Building a home on Great Exuma is not unlike building a home anywhere - you must design your home, obtain a permit for its construction, locate a contractor, and ensure that your financing is in place.

You can use your own architect, but a local architect registered and licensed in the Bahamas must sign off the plans to ensure that they conform to local requirements. The cost of a local Bahamian architect signing off is about B$200.

Once the plans have been drawn up they are
submitted to the Town Planning Authority,
which evaluates whether the house meets
setback requirements, meets any applicable restrictive covenants, is structurally sound,
and whether the general size and design
conforms to the surrounding area.

The guidelines for these covenants are as follows:

• No building to be erected on the lot for any other purpose than of a private dwelling house. No trade, manufacturer or business of any kind shall at any time be set up or carried out.
• No more than one single-family dwelling house plus one garage and/or utility structure shall be erected on any lot. No toilet shall be installed in any outbuildings. All generators, air conditioners and pumps shall be enclosed completely in outbuildings and shall be sited so as not to cause a nuisance to adjoining occupiers.
• The general policy is that a home may not be higher than 40 feet above the highest elevation of the plot – 2 storeys high.
• No building erection except a boundary wall not more than 4 foot high shall be erected on the lot within 20 feet of any roads or within 8 feet of any boundary of the lot, separating the lot from land not owned by the purchaser. A minimum of 200 square feet of parking space per dwelling unit must be provided for. No temporary building of any kind (including tent or trailer) shall be built or maintained on any lot.

It may also be advisable to begin a dialogue with a contractor, or with several contractors in the early stages, as they may have pre-approved house plans or have a relationship with an architect who can make the process simpler and less expensive for you.

A number of persons list themselves as building contractors on Great Exuma. Since Bahama Acres Limited is not in the construction business, we are not in a position either to recommend or disqualify any of these builders. We will be delighted to furnish you with a list when you are ready to commence construction.

A guideline on cost of building a home in Great Exuma

Cost for building a home will naturally vary greatly according to the size of the building, your design and your specification. As a rough guideline the average cost of contruction is about US$ 130 per sq ft.

A 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom house at approx 1,400 sq ft will cost about $185,000. At the exchange rate of
$1.85 this is about £100,000.

Allow a £110,000 and this
should include:

· Clearing of the island
· Ground works
· Foundation (slab)
· Borehole (if required)
· Sewerage (by way of sceptic tank)
· Electricity (connection to the mains)
· Air conditioning
· Basic fitted bathrooms
· Essential Kitchen and major white appliances

A number of persons list themselves as building contractors on Great Exuma. Since Bahama Acres Limited is not in the contruction business, we are not in a position either to recommend or disqualify any of these builders.

We will be delighted to furnish you with a list when you are ready to commence contruction.