Meetings with Home Builders and Home Owners

Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis
5-14 March 2001

Handouts: Discussion Notes on How to Build a Small House (MS Word 90k)
Draft Contract between a Builder and an Owner for Construction of a House
(MS Word 50k)

See also: Building Inspector Training Course Overview

To further support and encourage use and application of existing building codes, the USAID/OAS Post Georges Disaster Mitigation Project (PGDM) hosted a series of discussion meetings with home owners and home builders in Antigua and Barbuda and in St. Kitts and Nevis during March 2001. The purpose of the meetings was to discuss with participants the problems of building a small house to be resistant to the natural hazards of hurricanes and moderate earthquakes which affect the islands, and to develop simple and effective ways of engaging persons to design the house and then to engage builders to construct the house. The intention was to provide the potential home owner with the information that would lead to appropriate decisions with respect to the resistance of the building to the natural hazards and its impact on the proposed cost of the building before signing a contract with the builders. The meetings were designed to provide this information in an interactive manner with the participants being involved in the decisions for building their house. The workshop presentations focused on the Buildings Guidelines, the use of which is mandatory. The processes for seeking building approval from the relevant Ministry and Development Control Authority were also discussed. 

Participants in the meetings included those who are proposing to build small homes, designers and builders of small homes, representatives of the State and Technical Colleges, and representatives of the contractors associations and the plumbers associations. The meetings were held in the evenings so as to allow persons who have to spend a full day at work to attend the meetings. Meetings were held in St. John's and Liberta (Antigua); Basseterre, Cayon and Sandy Point (St. Kitts) and Charlestown and Gingerland (Nevis). The Barbuda meeting was cancelled due to the elections there.

Mr. Addison Workman, a Consulting Engineer of Antigua and Barbuda, and Mr. Lawrie Elmes, a Consulting Engineer of St. Kitts and Nevis, were the principal resource persons for these meetings. Mr. Alwyn Wason coordinated the sessions. Mr. Wason has coordinated similar programs in Antigua, Anguilla, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Turks and Caicos Islands and was involved in the development of the Caribbean Uniform Building Code (CUBiC) and the OECS Building Codes and Building Guidelines, which have become the base for the building regulations in Antigua and Barbuda and in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Meetings were also held with members of the building fraternities in Antigua/Barbuda and St. Kitts/Nevis to discuss strengthening of the use and enforcement of the building code in both countries. A report of these meetings was produced, which contains the following recommendations:

Antigua/Barbuda

St. Kitts/Nevis

Other Resources


USAID/OAS Post-Georges Disaster Mitigation: http://www.oas.org/pgdm

Page last updated on 17 Sep 2001