Beginning of another day in paradise, what a way to start it?

So things are in the final stages of finish here in Maya Beach at the Pirates Paradise, with as you can probably guess, hundreds (it feels like) little things to finish. Our builder Nelson Montalvo has been excellent in getting the remaining things done, that was supposed to be finished by the “other guy”, but were not. Actually, as Nelson is very busy with his many projects and home construction projects. He referred us to two other excellent local Belize contractors that he had subcontracted for our build before.

Olivers new “Nasty Area” .

Our wall/fencing with Bayco Finish Line material is almost complete, and actually, the south side of the house and back stairs area is completed, including our palapa over the rear entrance. This is most enjoyed by little Oliver because he can now go out to his own personal area to his own version of “The Nasty”.

Marsha and I were so thrilled to learn that the 6-panel replacement window for the kitchen had finally arrived in Belize City at Benny’s, and would be delivered and installed soon. This was the last major thing that needed to be completed, replacing the incorrect, 3-panel inward folding window, we bought via the “other guy”. A few days later Benny’s truck shows up at our house, without calling and scheduling ahead. We were pretty excited to finally have that nightmare over, and open the doors wide as they carried all the separate glass panels through the house and stacking on the outside deck. As they left they said Benny’s would be contacting us to take the incorrect window out, and installing these “correct” ones.

Looking pretty finished at the Pirates Paradise.

As the truck pulled down the road, Marsha asked me to get the tape measure,  because the windows looked pretty long to her. We measured them, and instead of being about 60 inches tall, the windows were actually 72 inches tall. Marsha quickly called Benny’s who contacted their truck driver who returned and retrieved the incorrect window.

Here we frickin go again after they promised to replace the window with the correct size, Benny’s “window specialist” calls and tells us they can “cut the hurricane class glass windows to size”. To make a long story short, after some coarse back and forth emails and phone calls about a refund of funds for the difference in cost, we got a full refund of what we had paid.

We immediately contacted our builder Nelson and asked him to order the replacement 6-panel window from his supplier. You see, we trust Nelson Montalvo to contact the best, not the cheapest supplier, and to finally get this done right. The outcome to follow in a couple months.

The sub-contractors spreading sone in 98 degree sun ! These guys are hard workers.

On a more enjoyable note, our sub-contractors installed the tile barriers and stone driveway and parking areas, producing an almost finish look. Marsha then arranged to have some very different and exciting varieties of Palm trees in the front of the house.

Ahhhh..the little red beast in its parking area.

The inside of our new home is actually at a point where we can actually walk around without tripping over boxes, and I have to say, thank god for our massive concrete storage room under the house. This has saved us a lot of issues, and we are actually one by one going through the boxes filling that room. By the Christmas Holidays, we until we meet in the next post be done, I hope.

My design front door carvings, removable and replaceable with different carvings 😉

Another accomplishment on my part is my own designed double front door, and inserting removable wood carvings, to change whenever we want to.

And talking about Christmas, my new book to be published will probably be in print by then, so keep an eye out for, “Building your new house in Belize, Central America, the Good, Bad and yes Ugly that can and will happen”.

Cheers and until we meet again in the next post …Arrrr!

Gary…The Pirate