St Kitts

[Dionne]

We recently spent a week on St Kitts in the West Indies. St Kitts is a total of 68 square miles. Kitts is an emerging sovereign nation in the eastern caribbean. Kitts has a long history of hurricanes over hundreds of years.

Kitts has a building standard that is damn near unbelieveable. Imagine residential construction with concrete walls and concrete roof systems. They pour concrete block solid. They have connectivity from the footer to the roof line. Plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems are built into concrete chases. Walls both exterior and interior have rebar. Floors are tied into walls with rebar. The homes are built like concrete bunkers.

Some of the builders on Kitts are just beginning to use steel trusses. The steel trusses are considered a short cut. Marriott built on Frigate Bay and used red iron as structural steel in a known storm surge zone.

The locals scoff at outsiders building designs. They know better.

If you have enough money, you can move to St Kitts and build anyway you want. They will even let you spend millions to build on top of previously destroyed buildings. Marriott did at Frigate Bay.

If your getting ready to build in a known hurricane zone you should visit Kitts. The research will be well worth your time and money.

[MGC]

Hope you had fun on your vacation. Did you take a cruise ship there? Just how much would building a home like that in America cost? I doubt most American's could afford the cost......MGC

[Dionne]

We flew into St Kitts from Miami via New Orleans on American Airlines.

I did do the economics research while on Kitts. It is clearly more affordable for Americans to build on Kitts rather than at home. Both labor and concrete are more affordable on Kitts. We could build a home on Kitts for about 1/3 on the cost stateside.

The single largest drawback to building or moving to St Kitts is immigration. The Kittsian government requires deposits to be made with local banks. Deposits that remain in place. Start up cost is around 185K American. The amounts vary. It depends who you dealing with......the Kittsians actively pursue the American dollar. Outsiders are required to hire Kittsians as labor rather than bringing in help. A small percentage of workers can be outsiders. At this time, to the best of my knowledge......there are only 2 American contractors on Kitts. Both are building custom high end residential homes on Frigate Bay.

One thing about Kitts. Don't get in a hurry. They are all on "Carib time"......

[MGC]

1/3 the cost of a comparable American home? Were you using New York prices or New Orleans prices? Can't belive the cost comparison. Last time I was in the Carb it was pricey. Coke was more expensive than rum, so I drank rum!....MGC

[Dionne]

Gulf coast prices. As you well know.....tourists in the caribbean pay alot more than locals. For example......a Carib beer at the resort was 3.00 American plus a 19% tax. Down on the docks with the locals the beer was one dollar American with no tax. And it was alot more fun to drink beer with the locals.

It is important to note that concrete is very affordable on Kitts. Being an island of volcanic origin, all the raw materials are in place.

[Derek Ortt]

seems like the Cayman Islands where the code is so stringent that Gilbert, despite cat 5 gusts, only caused moerate damage. Of cours,e Cayman also showed that there is only so much that can be done, as Ivan leveled the island