Samurai and I were really positive that everything will be approved in time for us to start building later this year so I started calling around for the prices of shipping containers to house our materials on the land.
Most companies I called referred me to Mediterranean Shipping Company for purchase options. When I called, the price maxed around $15K including payment to Customs and to a driver to deliver the container to our location. I also called a company that rented containers and even containers converted to offices but their $18K price to rent the bare container for one month was the same cost to purchase! Why? I do not know but we knew we will obviously be purchasing one. We therefore had to decide if we were willing to go through the hassle of buying it directly from the shipping company to save that $3K.
My cousin who recently completed her house had a novel idea of purchasing an old run-down trailer attachment for next to nothing in price and she cleaned out and lined the inside. It had doors and windows just like a container office but just when we thought about probably offering her a rental payment to use it as our storage, she decides to expand her newly built house.
Did I say this woman is crazy? She is. After building her single-storey house, she decides to add a floor. Yes she built her foundation for this, but she had a roof, not a first-floor decking over her head. That means she now has to raise her roof, if it could even be used again, and add a next storey.
In the mean time, we decided to visit the land to check on the plants because well, we kind of abandoned all our hundreds of dollars in plants. Of course, the land was overgrown with thick and tall grass. We could hardly venture far onto it to see the plants. From afar we saw a coconut tree struggling to grow and to the front, our sugar cane stalk was doing well. Other than that, the property looked like some wild forest. Sadly, we decided we were not going to even bother to trim or attend to these plants. Our plan for a lush garden when we moved in will just have to be squashed.
We did notice a storage container at the beginning of the development though. Christmas present? No. It seems another property-owner in the development planned to build as a lot about three down from ours was cleared of all grass and somewhat leveled! Yay! I was excited because we'll have neighbours and it also brought more hope to the area and value increasing even more.
When I got home, I watched the plans that showed the lots and the proposed drains. I realised that the drains were designed to run off into the pond which was a bit of a concern to me. Samurai decided to call the owner of the development regarding an update on the WASA water connections and drainage and he explained that WASA was currently doing an expansion project in the area but the drains were our responsibilty. I was confused. I called the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation a few days later to find out if they did drainage or if we were responsible and they explained that they only do the roadside drainage. However (and I must mention how helpful the staff at this agency was), the inspector did explain that earthen drains are just as good as concrete drains so we are not required to construct actual drains with the construction of the house. This was a relief and running a box drain along the perimeter of an acre of land would be something we just could not afford, however, we still needed to devise a plan for proper drainage on the lot into these earthen drains that already existed.
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