Mistakes expats make in Costa Rica

"Did you make any mistakes when you first moved to Costa Rica? What were they?"

Ahhh, if I only knew then what I know now….

I would say my biggest mistake was not understanding that you cannot trust what people say - more here than what I was used to.  Costa Ricans don’t like to disappoint.  They want to tell you what they think you want to hear.

You have to learn to decipher what it is that they actually mean.  “Yes, I am a professional welder.”  Which translates to, “Yes, my grandpa taught me to weld when I was 12 and I welded two pipes together once.  So I’m sure I can build a house for you.” Or - “Yes, I have years of experience when it comes to installing a concrete sidewalk.”  But forgets to mention that he doesn’t own a level and wouldn’t know what to do with it if he did.  These are actual occurrences for me.  (No, I did not let the guy weld the framing on my house.    )

The other one was the architect who took my deposit and said that he would get me the receipt “tomorrow” when he filed the drawings.  Seemed very professional, had a nice office, etc.  Hired a lawyer to get the money back.  Even lawyers and police are timid about confrontation.

Unfortunately, I have had to learn not to trust what people say.  Even when it is said with good intentions.  This is simply a cultural thing.  What they often times see as being nice and not wanting to disappoint, due to our culture, we would find rude.

"With hindsight, what would you do differently?"

There is not much I could have done differently.  Or for that matter, anyone moving here can.  It’s something you have to get used to/experience.  Or at least adjust to.  It doesn’t bother me now.  With a move to any new country, you have to accept and assimilate into their culture.  If not, you will do as most do, return to your home country.

"Are there any tips you could give future expats in Costa Rica to help them avoid these kinds of mistakes?"
This ‘not wanting to disappoint’ is just one of many, many reasons that most expats here strongly encourage people to rent before you buy.  There is a huge adjustment when moving to a new country.  It’s not that difficult to get used to living here.  It’s getting used to, adjusting to and assimilating into their culture. 

You have no choice but to take a laid back attitude toward the culture.  If you can't, you will not survive Costa Rica.  😱

- Expat Dave

I would say don't believe everything you read....

Check out recommendations...then do it again.

Don't make hasty decisions that will be hard to get out of.

Make the assumption that if  some speaks English, they must be trustworthy...including another expat.

kohlerias wrote:

I would say don't believe everything you read....

Check out recommendations...then do it again.

Don't make hasty decisions that will be hard to get out of.

Make the assumption that if  some speaks English, they must be trustworthy...including another expat.

Oh so true.

I would also add another to avoid, one of my pet peeves - the Gringo tour companies that also happen to sell real estate.  AVOID them like the plague.

- Expat Dave

I would say  the #1 biggest mistake expats make here is not learning Spanish, and the #2 mistake is not living here at least a month or more before they buy a house or property.

I agree with all that Dave said above.
Trusting people who "seem" very honest can be a big mistake, even when you get recommendations. So go into it with a jaundiced eye, and take it all with a grain of salt and do your checking. If something seems off to you, even though the person is highly recommended, sometimes you gotta go with your gut instead.

Also as one Tico told me, my mechanic is very honest with ME but with YOU, I cannot guarantee it.

Example:
A Tico mechanic was highly recommended to me by a gringo friend who lived here many years. I had had no luck in finding a used car.
So this mechanic told us he knew of a car that was really in great condition and he knew the guy selling it and he highly recommended the car.

We of course drove it and it seemed good enough so with the "trustworthy mechanic's" recommendation we bought it.

Later the differential broke - maybe this is something he should have known was not good, or maybe not; we had to have it fixed by another mechanic due to circumstances.
When we took the car back to the original "trustworthy" mechanic, he told us the differential we put on the car was complete junk and we should have let HIM do it so we wouldn't have gotten ripped off. His exact words were "this is worse than the one you replaced"!
I said, "That cannot be since the other one literally had metal pieces in it where it was disintegrating. I saw it!" At that point I figured the guy was probably lying and just was jealous we had a different mechanic put in the differential.

So i then went back to the mechanic who put the diff. in and he insisted it was fine.
As luck would have it I had another mechanic do some other work so i asked him to check the differential. He said it was fine.

