Tropical Comfort at a VERY Affordable Cost

A ‘built in’ advantage of Pueblo Verde as a residential option is that we can help you move into a comfortable, climate-friendly dwelling for a price where the ‘sticker shock’ will be a pleasant surprise.

To start off, your future neighbors here combine nearly a century of building experience, both in the US and in the tropics. We are able to help with guidance in both locating and designing your residence. You will find that local experience is invaluable when it comes to sourcing labor and materials as well as dealing with permitting and utility hook-ups.

Next, Pueblo Verde is located in a mixed species plantation forest. Mature trees are extracted at their prime, to provide lumber for building and open up spaces for enriching the diversity of the forest that surrounds our homes. The wood for building purposes is top quality, reasonable cost and specifically selected for esthetic and structural value.

Extensive use of local materials helped the owners of lot #13 finish the 500 sq. ft. ‘central core’ of their 1,200 sq. ft. home with wrap around all weather decks for under $25,000. Meanwhile, on lot # 2, a timber-framed home with sleeping loft and expansive decks, looks likely to come in just under $35 K.

When you visit Pueblo Verde we’ll be happy to share with you the results of our efforts and our works in progress. Invite you into our homes to plan and to dream. We’ll show you how you can build a home that’s suits your lifestyle—and your wallet.

Reflections from Lot 13 Owners Casey and Craig

When we decided to buy a lot in PV, we looked for one that would allow us to build a small cabin in one building season. With our background in logging and construction, we choose our lot based on the amount of mature re-forested timber and a simple to utilize building envelope. Our plan was to do as much of the work ourselves as possible, building with local materials to create a house that was easy to cool and maintain.

We designed a simple house, utilizing as much wood as possible given the tropical conditions. We found an architect who would take our design and adapt it to the local conditions, i.e. earthquakes. While he steered us through the permit process, we started processing wood. By going with a timber frame design, we reduced our need for framing lumber, but needed some big timbers. Here it’s a little different that the US – no skidder, no truck and no sawmill. Fell the tree, cut it into needed lengths, then saw the lumber right there all with a chainsaw. Then carry the pieces to the house site, plane it and cut it to final dimensions.

The wood that we cut off our site was interesting to work with. A species planted for quick re-forestation –gmelina. It is a hard, heavy wood, but quite easy to work with when green, but as it dries it gets harder and holds fastenings very well. Our design is a high ceiling and steep roof, with open gable ends for ventilation. By orienting the house to catch the prevailing wind it stays cooler than the outside temperature with minimum fan usage.

Factors in our success: building experience, including plumbing & electric; camping onsite while building; abundance of useable trees; good local help & friends; working every day through the heat; our willingness to go in stages.

Reflections from Lot 2 Owners Ann Marie and Matt

We got to know Pueblo Verde and fell in love with it over our first six months in Costa Rica. We lived in Craig and Casey’s newly completed casita on Lot 13 and every day watched amazing birds, troops of howler monkeys, and even a jaguarundi right outside our windows. We were amazed at how functional and absolutely wonderful a simple house design could be and started dreaming about our own future in the area.

Our decision to buy a lot and build a home in Pueblo Verde developed over the following few months, when Craig and Casey returned and we had to move to a rental house where we were not “Neighbors with Nature.” We also wanted to be in a community that supported us having chickens and goats. This May, we began construction of our own little house in the hill on Lot 2, employing a local crew and using wood milled from our own land. Tom Peifer, the Pueblo Verde developer, helped us find a great, English-speaking architect and is facilitating the building process. The design, a basic rectangle with front deck and sleeping loft, incorporates meter-tall cement walls (a “zocalo”) and teak wood siding. We’ll also have large windows and a clerestory to take advantage of passive cooling. In just 6-8 weeks we expect to be moving into our new home, thanks to everyone at Pueblo Verde!