ForConstructionPros.com

Our first visit to the Caribbean island of Bonaire was back in May 2005. Our friends Scott and Sharon Barlass (full-time residents on Bonaire) invited us down to help stain the floors on their new beachfront home.

I feel compelled to discuss concreting on this 290-sq.-mi. island. What intrigued me was the way the local workers performed their skills with the local materials and tools obtained on the island. I figured I would ask Scott a few questions relative to concreting on Bonaire since he dealt with both the good and bad aspects of concrete construction.

What made you choose decorative concrete virtually throughout your entire home?

There were two factors in our decision to choose decorative concrete. The first was the opportunity to have a unique appearance that was rich and varied. The second was the relative cost difference between decorative concrete and importing tile to the island. We would have had to tile more than 5,000 sq. ft. of surface and the cost would have been more than $50,000. On top of that, there would have been import duties of 30 percent and then shipping costs of $10,000 to $15,000. Also, there is the chance of breaking tile during shipping in the open seas, let alone having to order an additional 20 percent of tile to cover the broken tiles.

How is the labor different from the states?

In the states (Minnesota) we had a lot of concrete at our home. The driveway, pool deck and gazebo area, as well as roughly 2,500 sq. ft. of living space, consisted of concrete. On our project in the states, I recall the concrete supervisor supplied by our concrete contractor not being overly active in orchestrating his team of workers while at the same time doing a poor job of coordinating materials and supplies.

Many of the workers seemed unskilled and had no business being on the construction site in the frame of mind they were in. Some days they showed up and some days they didn't. Not to stereotype, but our experience in dealing with our contractor in the states was not a positive one!