email address

  9. Dwayne Bailey says:

    Hello Elvis,

    I’m looking to build a villa in POP or Sosua. 3 bed room, one level (I’d be open to 2 levels), pool, and high end finishes. You seem very knowledgeable. I’d love to pick your brain or hire you as a consultant for my project. Please reach out to me when you can.

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hi Dwayne, thanks for writing me, I will be writing to your email.

      1. Dwayne Bailey says:

        Hello Elvis,
        Looking forward to hearing from you.

        1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

          Hi Dwayne, I wrote to your email, if you can’t see my email please check your spam folder.

  10. Rodlin Jerome says:

    I would like to built a high end apartment in punta cana . I would love to high as a consultant

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hi Rodlin, thanks for writing me, in the next few days, I will set up a form on this website for people who want to hire me as a designer or consultant.

      There I will put my personal contact, phone and e-mail, until then, we can communicate by e-mail.

      1. Hello Elvis :

        I have read your replies on building costs in Dominican Republic, I am interested in building in Río San Juan, I am interested in building a two bedroom house with a pool, single story, what will it cost to build to complete . Thank you.

        1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

          Hi James, thanks, you can contact me directly to Whatsapp, I wrote you to the mail as well…

  11. Hi Elvis,

    My name is mike. I would like to speak with you about building in the Dominican Republic and paying you for your time/expertise. Thank you.

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hi Mike thanks, I wrote you to your email, you can contact me via WhatsApp also

  12. Im intersted in building mutl-unit units or for the purpose of Air BNB.
    What are your thoughts?

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      It is a very good idea, I know some people who have done the same and it has worked very well, it all depends on the area where you are going to build, but from what I have seen Airbnb works very well here near tourist areas and in cities with high population density as well.

  13. Aixa Addington says:

    Hi Elvis, I am interested in building in Dominican Republic. I am willing to pay to work with you. Would you have the time to speak with me? Thank You

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hello, thank you for writing me, I have just contacted you at your email address

      1. I have not received any email.

  14. Hello Elvis,

    I have a house in PTO PTA that I will like to remodel. Can I send you a picture to get any idea. I will like 2 apartment on the top, also I know that the column need to be reinforced.

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hello, thank you, I wrote to your e-mail…

  15. Hi Elvis, me and my wife just bought a land in puerto plata. We would really appreciate having your advice for our project. Price , plan and more… thank you????????

  16. Francisco Velasquez says:

    Good Evening Elvis,

    Awesome website and information. I am looking into building a house for my mother en Los Corozo, una zona en Cotui. Thinking of a 3 bedroom, 1 bath…I am a bit nervous to build something there because I will here in the US. Maybe you can direct me to some of your 3 Bedroom designs. Also do you think this it is possible to build this home with 1.5 to 3 million pesos?

    Gracias ????

    Francisco

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hello Francisco, thank you for writing me

      Yes, with 1.5 million pesos unfortunately nothing can be done in the DR, maybe in 1990 (bad joke).

      With 3 million pesos, it is possible to make a modest house with 3 standard bedrooms without luxuries.

      The prices of construction materials have risen a lot in the last few years.

      1. Francisco Velasquez says:

        That you to your Prompt response – the property you designed – the one you built in 2018 for approximately 2.2 million – what would something like that cost now? How many bedroom was that home? Do you have any designs that can be built with 3-5 million pesos – that you don’t my sharing?

        Thank you in advance.

        1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

          That house I designed and built in 2018 has three bedrooms, compared to 2018, currently, the construction cost went up around 90%, that is, almost double. Yes, I have many designs, please write me to my email. elvisalcequiez@hotmail.com

  17. Hi Elvis,
    Thank you for this forum. Very useful. Can you give me an idea of how much i should expect to spend on a luxury 5 bedroom house with pool and gazebo on backyard?

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hello, thank you! yes of course, could you tell me approximately what size in M2 or P2 you require for the house?

  18. Hi Elvis, what is a cost of building new house, around 2-3 bedrooms, about 120 M2 without a pool in 2023?

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      It depends on some factors, but in general, I would say about 4 million Dominican pesos, which would be about 72 thousand dollars.

      Currently, the price per M2 of construction with good materials is around 34k per M2. If you have a serious project, I recommend that you make a detailed design and budget.

  19. Hi, thanks for all the amazing information. We just purchased 1311m2 in Juan Dolio. We are looking to build a house aprox 378 m2. We should be considering to pay 34K pesos per sq meter?

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hello, thank you for your comment, yes, before the pandemic the cost per M2 was around 19 thousand pesos, but the materials have gone up a lot.

  20. Daniel Gonzales says:

    Elvis, thank you for your very informative article. I have been looking for a good breakdown of costs for hours. My family wants to build a house in Bani and we would like to have a rough estimate of what we need to save in order to build a house for my family. Ideally, it would be a foundation of 900sq feet with 2 floors (dos pisos) house. With prices going up, how much would constructing a house like this cost?

    Thank you!

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hi Daniel, I did not understand the measurements you provide, do you mean 900 sq.ft. on first floor?

      If it is two levels it would be 1,800 sq.ft. in total, that is, 900 sq.ft. for each floor, is that what you mean?

      That house would have a total of around 166 M2, the cost per M2 would be between 28,000 and 34,000 Dominican pesos depending on the type of materials you use.

      With this information you can make a quick calculation by multiplying.

      That house is around 4.5 million Dominican pesos, that is, about 85 thousand dollars of construction.

      Anyway I recommend you to get quotes and estimates from several construction professionals.

  21. Hi Elvis,

    I’m interested in using your service the contruction of a 2 floor house in La Vega, Please reach out. Thanks

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hello Erinson, thank you, I’ll write to your email address

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