Yesterday, I talked about how bureaucracy and commitment are factors which need to be taken into consideration. Today, in our ongoing series on building a home in Mexico successfully through good planning, we will look at the Mexican attitudes on deadlines, punctuality and holidays.
Deadlines and Punctuality
In general, Mexicans tend not to see deadlines and punctuality the way Americans, Canadians and northern Europeans tend to. Deadlines are often seen as mere suggestions, or sometimes even as “starting points†rather than limits.  This is true of appointment and arrival times; “I’ll be there at 5 pm†can often mean that the person definitely won’t be there before 5 pm, but could arrive any time after about 5:15 and sometimes upwards of an hour late!
Holidays
Mexicans love their holidays and they have many of them. Whether they are celebrating Mexico’s Independence or Our Lady of Guadalupe, there are festivities of all sorts for all people of all ages. Workers like to take “puentes†– a word that translates as “bridge†but is used to mean a “long weekend.†For example, a holiday falls on Tuesday; Monday is automatically off as well, and as many people who can will take the Friday before just to make the weekend well worth while with 5 days off work!
The last government (under President Felipe Calderon, 2006-2012) tried to address this issue by transferring any holiday that falls during the week to the nearest Monday or Friday, replacing these super long weekends with simple three day weekends. It’s been somewhat successful, but many will still try to add an extra day onto the holiday weekends.
Ironically, the change has been least successful for government offices and services, which sometimes have even been known to take advantage of the new system to take off both the original holiday (Wednesday, for example) and the transferred holiday (Friday) making for a “super puente” even putting the previous long weekends to shame!
Anyone having a home built in Mexico should take this into account; even if a professional is managing the project, there may be a week where less progress is made, etc. although the project plan will probably take holidays into account. As with the Mexico real estate purchase process, taking these holidays into account will allow those involved to take these delays in stride (and putting extra pressure on to get things done before a holiday “marathon” if necessary) rather than getting frustrated by them.
Tomorrow we will look at the other side of the coin – how the Mexican attitude to work hours offers a real advantage to building in Mexico.
Andy Welbourne, from London, Ontario, has been living in Playa del Carmen and working as a part of the team with Thomas Lloyd for 7 years. He has worked with many Canadians and Americans to assist in finding their dream home in the Mexican Caribbean; many of these clients have turned into great friendships. Contact Andy at (512) 879-6546.
The TOP Mexico Real Estate Network; “Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely!â€