Bottom line: the original "trusted, recommended mechanic" lied to us about the differential being bad ( a year later it's still fine), and he lied to us in telling us the car was in great shape. We had to fix the alternator, the differential, the suspension, the battery and other things all in the first 6 months, plus it didn't have all the stickers it should have had, plus it took is 4 months to get the title from  the seller who kept avoiding us even though he was the mechanic's "friend".
Think maybe we were "taken" as gullible gringos who they figured they could take advantage of?

That's just one of many examples.
Another one comes to mind more like Dave's example re people claiming to be "professionals" but really do very unprofessional work:

The guys who did our window work on our house did such a lousy job that the first time we had a hard rain we ended up with water all over our bedroom. We got it fixed free but when we carefully inspected and found the problem we were astonished - they had simply left 1" gaps at the top of the windows! A bird could almost have flown in!  (well a hummingbird at least!) These were way up high with access only from the roof so we had never inspected them.
IF YOU HAVE WORK DONE ON A HOUSE:
A) STAND OVER THEM EVEN THOUGH IT MAY SEEM RUDE. IF YOU DON'T YOU MAY BE SORRY.
B) INSPECT IT VERY VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU PAY THEM.

One other tip we learned:
When you ask a Tico "how much is this going to cost?" they often won't give you a price, they'll just say "barrato" (in English, "cheap").

Do NOT hire them based on "barrato". Every time we have done this we were shocked by the high price. That ranges from repairing shoes to sewing curtains. Now I always push them for a PRICE or at least a price range. And if they won't give me a price or price range then I move on to the next.

Hello.

To make it fun let's define "mistake" first? From linguistic point of view. Let's look at the etymology? What's the best 3 resources? Don't forget biblical nor agnostic cross references. Add Shakespearean etc then let's go personal 🤓

OH YEH! When hiring help no matter what you are having them do be very careful. Some will demand Caja when working with you for less than a month,  will want to be paid for holidays, and whatever else they can get out of your Gringo Ass.Fire one and they will want to be paid 2 weeks for nothing.Don't give in to them.Hold your own and tell them flat out no.Threats may come but seldom have any consequences. Pay for a gardener for me is $20 a day and the same for our maid.Both are part time.Good Luck

hknbass wrote:

OH YEH! When hiring help no matter what you are having them do be very careful. Some will demand Caja when working with you for less than a month,  will want to be paid for holidays, and whatever else they can get out of your Gringo Ass.Fire one and they will want to be paid 2 weeks for nothing.Don't give in to them.Hold your own and tell them flat out no.Threats may come but seldom have any consequences. Pay for a gardener for me is $20 a day and the same for our maid.Both are part time.Good Luck

I sure hope that is not an 8 hour day.  $2.50 per hour?  I was paid more than that 45 years ago.  If that is what you pay, no wonder you have issues with Costa Rican labor.

- Expat Dave

this is what several gringos in this area are paying. It's always good to ask what the going rates are before you hire.My last maid was with me for over a year and never complained about the money.I do give bonuses but when they deserve them and treat them very good. Check around.You may be paying to much, like a lot of beginner gringos do. I have seen this in several countries. before you judge know your facts

What about CAJA and INS 

ExpatDave wrote:

hknbass wrote:

OH YEH! When hiring help no matter what you are having them do be very careful. Some will demand Caja when working with you for less than a month,  will want to be paid for holidays, and whatever else they can get out of your Gringo Ass.Fire one and they will want to be paid 2 weeks for nothing.Don't give in to them.Hold your own and tell them flat out no.Threats may come but seldom have any consequences. Pay for a gardener for me is $20 a day and the same for our maid.Both are part time.Good Luck

I sure hope that is not an 8 hour day.  $2.50 per hour?  I was paid more than that 45 years ago.  If that is what you pay, no wonder you have issues with Costa Rican labor.

- Expat Dave

Actually the minimum wage for unskilled labor is $2-3/hour.  I've seen this quoted in many places and I know that the gardeners in my development are paid about $2/hr.  How much do you pay your help?  Sounds like they're getting a good deal.   https://costaricalaw.com/costa-rica-leg … -for-2015/

Your link to the minimum wage scale is 2 years 'out of date', so here is the newest version

When we first moved here I did pay a lower salary because that is what I was informed as to their salary.  Once I spent time in my Tico neighbor's homes and some that worked for me, I witnessed how they lived.  I then made the choice to pay them a more reasonable salary. If it betters their life slightly and has no effect on mine, why not?

