Building a Home On Utila

Before building your unique island getaway, one has to identify the place where you want to live. This can take many years of travel and research and is probably the most important part of the process. Take your time and be sure that you can become a resident and legally own land on the island of your choice. Utila is rather unique in it offers a virtually crime free environment, year around warm weather, beautiful Caribbean waters in which to swim, SCUBA dive, sail etc. The charm and laid back lifestyle of Utila, has unfortunately, all but vanished from many of the more developed islands in the Caribbean.

Having found your island, the next thing is to find that perfect spot on the island to call home. You may wish to buy an existing house, or find that perfect lot on which to design your own unique island retreat. If you want to design and build your own home, then you need to start by finding the right piece of land at the right price. You need to decide what kind of land you would like to have. Like so many of us, you may want to be on the beach. We have a beautiful shoreline here on Utila with white sand, turquoise water, fringing reef, coconuts and a wonderful variety of fruit trees such as mango, almond, banana, papaya, sugar cane, et. Or you may prefer a home site farther from the shoreline in a truly natural setting among fruit trees and natural floral and fauna. Either way, Trade Wind Properties has something to show you we are sure you will like.

There are several local and very skilled carpenters here on the island, with many examples of their work available for inspection. Lumber can be purchased here locally, or from mainland Honduras and shipped over. There are two supply boats that come and go from the mainland weekly, on which to ship lumber and supplies. A typical island home made of natural Honduran hardwood will cost between $30.00 and $40.00 per square foot. If you decide to incorporate some of the luxuries in your home with items only found in the US, i.e., special windows, doors etc., there is now a large freight ship that travels from the US directly to Utila, twice a month. So you can see that discovering paradise, and building that dream home, couldn't be much easier.