How To Build A House In Costa Rica – Inspection And The Project Log

Building a house in Costa Rica involves several steps, each requiring careful planning and adherence to local regulations. Below you may find a couple items that Quatro Legal considers essential to be aware of throughout the building process:
1. Inspections: This item it related to the verification and monitoring carried out by the professional or group of professionals (or company) during the execution process of a project or work, in order to ensure that it is carried out in accordance with the best construction practices, plans, technical specifications, and other documents that are an integral part of the contract.
The service is provided through periodic site visits by the corresponding professional or professionals. In the case of construction projects, visits must be made according to the project’s stage and to the progress of the work in their area of specialty.
The inspector, when assuming only this service, is not responsible in any way for the execution of the project or work, as the scope of the inspection services remains to:

Reviewing that the work is carried out as indicated in the plans, technical specifications, and contract terms.
Proposing changes to the designs, assuming the professional responsibility this entails.
Carrying out the act of project reception jointly with the owner and preparing a final report if required.
Preparing periodic reports for the owner.
Controlling and approving disbursements according to the project’s progress, when applicable.
Recommending the execution of change orders to the owner, when applicable.
Reviewing and approving invoices from the contracting company, when applicable.
Informing the owner about the project’s progress.
Reviewing the quality of materials and the construction process by the means deemed appropriate.
Reviewing and approving materials and equipment to be installed, according to plans, technical specifications, and contract terms.

2. Project log: This is an official document, authorized by the Executive Director of the Federated College of Engineers and Architects of Costa Rica, heinafter as “CFIA”, duly bound and paginated, where the professional responsible for the construction and their specialists, as well as all those authorized persons are obligated to provide a written record of their professional actions.

All changes made as result of the inspections, must be duly noted and technically justified in the project log by the technical director and notes can be included by the owner, his consulting representatives, if they are duly authorized to exercise the profession by CFIA.

At this point, you might be wondering what does a project log contains? Well, apart from the technical matters mentioned above, it must include all the situations ocurred during the execution of the project and the performance of the professionals involved in the project. It is designed to serve as evidence in the eventual case of filing an accusation against any of the professionals registered in the project, for non-compliance with the Organic Law, its Regulations, or the provisions of the Ethics code of the Engineers Federated College, in particular, or, if applicable, in matters of a legal or judicial nature, unrelated to the competence of the Federated College.

Who opens and is in charge of the project log? The technical director shall open and activate the log by using an entry that must be linked to the project, construction permit, reasons for opening, indicating through an entry that the legal requirements to start the process have been met.

After 30 days of the final completion of the project, all the professionals linked to the project must add their final statement to the log and fulfill the requirements to close the log.

All project professionals must download a copy of the digital log and keep it in their files for no more than 90 days after its closing. Any legimated person as interested party may consult the annotations and notes; however, no copies of the log will be given unless expressly indicated by a competent authority.

Building a house in Costa Rica offers the unique opportunity to create your dream home in a tropical paradise. For a smooth construction process and a successful outcome, Quatro Legal strongly recommends to ensure that you are dealing with engaged and qualified professionals that keep the project log in good standing as a way to fulfill your expectations and deliver a personalized stunning home at paradise.

For further information, feel free to contact Hillary Cruz at hcc@quatro.legal

Hillary Cruz Chaves
Attorney