Building in Costa Rica

Talk to us before you start

Architects, civil engineers, surveyors, construction lawyers, builders and site supervisors — we already work with the people you need, and we can put the whole team around your project. Whether you are buying land through us or you already own a lot, the conversation is free and the earliest call is the most valuable one.

Tell us about your projectWhatsApp Glenn
The whole teamDesign, engineering, legal, construction and supervision
Start to finishFrom the land review to the day you get the keys
Financing tooConstruction loans and major project funding through GAP
Why the first phone call matters most

Most of the expensive mistakes we see in Costa Rica were made before anyone poured concrete. A lot bought without checking whether water can legally be connected. A design drawn up before anybody looked at the setbacks. A budget built on a number somebody guessed at over coffee. A builder hired on a handshake with nothing written down.

None of those are hard to avoid. They are just hard to fix afterwards. If you talk to us while the idea is still on paper, we can tell you what the land will actually allow, who needs to be involved, roughly what it will cost and in what order it has to happen.

That conversation costs you nothing, and it does not commit you to anything.

Owner going over plans and drawings outside a house in Costa Rica

What we do — and what we do not
What GAP does

  • Puts the right professionals around your project and introduces you to them
  • Checks the land before you commit: title, access, water, zoning, setbacks
  • Helps you compare quotes so you are reading like for like
  • Keeps eyes on the work while you are out of the country
  • Chases the paperwork through the permits and the registry
  • Arranges the financing when you need it
What GAP does not do

  • We are not the builder. Your construction contract is with the builder, directly.
  • We do not sign off plans. Only the responsible professional can do that.
  • We do not hold your construction money.
  • We do not tell you a price before anyone has seen the land.

We are on your side of the table, not the builder’s. That is the whole point of having us there.

The rule most foreign buyers find out too late

In Costa Rica, building work is not something you can legally organise on your own. Under the law governing the Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos (CFIA), every engineering or architectural project — public or private — must be designed, calculated, supervised and directed at every stage under the responsibility of a member of the Colegio.

Every set of construction drawings must carry the CFIA seal, signed with the responsible professional’s registration number, before any public office will even process it. And no municipality or state institution will accept plans that have not been through it.

In plain terms: no registered professional, no seal. No seal, no permit. No permit, no legal house.

Every architect and engineer we bring onto a project is registered with the CFIA. That is not a preference, it is the law — and it is the first thing we check before anyone starts.

Source: Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos, Ley Orgánica, articles 12, 54 and 57.

This is exactly the kind of thing nobody mentions until a project is already stuck. It is also why the cheapest quote is so often the most expensive one.

The people your project needs

We are not going to publish a list of company names, but here is who actually has to be involved in a build of any size, and who we can bring in. The architects and engineers among them are CFIA-registered, because nothing they sign would be worth anything otherwise:

ArchitectThe design, the drawings, and the professional responsibility that goes with them.
Civil & structural engineerFoundations, structure and the calculations behind them — which matters on slopes and in a seismic country.
TopographerThe survey, the boundaries and the plano catastro your whole file depends on.
Electrical & mechanical engineersPower, water, drainage, and the systems that get signed off with the rest of the project.
Construction lawyer and notaryTitle, contracts, corporate structure and registration, so what you build is properly yours.
Builder and site supervisorThe people who do the work, and somebody independent watching that it is done right.

Construction under way on the Costa Rica coast, with cranes and finished buildings nearby

How it runs, start to finish
1. A conversationWhat you want to build, roughly where, roughly what budget. No cost, no obligation.
2. The landBefore you buy, or before you design: title, boundaries, access, water availability, zoning and setbacks. This is where most projects are quietly saved or lost.
3. Design and budgetAn architect draws what the land will actually allow, and the engineering and the numbers get built around it rather than guessed at.
4. PermitsDrawings registered with the CFIA, then through the municipality and whichever institutions the project needs.
5. Choosing the builderQuotes on the same scope so you can genuinely compare them, and a written contract before anyone starts.
6. Construction and supervisionThe work gets done, and somebody who answers to you is watching it — with photographs and progress reports if you are abroad.
7. HandoverFinal inspections, the snag list actually finished, and the paperwork closed out properly.
And the money

This is where it helps that we are not only a real estate company. Through GAP Equity Loans we arrange property-backed financing from US$50,000 to around US$1 million — the range most house builds sit in. Above that, GAP arranges project funding from US$1,000,000 to US$100,000,000 and above for developments, hotels and commercial projects.

So the land, the build and the money can all come from the same conversation, instead of three separate ones that do not line up.

Property-backed loans →Project funding, US$1M to US$100M →

Finished Costa Rica home with a garden and a view over the valley

Finding the land in the first place
Jonathan Morales, real estate agent with GAP Real Estate, at a Costa Rica hillside home

Jonathan MoralesGAP Real Estate

Jonathan has over 20 years in Costa Rica real estate and handles the property side of this. If you have not bought the land yet, he is the one who finds it and, just as importantly, tells you when a lot you have fallen in love with is going to be a problem to build on.

Access, water, boundaries, setbacks, what the neighbours are entitled to put up next door — those get checked before you commit, not after.

Already own a lot?

You do not need to have bought through us. If you already own land in Costa Rica and you are trying to work out whether you can build on it, what it would cost, or simply who to trust, that is the same conversation. Plenty of people come to us holding a plano and a lot of conflicting advice.

What to send to get started
  • Where the land is — a Google Maps link or a WhatsApp pin is enough
  • The plano catastro if you have it, or the finca number
  • What you want to build, even roughly: size, bedrooms, one storey or two
  • The budget range you have in mind
  • When you would like to be living in it

If you do not have half of that yet, send what you do have. The point of talking early is that you should not need the answers before you ask the questions.

Start the conversation

Glenn Tellier, founder of Grupo GAP, handles these personally.

info@gap.crWhatsApp +506 8888 0003
Lea esta página en español →

GAP coordinates and introduces independent professionals. Design, engineering and construction work is carried out and certified by the responsible professionals under their own registration, and construction contracts are agreed directly between the owner and the builder.