So if the legal requirement was $1 per hour, is that what you'd pay?  The cost of living is the same for a Tico as it is for a Gringo.  Could you live on that wage.  If that's all a person can afford to pay, that is one thing.  But if you have the means to provide that person a better quality of life, shouldn't you?  If your able to pay that wage and your conscious is clear, that is of course your prerogative.

This is in no way meant to be argumentative, I just personally feel that if you can better a financially poor person's life, and it has no effect on your life, shouldn't you?  Simply my personal opinion.

- Expat Dave

Hey Dave. Not only do I employ 1 part-time gardener.I employ his wife as our maid but when needed I can hire up to 4 at a time to help on my property and my projects. Believe me, they come running and are very earnest at 1st but dwindle over a short period, not all, but this is my experience. I owned a successful business for  20 years and retired at a ripe 52 years young, im 65 now. I treated my employees great as I do now.

You are so right. Just because they speak English doesn't make them your friend.Be wary of gringo more than the tico.

hknbass wrote:

Hey Dave. Not only do I employ 1 part-time gardener.I employ his wife as our maid but when needed I can hire up to 4 at a time to help on my property and my projects. Believe me, they come running and are very earnest at 1st but dwindle over a short period, not all, but this is my experience. I owned a successful business for  20 years and retired at a ripe 52 years young, im 65 now. I treated my employees great as I do now.

That's great. I am glad to hear that you treat them well and pay them fairly.  That's all anyone can ask.

I also retired at 52, but not sure how that is applicable.  I don't however recommend it to others.  Too early.

- Expat Dave

I pay about 25% higher than minimum to my gardener/helper but I think if you pay too much more than that you can get into hot water with other gringos in your community. I pay that because the guy I employ was already being paid that by my neighbor.

However what I do is give him gifts on a regular basis, especially when I go to the U.S., I bring back goodies for him, that he appreciates getting; sometimes based on what I know he needs. I also give him beer, food, etc when I have extra. Treat him like family really, pay his bills for him when I go to town (take it out of his pay later), offer him rides, advance him money when I can etc.

Honestly if I were well to do and not scraping by myself I'd pay him more and when I get "into some money" I am going to give him a big bonus.

As I understand it, if you have help come at a regular time and instruct them on how to do their job you have to pay them CAJA. If they come when they want or irregularly, and you don't tell them exactly how to do their job then they are independent contractors so you don't have to pay insurance.
Luckily my guy has his own CAJA and is an independent contractor.

I do wonder if you have to pay an independent contractor aguinaldo? As I understand it you do not but I give him a year end bonus which is the same amount.

kohlerias wrote:

Your link to the minimum wage scale is 2 years 'out of date', so here is the newest version

Thanks much for posting this! I looked all over for this a few months ago.
I did find the original Spanish but it was kinda hard to navigate.

ExpatDave wrote:

When we first moved here I did pay a lower salary because that is what I was informed as to their salary.  Once I spent time in my Tico neighbor's homes and some that worked for me, I witnessed how they lived.  I then made the choice to pay them a more reasonable salary. If it betters their life slightly and has no effect on mine, why not?

So if the legal requirement was $1 per hour, is that what you'd pay?  The cost of living is the same for a Tico as it is for a Gringo.  Could you live on that wage.  If that's all a person can afford to pay, that is one thing.  But if you have the means to provide that person a better quality of life, shouldn't you?  If your able to pay that wage and your conscious is clear, that is of course your prerogative.

This is in no way meant to be argumentative, I just personally feel that if you can better a financially poor person's life, and it has no effect on your life, shouldn't you?  Simply my personal opinion.

- Expat Dave

Dave, absolutely!  I wasn't trying to say that you should pay them minimum wage.  I have no idea how minimum wage employees live here.   Most of the workers I know that are paid these terrible wages also have to pay for a bus to get to work and back at least $4 out of their salary as well because they can't afford a car or motorcycle!  Yet the ones I know here are happy and work hard.  Compare that to the disgruntled unskilled workers in North America! It's very eye-opening.   Anyway, just trying to say that what you pay is probably more the exception than the norm.

Buenos dias to The Wizz!

I am not saying that I pay a exuberant amounts.  I employ a neighbor to help maintain the property who is in his early 50's and supports a family of four.  I pay him ¢2,500 ($4.40) per hour.  I just cannot with clear conscience pay him less.  And as you say, he works a lot harder than most unskilled North Americans would - and they'd want $10+ per hour.

- Expat Dave